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Introduction
This report looks at some of the changes and challenges faced by UK university libraries in an age of increased competition between higher education institutions. It discusses changing concepts of value in library services, considers how national trends in higher education and an increased role for market forces are affecting the focus of academic library work and looks at the resulting challenges for library spaces, collections, staff and service provision.
Context
The first decade of the twenty-first century saw student numbers in the UK continue to rise. By 2010-2011 there were just over two and a half million (FTE) students in higher education, an increase of 28 per cent since 2000-2001 ([19] HESA, 2012). The higher education landscape is changing, however. [9] The Browne Report (2010) argued that it would be possible to secure "a sustainable future for higher education" in this era of mass participation only if market forces and student choice were allowed to shape successful institutions and courses. The results of this strategy are only beginning to be seen and there is uncertainty about how the higher education sector will look in the future. The abolition of a cap on student fees, for example, was followed by a 6.6 per cent fall in students starting courses in England in 2012 ([18] Harrison, 2012). There is already a demographically shrinking market for higher education in the UK and an uncertain economic climate which has seen research and other income fall ([23] O'Prey, 2011). These changes, together with an expected reduction in future government funding, mean that few higher education institutions can have confidence about future student numbers and income. In addition, new visa regulations for international students may affect UK recruitment overseas and there is an increasing selection of alternative providers both internationally and online ([10] Cadwalladr, 2012).
This competitive market for students leads institutions to brand themselves as distinctive in various ways and to place great emphasis on national and international league tables and assessment exercises. Most attempt to market the "student experience" as central to their missions, competing for student "customers" in much the same way as businesses react to customer demand in any other market. In many respects academic libraries can only be reactive to these trends. While some...