2019 Charleston Library Conference

Entrepreneurship is growing as a cross- and inter-disciplinary area of focus for universities and libraries. In 2017, ARL SPEC Kit 355: “Campus-wide Entrepreneurship” by Armann-Keown and Bolefsk found that 83% of ARL libraries indicated that their institution identified expanding innovation and entrepreneurship as a strategic priority for the university. From patent and tech transfer offices to business, science, and engineering programs, the demand for entrepreneurship resources and support delivered via libraries is booming. Building library collections to help patrons design, launch, and run successful businesses is challenging: Market research and private equity/venture capital resources arrive at premium prices. Increasingly, these resources must interoperate with software used to clean, analyze, and visualize data. This data is often difficult to find and deploy. Restrictive, corporate-style licenses reflect that vendors do not understand the academic market’s access requirements or licensing constraints. This session will consist of three sections: First, the speakers will share a framework for how to understand entrepreneurship in higher education, and explain the types of information commonly requested by users. Such information often exists in disciplinary silos, emphasizing the importance of collaborative collection development across subject lines. Second, the speakers will explore the unique challenges to building collections that serve patrons developing new ventures. This includes collaborating with external stakeholders to fund resources that have not been traditionally purchased by libraries. Strategies for licensing data and other e-resources in this space will be discussed, including the central complications arising from universities as incubators for for-profit startups. The third section will include best practices for building relationships with stakeholders, developing relevant collections and services, and marketing these resources to your communities. The speakers will give examples of strategies and solutions they have used to bring new resources to their campuses in an era typified by flat/decreasing collections budgets.