Introduction

The social life of academic libraries is the product of a dynamic operating environment and subject to multiple influences, particularly from the higher education sector and institutions where they reside, but also from their local communities, professional networks, the global economy and civil society. The argument we advance in this book is that the social changes taking place in universities and colleges in the 21st century demand a radical rethinking of the mission and business philosophy of libraries in higher education to shift the focus of academic librarians from managing collections and delivering services to growing assets, building networks, cultivating relationships and developing communities. Forward-looking practitioners have recognised the need for change and have been exploring new roles, experimenting with new practices and examining their value and impact. But such work is often performed at the periphery of library life, it takes a long time to move to centre stage and even longer to become embedded in everyday operations and organisational culture.

We argue that the new social context not only requires us to do new things: it requires new thinking at every level, including a future-present strategy mindset and the disposition to consider library–society links simultaneously from outside-in and inside-out perspectives. We need to understand the social influences that are changing the shape of our institutions as well as the social impacts that our activities are having on both our local community and society at large so that we can create shared value through policies and practices that provide meaningful all-round benefits to all our stakeholders. We have a duty of care to the people who work in, with and for libraries, to the people we serve directly every day and also to the whole population now and in the future in the connected global environment. Our central thesis is that the complex pluralist context of the 21st century necessitates the use of multiple perspectives to resolve the social problems facing libraries and librarians today and tomorrow.