Abstract:

The traditional dual role of universities - education and research - has in the last few decades been expanded by introducing a “third mission” which focuses on the requirement that universities have to contribute to economic and social developments. The third mission of the university has been extensively researched and integrated into policies, strategies and evaluation procedures, ranking systems [1]. An important facet of the third mission of universities is known as the entrepreneurial turn in higher education, requiring changes on many levels (e.g. infrastructures, strategies, systems, culture etc.). Many studies emphasize the importance of culture, more specifically the development of an entrepreneurial mindset as a mechanism through which academia can effectively participate in economic development [2]. Nurturing a third mission culture and entrepreneurial mindset is the most challenging part for the enactment of the entrepreneurial turn at universities).

This poster will analyse potentials and propose avenues for exploiting a hereto neglected traditional but lasting facility at universities, namely libraries, especially the role of libraries in propelling an entrepreneurial mindset based on the development of skills, knowledge and dispositions of teachers and students while considering challenges and opportunities of contemporary information landscapes. The analysis and proposals will be based on the results of the international Erasmus+ project „Developing Information and Research Skills for Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, INRS“aimed at reinforcing and enhancing knowledge transfer between academia and business in European Union (EU) countries and to enable HEIs to provide increased and specialist information support to Research, Business and Innovation in the EU and in the regions that they serve. The unique approach of this project will be its focus on libraries as not only a rich source of market information, but also a training facility offering a range of information literacy and other key transferable skills training courses geared towards businesses and researchers. [3] The results of the contribution will carve out the roles and potentials of libraries in propelling the entrepreneurial turn in higher education.

References:
[1] L. Compagnucci & F. Spigarelli, „The Third Mission of the university: A systematic literature review on potentials and constraints,“ Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 161, 2020.
[2] L. M. Martin, I. Warren-Smith & G. Lord, „Entrepreneurial architecture in UK universities: still a work in progress?“ International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 281-297, 2018.
[3] S. Corrall, „The Social Mission of Academic Libraries in Higher Education“, in The Social Future of Academic Libraries: New Perspectives on Communities, Networks, and Engagement (Tim Schlak and Sheila Corrall eds.), pp. 109-147, London: Facet, 2021.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurship, libraries, higher education.