Different academic groups' approach to the role of academic libraries: synthesis of researches

The aim of the study was to reveal the roles attached to academic libraries by the academic groups that have a direct impact on academic libraries’ strategy and politicy formation, i. e. university administration and faculty, and how academic libraries themselves view their role in their parental institutions. The synthesis of researches published in international journals in the latter years helped to reveal that an academic library positions itself as a valuable coworker, as a leader of the scholarly communication process, as a publisher and curator of scholarly data. However, one can clearly see that the academic community’s attitude towards the role of an academic library doesn’t always conform with the role the library seems to communicate. The library is still very important for scholars, teachers and administrators; nevertheless, they give priority to a slightly different role of the library. In summary, some assumptions about the role of academic libraries emerge. An academic library shifts more from traditional to new role, but this shift is difficult, because the traditional role is strongly fixed and taken for granted, whereas the new roles need legitimation. One of the ways a library constructs its role is through establishing new positions and expert knowledge. In this way, the new role gets a stable institutionalized basis which in the course of time becomes taken for granted and unquestionable