Aarhus School of Business
University of Aarhus
Fuglesangs Allé 4
8210 Århus V, Denmark
ASB Library
Library Director: Tove Bang
Major changes in the university sector in Denmark January 2007
The Goal of the Danish government has been to enhance quality, to strengthen Danish research and university education in an international contex, to increase the level of business collaboration and innovation of the universitiesand to Increase the ability to attract international funding and enhance research based services for the public authorities.Add to this the wish to increase Danish participation in EU Framework Programmes.
To achieve these goalsthe government means has been to merge universities and governmental researchinstitutions in Denmark.The result as of January 2007 has beena substantial restructuring of the Danish universitysector.
Until Dec. 2006the number of universities in DK was 25(12 universities and 13 research institutions). From January 2007 the number of universities is 7 universities and 3 research institutions. 3 Danish universities will be among the biggest in Europe in terms of resources. That is:
- University of Copenhagen
- University of Aarhus
- Technical University of Denmark
This merging means that ASB – Aarhus School of Business - has been merged into to the ”New University of Aarhus” as from January 2007. The new university will have app. 35.000 students and app. 10.000 employees.
Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus
ASB is now a so-called professional school at the ’New University of Aarhus’. A new strategy for the merged university is under development and will be implemented during the year 2007.
The ASB Mission is as a professional school at the University of Aarhus to contribute added value through research, education and dialogue on the creation and development of companies and organisations. The ASB Visionis committed to creating and maintaining a high-profile position and to gaining international recognition through outstanding research, internationally recognised graduates, and fruitful cooperation with the business community.
ASB is EQUIS accredited, and in terms of size, ASB is the five largest EQUIS accredited business school in Europe.
ASB has a budget of app. 43 million EUR. There are 480 employees at ASB. About 270 of these are academic staff, including 35 professors and 65 PhD-students. ASB has app. 5.500 bachelor and MSc/MA students. Each year, app. 350 of these students study abroad at a foreign university. We receive about 350 international exchange students every year. 1500 follow diploma or master programmes part time. Many international students follow degree programmes.
The ASB Library
The mission of the Library of the Aarhus School of Business (ASB Library) is still to be a user-run research library with theprimary purpose of supplying professional, scientific, and business-orientated library service to theresearch, education and dialogue at the Aarhus School of Business.In addition to this, the Library is a contributor to the national library co-operation.
On the organizational level, the Library supports the ASB research and educational programmes
with two self-conducting operation teams. The teams take care of all tasks concerning the operation
of the Library - from acquisition of materials, their handling and maintenance to presentation and
user dialogue in relation to the reference work when on duty, the user education, and the direct
dialogue taking place in connection with the library contact arrangement targeted at departments,
research groups, and centres.
4 U5
The development initiatives/focus areas decided on by the Library are embedded in five major
development groups. Projects and development tasks in the individual development groups are
numerous. There are internal development projects as well as external development projects with
development aid from DEFF (Denmark’s Electronic Research Library), the Danish Conference of
Rectors, and the EU, among others.
Where the operation teams are self-conducting, the work of the development groups is initiated by a
development consultant. The development consultant is responsible for the drive and fulfilment of
purpose. Each development group consists of three to four staff members. Individually each one
represents one of the operation teams, and it is his/her duty to secure that transfer of knowledge
takes place from the development group to the daily work in the operation team.
The Library vision
The Library is correspondingly defined in relation to the ASB strategy 2006-09. That means that the ASB Library as a user-run research library supplies libraryservice at a high international level to research, education and dialogue.The ASB Library manages the knowledge capital of the Aarhus School of Business and supports thelearning at the School. The Library is hybrid with weight on acquisition of digital material inpreference to printed material where it proves appropriate and possible.The condition of fulfilling the vision is an attractive, creative, and learning place of work for thestaff as well as a high level in actions and service towards the users.
The goal of the Library is to provide ”the users with the right service at the right moment in an
adapted form”. The day-to-day library service towards the primary users is taken care of by the
operation teams, and the service is continuously adjusted through initiatives and development
projects, including DEFF projects, within the above mentioned five focus areas. Generally
speaking, the focus areas and the task portfolio of the Library are based on the three legs stated in
the Danish University Act, namely, research, education, and dialogue. In order to have the strategic
work continuously exposed the Library makes use of the following strategy card.
Plans of Action and Goals – Relation to the ASB Strategy
In relation to its declared mission and vision the Library of the Aarhus School of Business has set
few but overall quality goals. The aim of these quality goals is for the Library to be able to maintain
its status achieved by the EQUIS accreditation as a ”research library of the highest international
standard”.
The core services of the Library are the library services that are given to the users through the dayto
day user service. The core services are laid down in a service catalogue. For each core service
specific service and/or process goals are defined for how, when, and at which level the service is to
be given. The service goal of the service catalogue contributes to the fulfilment of the strategy and
service goals set by the Aarhus School of Business (cf. ASB Strategy 2006-09: Resources and
Processes).For the five strategic focus areas of the Library, action plan, success criteria, and strategic targetsfor each initiative or project have been worked out. The strategic goals attach to the three legs of theAarhus School of Business, i.e. research, education, and dialogue. The strategic goals all relate to the ASB Strategy.
ASB Library Statistics – 2006
Library Opening hours/week:75
Opening days/year:335
Library Visitors /physical visitors338.628
Library visitors / website visitors1.514.517
Library visitors / pages3.377.284
The Physical Library Material at Disposal:
- Books and serial publications in printed form:174.470
- Printed journals and series :291
- Current newspapers subscription (paper form)17
Circulation of physical materials52.581
Renewal of physical materials82.328
Copies in substitution of loan33.859
The Digital Resources at Disposal:
- Electronic journal titles at disposal in digital form19.856
- (full access from home)
- Digital document titles in full text(e-books etc.)25.612
Use and Downloads of Digital resources:
- From external suppliers215.988
- Digital documents from databases and books in full text29.317
- Bibliographical searches in databases7.812
- Searches in fact databases276.725
Download(own servers) digital teaching documents100.468
The new ’University Library’
In April 2007 a Library task force has been settled down to prepare a proposal for the new university library structure at the ’New University of Aarhus’. Some of the challenges are to decide how and to which degree the existing libraries shall integrate/cooperate with The State and University Library of Aarhus(Statsbiblioteket) and serve the university as a whole.
April 22, 2007
Tove Bang
Library Director
ASB Library