Ithaka S+R

Ithaka S+R
Name	Ithaka S+R
Type	Nonprofit research organization
Headquarters	New York City
Founded	2003
Predecessor	JSTOR Labs
Focus	Higher education strategy, library services, digital preservation

Ithaka S+R is a nonprofit research and consulting organization focused on advising university-level institutions, library systems, and cultural heritage organizations on strategy, technology, and policy. It conducts empirical studies, provides strategic guidance, and publishes reports that inform leaders at institutions such as Harvard University, Yale University, University of California, and Oxford University. Its work intersects with initiatives led by entities like JSTOR, Internet Archive, HathiTrust, and Born Digital Preservation efforts.

History

Ithaka S+R emerged from efforts associated with JSTOR and the broader movement around digital libraries and scholarly communication, influenced by leaders connected to Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and National Endowment for the Humanities. Early projects drew on collaborations with Columbia University, Princeton University, Cornell University, and University of Michigan. The organization developed alongside shifts in policy shaped by Bayh–Dole Act-era commercialization trends, debates echoed in forums such as Scholarly Communication conferences and White Papers from Association of Research Libraries and Council on Library and Information Resources. Over time it expanded from technical assessments into strategic consulting for institutions facing challenges highlighted by reports from The Chronicle of Higher Education, Times Higher Education, and studies cited by OECD and UNESCO.

Mission and Activities

The stated mission involves helping leaders at colleges, universities, and museums make evidence-based strategic choices about digital transformation, scholarly dissemination, and collections stewardship. Activities include producing empirical research, conducting institutional consulting engagements with administrations at Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University, and advising consortia like Research Libraries UK and CARL. Services span scenario planning used by stakeholders at Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, and guidance on digitization projects similar to those undertaken by Europeana and Digital Public Library of America.

Research Areas and Projects

Research areas encompass faculty behavior studies referencing patterns observed at Princeton, Yale, and University of Chicago; library analytics related to collections at New York Public Library and Boston Public Library; and digital preservation projects resonant with efforts at HathiTrust, CLOCKSS, and Portico. Major project themes include academic career pathways investigated with data from Council of Graduate Schools and American Council on Education, open access transformations comparable to initiatives by PLOS, arXiv, and Public Library of Science, and assessment of learning technologies paralleling pilots at edX, Coursera, and Blackboard Inc.. Other projects examine the economics of scholarly journals involving publishers like Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley-Blackwell, and the future of monographs influenced by experiments at Columbia University Press, Oxford University Press, and University of Chicago Press.

Publications and Impact

Ithaka S+R publishes reports and briefs that have been cited by policy-makers, university leaders, and organizations such as American Association of Universities, Association of American Universities, Gates Foundation, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded initiatives. Its publications analyze trends visible in data sets used by Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar and influence conversations at conferences including American Library Association Annual Conference, Charleston Library Conference, and Open Repositories. Reports have informed decisions at institutions like University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, and national agencies like U.S. Department of Education and National Science Foundation. Coverage and commentary have appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, Financial Times, and The Guardian.

Organizational Structure and Funding

The organization operates with program directors, research staff, and consultants working in offices connected with major research hubs like New York City, Washington, D.C., and London. Leadership has included professionals with backgrounds at JSTOR, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Council on Library and Information Resources, and Association of Research Libraries. Funding sources comprise foundation grants from entities such as Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and project fees from institutions including Ivy League universities, public research universities like University of California, Berkeley, and consortia such as Big Ten Academic Alliance. It also engages with cooperative funding models paralleling those used by HathiTrust and DPLA.

Partnerships and Collaborations

Ithaka S+R collaborates with a wide array of partners across the scholarly ecosystem, including JSTOR, HathiTrust, Internet Archive, Portico, and academic publishers like Elsevier and Springer Nature. It works with professional associations such as Association of Research Libraries, Society for Scholarly Publishing, Modern Language Association, and American Historical Association; with library consortia including OhioLINK and California Digital Library; and with cultural institutions like Metropolitan Museum of Art and British Library. Collaborative projects have tied to multinational initiatives such as Europeana, global research assessments like those informing Research Excellence Framework, and policy dialogues involving UNESCO and OECD.

Category:Non-profit organizations based in New York City