Impact of Library Collections on Faculty Teaching, Research, and Retention: A Mixed-Methods Study

Abstract

In recent decades, college and university libraries have been called to demonstrate their impact on their institutions’ teaching and research missions. One way that libraries can demonstrate their impact is by evaluating how library collections can influence faculty recruitment and retention decisions. This study builds upon an existing study aimed at evaluating this impact. The authors apply a mixed-methods approach to an existing data set to identify differences in impact based upon faculty discipline and rank. The authors found that tenured faculty, as well as faculty in the Arts and Humanities were significantly more likely to include the library as part of their recruitment and retention decision making.