The resilience of academic libraries in the post-pandemic 21st century

This keynote paper captures key thought leadership around the future and the resilience of academic libraries. It is largely a conceptual paper, which draws upon environmental scanning and trend analysis from before the global Covid-19 pandemic and translates this into a series of modern-day trends for academic libraries in the post-pandemic era. The objective of the paper is to present these trends as a blueprint for where the focus of academic libraries should be moving forwards into the 21st century. The paper is largely informed through observation and scholarship from academic libraries in western, developed nations, but the trends have been presented as being more generalisable, resonating with academic libraries from across the globe. Future resilience of academic libraries is discussed through the main themes of the paper: Digital transformation and digital shift; Open Access, Open Science and Open Higher Education; Data management and curation; Student expectations as connected customers; Diversity and inclusion; Climate change and environmental sustainability. The theme of academic library leadership is also addressed by way of concluding the paper.