Music Faculty after Pandemic Closures: A Mixed Methods Study of Evolving Resource Preferences and Libraries

Abstract

The dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education and the growth in popularity of commercial services such as YouTube warrant an examination of how music faculty have and have not changed their teaching practices and what role the library has played in their pedagogy. Building on a 2017 publication, this mixed methods, multi-institutional study examined the practices of instructors at three universities to determine what materials they used to support their teaching, their preferred sources and formats of learning content, the library’s role in meeting these needs, obstacles in using library resources, and the ways in which the pandemic changed their approach to using resources. Results indicated that faculty preferred for their library to invest in electronic collections over physical materials, they favored obtaining some types of materials from non-library sources, and their use of most library services had rebounded from the declines observed during institutional closures.