Researching Library Support for International Studies: Successes to Celebrate, Goal Posts to Move

418 Our agendas for library services to support international and area studies are in flux. For one high-profile example, the following broad recommendations emerged from the " Global Dimensions of Scholarship and Research Libraries: A Forum on the Future " that took place at Duke University in 2012: • Aggressively pursue broad digital access to international information resources; • Internationalize research library services and perspectives; • Broaden and internationalize library collaborations. These conclusions built upon background papers, research reports, presentations, and debates among area studies scholars, university administrators, bibliographers and library managers, and foundation officials who considered a series of shifts in the landscape. American higher education, for example, like society as a whole, is " globalizing " as more local students study abroad, foreign enrollments grow, and universities create outposts and entire campuses in other countries. Research and teaching in such fields as public health, science, technology, and public policy today encompass international perspectives: the traditional area studies focus on language, culture, and history is no longer sufficient. Events, experience, and scholarship are increasingly conveyed through digital media, which also undergird research and learning. Mandates for assessment and accountability require explicit attention to trade-offs among all campus and library activities. Library priorities are under their own microscopes. Collections comprise but one of many interdependent library services, all of which compete for limited financial resources. When the cribbed logic of return-on-investment is framed solely around the greatest local good for the greatest number, international and foreign language holdings are likely to fall short. While some libraries also insist on collections carve-outs for " distinctive " holdings or primary sources, area studies materials may prove an uneasy fit. A third stream of analysis looks toward user expectations and behavior. Close " eth-nographic " observations of (mostly) undergraduate learning practices inform many plans for library services and spaces. LibQUAL+ and other repeatable user surveys identify both local priorities and broader service trends. Organizations like Ithaka S+R are building longitudinal datasets that capture faculty attitudes over time. Ithaka and the University of California's Center for Studies in Higher Education, among other groups, are also creating fine-grained accounts of research processes and information ecosystems within specific scholarly communities. A growing body of empirical data elucidates user needs and behaviors. All of this research, assessment, and planning contrasts with the community's slow engagement with Web content, social media, and other digital expression. Efforts to digitize …