Transformation of Academic Libraries for the Efficient Support of a Changed Higher Education Environment

Abstract

ABSTRACTSince the very birth of universities academic libraries have been one of key success factors for the universities to realize their mission. Academic environment recognized an academic library as a social and intellectual centre, as the »heart« of the university since it is located in the centre of its parent institution as the heart is in the body. The emergence of the internet and the advances in information and communication technology have brought unprecedented changes to higher learning and research which reinforced the need for rethinking their future as well as their response to changes of the academic environment. The article aims to present some challenges of academic libraries in today's world and their efforts to retain the key role in the academic environment. Slovenian academic libraries may reshape their development plan and vision following the lessons learned from foreign academic libraries and their response to changes of their environment. However, their future depends on the development of educational and research process at their parent institutions and the recognition of academic libraries as an important factor to affect educational and research outcomes of higher education.