4 Survey Results: Executive Summary
we are seeing makerspaces and digital scholarship as leading activities related to entrepreneurship, in
addition to traditional information and instructional services.
Growing areas of interest include programs in social entrepreneurship such as Duke University’s
Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, and those focused on specific populations, such
as Syracuse’s WISE (Women Ignited in the Spirit of Entrepreneurship) and Florida State University’s
Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship’s bootcamps for veterans with disabilities and veterans’
families. Additional campus support for entrepreneurship is provided by various student services, such
as career centers, and university-sponsored programs that offer seed funding and grants, sponsorship of
campus business competitions, and support for student-led clubs. The University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign even offers Innovation LLC, a residence for entrepreneurial students to live and create with
like-minded students. Residents have access to a dedicated workspace to develop their ideas, visits with
successful entrepreneurs and innovators, and on-site staff and mentoring to develop their businesses and
projects. Finally, there is a growth of business/entrepreneurship minors that are open to all students,
regardless of faculty.
Three-quarters of the responding libraries indicated that the library does not play a role in
directing or coordinating campus entrepreneurship activities. However, in some cases, library staff are
members of campus entrepreneurship programs’ advisory boards or steering committees. At Syracuse’s
Blackstone LaunchPad (one of twenty LaunchPads across the US and Ireland), the dean of libraries and
university librarian is the principal investigator. The survey did ask if the library had a policy, service-
level agreement, or memorandum of understanding with any of the institutional units that describes the
ways in which the library supports entrepreneurship activities, only one library indicated it did.
Library Staff Support for Entrepreneurship
The majority of the 58 responding libraries (37 or 64%) have not created staff positions that have primary
responsibility for managing or coordinating library services to support entrepreneurial activities on
campus. Additionally, another six said that they had no plans to create such a position within their library.
While 12 libraries indicated that they had created such positions, only five had titles that suggested
managerial roles, such as executive director, director, associate director, manager, or coordinator. The
remaining seven are liaison librarian positions with primary responsibility for supporting entrepreneurial
activities. An example of a position that does have specific responsibilities for entrepreneurship
support is an entrepreneurship librarian, which in addition to traditional reference, instruction, and
liaison duties, is responsible for developing and marketing “…specialized services to local businesses,
economic development agencies, and related community groups and presents programs on business
library resources and services to these groups.” The position also “provides oversight and guidance to
the library’s makerspace and represents the library in campus-wide initiatives in this area, including
3-D printing and modeling.” Another entrepreneurship librarian is responsible for coordinating the “…
Libraries’ efforts to support initiatives relating to entrepreneurship and economic development.” One
library developed a role for a Patent &Trademark Resource Center Representative to provide support
in academic class instruction, information and reference service, and patent and trademark education to
the community.
Only four libraries (7%) have created other positions to support entrepreneurship activities
on campus. These positions are usually related to supporting makerspaces, design studios, new media
centers, digital scholarship, etc. These are typically technical positions that require specialized training
and skills in newer technologies, such as 3D modeling and printing, laser cutters, digital media and
graphic design software, electronics and computer programming, and require staff to have backgrounds
in design, architecture, computer science, or engineering. The University of Kentucky created a student
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