The Strategic Positioning of Academic Libraries: Global Challenges, Local Politics and Strategy Development

This title will be available Spring 2026. You may place an order and the item will be shipped when it becomes available. Customers outside of North America (USA and Canada) should contact Facet Publishing for purchasing information.

ALA Member
$73.79
Price
$81.99
Item Number
978-1-78330-690-9
Published
2026
Publisher
Facet Publishing, UK
Pages
288
Width
6"
Height
9"
Format
Softcover

Primary tabs

You don't need to be an ALA Member to purchase from the ALA Store, but you'll be asked to create an online account/profile during checkout to proceed. This Web Account is for both Members and non-Members. Note that your ALA Member discount will be applied at the final step of the checkout process.

If you are Tax-Exempt, please verify that your account is currently set up as exempt before placing your order, as our new fulfillment center will need current documentation. Learn how to verify here.

  • Description
  • Table of Contents
  • About the author

Drawing on the author's 30 years of library leadership experience, this book is a valuable resource for academic library directors and leadership teams in developing strategy and for staff across the library seeking to make sense of changes shaping their working lives. Students of library and information science will also benefit from the book's overview of where academic libraries fit in, how they are seen, and the forces driving their advancement or decline.

The Strategic Positioning of Academic Libraries explores the influence exerted by trends in higher education and the wider world on the position of academic libraries, alongside an analysis of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It provides an essential foundation for effective library strategy formulation and positioning in a highly dynamic and competitive environment. Examining a complex mix of global volatility, campus uncertainty, societal change, and technological shifts, all generating new pressures and opportunities, this book is a practical guide to understanding the situation of academic libraries and advancing their positioning in parent institutions. Chapters cover

  • the historical evolution of academic library positioning;
  • the global political, economic, social and technological context;
  • the changing higher education environment;
  • an in-depth SWOT analysis of academic libraries;
  • positioning strategies for successful academic libraries; and
  • an academic library positioning toolkit.
     

Introduction

Part I - Positioning Context

Chapter 1 - The Historical Evolution of Academic Library Position and Positioning

Chapter 2 - Positioning Strategy

Chapter 3 - The Global Context: Politics, Economics, Society and Technology

Chapter 4 - The Changing Higher Education Environment

Part II - SWOT Analysis

Chapter 5 - Strengths of Academic Libraries

Chapter 6 - Weaknesses of Academic Libraries

Chapter 7 - Opportunities for Academic Libraries

Chapter 8 - Threats to Academic Libraries

Part III - Position and Positioning Strategies

Chapter 9 - The Position of Academic Libraries Today: Making Sense of Complexity

Chapter 10 - Positioning Strategies for Successful Academic Libraries

Chapter 11 - Academic Library Positioning Toolkit

Conclusion

References

Index

John Cox

John Cox is University Librarian at the University of Galway in Ireland, a post he has held since 2009. He has 30 years of experience at leadership level, dating back to 1993 when he became Head of the Information Service at the Wellcome Centre for Medical Science, based at the Wellcome Trust. Projects led include planning for a new library building at the University of Galway, digitization of the Abbey and Gate Theatre archives, and Irish consortium negotiations with publishers.