From Passive to Pervasive: Changing Perceptions of the Library\u27s Role through Intra-Campus Partnerships

Traditional views of librarianship, and of academic libraries, have focused on the library’s role as a collector of external resources for student and faculty use. As this role is increasingly challenged by the explosion of openly available online content, however, academic libraries must move beyond this limited perception of our utility and expand our role to become partners in a broader range of scholarly activities at our institutions. At Pacific University (Oregon), the University Library has developed a series of partnerships and services (many supported by our institutional repository platform) that extend the Library’s reach and that lend needed support to our faculty and students’ scholarly pursuits. In taking on a much more active role in the creation, dissemination and preservation of internally produced scholarship, the Library has demonstrated its value to faculty and administrators and has opened the door to new partnerships which will not only strengthen the University, but also the Library’s place within it