A bimonthly publication of AQU Catalunya

38

September 2008

AQU Catalunya has published the second transversal review report on the library services in Catalan universities, with the results of the evaluation of the libraries at the seven public universities (UB, UAB, UPC, UPF, UdG, UdL and URV) and three private universities (UOC, UVic, UAO) in the higher education system in Catalonia.

An overarching characteristic of this second evaluation of university library services —the first was carried out in 2002— was the context of adaptation to the European Higher Education Area; emphasis was therefore put on this new context and on the service provided by and the research orientation of library services. It also provided the opportunity to update the indicator map and information on the series of information resources available to each university, to thereby obtain an overview of university library services in Catalonia.

According to the report, the library services of Catalan universities can be qualified as excellent in many aspects, especially those that depend exclusively on the libraries themselves (quantity and quality of the services provided, increase in technical facilities, digital library, attendance to users and professionalism, etc.), with users being of the opinion that the services work very well. The evaluation has shown, however, that there is a lack of analytical factors to establish whether sufficient progress has been made in terms of the contribution made by library services to the quality of learning and research.

The report concludes, amongst other things, that a profound change in aims and methodologies is necessary in the European convergence of university education, with a need for the accent to be more on learning than teaching.

 Review report on the library services in Catalan universities [ca]