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THE END OF WISDOM?
The Future of Libraries in a Digital Age
Chandos Advances in Information Series Series Editors: David Baker (Email: [email protected]) Wendy Evans (Email: [email protected])
Chandos is pleased to publish this major Series of books entitled Chandos Advances in Information. The Series editors are Professor David Baker, Emeritus Professor, and Wendy Evans, Head of Library at the University of St Mark & St John. The Series focuses on major areas of activity and interest in the field of Internet-based library and information provision. The Series is aimed at an international market of academics and professionals involved in digital provision, library developments and digital collections and services. The books have been specially commissioned from leading authors in the field. New authors - we would be delighted to hear from you if you have an idea for a book. We are interested in short practically orientated publications (45,000+ words) and longer theoretical monographs (75,000–100,000 words). Our books can be single, joint or multi author volumes. If you have an idea for a book please contact the publishers or the Series Editors: Professor David Baker ([email protected]) and Wendy Evans ([email protected])
THE END OF WISDOM?
The Future of Libraries in a Digital Age Edited by
DAVID BAKER WENDY EVANS
Amsterdam • Boston • Heidelberg • London New York • Oxford • Paris • San Diego San Francisco • Singapore • Sydney • Tokyo Chandos Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier
Chandos Publishing is an imprint of Elsevier 50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, OX5 1GB, United Kingdom Copyright © 2017 Wendy Evans and David Baker. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions. This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein). Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-0-08-100142-4 (print) ISBN: 978-0-08-100177-6 (online) For information on all Chandos Publishing publications visit our website at https://www.elsevier.com/
Publisher: Glyn Jones Acquisition Editor: Glyn Jones Editorial Project Manager: Jennifer Pierce Production Project Manager: Debasish Ghosh Designer: Maria Ines Cruz Typeset by TNQ Books and Journals
CONTENTS List of Figures xi List of Contributors xiii Author Biographies xv Foreword: The Future of Libraries: The Future Is Now! xxvii Prefacexxix Acknowledgementsxxxi List of Abbreviations xxxiii
1. The End of Wisdom? The Future of Libraries in the Digital Age
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David Baker Introduction1 Is It Really the End of Libraries? 2 The End of Wisdom? 4 Going Digital 4 Not Dead, but Sleeping? 11 Directions and Options for Libraries, Library Managers and Users 17 What, Then, Might ‘The Library’ Become? Route Maps for the Future 22 The End of Librarians? 31 End Note 34 References35
2. The Four Spaces of the Public Library
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Henrik Jochumsen, Dorte Skot-Hansen and Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen Introduction39 The Four Space Model 39 Inspiration Space 41 Learning Space 42 Meeting Space 42 Performative Space 43 The Use of the Four Space Model 43 References44
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3. The Influence of Digital Media on the Design of Libraries
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Charlie Smith Libraries in the Future 45 Libraries for Preservation 46 Hybrid Buildings 46 The Future of Library Design 47 Acknowledgement48 References48
4. The Best of Both Worlds
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Julie Arndrup
5. Informal Interview With Niu Jun, Tammy Ng & Joli Moore – School Librarians at the Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School
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Patrick Lo and Dickson Chiu
6. The Disembedded Librarian: A Vision of the Librarian’s Future Role in an Educational Context
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Mai Aggerbeck, Karen Frederiksen and Kirsten Maibom Background65 Library as Place 66 Collection66 Staff66 The Embedded Library 67 The Holstebro Model – The Disembedded Librarians 68 The Disembedded Librarian – Threats or Opportunities? 69 Evidence-Based Training Courses 70 Interprofessional Knowledge Communities 71 Conclusion72 References73
7. Using Formal and Informal Channels to Update Librarians’ Skill Sets
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Diana L.H. Chan Learn From Reality Millennial Students Challenge for Librarians
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New Roles and Skills 76 Practices of Reskilling at HKUST Library 76 New Roles Already Played 79 How Should Librarians Respond? 80 References80
8. Library 2.0: Lost Illusions?
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Tibor Koltay References85
9. Digital Music Preparation in the Modern Orchestral Library
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Matthew Naughtin Music-Engraving Programs Photocopiers and Image Scanners The Portable Document Format (PDF) Image Editing Programs Music Recognition Software
10. The Academic Library in 2020
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Bruce E. Massis The Joint-Use Model 106 The Digital Delivery Model 107 The Subject-Specific Academic Library Model 108 Academic Library Space Model in 2020 109 Conclusion109 References110
11. Using Technology to Make More Digital Content Available to All
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Bernard Scaife
12. New Trends in Higher Education: Can Information Professionals Rise to the Challenge?
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Evgenia Vassilakaki Introduction119 Conclusions121 References121
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13. Six Futures of Academic Libraries
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Joachim Schöpfel Contribution to the Campus 123 New Content 124 New Value Chains 125 Learning Centres 126 Sustainable Development 126 The Smart Library 127 Conclusion127 References127
14. Digital Pedagogy and the Student Voice
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Steve Bowman Digital Pedagogy 129 The Student Voice 130 The Funding Regime 131 The Digital Disconnect 131 The Way Forward? 132 References133
15. Information Literacy in a Digital Age: Embedding Information Literacy in the Curriculum
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Vivien Sieber, Julia Anthoney, Heather Barker and Ellie Roberts Introduction135 What do School and College Students Understand by Information Literacy? 136 Reflection140 References140
16. From Being Libraries to Becoming the ‘Switchmen’ of Scholarship in the Digital Age
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Chérifa Boukacem-Zeghmouri References144
17. Playing, Creating, Learning: The Future Public Library for Children and Families
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Louise Overgaard Dokk1 Should Be a Unique Place for Children and Families in Aarhus Exploration at Dokk1
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Dokk1 Should Be a Playful Library 147 Dokk1 as a Place for Learning and Development of Skills 148 The Children and Family Section Driven by the Staff, Partnerships and the Community 149 The Journey Will Continue 150 References150
18. The Future of Libraries in Nigeria
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Stephen Akintunde Introduction153 Public Libraries 153 Some Quotes 154 Academic Libraries 155 Further Quotes 157 Conclusion157 References158
19. Reinvigorated Opportunities: Libraries as Essential Institutions for Youth
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Daniella Smith Introduction159 An Essential Part of Society 159 Conquering Anxiety 160 Making Space for STEM Learning and Information Literacy 160 Changing the Old in to Something New 161 Conclusion162 References162
20. A Cooperative Model for a National Digital Library
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Bas Savenije A National Digital Library 165 Cooperation in the Library Sector 166 Cooperation in the Cultural Heritage Sector 167 Conclusion168
21. In the Core of Research
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Belén Fornovi-Rodríguez References171
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22. Information Management of the Future
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Rafael Ball Introduction173 History175 Present176 References183
23. Webraries and Web Archives – The Web Between Public and Private
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Niels Brügger The Web Disappears 185 National Web Archives 186 Publication = Making Available for the Public 186 Webrary or Web Archive? 187 Blurred Boundaries 187 The Importance of Media Characteristics 188 The Unfiltered Web 189 The End of Libraries as Web Archives? 189 References190
24. Not Only But Also?
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Karen Carden Not Only But Also? 191 Not Only…191 But Also…194 Index197
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Figure 9.1 Figure 9.2 Figure 9.3 Figure 9.4 Figure 9.5 Figure 9.6 Figure 9.7 Figure 9.8 Figure 9.9 Figure 9.10 Figure 9.11 Figure 9.12 Figure 11.1 Figure 14.1
The four spaces of the public library Don Quixote original Don Quixote in Sibelius Rinaldo original Rinaldo in Finale Score original Score in Photoshop Brahms original Brahms in PhotoScore Brahms in SmartScore Variations de ballet original Variations de ballet PhotoScore Variations de ballet SmartScore Image folder structure Balance between Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) teaching grant and tuition fee loan outlay to 2014–15
41 89 90 90 91 94 95 97 98 99 100 101 102 116 133
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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Mai Aggerbeck VIA Faculty of Health Sciences, Campus Holstebro,VIA University of Applied Sciences, Central Region of Denmark Stephen Akintunde University of Jos, Nigeria Julia Anthoney University of Surrey, UK Julie Arndrup Copenhagen Libraries, Denmark David Baker Emeritus Professor, University of St Mark & St John, Plymouth, UK Rafael Ball ETH-Library Zürich, Switzerland Heather Barker University of Surrey, UK Chérifa Boukacem-Zeghmouri Claude Bernard University, Lyon 1, France Steve Bowman University of Chichester, UK Niels Brügger Centre for Internet Studies and NetLab, Aarhus University, Denmark Karen Carden University of the Arts London (UAL) Library, UK Diana L.H. Chan Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST) Dickson Chiu Faculty of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba in Japan Belén Fornovi-Rodríguez University of Almeria, Spain Karen Frederiksen VIA Faculty of Health Sciences, Campus Holstebro,VIA University of Applied Sciences, Central Region of Denmark Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen The Royal School of Library and Information Science at the University of Copenhagen
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Henrik Jochumsen The Royal School of Library and Information Science at the University of Copenhagen Tibor Koltay Institute of Learning Technologies of Eszterházy Károly University, Eger (formerly the Department of Information and Library Studies of Szent István University, Gödöllő), Hungary Patrick Lo University of Hong Kong Kirsten Maibom Centre for Research in Ageing and Dementia at VIA University College, Central Region of Denmark Bruce E. Massis Columbus State Community College, Ohio, USA Matthew Naughtin San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco, California, USA Louise Overgaard Aarhus Library, Denmark Ellie Roberts University of Surrey, UK Bas Savenije Independent Adviser, The Netherlands Bernard Scaife University College London Institute of Education, UK Joachim Schöpfel French National Centre for the Reproduction of Theses (ANRT), University of Lille, France Vivien Sieber University of Surrey, UK Dorte Skot-Hansen The Royal School of Library and Information Science at the University of Copenhagen Charlie Smith School of Art and Design, Liverpool John Moores University, UK Daniella Smith College of Information at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA Evgenia Vassilakaki Department of Library Science and Information Systems, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Greece
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES Mai Aggerbeck, MLISc was born in 1961 and is Librarian at VIA Libraries,1 VIA Faculty of Health Sciences, campus Holstebro, VIA University of Applied Sciences, Central Region of Denmark. Stephen Akintunde is University Librarian, University of Jos, Nigeria where he is implementing a creative learning space that is redefining library practice and bringing about positive change in students’ attitudes to learning and the use of library cyber and physical spaces. Dr Akintunde is Country Licensing Coordinator, Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) and EIFL Free and Open Source Software. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Knowledge, Research and Information Community of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. He was chosen as Outstanding Reviewer for New Library World in the Emerald Literati Network 2015 Awards for Excellence and Outstanding Reviewer for New Library World in 2016. He has published in international journals such as International Information and Library Review, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, Library Management and African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science. He has held leadership positions in the Nigerian Library Association at state and national levels. His membership of professional associations includes the American Library Association, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, the International Sociological Association and the Nigerian Library Association. Julia Anthoney is a Student Learning Advisor at the University of Surrey. She is the lead on the Surrey’s Top Achievers Recognised and Supported (STARS) programme at Surrey. She is interested in working with these high achieving students to enable them to self-identify their unique professional and developmental needs and provide them with the opportunity to broaden their experience beyond their academic capabilities. Julie Arndrup has been a trained librarian since 2001 and has worked in Hvidovre libraries, Gentofte Main Library, Gribskov libraries and since 2014 in Copenhagen Libraries. She has been a part of the national projects Ask Olivia online, pallesgavebod.dk (now biblo.dk) and many other projects. Julie is currently busy making a podcast with inspiration for parents 1 https://www.bibliotekerne.via.dk/en.
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who read to their children and whose children read – Børnebogcast. From 2005 to 2014 Julie was a board member of Boefa (boefa.dk), the Danish children’s librarians union, and since 2014 has been a board member of BF – the Danish librarians’ union. David Baker was the Principal of University College Plymouth St Mark & St John (now the University of St Mark & St John) 2003–2009. He is Emeritus Professor of Strategic Information Management there. He has published widely in the field of Library and Information Studies, with 18 monographs and some 100 articles to his credit. He has spoken at numerous conferences, led workshops and seminars and has undertaken consultancy work in most countries in the European Union, along with work in Ethiopia, Kuwait, Nigeria and the Sudan. He was Deputy Chair of the Joint Information Systems Committee (now Jisc) until December 2012, also having led a number of large technology-based projects, both in relation to digital and hybrid library development and content creation for teaching and learning. He has published the following books with Chandos: Strategic Information Management; Strategic Change Management in Public Sector Organisations and (with Bernadette Casey) Eve on Top:Women’s Experience of Success in the Public Sector and coproduced (with Wendy Evans) Digital Library Economics: An Academic Perspective; Libraries and Society: Role, Responsibility and Future in an Age of Change; Trends, Discovery and People in the Digital Age; A Handbook of Digital Library Economics: Operations, Collections and Services and Digital Information Strategies: From Applications and Content to Libraries and People. Rafael Ball has been Director of ETH-Library Zurich, Switzerland, since 1 March 2015. He holds doctorates in biology and science history and studied biology, Slavonic studies and philosophy at the universities of Mainz, Warsaw and Moscow. He completed a two-year postgraduate qualification as a scientific librarian in 1996 and was Head of the Central Library in the Research Center Jülich, Germany, from 1996 to 2008. Rafael was Director of the University Library of Regensburg from 2008 to 2015. He has written and edited numerous publications and is a dedicated speaker and a lecturer at various universities. His main work and research interests are the library of the future, science communication and the role of the printed book in the digital age. Heather Barker is an Information Skills Librarian for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Surrey. She has contributed to the STARS programme at Surrey having professional interests in information
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literacy for high achieving students and promoting the transition of research skills to the workplace. Heather has worked in academic libraries since 2003 and has recently completed a Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching. Chérifa Boukacem-Zeghmouri is Associate Professor in Information and Communication Science at Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University and a member of the ELICO research team (the information and communication sciences research laboratory of Lyon). Her PhD (defended in 2004) was dedicated to an economic analysis of the transition of the academic library services to an electronic environment. From 2006 to 2010, Chérifa chaired a national project on the use of electronic journals in the French academic context, applying a socioeconomic approach. From 2012 to 2014, she led the first national study on the return on investment (ROI) of electronic resources in the French academic network, funded by Lyon 1 University and Elsevier. Chérifa defended in 2015 ʻHabilitationʼ dedicated to the analysis of journal publishing as a cultural industry. She has published many articles in French and international journals. Steve Bowman is Deputy Librarian at the University of Chichester. A Fellow of CILIP (FCLIP) and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), he has an MA in Information Management and an MSc in E-Learning. He is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Chichester delivering modules within the ‘Developing Digital Literacy’ course, on ‘E-copyright’ and ‘The use of E-Resources’, and lecturer/facilitator on the PGCert module ‘The Pedagogy of E-learning’. He has had articles published in the professional press and is a frequent reviewer for the Information Management and Library and Information Research journals. He has overseen the creation of three new libraries during his career (Crawley College – 1994, Ravensbourne – 2009, University of Chichester – 2012). He is a member of the International Committee of the ‘European Conference on E-learning’ (ECEL) and has a particular interest in student attitudes to Learning Resources following the introduction of the student fees regime. His interests include the history of the book, film and cinema, and Prog Rock! Niels Brügger is Professor and Head of the Centre for Internet Studies as well as of the internet research infrastructure NetLab, Aarhus University, Denmark. His research interests are web historiography, web archiving and media theory. Within these fields he has published monographs and a
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number of edited books as well as articles and book chapters. He is cofounder and Managing Editor of the newly founded international journal Internet Histories: DigitalTechnology, Culture and Society (Taylor and Francis/Routledge). Karen Carden currently works for the University of the Arts London (UAL) Library Services as Resources and Systems Manager. She has been at UAL for six years and manages a team of people who provide centralised library systems, technical, bibliographic, resource procurement, electronic information and accessibility support to all six college libraries. Karen sits on the library’s senior management team and has a shared functional responsibility across the service for collections. Prior to this she worked in a variety of academic libraries – mostly in London although also spent an interesting four-year period doing desk research, abstracting/indexing and cataloguing for a specialist energy library and information centre. Outside the day job, Karen has previously chaired the National Acquisitions Group (NAG) and currently serves on the Book Industry Communication library committee (and associated subcommittees). She is Chair of the London Universities Purchasing Consortium library commodities group. She has been involved in consortia and joint consortia tendering exercises for library-related products and services. Karen’s professional interests include RFID (technical standards and privacy in particular); shared services in higher education; library performance evaluation and measurement; library management systems (proprietary and open source); supply chain efficiency; supplier relations; resource discovery and systems approaches in libraries. Diana L.H. Chan has been the University Librarian at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) since 2012. She had previously worked in the United States and Canada before returning to Hong Kong with former posts held at Bain & Company, University of British Columbia, Chinese University of Hong Kong and City University of Hong Kong. Having worked in management consulting, reference services, digital services and public services, she has moved into library administration. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Master of Library Science from San Jose State University, USA. Ms. Chan has published, presented papers and delivered talks on various topics including library strategic management, staff development, space development, Learning Commons, institutional repository, digital libraries, e-books, usage of e-resources, Demand-Driven Acquisition (DDA), digital reference, information literacy, research support service, shared ILS, etc. in academic journals, professional conferences and seminars. She served as Chair of Joint University Librarians Advisory Committee ( JULAC) in
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Hong Kong in 2015/16, Chair of JULAC Access Services Committee in 2012–15, Chair of JULAC Consortial Committee in 2016/17, Hong Kong Public Libraries Advisory Committee in 2016–2018 and many universitywide committees. Dickson K.W. Chiu received a BSc (Hons) degree in Computer Studies from the University of Hong Kong in 1987. He received an MSc (1994) and a PhD (2000) in Computer Science from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He now teaches at the University of Hong Kong. His research interest is in e-learning, library and information management with a cross-disciplinary approach, involving workflows, software engineering, information technologies, management, security and databases. The results have been widely published in nearly 200 papers in international journals and conference proceedings. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Systems and Service-Oriented Engineering and co-editor-in-chief of two other journals and serves on the editorial boards of several international journals. He is a senior member of both the ACM and the IEEE and a life member of the Hong Kong Computer Society. Wendy Evans is Head of Library and Data Protection and Freedom of Information Officer at the University of St Mark & St John in Plymouth. She has a keen interest in electronic resources and in particular access to journals and databases. Wendy has published, lectured and researched in the field of electronic journal and database usage and also access versus ownership of journals. She has co-authored and co-edited Digital Library Economics: An Academic Perspective; Libraries and Society: Role, Responsibility and Future in an Age of Change; Trends, Discovery and People in the Digital Age; A Handbook of Digital Library Economics: Operations, Collections and Services and Digital Information Strategies: from Applications and Content to Libraries and People. Wendy is a Chartered Librarian and an Associate Member of the Higher Education Academy and has been awarded an Associate Teaching Fellowship from the University of St Mark & St John. Also a part-time student at the University of St Mark & St John, Wendy is working towards an Executive MBA. Belén Fornovi-Rodríguez is Research Support Manager at the Library of the University of Almeria (Spain).With a background in Information Science and Law, her professional interests include research assessment, dissemination of scientific research, research data management, scientific production analysis, Open Access, intellectual property and bibliometrics. She is also a participant in several library-oriented international cooperation projects.
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Karen Frederiksen, PhD, was born in 1954 and is Associated Dean and Head of International Affairs and Physiotherapist in VIA Faculty of Health Sciences,VIA University of Applied Sciences, Central Region of Denmark. Henrik Jochumsen is Associate Professor at The Royal School of Library and Information Science at the University of Copenhagen. Henrik holds a doctoral degree from the University of Tromsø and has written several books and articles on the development of public libraries. He has participated as a consultant in connection with library projects and new library buildings. Henrik has given numerous lectures internationally and is engaged in the development of integration of innovation and entrepreneurship thinking in higher education. Tibor Koltay is Professor at the Institute of Learning Technologies of Eszterházy Károly University (formerly the Department of Information and Library Studies of Szent István University), Hungary. One of his main professional interests, where he has also published papers extensively, includes information literacy and related fields, including information overload and – more recently – data literacy and the role of academic libraries in Research 2.0. Patrick Lo is currently (since 2012) Associate Professor at the Faculty of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba in Japan. Dr Lo earned his Doctor of Education (EdD) from the University of Bristol in 2009. He has an MA in Design Management from Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2004), an MLIS from McGill University, (1994) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from Mount Allison University, Canada (1992). Dr Lo has presented some 100 research papers and project reports focussing on librarianship, humanities and education at many local and international workgroup meetings, seminars, conferences, etc. and at institutions including the Library of Congress (United States), National Library (Vienna), University of Vienna, National Library of France (Paris), National Institute of Informatics (Japan), and Konrad-Zuse-Center for Information Technology (Berlin). Kirsten Maibom was born in 1954 and is Head of the Centre for Research in Ageing and Dementia at VIA University College, Central Region of Denmark. She is a Trained Nurse and obtained her Masters in Learning Processes (MLP) from VIA University of Applied Sciences, Central region of Denmark. Bruce Massis is the Director of Libraries for Columbus State Community College and the College Accreditation Liaison Officer. He is also a Peer Reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission. He holds a Master’s Degree in
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Library & Information Science from Queens College and a Master’s Degree in English from Adelphi University. He has served the library profession as a respected library administrator, columnist and author for more than three decades. His books include Interlibrary Loan of Alternative Format Materials (Haworth Press), Serving Print Disabled Library Patrons (McFarland & Co. Publishers), Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped:An International Approach (K.G. Saur), The Practical Library Manager (Haworth Press), Models of Cooperation in US., Latin American and Caribbean Libraries (K.G. Saur), The Practical LibraryTrainer (Haworth Press) and The Challenges to Library Learning (Routledge). His latest book, a co-authored effort, is Project Management for Libraries, published by McFarland & Co. He has also written numerous articles, reviews and commentary appearing in journals and other publications and has presented papers and lectures on professional issues at conferences and universities around the world. He is also columnist for New Library World. He is currently working on a book addressing the issues of digital memory and libraries. Matthew Naughtin was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1947. He is a composer, author, violinist, programme annotator and music librarian. He was awarded a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance in 1970 by Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He then taught and performed in the Chicago area for several years before returning to Omaha in 1977. There he played in the Omaha Symphony Orchestra and served as the symphony’s music librarian, program annotator, resident composer and musical arranger. He was appointed Music Librarian of the San Francisco Ballet in 1997 and now lives and works in San Francisco. He has also served as Music Librarian with the Peninsula Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera. Matt’s original orchestral compositions and arrangements have gained wide recognition, and he has written Ballet Music: A Handbook, a reference work on ballet music published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2014. Professional Publications Ballet Music: A Handbook (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014). Digital Music Preparation in the Modern Orchestral Library (Woodhead Publishing, 2014). Ballet Music: A Survival Guide (MOLA Publications, 2014). Interview in Music Reference Services Quarterly, August 2014 issue (Taylor and Francis). Essay in: Insights and Essays on the Music Performance Library (Meredith Music Publications, 2012).
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Louise Overgaard’s starting point is humans. They are the core of her work. Humans play, humans create and humans innovate. Humans create knowledge. Societies are built and evolve around humans. Libraries are meaningless without humans. Technology is only interesting if humans know what to do with it. When she works her focus is people’s motivation, skills and lifeworld. This focus comes from having a cocreative, user-driven and partner-driven approach to her work combined with a background in religious sociology, psychology and organisational anthropology. Louise has worked with library development at the Main Library in Aarhus for several years both as a project manager and later as team leader for the Children and Family section and being a part of the staff working with the development of Dokk1. The last couple of years Louise has worked as development consultant at ITK in Dokk1 – working both with library development and smart city development on a national and international level. Besides that Louise is deputy chair of Coding Pirates Denmark, a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that creates IT-creative clubs for 7–17 year olds all around Denmark and now spreading to other countries. She is also the deputy chair of CounterPlay, an NGO that aims to put ‘playfulness’ on the agenda and among other things they arrange an annual international festival about playfulness. Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen is Associate Professor at The Royal School of Library and Information Science at the University of Copenhagen. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Tromsø, and he has written several books and articles on development of public libraries. He has participated as a consultant in connection with library projects and new library buildings. Ellie Roberts is Faculty Engagement Librarian for Health & Medical Sciences at the University of Surrey. Through her professional role she developed a keen interest in widening participation and developing information literacy skills, leading to her work with the Bridging the Gap project teams. Ellie is a Chartered Librarian and has worked in Academic libraries for over 10 years; she is currently working towards the Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching at Surrey. Bas Savenije graduated in philosophy in 1977. Since then, he has held a range of positions at Utrecht University, among which are Director of Strategic Planning and Director of Budgeting and Control. From 1994 to 2009 he was University Librarian of Utrecht University managing the comprehensive university library. He has initiated a pervasive innovation
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programme for the library aimed at implementing and continuously improving electronic services. One of the results was an e-press within the university library of Utrecht for electronic publishing and archiving services. From June 2009 to January 2015 he was Director General of the KB, National Library of the Netherlands. At KB his emphasis was on digital library services and the national information infrastructure. Since January 2015, he is an independent advisor with a particular interest in the free and unlimited accessibility of scholarly publications (Open Access). Bernard Scaife is Librarian at the University College London Institute of Education, where he was formerly Head of Technical Services. He is an information professional with a 16-year background in the provision and development of digital library systems in higher education, across both the library and archives sectors. His interests include the management of institutional intellectual property rights (IPR) issues and the use of innovative technology to lower the barriers to accessing high-quality education resources. Donna Scheeder is the President of the International Federation of Library Associations and has spent the first year of her two-year term delivering a Call to Action to library leaders all over the world. She retired on 1 March 2015 as the Deputy Chief Information Officer of the Congressional Research Service after a long career at the US Library of Congress which included five years as Director of Law Library Services. She has been a member of the IFLA Governing Board for eight years including two as Treasurer and is a former Chair of the Section on Libraries and Research Services for Parliaments. Her networking skills have been sharpened over her 45-year career and record of volunteer public service. She is a former President and Treasurer of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). She is also an SLA fellow and a recipient of the John Cotton Dana award given in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of special librarianship. She was elected to the SLA Hall of Fame. President Scheeder lives in Capitol Hill in Washington DC. She is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Hill Center, and she also serves as Chair of the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee. Joachim Schöpfel is Director of the French National Centre for the Reproduction of Theses (ANRT) and scientist in information and communication sciences at the University of Lille (France). From 1999 to 2008, he was Head of the Library and Document Delivery of INIST
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(CNRS). He holds a PhD in psychology of the University of Hamburg (Germany). He has signed several publications and communications on scientific information, documentation and job development. His research interests are related to Open Access, grey literature, Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), open data, scientific communication and library development. He is member of the GERiiCO (Groupe d’Études et de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Information et Communication) laboratory on information and communication sciences (Lille). He has taught psychology, education and information sciences at the universities of Hamburg, Nancy, Lille, Cologne (University of Applied Sciences) and Ljubljana. Vivien Sieber began her academic career in biosciences/genetics with a part-time PhD completed whilst a botany technician. During her research career at Manchester, Oxford and Queen Mary (London) working in multidisciplinary projects, she took advantage of opportunities to teach. At the University of East London (Senior Lecturer in Genetics), Vivien became interested in curriculum design and study skills. At that time the web appeared offering new ways of teaching and access to information. At London Metropolitan University she supported education development in the Science Faculty and to run the Teaching and Learning Technology Centre. This was an opportunity to develop and evaluate curricula with TEL interventions. Vivien set up the e-learning unit for the Medical Sciences Division and introduced the first official online examinations for the University of Oxford. As the Head of Learning and Research Support and Development, University of Surrey (2010–2014), Vivien managed Academic Liaison Librarians (ALL), Additional Learning Support, Researcher Development and Student Personalised Learning and Study Hub (SPLASH).The case study described here originated as a collaboration between ALLs, SPLASH and the Widening Participation Team who funded the project. Dorte Skot-Hansen is Associate Professor at the Royal School of Library and Information Science at the University of Copenhagen and Head of Centre for Culture Policy Studies here. She has a Mag.art in Cultural Sociology. She has done research in the field of cultural policy, urban planning and written several books and articles on development of public libraries. She has participated as a consultant in connection with a number of library projects, her under the Model programme for Public Libraries for the Danish Cultural Agency.
Author Biographies
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Charlie Smith is a Senior Lecturer in the Architecture programme at the School of Art and Design, Liverpool John Moores University, UK. One of his primary research fields is studying emerging trends in the design of library buildings. For several years he has run library design projects in the undergraduate studio in which final year Architecture students have questioned, researched and explored the role and design of library buildings, and the role of the physical book in an increasingly digitised society; these projects have challenged conventional preconceptions about libraries and their collections. In the postgraduate programme he has supervised research studies on the changing nature of the library as a building type. His research in library design therefore cuts across both contemporary built projects and theoretical designs and has been published in papers and book chapters and presented at conferences internationally. As a qualified architect, Dr Smith has also been involved with the design and realisation of numerous public buildings. Daniella Smith is an Associate Professor in the College of Information at the University of North Texas. Dr Smith’s research interests include the leadership development of school librarians, technology implementation in schools, the information seeking behaviours of youth and the provision of services to youth in libraries. She is an experienced school librarian, public librarian and classroom teacher. She has served on numerous committees for the Texas Library Association and American Association of School Librarians (AASL), is currently a blogger for AASL’s Knowledge Quest blog and is completing a term as an American Library Association council member at large. Evgenia (Eva) Vassilakaki is a Scientific Associate at the Department of Library Science and Information Systems of the Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Greece. She received her PhD in 2011 from Manchester Metropolitan University, Department of Information and Communications and her Masters in Information Science in 2006 from Ionian University, Department of Archive and Library Sciences, Corfu, Greece. She has taught a wide range of courses namely Introduction to Information Science, Information Services, Information Literacy, Records Management and Introduction to Metadata. Her research interests lie among others in multilingual information retrieval, digital libraries, information seeking behaviour, information literacy,Web 2.0 and social networking sites. She is a member of the MTSR conference program committee, special track on digital libraries, information retrieval, linked and social data. Her research has been published in various journals, including Library & Information Science Research, Information Research, The International Information and Library Review and New Library World.
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FOREWORD: THE FUTURE OF LIBRARIES: THE FUTURE IS NOW! Donna Scheeder, President International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions There has been much said about the future of libraries, some of it good and some not. What we all know in our hearts is that libraries are very important. Access to information makes a difference in people’s lives. This is a fact that was recognised by the United Nations when it included access to information as one of the sustainable development goals for the 2030 agenda. In 2015 I addressed the ambassadors gathered at the United Nations and promised them that libraries will be their partners and can help them reach these goals since every other development goal ultimately depends on access to information. But if libraries are to fulfil that promise we must be ready for the changes in our society that continue to evolve and have either a positive or negative impact on libraries. The character of that impact is up to us. We must do our part to manage this change. We must build an action agenda that represents the strategies we will use to keep libraries, our profession and our associations strong. The first level of the change agenda is the personal level.What skills and competencies do we need to continue to be successful in the 21st century? Librarians must embrace continuous individual learning to keep their skills up to date and relevant.We must let go of old ways of doing things, no matter how comfortable we find them. The personal competencies agenda means change for library education as well. What do our library educators need to do to insure they are providing our libraries and other organisations with professionals who are equipped to provide the transformational services that will keep our libraries and profession strong? The second level is institutional change which involves building the change agenda for our organisations. What will our communities need? What is the change agenda for libraries, archives and the organisations they serve? What changes do we make so that our organisations continue to connect people to the information that they need to exercise their civil, political, economic and social rights; learn and apply new skills; make decisions and participate in an active and engaged civil society, stay healthy, create community-based solutions to developmental challenges; ensure xxvii
xxviii Foreword: The Future of Libraries: The Future Is Now!
accountability, transparency, good governance and empowerment and measure progress on public and private commitments on sustainable development? Libraries must look at societal trends and ask themselves where are the possible opportunities that are relevant to our mission and our region? They must look at the trends with positive outcomes that are happening elsewhere and decide how to overcome barriers so that their areas can benefit from these positive changes as well. They must also look at the societal problems faced by their region and country and ask themselves how the library can make a contribution. The third and fourth levels are national and global policy levels. What barriers exist for libraries that are preventing them from meeting the needs of their communities? Intellectual property, trade agreements, internet governance issues and numerous other policies cannot be allowed to stand in the way of our success. Judging by my travels around the world as International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) President it is clear to me that there is no shortage of innovation and action in libraries. What is an issue however is that not every library is aligning with the needs of their community and not every library has a clear vision of what they need to be in the future. This raises some important issues. How does the work being done all over the world become a coherent vision of the library of the future? IFLA is about to begin an ambitious programme to bring the global profession together to create that vision. By working together, we will create that vision of the future where every library is an excellent library that meets the needs of its community and where every librarian takes joy in knowing that every day they contribute to changing people’s lives for the better.
PREFACE Libraries have existed since ancient times.The word ‘library’ has been synonymous with culture and learning; it is a noble institution that has enabled the human race to advance knowledge and improve conditions the world over. But what of the future? Much has been written about the end of libraries and the death of books. The Internet has become all pervasive in every nook and cranny of our lives.Who needs a library when you can get everything you want and need through the Web? When there are no more books to put on the shelves anyway? The End of Wisdom? The Future of Libraries in a Digital Age offers standalone chapters and opinion pieces that also form part of a coherent whole creating a picture of current trends and likely futures for libraries of all types. It has an international approach and is written by experts in the field of information provision who discuss their views on the hypothesis surrounding the “end of libraries” and the “death of books”. These contributions are analysed and summarised to create a rich picture of current trends and likely futures for libraries of all types, with digital options discussed in detail. It builds on the successful approaches adopted in A Handbook of Digital Library Economics and Libraries and Society and goes one step further, involving a wide range of experts and opinion formers whose contributions provide a comprehensive perspective on the future of libraries, information, knowledge and perhaps even wisdom. The book will be of interest and value to library directors, library and information studies professors, lecturers and students, social science lecturers, students and researchers, digital library developers and managers, funders and managers of cultural organisations, publishers, authors, library users and bibliophiles. All web links were correct at the time of checking (August 2016). David Baker and Wendy Evans University of St Mark & St John, Plymouth September 2016
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The editors are especially grateful to all who made this book possible: to the authors of various chapters for their contributions and their willingness to be involved in the project; to those who have contributed opinion pieces; to Donna Scheeder for writing the foreword; to Sharon Holley for her invaluable help throughout and to the University of St Mark & St John for their support. David Baker and Wendy Evans
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACRL ARL BYOD CC CMS CULNU DERA EIFL EPQ ERA FPU GCE GDP GPS HE HEFCE HEIs HEPI HKUST ICT IFLA IL ILS INASP IOE IPR ISP IT JPEG JULAC LDF MOLA MOOC NSS NSU NUC NULIB OA OCR OER OGL PDF QR
Association of College & Research Libraries Association of Research Libraries Bring Your Own Device Creative Commons Course Management Systems Committee of University Librarians of Nigerian Universities Digital Education Resource Archive Electronic Information for Libraries Extended Project Qualification European Research Area Florida Polytechnic University General Certificate in Education Gross Domestic Product Global Positioning System Higher Education Higher Education Funding Council for England Higher Education Institutions Higher Education Policy Institute Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library Information and Communications Technology International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Information Literacy Integrated Library System International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications Institute of Education Intellectual Property Rights Information Search Process Information Technology Joint Photographic Experts Group Joint University Librarian Advisory Committee Library Development Fund Major Orchestra Librarians Association Massive Open Online Course National Student Survey Nova Southeastern University National Universities Commission Nigerian University Libraries Consortium Open Access Optical Character Recognition Open Educational Resources Open Government Licence Portable Document Format Quick Response xxxiii
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List of Abbreviations
R&D RDA REF RLUK SCONUL STARS STEM TEL TETFUND TICs TIFF UAL UK UUK UNESCO US USP VLE
Research & Development Resource Description and Access Research Excellence Framework Research Libraries UK Society of College, National and University Libraries Surrey Top Achievers Recognised and Supported Project Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Technology Enhanced Learning Tertiary Education Tax Fund Technology and Information Systems Tagged Image File Format University of the Arts London United Kingdom Universities UK United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization United States Unique Selling Point Virtual Learning Environments
CHAPTER 1
The End of Wisdom? The Future of Libraries in the Digital Age David Baker Emeritus Professor, University of St Mark & St John, Plymouth, UK
INTRODUCTION The …library world has been transformed beyond all recognition…There is no turning back: indeed, the pace of change quickens Baker (2007).
Libraries of all kinds are likely to need to adapt for two basic reasons: firstly, they need to survive; secondly, they must enable their users to get the support and advice that they require within the new information architecture that has been brought so rapidly to the fore through the development of, and pervasive connectivity to, the Internet Baker and Evans (2009).
[Libraries] have an opportunity as well as a requirement in doing so, for… [they] should not merely move with the times but make the pace. [They] should lead rather than follow Baker and Evans (2016a).
There is nowhere quite like [the library] and there is so little quality social space – that third place between home and work – in many countries’ Baker and Evans (2016a).
This book – and this chapter – focuses on the hypothesis surrounding ‘the end of libraries’1 and ‘the end of the book’2 (Carrière and Eco, 2012)3 – the 1 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9855941/Is-it-the-end-of-the-book-as-libraries-close-and-e-
books-take-over.html; https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/13/the-end-of-the-library/; http://beerbrarian.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-end-of-end-of-libraries.html; http://www.cbc.ca/books/2012 /06/q-debates-is-this-the-end-of-libraries-as-we-know-them.html; 2 https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/27/specials/coover-end.html; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ uk-12308374. 3 “The end of the book” is…a misguided phrase. First, because printed books continue to be the most efficient and enduring methods of delivering texts: computer formats rapidly become redundant, and contemporary ebooks are not a good bet to outlast their printed counterparts. Second, because there is absolutely no evidence that longform texts themselves, as transmitters of knowledge and entertainment, are in any danger of diminishing in value. Certainly, they receive an excellent advertisement in Eco and Carrière’s playful and learned conversations’. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/ may/27/end-book-eco-carriere-review; http://fortune.com/2015/09/24/ebook-sales/. The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00001-4
Copyright © 2017 D. Baker. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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‘crisis of identity’ that Charlie Smith discusses later in this book – as a way of highlighting the key issues facing library and information services for the foreseeable future; all in the context of major global environmental trends, ably summed up by the many contributors to this book.The aim of The End of Wisdom is to present a ‘rich picture’ of current trends and likely futures for libraries of every type in the context of the many major changes now being experienced around the world, with digital options discussed in particular detail. However, not only is the future of ‘the library’ irrevocably bound up with the future of mankind and civilised society more broadly, but its fate will also be an indicator of the kind of world in which we live in the coming years.
IS IT REALLY THE END OF LIBRARIES? Predictions about the end of libraries are nothing new (Blagden, 1980; Thompson, 1982, 1983; Baker, 1992, 2004; 2006). They were ‘set to disappear with the dinosaurs’ some 40 years ago at least (Thompson, 1982), and yet they have survived if not always thrived. But that is not to argue that the death of the library is again being exaggerated. Quite the opposite. Anything and everything can now be connected to the Internet. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has already fundamentally changed the ways in which information is created, stored and delivered; and how learning processes are developed, provided and experienced. But this is only one aspect of latest developments in library and information provision as part of a broader, significant shift in the way people live and learn, work and play.4 It is already a generation or more since there was a widespread recognition that information technology was changing ‘something fundamental about our world – moving the focus … away from land, labour and capital towards people, ideas and things.5 Societies are being changed through democratisation, globalisation and consumerisation; changing demographics are affecting the needs and wants of user groups; global and regional economic forces are driving what is available to whom, when, where and how. Library provision – of all types and across all sectors – is being transformed as a result.
4 h ttps://www.jisc.ac.uk/blog/understanding-the-who-what-and-how-of-online-learning-
14-sep-2016; https://digitalstudent.jiscinvolve.org/wp/data-service/tracker-case-studies/. 5 h ttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/19/its-time-to-junk-the-flawed-
economic-models-that-make-the-world-a-dangerous-place.
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Diana Chan rightly poses the question later in this book: ‘what is the future of libraries in this world of rapid change?’ Is the traditional library, as Mai Aggerbeck and colleagues put it in their contribution, now being ‘phased out’? (see also Baker, 2004). Wendy Evans and I have already written extensively in the field, most notably with Digital Library Economics (Baker and Evans, 2009), Libraries and Society (Baker and Evans, 2010), A Handbook of Digital Library Economics (Baker and Evans, 2013a), Trends, Discovery and People in the Digital Age (Baker and Evans, 2013b) and Digital Information Strategies (Baker and Evans, 2016a). We attempted not only to build on all this work in The End of Wisdom but also to do something different here by including an element of crowd-authoring in the compilation. As well as the fuller essays and opinion pieces later in this volume – which I aim to analyse and summarise in this introductory chapter – we asked for short summaries about the future of libraries in the digital age. The many and varied ‘quick’ responses that we received are included here in ‘text boxes’, alongside selected longer quotations from other relevant literature, including the books listed above, as well as the later contributions to this book as a way of pointing the key messages of both this chapter and the compilation as a whole. ‘The production of knowledge has changed radically and the access to that knowledge has become easier and more convenient’, as Mai Aggerbeck and her colleagues point out. In Libraries and Society (Baker and Evans, 2010) Wendy Evans and I looked at the ways in which libraries are not only shaped by the societies in which they exist, but also demonstrated how they mirror those societies – for good or ill. As Diana Chan remarks in her chapter, ‘society transforms over time and is shaped by the macroeconomic factors, technological shifts, and peoples’ behavior. Libraries do not exist in isolation. In addition to their historical roles and missions, they need to transform and move along with current trends to avoid becoming obsolete’.This is especially true of what several authors in this volume describe as the ‘analog’ (as opposed to the digital) library, especially now that there is such a volume – a deluge even – of digital data. Not that this is anything new. Even in the more recent days of the book-based collections, as Rafael Ball implies, there was far more material being produced than all but the largest libraries could acquire, process and store (Baker, 1992). As Daniella Smith comments, ‘the availability of an abundance of information online leads many to question the necessity of libraries’.
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THE END OF WISDOM? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
TS Eliot Choruses From ‘The Rock’6 More is less: more information, less knowledge; less knowledge, the end of wisdom? Just because we have increasing amounts of information does not mean to say that we are more knowledgeable; nor does the acquisition of an ever greater degree of knowledge results in our being wise. But there are now many new ways of producing, storing, accessing, retrieving, exploiting and repurposing information – and knowledge – as for example, ‘Web 2.0’ developments – such as blogs, now ‘gaining trust’ – as discussed by Tibor Koltay.
The wisest mind has something yet to learn. It is no longer enough to be smart—all the technological tools in the world add meaning and value only if they enhance our core values, the deepest part of our heart. Acquiring knowledge is no guarantee of practical, useful application. Wisdom implies a mature integration of appropriate knowledge, a seasoned ability to filter the inessential from the essential. Childre and Cryer, 1999.
GOING DIGITAL Today, the word digital is used as a shorthand to describe information technology, infrastructure, networks, devices and content. Digital technology is providing the means to transform organisational efficiency and it is irreversibly changing the world to such an extent that we lead our lives in both the physical and virtual worlds. Entire industries, from music to media, have been forced to face up to the digital revolution, and to re-invent themselves in order to thrive and progress. Jisc Strategy, 2013–167
We live in a digital world8 as much as a physical one and there is no sign that the speed of technological change will do other than quicken over the next ten years if not beyond. I have been one of a number of authors who have charted the development of the Internet and its impact – including for 6 https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Wisdom. 8 https://works.bepress.com/borgman/238/.
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good – on the provision of library and information services over the last 20 years or so, and what the future might hold over the next 20 years (see especially Baker, 1992, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2016). Consider: in 2002, streaming video was rare, short and choppy. Wireless hotspots were a novelty. Mobile phones were primarily used for (gasp!) phone calls. Commercial GPS applications were still in the early stages of development. Bloggers could be counted by the handful. Social networking sites like Friendster, Myspace and Facebook were still confined to Bay Area networks and technologists’ imaginations. A ‘tumbler’ was a type of drinking glass; a ‘tweet’ was a type of birdcall. Simply put, the Internet of 2012 is different from the Internet of 2002. What is more, there is little reason to suppose this rapid evolution is finished: The Internet of 2022 will likely be different from the Internet of 2012. Karpf, 2012.
The decline – or at least the significant alteration – of the traditional library is seen as an inevitable consequence of technology development. Technology has empowered people and digital empowerment is affecting all aspects of life and at all levels, and will do so ever more in the future (Baker, 2016; Bloom, 2016; Fletcher, 2016; Lotriet, 2016). The challenges facing libraries and librarians, then, are significant and are logged and analysed both in this chapter and later contributions to this book, as well as by many other writers, as for example, many chapters in the substantial anthology that Wendy Evans and I organised in 2010 (Baker and Evans, 2010) and more recently in the series of Digital Information Reviews that we have edited and written (Baker and Evans, 2013b; Baker and Evans, 2016a). Conventionally, a library provides users with physical space to study and with print resources to do research. As the tides of digital revolutions rushed in, everything changed, including libraries. Libraries are transforming from physical to virtual. The first revolution is the digitisation of items across the 1980s and 1990s and then the deep penetration of broadband in the 2000s... The second Digital Revolution has c onsisted of the widespread adoption of mobile devices…. In addition, we have e xperienced other revolutions in computing, telecommunications, information systems, Internet and so on…Thus, libraries face stern challenges from many directions. For instance, there is the question of dealing with print collections changing from physical to digital. Previously, people came to the library. Now the library reaches out to users through broadband, mobile technology, and social media. Chan and Spodick (2016).
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But, as I have discussed elsewhere (Baker, 2016), it is not just a question of the incremental advancement that we have seen to such good effect in library and information provision over the last 30–40 years; we are now very much in the realm of radical, discontinuous change in a way that we have perhaps not been since the first golden age of the railways in the 19th century.9 ‘The more things change, the more they can never be the same’ (Veaner, 1982). Never was Allan Veaner’s oft-quoted statement more apt than it is now.
There was a time when a steam engine was an iron horse and a motorcar was a horseless carriage. So it is that the badge of library is now attached as a metaphor of transition to digital asset collections of whatever stripe. It is certainly the case that digital assets now form key building blocks for libraries and information services in both private and public sectors. It is positively not the case that every organisation building and maintaining collections of digital assets would consider itself to be a library. This may be self evident, but it raises important issues concerning the relationships between traditionally separate institutions and the ways in which service boundaries in the digital space may need to be drawn in the future. The difference between popular ideas of the library – a place with physical collections managed by librarians – and what may in future be implied by the notion of the digital library is not merely a matter of semantics. It underlines the possibility that, in the long term, success in the digital space may require radical redefinition of institutional roles and structures. Batt (2016a).
We are experiencing a paradigm shift, not only in terms of a ‘fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of (the) discipline’ of library and information provision (qua librarianship) with most if not all of the innovatory work being done outside the established or prevailing development frameworks (Baker, 2016); but also as a result of the fact that, because there is no longer perceived to be a ‘common model or an example’ of what the library is, or should be, the ‘coherence’ of the tradition of library provision falls apart. Thus has come about the ‘profound change in (the) fundamental model (and) perception of (library provision)’.10 9 http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/railways/railways.htm;
http://railway-history.walkingclub.org. uk/2010/01/golden-age-of-railways.html. 10 Quotations taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm_shift.
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We are witnessing a paradigm shift, creating a dynamic geospatial ecosystem in which information and technology are not only integrated in mainstream enterprises, but such information and unlimited applications extend beyond, to consumers and citizens, and …the increasing role, and harnessing the value of ‘data’ – from the public sector and corporations alike – is set to revolutionise and bring about further societal and economic change, in part through transformational change agendas with increasing data transparency and openness. Smyth (2015).
So then, ‘libraries are facing times of unprecedented challenge and unparalleled change. Innovation has moved from a consideration to a necessity’ (Brundy, 2015). Substantial adaptation requires innovation. Innovation is the subject of a whole volume in its own right, recently published by the present editors in the Advances in Library Administration and Organization series – volume 35 (see especially Baker, 2016). There is a significant deterioration in traditional library provision across the globe (Baker and Evans, 2010) and sadly, especially in Africa where the public library, once labelled as ‘the People’s University’, is in significant decline, not only because of dwindling resources but also as a result of a widespread inability to develop service solutions based on current and likely future technologies, as Stephen Akintunde laments later in this book. But the reduction in available resources is not just about provision in the Third World. Priorities across the globe have tended to move away from the civic and even the academic library, though there have been notable attempts to reverse the trend by reinventing the physical library for 21st century public consumption.11
It is suggested that a decline in reading parallels a larger retreat from participation in civic and cultural life …so libraries have a more crucial role than ever in maintaining civic and cultural engagement and the re-imagined roles of the library must counter this trend. While reading might be an introvert activity, the library must have an extrovert presence. The architectural identity of libraries must remain a predominant feature in the urban landscape. They are an internal extension of the public realm of streets and squares, providing shelter and spaces for the population to interact, read, study, watch, pause, contemplate and think. Smith (2015).
11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Birmingham.
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The immediacy of the Internet does not sit well with perceptions of traditional library provision. As Sarah Porter stresses in her in-depth study of the development of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) ‘consumers increasingly expect rapid change in online services, with new products and services appearing regularly, and new features and added value with those services that they already use’ (Porter, 2015). There are many dangers for libraries of all kinds, including the most prestigious academic ones, as Mai Aggerbeck and colleagues describe, especially as a result of such ‘disruptive technologies’. Even the core of the library – its collections – is under attack; John Robinson suggests that we are losing them ‘bit by bit’.
Throughout most of the history of libraries, one of their primary tasks has been to collect and preserve the Scholarly Record. The money we spent collecting the books, journals, articles, manuscripts and archives went to physical assets that we carefully preserved for posterity. Libraries were an essential part of the processes of scholarship, the chain of thinking and research and writing and publication, enabling future scholars to build upon the foundations of knowledge laid down over generations. Since the advent of electronic information services, libraries have spent increasing proportions of their collection funds not on collecting material but on connecting their users to material held elsewhere. We spend large sums of money for the convenience of our users to gain access to material that we will never – in most cases – hold. Instant access to online material is now taken for granted but what has happened to the primary function of libraries, to collect and preserve? Where are these collections for which we are paying so much money? Who owns and controls them? What assurance do we have that the information will be there for those future generations of scholars? Will we wake up one day and discover that they have disappeared into a digital dark age and realise – too late – that while we have been spending our funds for access to collections we have been losing those collections in the process, bit by digital bit? John Robinson, Retired Director of Library and Information Services (2009–2016), SOAS, University of London.
Even the great libraries of the world, such as the British Library, have faced major challenges with regard to the future of their collections as we move into the digital world.
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One of the main changes in moving from analogue to digital collection development is what it means to ‘collect’. To be considered as part of a library collection in the analogue world, a book or journal had to be physically brought into the library, stored on its shelves and preserved within its environment. But the nature of ‘collecting’ can mean something very different for digital information and materials. Academic libraries have connected their users to electronic journals for many years, substituting them for the physical version which previously sat on their shelves. Huge improvements in quality of access meant that the community adapted rapidly and willingly to the idea of connecting to parts of the ‘collection’ remotely. Access rights replaced physical ownership as the fundamental definition of being ‘in’ a library collection. Brazier (2016).
Access has overtaken and replaced physical provision as the key aspect and performance indicator of ‘library’ provision in the 21st century. Libraries will continue to be what they always have been: repositories of codexes and other paper-based data... What they’ll no longer be is research tools that are an integrated part of the knowledge economy... You can see this already at the Bibliotheque National in Paris: all the holdings have been digitised and the Library is perforce... empty. Indeed, once all the paper data has been digitised (or, at any rate, that proportion of it which is effectively used), so it will no longer be necessary for a researcher to physically enter the library building. Will Self, Novelist and Journalist
But is this a good thing for libraries and librarians; that they have given away their access rights and are thereafter beholden to others to use what was once ours? John Robinson wonders if we are not in danger of becoming ‘information serfs in the age of the cloud’. At the RLUK Conference in 2016, Professor Gerard Meijer described the current state of Scholarly Publication in the Netherlands under which 1.5–2% of university budgets go to subscription charges. He described the “strange” model of subscription-based publishing. Researchers deliver the material in the format required by the publishers and assist in peer review, mostly for no remuneration but then their universities have to pay for them to be able to read the research outputs. To illustrate the absurdity of the current arrangements, he said it had been characterised by a former director of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences as being like a situation in which farmers grow their produce, give it to the supermarkets for little or no charge but then, when they want to eat, have to pay high prices to buy it back.
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At least, in that scenario, the farmers own the land on which their produce is grown and could take it elsewhere. Recent moves in the field of research data have seen large publishers offering to take and manage the primary research data, putting it somewhere in “the cloud”. It is portrayed as a “solution” for researchers who don’t have to worry about the complex infrastructure required to hold and manage digital research data. Are we facing a scenario in which we no longer hold or control even our primary data? Will we wake up one day and discover that our academics and researchers have become little more than the labourers in the fields, who must give all they produce to the Landlords in the big houses on the hills? Is this new digital information age actually a reversion to an old Feudal model in which the thinkers and creators have been reduced to the status of information serfs and those of us who manage their access to information little more than the tax collectors on the turnpikes owned by the Lords of the Manor? John Robinson, Retired Director of Library and Information Services (2009– 2016), SOAS, University of London
There is much food for thought here, and perhaps also much to be resisted in terms of ownership of collections, analog or digital. Research libraries have been and should still be the link between the past and the future. Their collections should be open to anyone. Outsourcing e-collections to c ommercial interests undermines these objectives. Knut Hegna, Senior Academic Librarian, University of Oslo Library, Norway
And there are those who would suggest that librarians have themselves at least partly to blame for their potential loss of influence and importance. We often underperform. We have not done a good job of really understanding what our [users] are doing or what they expect from us. We’ve done a very bad job of collaborating… We have not even worked well with each other to form liaisons or collaborations to pursue common aims. Finally, we have not taken as much responsibility as we might have done – or done better. Brantley (2008).
And as a result, some literature and a number of opinion pieces believe that time really is now running out for libraries and librarians (see, for example, Law, 2016).
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Most academic libraries have a lot of catching up to do, e.g. by shifting the focus from their ‘own’ physical collections to digital collections which are or have the potential to become everyone’s. However, they face plenty of obstacles to do so and need to find a balance between the needs and wishes of both traditional and novel types of research. If academic libraries do not catch up, they risk becoming obsolete; if they do catch up at the cost of the trust and support of academics, they become irrelevant. Any form of change will meet opposition, and any change to the workings of an academic library will meet opposition from academics. Academic libraries need to find answers to this opposition which ensure that they guide the way to the present/future in partnership with (and certainly not against the will of) academics, because libraries which lose their primary users, also lose their reason for being. Dr Demmy Verbeke, Head, Artes at KU Leuven, Leuven, Flanders, Belgium
Library and information services are currently living through a fundamental realignment of the role, meaning and purpose of libraries and librarians, somewhat akin to that of a major movement in the tectonic plates of the Earth. The concept of service is i ncreasingly diverging from that of space/place; the skills, knowledge and expertise required to deliver a service effectively in relation to libraries’ use as physical spaces for learning, culture and social interaction, differs increasingly (and markedly) from the skills set required to provide effective access to and use of information. Such developments require a seismic re-envisioning of the role of the librarian. The extent to which the concept of the ‘library profession’ is now so fragmented may lead to our questioning the extent to which there is still identifiable a single profession, or whether increasingly divergent categorisations of service and service aspects mean that effectively there is now a series of increasingly specialised library professions, which may (or may not) be loosely grouped together.12 Dr Judith Broady-Preston, Reader in Information Management, Institute Director of Postgraduate Studies, Institute of Management, Law and Information Science, Aberystwyth University 12 Based
on a paper delivered to the 11th Northumbria International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information services, Edinburgh, 20–22 July 2015.
NOT DEAD, BUT SLEEPING? However, many feel that the death of the library has been exaggerated (Baker, 2016). As Henrik Jochumsen and colleagues put it later in this volume, ‘nothing indicates that people have stopped using the physical library – they just use it in new ways’. There is still a good deal of value in the concept of ‘the library’, even in this digital age.
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The End of Wisdom?
The future of libraries will depend on strengthening the concept of the library brand. Attempts have been made to change the brand so that libraries were presented as being such things as ‘learning resource centres’, ‘hubs’, ‘resource centres’ and ‘innovation zones’. This major result of the actions was the confusion and apathy it generated in library users. Libraries are all about collaboration, providing support, generating inspiration, responding to users’ needs and embracing change. If these strengths are supported and enhanced, the future of the library will be safe. The key message is not to be afraid of the ‘L’ word. Dr Graham Walton, Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for Information Management, Loughborough University, UK
Very many authors and opinion formers believe that libraries and librarians have much to offer, provided that there is a reorientation of what is being offered. But as Bruce Massis comments, ‘the library’ has to be more than ‘just a social safety net’; it has to be a central and integral part of the community in which it is located and which it is meant to serve.
The civic and cultural fabric of a town or city in which a library has closed is like a welcoming and familiar smile with a newly missing tooth… Libraries in the digital age will remain places for physical books; however, they will adopt radical new guises as they adapt to serve their users in new ways that are being facilitated by digital technologies. Dr Charlie Smith, Senior Lecturer, Liverpool School of Art and Design, Liverpool John Moores University
As Daniella Smith summarises, people hunger for information and have almost boundless access to infinite amounts of it, accurate or otherwise. Libraries – and more especially librarians – could and should have a vital role to help users navigate through this infinite digital world and make wise selections from the information provision that is universally if not endlessly available. Julie Arndrup describes her experience in Denmark, where use of traditional library services is increasing alongside the take-up of digital facilities. Karen Carden makes much the same point in her contribution. Instead of ‘bricks to clicks’ or ‘collection to connection’ – that is to say virtual rather than physical libraries – we are moving from ‘collection to creation’. As for academic libraries, ‘digital pedagogy’ is already a significant driver of change in service provision.
The Future of Libraries in the Digital Age
13
New ‘Digital Pedagogies’ have emerged which are specifically tailored to the perceived behaviours of ‘digital natives’. These pedagogies have shifted the focus of teaching away from face-to-face physical (analogue) interaction, and towards an online, interactive, constructionist pedagogy, which can be led by the student, as much as the teacher. Steve Bowman, Deputy Librarian, University of Chichester
Today librarians face stern challenges from many directions: technology, social media, users’ demands, and internal processes. These days, we need to manage both physical and virtual collections, and deal with digital rights management, licensing and copyright. We need to teach with new teaching pedagogies; assess students’ information literacy competency; and market our services and resources to various user groups. Not only do we need to be equipped with digital skills, social media skills, and multi-tasking abilities; we must also expand our roles in learning, scholarly communications, educational technologies, and document and data archiving. Libraries need to use a combined strategy of recruiting new blood with new skill sets and reskilling existing staff. We need to regard staff development as mission-critical and adopt a proactive rather than reactive approach. Diana Chan, University Librarian, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST)
A library is so much more than a physical building full of books. Not just because of the massive growth in electronic library collections that can be accessed at any time and from anywhere. Libraries, physical or virtual, are places for people too. A library provides people with a place to connect, to learn, and to be inspired and a safe haven to explore new worlds. A library is a diverse, inclusive and democratic space at the centre of its community whether that is in an inner city or on a tranquil university campus or even online. And at the heart of every good library is a librarian enabling equitable access to information. Alison Baud, Director of Library and Learning Services, Bath Spa University
Given the fact that some writers now believe we live in a postmodern or late modern world, there is an opportunity to take stock of the radical and sometimes discontinuous changes experienced over the last 20 years or so, and to review and renew the place of library and information services in the present and likely future environment. Indeed, there is the potential for ‘the best of both worlds’, as Julie Arndrup describes it in her contribution, with many (at least of the more advanced library systems) ‘being at the fore
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The End of Wisdom?
when it comes to the exploitation of digital opportunities’. Charlie Smith explores how digital developments are changing the ‘rich and diverse’ roles of libraries and how they might evolve in the future. Smith stresses how ‘even digitally literate young adults do not see a future without (libraries), nor without physical books’. Alongside this, Jochumsen and colleagues look at an exciting and innovative approach to future use of physical space according to four key objectives: experience; involvement; empowerment; innovation. As Ayub Khan puts it, we are seeing a ‘blurring [of the] lines [between] physical and online libraries’. I have recently become the Digital Lead for the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) and, as part of the role, I have been exploring the ways physical and online libraries interact. Library professionals still tend to talk about them as two different entities – and count the traffic and custom each generates separately. Understandable, really, given that only a few years ago ‘virtual libraries’ were seen as an add-on service – an optional extra to the core offer. Increasingly, though, physical and online libraries work interdependently, and the lines between the two are blurring. On one level the links are obvious: customers requesting, reserving and renewing loan items online that they collect from, and return to, a physical library. But recent developments indicate something else is going on. The Government’s ‘ambitions’ for libraries signpost the direction of travel. William Sieghart, in his ‘Independent Library Report for England’ (December 2014), said ‘re-invigorated’ library services should offer customers a national, digital library network – and local community hubs centred on free public wifi. The model is socially inclusive – as libraries have always been – but technology based. The Libraries Taskforce, reporting in March 2016, said it wants to see more ‘makerspaces’ emerge using technology such as 3D printers. So the future for libraries is not just about consumers, but creators, too. Libraries are valuable assets for both local and national government as they move towards ‘digital by default’ services. An estimated 20% of the population has no digital technology at home, and many more lack the skills or confidence to transact online. At the same time, it’s getting more difficult to do things offline – pay a bill, ask a question, apply for benefits or a job. Libraries – with their well-trained staff, public computers and free wifi – are becoming digital assist centres for local authority services. And SCL has successfully tendered to become part of the framework by which Government departments will commission digital support.
The Future of Libraries in the Digital Age
There is, of course, a caveat to all this. Stephen Jeffares, Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Birmingham, recently wrote about the risks of ‘channel shift’ – and the lost opportunities for face-to-face interaction. He used self-service library terminals as an example and said “we risk disconnecting and distancing ourselves from the people we serve”. I take his point but would argue, from my experience, that those terminals release library staff from desk duties to spend more time helping customers. However much technology libraries employ, the availability and approachability of well-trained, digitally-skilled staff will always be key. QR codes, touch screens and augmented reality are already here, and digital devices will become ever more mobile. ‘Near feel communication’ has been used in some libraries and will soon be commonplace in others. The radio frequency technology allows objects – such as mobile phones, computers, tags, or posters – to exchange information wirelessly across a small distance. The libraries of the future will blend ‘real’ and virtual services, making little or no distinction between the two – not just interdependent but indivisible. Meanwhile, we are seeing more examples of the ways the physical and digital overlap. The Government’s Access to Research programme offers physical library users ‘free, walk-in access to more than 10 million academic articles and journals’. Customers can check what’s available online – but have to visit a participating library to read the full text. Many libraries host Code Clubs to help children develop digital and programming skills. Some have embraced the PokemonGo craze, promoting their free charging stations and wifi by encouraging gamers to seek Pokemon amongst the bookshelves. Further evidence of ‘blurring lines’ came from beyond the library sector – with the opening of Amazon’s first physical bookshop in Seattle, last November. Online customer reviews and ratings are used to promote stock on actual shelves. Not a bad idea…The need for public libraries will continue in a digital age and the core values underpinning the original mission remain, and will be delivered to all of our customers in a variety of ways – just as we have delivered services for the last one hundred and fifty years. Ayub Khan MBE, Digital Lead for the Society of Chief Librarians, CILIP Fellow, Head of Warwickshire Libraries
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The End of Wisdom?
Advances in digital technologies continue to play a critical role in shaping the future of academic libraries. The digital revolutions in broadband, mobile devices, social networking and other areas have led to a fundamental transformation of physical libraries into the digital domain. Conventionally, library resources and s ervices were delivered in a physical building. Now most libraries are expanding their influences into the digital realm... Not only do we need to manage physical libraries, we also need to manage our digital assets and space; and provide e lectronic services in this digital era. Thus, we can facilitate learning without boundaries and through digital mediums. Roberts (2016).
And as the idea of ‘publication’ becomes stretched, questioned, reinvented and redefined in the light of ‘the Web’ as a publishing medium, as Niels Brügger discusses in his chapter, there are significant opportunities to rethink the relationship between libraries, archives, museums and other heritage institutions. Indeed, because Brügger stresses that while ‘the Web’ is now an integral part of everybody’s lives, it is not an ‘archive’ even though older material can be found through the Internet and ‘the library’ may therefore have a critical role to play in preserving older Web material for posterity, thus renewing its heritage role in the digital age.
Libraries, and especially national libraries, should be the cultural heritage institutions to archive the Web. However natural this has seemed it tends to obscure to what extent Web archives—in their present librarian form—are, in fact, Web archives. When setting out to collect and preserve the cultural heritage, a division of labour is usually made between, on the one hand, institutions that preserve artefacts—museums—and, on the other hand, institutions preserving documents, in the broad sense of the word, namely archives and libraries. The fundamental difference between the latter two revolves around the concept of ‘publication’: archives keep what has not been made publicly available, such as personal documents (diaries, photos, correspondence and so on.) or internal documents from companies and organisations (minutes of meetings, strategy papers, accounts, for example), whereas libraries preserve all that has been made available to the public. Niels Brügger, Professor and Head of the Centre for Internet Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark
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There was a time only a few decades ago when public and private sector i nstitutions trading in information, whether public destinations such as museums, libraries and archives, or information services within private sector organisations, could only achieve their missions through a physical presence. Moreover, the lack of a lternatives meant that they held a monopolistic status. Contrast that situation with the complex patterns of networks and services that exist beyond those more traditional service structures. Ubiquitous services such as Google, Wikipedia and YouTube have transformed our opportunities to locate information and to learn from others. Commercial aggregation services have made it possible for institutions such as academic libraries and companies in the private sector to buy-in comprehensive information resources online and make them available to their users directly to their local devices, but pricing schemes make these prohibitively expensive for general access. Furthermore, innovations such as e-books, video streaming and audio downloads again encroach on the traditional library service propositions. Digital innovation has introduced new business models (e.g. peer production, social networking); and reduced the cost of risk taking for the entrepreneur. The result is that the monopoly that the traditional institution took for granted has gone for good. Strategic review thus will call for institutions to define clearly their long-term mission within the context of today’s new landscapes of competition and the future uncertainty of what will be the next big idea to appear from a mega-company in California or a teenager entrepreneur. Batt (2016a).
DIRECTIONS AND OPTIONS FOR LIBRARIES, LIBRARY MANAGERS AND USERS So there are plenty of opportunities as well as threats; a whole host of strengths – actual and potential – as well as real and perceived weaknesses in current and possible future library and information provision. Daniella Smith speaks of ‘reinvigorated opportunities’ of ‘changing the old into something new’. As Diana Chan stresses in her contribution to this volume,‘only businesses that are adaptable and can co-evolve with new and disruptive technology will stay competitive… the future of libraries relies on librarians’capacities to continuously transform our roles and skills’. However, Julie Arndrup cautions against competing on ‘market terms… [offering] the same as everyone else when what we have in fact is so unique and hard to find elsewhere’. Bas Savenije points out that there are some ‘essential values of the library sector [including] its reliability, independence, accessibility, pluriformity and authenticity.This role, by d efinition, cannot be taken over by the market’. Notwithstanding this, ‘the library’ has, in Louise Overgaard’s words, to be ‘a unique place’. Not that this will be easy (Shaffi and Farrington, 2014; Baker and Evans, 2016a), and there is no room for complacency.
Changing libraries and service environment require changing strategies for effective service Stephen Akintunde, Chief Librarian, University of Jos, Nigeria
A library’s ‘unique selling point’ – its USP – will …be determined by the quality of the services and functionality of the tools that it provides on top of the collections t hemselves. Shaping collections, creating context and interpretation will be c ompelling value-added services for future generations of researchers. Digital offers us the p otential to do much more and better – more distributed, better linked and signposted, better preserved, better integrated with related digital collections, with supporting and foundation research data, with both expert and crowd-based curation. Brazier (2016).
What will it take to be a great digital library? At one level great digital libraries will have the same qualities as great physical libraries – a combination of scale and distinctiveness, which maintains their ‘pulling power’ with researchers and has a high impact on audience loyalty. Distinctiveness will be more difficult to maintain in many areas of collecting as digital becomes the default for collecting. Just as big deals replaced expert selection tailored to local research conditions in the early days of digital library development, so e-books models will make our once-distinct purchased book collections feel very similar. In a distributed networked world where researchers can just as easily be a member of a library 10,000 miles away as 10 miles away, what makes them want to use your service? As we move to more and bigger shared collection services (shared repositories, shared archives, shared preservation, access to the same open content) it will be the heritage and special digital collections that will set institutions apart. Digital preservation will also be a vital component in what makes a great library. Guaranteeing access to future generations of researchers is a long-term goal and takes long-term trust and sense of permanence in an organisation. Perhaps it is here that the major library and cultural organisations can continue to make their most distinctive and valuable contribution – for they have this sense of permanence more than even the biggest and richest current players such as Google. We are very aware of the speed with which new players appear on the digital landscape, posing a threat (real or imagined) to the library model, but there remain concerns at how quickly they might d isappear again. Great digital libraries will also need a great vision and sense of leadership in their sphere, whether it is as a national library or as a major academic library. Innovation and openness to new ideas at institutional or national level will lead to the development of ambitious plans for the kind of web-scale infrastructure required to give visibility in a digital collections world.
The Future of Libraries in the Digital Age
Great digital libraries will continue to evolve. They will be very open to new types of partnerships, and to a wide range of emerging legal and commercial frameworks, very different from those we operate within at the moment. The ability to demonstrate leadership to other rights holders and commercial partners will be essential. Great digital libraries will still be great libraries. And they will be great libraries that see themselves in a completely new way, not just as digital equivalents of traditional collecting organisations but as digital media organisations. They need to be web-scale partners who can provide integrated access to past, present and future resources covering a wide swathe of knowledge. They need to become digital information p roviders, not just collectors. In making such a transition successfully, the great digital library will maintain or even improve its status as a good library. Brazier (2016).
It is clear that a number of technologies will enable the semi-automation or even the complete automation of a number of activities as discussed throughout this book.There is nothing new in this (Baker, 2016). Indeed, we now have bookless libraries, as discussed by Bruce Massis through his reference to digital delivery models. But some types of library provision are likely to remain the same, or similar, at least in principle. Perhaps the aspects of ‘traditional’ provision most likely to ensure will be found on the campus, whether it be concerned with learning and teaching, research or some other element of services to staff and students in academic environments. Having said that, there will be clear opportunities for expansion and development here, not least in the area of research data management.
I think the future of university libraries is fairly secure: they will continue to offer an evolving and vital “third space” demanded by students; they will continue to develop virtual collections and services to researchers (including resurrecting the concept of university presses for publishing) and there will be more collaboration between institutions around physical collection storage and access (including archives) to share storage costs and maximise campus space use. I fear for public libraries in the UK though – there may only be a few large municipal ones left or a few private subscription libraries like the London Library in wealthier areas. And I don’t see how the traditional commercial law firm library can survive much longer as commercial libraries on other sectors have been disbanded. Ultimately, library skills will always be needed in some form but the job titles and organisational entities requiring them will continue to change. Tim Wales, Director of Library Services, University of West London, UK
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The End of Wisdom?
From Cottage Industry to Boutique Services The next few decades will likely represent a “rites of passage” for university libraries. Few will continue in their current form; some may not continue at all. (Why have multiple university libraries, primarily delivering similar digital resources and services, just a few miles apart in large metropolitan areas?) More than thirty years after the introduction of the World Wide Web, university libraries will increasingly move from what some may see as predominantly cottage industries (where the key locus of activity has been local – albeit often within a commonwealth of collaborative services) to exploiting fully the opportunities presented by the digital and networked environment. Simultaneously, new options for boutique services (developed independently or with selected commercial or non-commercial partners) will be developed which facilitate researcher and student workflows and hence institutional success. Many cherished shibboleths will be put to rest. University libraries will no longer be able to be all things to all men. Nor will it prove possible to maintain an approach based on equity for all. Instead, university libraries (informed by institutional priorities) will increasingly make evidence-based choices not only to determine their particular portfolio of services but also the targeted audiences for certain resource intensive services. New service portfolios will be developed based on deep understanding of user needs. Service agility and a culture of rigorous review will enable new services to be implemented, changed or dropped quickly, as appropriate. Business intelligence relating to both internal operations and those of other libraries, providers and sectors, nationally and internationally, will become a critical competency requirement. The brave will embrace radical change to deliver user experiences and tailored interventions that their local community values. Economic factors and the need for scalability and sustainability will be key drivers demanding game-changing, not incremental, responses. New opportunities, including commercial options, will emerge to address many of the high volume repetitive and transactional activities still apparent today (including lending activities, initial information skills training etc.) For-profit organisations, established by skilled personnel who previously trained in university libraries, will contract to deliver bespoke, quality information tools, skills tutorials and services for delivery at scale. University libraries will become increasingly heterogeneous. Some will emerge as “super libraries”, delivering contracted services to other university libraries who no longer wish (or are able) to deliver all services in-house based on cost and expertise. Others will increasingly work, and possibly merge with, other campus services around, for example, the student or researcher experience. Strategic choices will lead to a
The Future of Libraries in the Digital Age
smaller, more highly skilled workforce in some university libraries whilst in others the staff complement will increase as they deliver outsourced services (either physical or virtual) for others. Whatever the particular local model, a key requirement will be to free up scarce and highly valued professional skills which can be focused on delivering best value and competitive advantage for the institution. Whilst the old certainties of the pre-digital age will have disappeared long ago the fittest will not only survive, but be liberated by, the exciting opportunities for the profession, its leadership and our students and academic communities. Anne Bell, Director of University Libraries, The University of Sydney, Australia
The library awaits a new future by broadening its scope to the information infrastructure, in particular to research data management. By doing so, its role as an intermediary between researchers and data archives becomes vital. Arjan Hogenaar, Policy advisor, Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS)
Tim Wales’s point about collaboration is taken up by Bas Savenije in his description of the national digital library of the Netherlands and its aim of making all Dutch publications digitally available by 2025. But to do this, the initiative will encompass all Dutch public libraries to ensure complete coverage and provision through the provision of joint infrastructure that creates ‘a dynamic information environment... that forms the basis for innovation and development’ across library, archive and other cultural institutions. The result of this overarching collaboration should be content of all kinds that is both reliable and easy to access by end users who will hardly ever need to be aware of the provenance of the material. I envision a digital community where a person can gather the information they need regardless of what kind of institution the resources are owned by. The person will not have to know where he or she is getting the information. Regardless of what role you have, a student, researcher, mother, tourist you should be able to get the right sort of resources you need at the time and in the role you have. Geser and Pereira (2004).
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The End of Wisdom?
While in many situations the physical collection may remain a fundamental part of collecting institutions’ armoury, the Internet offers a number of significant opportunities to extend the reach of collections and their value to everyone. Digital assets would be accessible to audiences remote from the physical collection while the interactivity enabled by the Internet would allow new connections to be made between objects in different institutions, building new knowledge. Social value would be maximised through single-channel access to the collective worth of all assets bringing greater clarity to the distinctive roles of the physical and of the digital. Batt (2016b).
WHAT, THEN, MIGHT ‘THE LIBRARY’ BECOME? ROUTE MAPS FOR THE FUTURE
The Future is not what it used to be… In an unknown land a compass is more use than a map Batt (2016a).
The goal of futuring is not to predict the future, but to make it better… Serious thinking about the future was long blocked by the belief that the future was unknowable and beyond our control. People who spoke about the future were regarded as dreamers, charlatans, or just fools, sensible people focused on their immediate business. Cornish (2004).
There is already a significant body of literature that deals with possible futures in general and the most likely futures for library and information services in particular (Batt, 2016a). 13 The later papers and opinion pieces in this volume offer a rich range of possibilities for ‘the library’. Charlie Smith’s digital native architecture students never once suggested a library without books in it. All the projects put forward envisaged a physical collection at the heart of the entity. But they, like many other writers and forecasters, are acutely aware of the many, varied and complex roles that a 13 http://www.bis.gov.uk/foresight;
http://www.bis.gov.uk/foresight; http://www.beyondcurrenthorizons.org.uk/; http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140108140803/http://www.bis.gov. uk/foresight/our-impact; http://www.futurelibraries.info/content/; http://www.artscouncil.org. uk/what-we-do/supporting-libraries/library-of-the-future/; http://www.museumsassociation.org/ museums2020; http://www.nmc.org/; http://www.internationalfuturesforum.com/three-horizons.
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library fulfills.‘Libraries should imaginatively nourish a range of interactions between users…[and] explore new ways of ‘meeting’ and new uses that are facilitated by digital technologies’. Julie Arndrup and Louise Overgaard offer examples of how libraries can serve citizens of all ages – but perhaps especially children and young people – in Denmark, a country where ‘in a few years there will be almost no place where you can meet a representative of the state face to face, other than at the public libraries’. In this scenario, the library becomes ‘a free space’ for people ‘on their own terms’. Arndrup and Smith’s position – that the future of libraries is not solely as digital entities, divorced from any physical space – is also argued by Karen Carden with a particular focus on specialist services, in this case academic art and design libraries. Bruce Massis makes much the same point, though in doing so he draws attention to the fact that subject-specific collections and services are ever more difficult to create given the explosion in subject knowledge and the creation of new areas of study which do not – as yet, at least – have an accompanying corpus of literature. In this context, of course, it is strongly argued that not everything in this and many other subject fields will ever be online, and the physical library collection and its main adjunct facilities and services will always be needed, the book, and the printed page more generally, being essential ‘not only for its content or its wisdom but also for itself ’. At the same time, as Aggerbeck and colleagues testify, the interdisciplinarity of much new knowledge offers the librarian opportunities to play a central role in the creation: integration and dissemination of cross-subject information and activity. In our society, a new role of thinking, understanding and sharing all kind of information reflects in part the faster growth of the Technology and Information Systems (TICs) in recent years and other from advances in the world economies, which places the libraries and all correlated actors into a new paradigm, into a big and connected social network. In this point-of-view, the future of libraries will reflect in how they can strong connect distinctive actors across the world and areas, where the actor will not be a passive agent but could perform as a brick in the big wall of the “information building”. The main role of libraries will be to offer a strong and d istinctive virtual place where people can exchange all kind of information at the same time they will help to growth a big and dense social network. Luiz Gustavo Antonio de Souza, Postdoctoral Researcher, Interdisciplinary Center of Energy Planning – NIPE, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
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The End of Wisdom?
Joachim Schöpfel rightly stresses that there will not be one but many futures – actual and potential – for libraries, partly because of the many and varied ways in which the term ‘library’ is, can and may be used, and partly in consequence of the radical and often discontinuous changes taking place in the broader environment in which ‘the library’ exists, for better or for worse. In this context, account must still be taken of the continuing divide – digital and otherwise – between different parts of the world, as discussed by Stephen Akintunde in his essay (see also Baker, 2008). What is the future role of libraries, if any, in Nigeria, Akintunde’s home country, where adult literacy levels even now are only just over 50%? Perversely, lack of strategic investment and resource management there means that public libraries at least are fading away rapidly. There will continue to be a tension between evolution and revolution (Baker, 2016). Bruce Massis talks of ‘continuous evolutionary change’ in the context of a limited number of ‘variations on a theme’ in terms of what a library (at least one serving an academic community) can and might look like in the future, the implication being that what we have in the future is similar to what is provided now. Not that evolutionary change is a bad thing: quite the opposite, as Bernard Scaife discusses with regard to the roles that libraries and librarians have added to their portfolio over the last 20 years, and particularly that of publisher, as also discussed by Joachim Schöpfel, who contends that librarians may also take over management of the peer review process in the academic publishing sector. This will all be part of librarians’ move along the ‘traditional value chain’, ‘from selection and acquisition… to production and dissemination’.
Though methods of obtaining information may change, libraries will never become irrelevant. Instead, they will continue to evolve into the future. The world may become more and move complicated, and societies may become more and more unstable, but as the needs of citizens become more insistent and far-reaching, more highly evolved libraries will rise to the challenge and serve those needs. The library will still be a central part of human society as we move from the end of ‘old’ wisdom and begin to advance toward ‘new’ wisdom. Masanori Koizumi, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba
A major theme running throughout The End of Wisdom is the ability to adapt as the best aid to survival. Later on in this volume, Charlie Smith
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quotes Charles Darwin in support of this position, as does Derek Law below. If ‘digital technologies … continue to change at an exponential rate – so, therefore, must the very idea of what libraries are’. So too does Joachim Schöpfel in his chapter: Nobody can, in good faith, predict the future of academic libraries. One of their main characteristics is an amazing diversity and variability which is essential to survival in unstable and fast-changing environments. Another feature is their flexibility and great capacity of adaptation. In natural and human history, the survivor is not necessarily the fittest and strongest species but the one who adapts best. Joachim Schöpfel, Director of the French National Centre for the Reproduction of Theses (ANRT) and scientist in information and communication sciences at the University of Lille (France).
Libraries have thus far evolved steadily. We started with the great library of Ashurbanipal with its collection of tablets of stone and over several thousand years have moved to very large dataset libraries. Along the way we have lost d ozens of formats and thousands of libraries. Libraries have hitherto been perfect examples of Darwinian principles. ‘One general law, leading to the advancement of all organic beings, namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.’ Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species
I believe that this imperative will continue and that the strongest libraries will survive and will necessarily exhibit some or all of the following characteristics: • The information hub for the organisation, offering information about the organisation as well as to the organisation • Information manager for the organisation, preserving (a non-trivial job), cataloguing and making available the output of the organisation. This will include IPR management, creative commons management, presence on Researchgate, Academia.com, Orcid etc. and their successors • Providing a neutral, comfortable working and learning space at all hours • Training and support in information retrieval skills • A reliable and authoritative information service for the organisation • But most importantly of all it will be integral to the parent organisation and will focus on delivering the mission of the organisation and not some separate set of irrelevant and ethereal if valuable set of library principles. Derek Law, Emeritus Professor, University of Strathclyde, UK
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’Collection’ has traditionally been seen as a core function of a library. However, the transformational rise of digital technology presents a range of challenges to e stablished collection development and management practices. A literature review describes some of these challenges and explores alternative terms, such as knowledge management, content management or information resource m anagement. Examples of how the term ‘collection’ is used in a range of new media applications are also considered, suggesting that ‘collection’ – speaking as it does to a fundamental human activity of bringing things together, organising them and imbuing them with a collective value distinct from that attributed to each individual item – may have the same broad applicability in the digital world as other terms such as ‘searching’ or ‘sharing’. In particular, adopting a more dynamic interpretation of ‘collection’ – defining it in terms of access and as a process of gathering items or content together, as well as being, in some cases, a self-contained entity – may help library and information services to emphasise the value they add to resources. I suggest that the concept of collection remains useful in the digital as well as the physical realm. It is relevant both to library and information services and more generally because of the breadth, nuance and sophistication of its potential meanings. Indeed, collection can be seen as a fundamental human activity. In some ways the term seems to be similar to those words which describe other real world activities which have become key parts of the emerging vocabulary of the digital world, such as ‘searching’ or ‘sharing’. Roberts (2016).
Public libraries, as I see them in the future, are places that people in local communities think of as their second home, or places where they feel safe. Safe in a sense that w hatever they want to ask, say, learn, express, share, showcase, etc.- they can do it in a library without holding back or feeling that what they need is a burden to other individuals or the society in general. Everybody is equal in libraries, and libraries meet people’s needs in order to contribute to the well-being of the whole community through providing training and services, access to information, space for fun and play, or sharing examples of good practice, improving people’s income, developing new ideas. People get together in libraries, and they are encouraged to think and innovate. Jelena Rajić, Librarian, Public Library Radislav Nikcevic, Serbia
Tomorrow’s libraries will be exciting places for all ages. Often situated at the heart of communities, they are ideally located to encourage and enable engagement in continued learning – whether this builds on existing knowledge or breaks into new areas. In particular, libraries of the future offer life-wide avenues to more formal learning opportunities through technology, being centres of learning socialisation and providing a base for the development of learning communities. Professor Jo Smedley, Director of UNIC Online, University of South Wales
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The example of Holstebro, described by Mai Aggerbeck and colleagues ‘testifies to the fact that the library as we know it is facing huge new challenges not only in terms of form and content of meaning, but also in terms of the organisational framework of understanding’. The response came about as the result of innovative, continuous, iterative, cross-disciplinary thinking and integrative application with ‘educational programmes and research as the focal points’. And this way of rethinking the library, as in so many others, as evinced by Charlie Smith’s work with architecture students, is about what users want and need. But what they want is not always what librarians think they need. Take Steve Bowman’s paper later in this volume, where he talks of the typical library response to the trend of BYOD (bring your own device) amongst students in tertiary education, and how this does not seem to fit with what many would regard as old-style physical provision of desktop PCs in on-campus buildings. Financial and more especially value for money considerations may be in play here, considering that students are (paying) ‘customers’ as much as ‘users’. So much for the ‘Martini’ (any time, any place, anywhere) access being forecast and promoted in the 2000s14 and the need, seemingly counter-intuitively, to adopt what Bowman terms a ‘retro-technological approach’ and (re) – open student PC centres and other ‘analog’ provision for the readership, despite the increasingly digital and mobile environment which this group of users inhabit, as described by Diana Chan and EvaVassilakaki amongst others throughout this volume. It is as if, having closed a number of the railway lines as a result of previous forecasts of future need, the lines are having to be reopened because of an unforeseen increase in demand for the trains – a once obsolescent technology – partly because it has become a more cost-effective way to travel than was once the case.15 Is this a ‘blip’ (at least in terms of library computing and connectivity provision) as Bowman, implies, or something more long term?16 But then fashions change, not least in library and information provision and technology application, as implied by Tibor Koltay in his analysis of Web 2.0 developments over the last 10 years (see also Baker, 2004). ‘Information literacy is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner.’ Vivien Sieber and colleagues look at ‘how instant access 14 http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/events/hybrid/programme.html. 15 See,
for example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeching_cuts; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/9948531/It-looks-like-Dr-Beeching-was-too-hasty-afterall.html; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21951552. 16 http://fortune.com/2015/09/24/ebook-sales/.
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to information alters our understanding of learning and the acquisition of knowledge’. As noted elsewhere in this chapter and throughout the rest of this book, librarians have a crucial role to play in ensuring that users are fully information literate as they acquire and create knowledge.
Several respondents expressed the conviction that digital services should not replace the physical as a library because the provision of solely digital documents is not regarded as being real. Therefore, in discussions on the development of digital s ervices, it is important to stress that the purpose of their development is not to replace the physical ones... Instead, digital services can be implemented and used in a fruitful way in the physical library, as a complement instead of a replacement… This possibility, and the complementary nature of both physical and digital services, can be found in some of the local politicians’ statements in this study, though not all… Respondents in this study and in previous studies highlight the public library’s importance as a physical space for more activities than simply the promotion of media and information. At the same time, there is a rapid on-going technological development that greatly changes the circumstances for public libraries. This is not necessarily a threat, but in order to respond to these changes so that the public library remains relevant and is not perceived as outdated in the community, there may be a need for expanding public library digital services… Precisely which new possibilities are relevant for particular public libraries and which digital services that meet the public’s needs should be implemented are important questions for public librarians. Michnik (2016).
[The] diversity and flexibility [of academic libraries] will be helpful to adapt and survive in the fast-changing environments of higher education and research. Their excellent knowledge of the information behaviours and needs of the scientific communities is another key element for future development, together with their physical space that can become an asset for the development of new services and their long tradition with networking and exchange on experiences and projects. Perhaps it is still too early to develop a consistent concept of the smart and sustainable academic library, a library that is social, open, digital, connected, mobile, networking, a virtual space and at the same time, a good place to live and to learn and to work. Joachim Schöpfel, Director of the French National Centre for the Reproduction of Theses (ANRT) and scientist in information and communication sciences at the University of Lille (France)
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The future of scientific libraries lies in the relation between information and customers. With digitisation more and more researchers as well as students access books and papers directly from the Web. However, it is not an easy task to find all necessary parts for their work due to the information deluge. Therefore, librarians have the chance to act as mediator for search and access, but also for preparing information from databases and other sources. Additionally, the library should move from a quiet place to a learning inspiring area where interaction of students is possible (e.g. interactive classrooms). Finally, having a book in your hands, flicking through the pages, taking handwritten notes, and in this way seeing your progress for learning and research will remain a very good process in information gaining, which is not well supported by digital services for many readers. Dr Veit Köppen, Department Head, IT-Applications, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
Whether it is in a cloud or in a printed book, there is no doubt that the world hungers for information. The current generation of youth has more access to information than any other. Youth continually create, share, and manipulate information in a variety of formats. Readily available information in digital formats present youth with numerous opportunities and challenges. Learning information literacy skills such as discerning creditable resources, synthesizing information, and exhibiting digital citizenship behaviors are essential to their well-being. However, these skills are not innate and must be taught… The amount of incorrect information on the Internet, the pervasiveness of digital media, and the need for youth to develop 21st century skills are all reasons why libraries are an essential part of society that should not be o verlooked. Libraries provide youth with their first structured learning environments… Daniella Smith, Associate Professor in the College of Information, University of North Texas
Ultimately, as the next short opinion pieces demonstrate, the best libraries of the future will be about people – the users – those who make the library what it can and should be.
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The library of the future, will no longer be for users, it will belong to the users. A hundred years ago we had ‘closed shelves’, where the librarian decided which and how many books lenders could check out. Then we opened up, and people could check out the books they wanted. 9 April this year [2016], the public library in Allerød, Denmark, started to open its doors 24 hours a day. You will only meet staff for eight hours a day when you visit the library. The rest of the day (and night) all you need is a social s ecurity card to let yourself in, and the library is open to you. So even though there are no staff, you can use the library, check out books, meet friends, study, have meetings and a lot more – all you need is a social- security card (all Danes have one of those) and you are welcome 24/7. The library is only closed New Year’s Eve. The thought behind the 24/7 library – as we call it – is that with trust, we give the library to the people of Allerød. It has so far been a huge success. More than 6000 people have used the library when there are no staff and there have been very few problems after staff have gone home: we are often met with new ‘buildings’ in the children’s department.
Photo by Melissa Wieser, Allerød Libraries, Denmark The future of the library belongs to everybody: It is no longer a place other people make for you – it is your place, and belongs to you. It is the heart and brain of the city. That is what we are working within our part of the world – and our first step to rewriting the book of Allerød library Annette Godt, Executive Director, Allerød Libraries, Denmark
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Libraries today are facing users who truly value the services of their staffed public libraries. User surveys, moreover, indicate that users, for example, in Sweden and Denmark, seriously appreciate both the presence of and the help that, in particular, a professional librarian can offer. On the other hand, we can also observe that probably the same users are excited about the new open, staff-less public libraries that have become commonplace in the Nordic countries since 2009 and now seems to spread to other European countries such as the UK. The two statements may display contradictory paradoxical features but are nevertheless a part of the many tricky challenges facing especially public libraries today. Carl Gustav Johansen, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
Given the chance to design a future library who should you listen to? The answer is yourself. No one knows what the future will be like so do your homework and find out what is going on and then apply your insight and imagination to create your dream. Committees don’t create dreams – people do. Les Watson, Library & Learning Consultant
THE END OF LIBRARIANS? While not necessarily bleak, the future of libraries is dependent upon dynamic, innovative librarians who can adapt to the ever-changing environment. Users’ needs and expectations have changed so dramatically that only librarians with forward-thinking approaches to service can meet these challenges. In a rural or lower income setting, where they are vital, libraries are tethered to budgets that only allow them to do so much. Government and legislators must provide a stronger emphasis on educational funding for libraries to survive. Otherwise, lower economic areas will continue to decline. While parsley may be decorative on the plate, it is not the main course. In a time of funding restraints, libraries must be selective in how they serve their users. Librarians and Administrators must remember that, in an academic setting, libraries are the most important source of information for users. Funding must be applied to resources to support scholarship and not spent frivolously on the unnecessary. Only then can we ensure our vitality.
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With the numerous graduates which library schools are turning out these days, job seekers need a better answer to the question ‘Why do you want to become a librarian?’ than a love of books and the library environment. They must have a love of service or user experience; otherwise, our future will be filled with shushing bookworms and not information professionals. Derek Marshall, Assistant Professor/Coordinator of the College of Veterinary Medicine Library, Mississippi State University
And what of librarians? Karen Carden describes professional staff who still carry out the ‘traditional’ work of stock selection as part of an integrated partnership with their senior users, not least because they themselves are full members of the relevant subject group. Matthew Naughtin describes the extra skills and roles that music librarians have adapted and adopted as a result of not only seizing opportunities but also capitalising on the facilities provided by latest technology, even though this raises the ‘delicate’ issue of drift in the librarian’s duties towards other, different, professions. Judging by a number of the contributions to this volume, one new role for the librarian is that of publisher and, as Bernard Scaife points out, library staff start out from a good position in this activity. But the environment in which many librarians work has changed more radically, with an increasing prevalence in the decoupling of library staff from the physical library space and library collections. The concept of ‘the disembedded librarian’ is brought to the fore by Mai Aggerbeck and colleagues and reinforced by Fornovi-Rodríguez with particular reference to research support. As their paper points out ‘the challenge for the librarian is that the contact between the users of the library and the librarian has diminished in the digital environment, as compared to the contact in an analog environment’. But this is part of a far larger societal whole recognised by Giddens and others (Giddens, 1990) and seen as being at least partly as a result of technological systems that distance people from each other. ‘We cannot serve our users without knowing the User Experience’ (Diana Chan, in this publication). In addition, users need to feel, and now typically are, in control rather than beholden to intermediaries such as librarians or even publishers.Witness the many changes over the last 20 years logged in Baker and Evans’s various publications, as described above and listed in the references at the end of this chapter, with perhaps a particular emphasis on our recent work on innovation in library and information work (Baker and Evans, 2016b).
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Not that librarians have been standing still and doing nothing throughout the recent times of turbulence. Diana Chan demonstrates that quite the opposite has been the case, as do Bruce Massis and many of the other authors (such as Belén Fornovi-Rodríguez) represented in this volume, with library staff already taking on board a whole range of new roles, sometimes in addition to existing responsibilities, sometimes instead of more traditional work; but always – to be of greatest positive effect – in collaborative and flexible ways and with the user as the central focus. As Bas Savenije especially stresses, with a willingness to leave behind traditional models and boundaries, for ‘the purpose of these organisations is less and less determined by their own mission, and increasingly by their network and the role that they play in it. As a result, cooperation is becoming an essential condition of existence’. But this is in a more general context of a profession whose members will become ‘more heterogeneous and follow different development paths from task to task’, as Mai Aggerbeck and colleagues, Bruce Massis, Eva Vasilakaki and Bas Savenije all suggest, with the ‘fading of many existing boundaries’ between many different professions and institutions, largely, but not solely, due to technology developments. At the same time, new linkages are forming, as for example, between librarians and teachers. It is the librarians and library services who proactively engage with their changing and turbulent environment who are likely to win out most successfully. Both for libraries and librarians there is an urgent and substantial need for reinvention as well as significant innovation, as described by Bruce Massis and many others in this volume and elsewhere, as evinced by the many books, chapters and articles cited here. Thereby the Internet has replaced the library in the sense that informal structures are storing relevant, utilized and shared information nearly automatically… Information management of the future…will…be able to do far more than locating, processing and arranging rigidly structured information as it presently does. [It]… must break away from the tradition of the classic rule of three of locating, processing and providing and face up to the digital reality. And there are wonderful tasks waiting for the information management of the future: The internet with its digital massive amounts of data has created a basis librarians have been dreaming about for centuries…it becomes clear that the digital world of the 21st century offers an excellent basis for generating knowledge and wisdom. Rafael Ball, Director of ETH-Library Zurich, Switzerland
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Two possible developments can be identified. On the one hand, Web archives within the realm of libraries (‘Webraries’) could integrate more and more of what was previously considered private communication, but is now made public on the Web, either by purpose, or unintentionally simply because this type of material enters the Web archive, although it was not intended to be publicly available. In this sense the library moves towards the archive. On the other hand, Web archives within the realm of archives may have to integrate material that is clearly made publicly available today, but was previously only private communication, for instance diaries in the form of blogs, photo albums or video collections in the form of Flickr or YouTube. In this sense the archive moves towards the library. In any case, the advent of the Web and its specific way of publication tend to force libraries as well as archives to rethink the previously clear distinctions between what they were supposed to do. Niels Brügger, Professor and Head of the Centre for Internet Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark
END NOTE Henrik Jochumsen and his colleagues stress later in this book that ‘in the future, we need not only something to sustain us, but also something to live for’. Charlie Smith talks of the ‘visceral element to reading physical books in a library’ and the rich stimulation of ‘our senses of touch, smell, sight and sound’ that results. Louise Overgaard talks of libraries as ‘active cultural learning places’, fulfilling a key role as ‘melting pot for cultural institutions’, where families with ‘different needs and backgrounds’ can ‘play, try, create, collaborate, develop and innovate’. The library is a unique place where people are inspired. Long may it remain so. Michael Ramsey, a former Archbishop of Canterbury and hence leader of the Anglican Communion worldwide determined that, ‘Wisdom is the ability to cope’.17 If that is the case, then libraries and librarians have long demonstrated their wisdom and are likely to continue doing so for a long time to come. It is hard to imagine a future without libraries. The libraries of my preferred future will be exciting places that offer access to and curate resources – digital and physical – but more importantly, social spaces where people can be exposed to and connected with
17 https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Wisdom.
See also http://www.radiotimes.com/news/201308-25/stephen-fry-on-qi-religion-knowledge-and-why-sherlock-holmes-was-wrong.
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knowledge. At a time when content is ubiquitous but often of questionable provenance and quality, it is more important than ever that we have reliable and authoritative destinations which we can trust to help us discover the truth. Long live the library! Sarah Porter, Independent advisor and SeroHE Associate, Member of the Higher Education Commission, UK
The core purpose of libraries has not changed, fundamentally the purpose of libraries to provide, facilitate, drive access to knowledge is still the same, stronger and more important than ever before. How we provide library and information services has evolved and will continue to evolve, but in fulfilling their purpose, libraries are increasingly more about connecting people in their communities and making breakthroughs in people’s lives. It remains the only public institution which is free and accessible to any person, any age, any race, any language, poor and rich, protecting and preserving the heritage of humankind and cannot be replace by any other service. The library profession should therefore remain steadfast in its quest to be at the forefront of driving and advocating for access to knowledge for development, equality and peace in the world. Access to information is essential for all – only libraries can ensure that! Ellen Tise (speaking at the IFLA Conference in Columbus, 2016), Senior Director, Library and Information Services, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
REFERENCES Baker, D. (1992) Access versus holdings policy with special reference to the University of East Anglia. Interlending and Document Supply. Vol. 20, No. 4: 131–137. Baker, D. (2004) The Strategic Management of Technology: a Guide for Library and Information Services. Oxford: Chandos. Baker, D. (2006) Digital library futures: a UK HE and FE perspective. Interlending and document supply. Vol. 34, No. 1: 4–8. Baker, D. (2007) Combining the best of both worlds: the hybrid library. In Earnshaw, R. and Vince, J. (Eds.) Digital Convergence: Libraries of the Future. London: Springer: 95–106. Baker, D. (2008) From needles and haystacks to elephants and fleas: strategic information management in the information age. New review of academic librarianship.Vol. 14, No. 1–2: 1–16. Baker, D. (2016) Making Sure Things Can Never Be the Same Again: Innovation in Library and Information Services. Advances in Library Administration and Organization. Vol. 35. Baker, D. and Evans, W. (2009) Digital Library Economics: An Academic Perspective. Oxford: Chandos. Baker, D. and Evans, W. (2010) Libraries and Society: Role, Social Responsibility and Future Challenges. Oxford: Chandos.
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Baker, D. and Evans, W. (2013a) A Handbook of Digital Library Economics. Oxford: Chandos. Baker, D. and Evans, W. (2013b) Trends, Discovery and People in the Digital Age. Oxford: Chandos. Baker, D and Evans, W. (Eds.) (2016a) Digital Information Strategies: from Applications and Content to Libraries and People. Oxford: Chandos. Baker, D. and Evans, W. (Eds.) (2016b) Innovation in Libraries and Information Services. Advances in Library Administration and Organization. Vol. 35. Batt, C. (2016a) Strategic Futures for Digital Information Services. In Baker, D and Evans,W. (Eds.) Digital Information Strategies: from Applications and Content to Libraries and People. Oxford: Chandos: 21–38. Batt, C. (2016b) New Approaches to Digital Strategy in the 21st Century. Advances in Library Administration and Organization. Vol. 35. Blagden, J. (1980) Do We Really Need Libraries? An Assessment of Approaches to the Evaluation and Performance of Libraries. London: Clive Bingley. Bloom, A. (2016) Twitter’s herd instinct may isolate us from new ideas. THE. Vol. 5206: 16–17, 15 July. Brantley, P. (2008) Architectures for Collaboration: Rules and Expectations of Digital Libraries. Educause Review. Vol. 43, No. 2. [Online] Available from: http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/ArchitecturesforCollabora/46313. Brazier, C. (2016) Great Libraries? Good Libraries? Digital Collection Development and What it means for our Great Research Collections. In Baker, D and Evans, W. (Eds.) Digital Information Strategies: from Applications and Content to Libraries and People. Oxford: Chandos: 41–56. Brundy, C. (2015) Academic Libraries and Innovation: A Literature Review. Journal of Library Innovation. Vol. 6, No. 1. [Online] Available from: http://www.libraryinnovation.org/ article/view/420/625. Carrière, D. and Eco, U. (2012) This is Not the End of the Book. New York: Random House. Chan, D. and Spodick, E. (2016) Transforming Libraries from Physical to Virtual. In Baker, D. and Evans, W. (Eds.) Digital Information Strategies: from Applications and Content to Libraries and People. Oxford: Chandos: 103–116. Childre, D. L. and Cryer, B. (1999) From chaos to coherence: advancing emotional and organizational intelligence through inner quality management. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann. Cornish, E. (2004) Futuring: The Exploration of the Future. Bethesda, MD: World Future Society. Fletcher, T. (2016) Naked Diplomacy: Power and Statecraft in the Digital Age. London: William Collins. Geser, G. and Pereira, J. (2004) The Future Digital Heritage Space: An Expedition Report Thematic Issue 7. Salzburg: Digicult Consortium. Giddens, A. (1990) The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford: University Press. Karpf, D. (2012) Social Science Research Methods. Internet Time. Information, Communication and Society. Vol. 15, No. 5: 639–661. Law, D. (2016) Capacity and Capability: How can Library and Information Services make sure they succeed? Advances in Library Administration and Organization. Vol. 35. Lotriet, C. (2016) Cyberpsychology unlocks why kids overshare online. THES. Vol. 5206: 41, 15 July. Michnik, K. (2016) Swedish Local Politicians’ Views on Public Library Digital Services. In Baker D. and Evans, W. (Eds.) Digital Information Strategies: from Applications and Content to Libraries and People. Oxford: Chandos: 131–142. Porter, S. (2015) To MOOC or not to MOOC: How Can Online Learning Help to Build the Future of Higher Education? Oxford: Chandos. Roberts, A. (2016) Conceptualising the Library Collection for the Digital World. In Baker, D and Evans, W. (Eds.) Digital Information Strategies: from Applications and Content to Libraries and People. Oxford: Chandos: 143-156.
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Shaffi, S. and Farrington, J. (2014) Publishers set up direct to consumer offers: reader relationships key to D2C sales. The Bookseller. Vol. October 3, No. 5460: 4. Smith, C. (2015) Presence, Permeability and Playfulness: Future Library Architecture in the Digital Era. In Baker, D and Evans,W. (Eds.) Digital Information Strategies: from Applications and Content to Libraries and People. Oxford: Chandos: 229–244. Smyth, C. (2015) Where matters: Keeping apace with Geo-ubiquity in a Digital World. In Baker, D and Evans,W. (Eds.) Digital Information Strategies: from Applications and Content to Libraries and People. Oxford: Chandos: 167–184. Thompson, J. (1982) The End of Libraries. London: Clive Bingley. Thompson, J. (1983) The end of libraries. The Electronic Library. Vol. 1, No. 4: 245–255. Veaner, A.B. (1982) Continuity or discontinuity – a persistent personnel issue in academic librarianship. Advances in Library Administration and Organization 1: 1–20.
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CHAPTER 2
The Four Spaces of the Public Library Henrik Jochumsen, Dorte Skot-Hansen, Casper Hvenegaard Rasmussen The Royal School of Library and Information Science at the University of Copenhagen
INTRODUCTION The development of the Internet in the 1990s created an uncertainty concerning the future of the physical library. Would the possibility of Internet access mean that the users would only use the library from a distance and there would be no more visits to the physical library? In spite of all prophesies of doom, this did not happen. On the contrary, we are witnessing a renaissance for the physical library (Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Jochumsen, 2009). Both larger and smaller cities have built new libraries in recent years. The iconic public library in Seattle, the ‘cool’ main library in Amsterdam, and the new library in Birmingham are just a few examples. At the same time nothing indicates that people have stopped using the physical library – they just use it in new ways. The role of the physical library has changed from a more or less passive collection of books and other media to an active space for experience and inspiration and a local meeting point. One could speak of a transformation from ‘collection to connection’ or even from ‘collection to creation’, as proposed by the American Library Association in its new strategic visions (Levien, 2011, p. 5) rather than the predicted transformation from ‘bricks to clicks’. In this article we will present a model for the future public library that proposes some overriding goals as well as outlining four spaces in the public library that support these goals (Jochumsen et al., 2012).
THE FOUR SPACE MODEL During the last 10–15 years the societal context and thereby also the library’s societal legitimacy has changed in a crucial manner.Tendencies toward globalisation, detraditionalisation and cultural liberation and a development The End of Wisdom? Copyright © 2017 H. Jochumsen, D. Skot-Hansen ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 and C. H. Rasmussen. Published by http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00002-6 Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved.
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toward an increasingly multicultural society are now significant. Leading sociologists such as Zygmunt Bauman (e.g., 1998) and Anthony Giddens (e.g., 1991) have evolved concepts as ‘postmodern’ or ‘late-modern’ society indicating that we have gone through a radical change, where tendencies such as the disappearing of traditions, the demand for both personal and institutional reflection, and the lack of social cohesion have been radicalised (Hvenegaard Rasmussen and Jochumsen, 2007). On the basis of this development, we propose the model below as both a framework for the discussion of the values of the public library in the beginning of the new millennium and as a more concrete tool for designing, developing and redesigning the library. According to the model the library’s overall objective is to support the following four goals: • Experience • Involvement • Empowerment • Innovation Where the first two goals especially concern the individual’s perception, experience and involvement in her or his quest for meaning and identity in a complex society, the other two objectives to a greater degree underpin societal goals. Empowerment concerns the development of strong and independent citizens who are able to solve everyday problems, whereas innovation relates to finding new answers to practical problems or developing completely new concepts, methods, or artistic expressions. Both are vital if we as nations are to survive in the global competition. In relation to this it is particularly interesting to examine how the libraries can inspire and strengthen creativity and innovation as a tool for economic growth. But creativity and innovation are important for other and less prosaic reasons. In the future, we need not only something to sustain us, but also something to live for. Here the library can make a contribution by creating space for learning, experience, engaging in meetings and possibilities for expressing oneself in a creative way. These things cannot be considered in isolation and individually, but must be seen as overlapping functions that interact in the library space both physically and virtually. The model indicates the possibilities for experiencing, discovering, participating and creating that the new library must offer its users. In this way the four space model is not just a model for analysis, but it also contains
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Figure 2.1 The four spaces of the public library.
a vision for the library that consists of four different overlapping spaces Fig. 2.1: • Inspiration space • Learning space • Meeting space • Performative space The four spaces are not to be seen as concrete ‘rooms’ in a physical sense, but rather as possibilities that can be fulfilled both in the physical library and in cyberspace. In an ideal library, these four spaces will support each other, and thereby support the library’s objectives. The overall task is to make all four spaces interact by incorporating them in the library’s architecture, design, services, programmes and choice of partnerships. Let us take a closer look at the four different spaces:
INSPIRATION SPACE This is the space for meaningful experiences, such as experiences that transform our perception. This can happen through storytelling and other artistic expressions within all media, culture patterns and genres. The inspiration space should
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make you want to move beyond your familiar choices, and therefore the space must also open you up to the irrational, emotional and chaotic by mediating a multitude of aesthetic experiences. It goes without saying that the public library always has been a space for inspiration, whether this has been connected to education, enlightenment and social mobility or connected to leisure activities, the user’s needs for entertainment and interests in general. But during the last two decades the need for a rethinking of the library as a space for inspiration has become obvious due to the rise of the so-called experience society, with ‘storytelling’ in cultural institutions and hereby also in the everyday life of public libraries.
LEARNING SPACE The learning space particularly underpins experience and empowerment. This is the space where children, youngsters and adults can discover and explore the world and thereby increase their competences and possibilities through free and unrestricted access to information and knowledge. Learning in the library is always on offer. It happens through play, artistic activities, courses and many other activities.The strength of the library is that learning is seen as a dialogue-oriented process that takes its point of departure in the users’ own experiences and their wish to define their own learning needs, and not least that it takes place in an informal environment. But the library of today is also challenged particularly by young people’s need for a more experience-oriented learning through playful, interactive and social learning patterns. Apart from access to information and knowledge in analog as well as digital media, learning is strengthened for example via homework cafés, study places and open courses.
MEETING SPACE The meeting space is an open, public space and a place between work and home where the citizens can meet other people who are both like them and differ from them. In a segmented society you need platforms where you come across people with different interests and values from your own and encounter opinions that challenge you through discussion and debate. The meeting space provides the framework for non-committal, accidental, meetings in small intimate spaces as well as in lounge areas with newspapers and café facilities and in more organised meetings, where topics and problems can be analysed and discussed. Meetings can happen live as well on the Internet through chat groups, blogs, or other social technologies.
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The Norwegian library researcher Audunson (2005, pp. 435–6) argues for the need for what he calls ‘low-intensive meeting places’: arenas where we meet people with interests and values other than our own. These places can be seen as an alternative to the high-intensive meeting places, which tend to create borderlines and differences. As he states ‘a viable local community needs arenas that can provide a minimum community in values, meeting places where people can meet, communicate and be active together across generations and social and ethnic belongings as well as arenas for debate and discussion on social and political issues’. The meeting space in the library can be seen as such a low-intensive meeting space.
PERFORMATIVE SPACE The performative space especially underpins involvement and innovation. In the performative space the users, in interaction with others, can be inspired to create new artistic expressions in meeting with art and culture. Here they have access to tools that support their creative activities through interactive games, writing, sound and video, and they can get support for their creative activities through workshops with professional artists, designers, multimedia developers for example. Finally, the performative space can act as a platform for mediation by publishing and distributing the users’ work and products and providing stages for their activities. In its new strategic vision Confronting the Future (Levien, 2011) the creation library is described as a library that has extended its role and become a place where media conveying information, knowledge, art and entertainment are created. It is a library that houses a range of equipment and facilities to help authors, editors, performers and other creators to prepare new work, alone or in groups, in new or old media, for personal use or widespread distribution (p. 5). This role is especially relevant when speaking about the new generations of digital natives (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008). These generations not only consume but also produce culture. If the library wants to be relevant for these generations too, it has to provide performative spaces in which creation and co-creation are possible.
THE USE OF THE FOUR SPACE MODEL Looking at the use of the four space model so far we see a picture of diverse and comprehensive applications. In several places, the model has been used as a concrete instrument for redesigning an existing library and as a basis for inspiration and prioritising in relation to the development of new library
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plans and politics. At the same time, the model has been used in connection with the realisation of new libraries such as the new main library in Oslo that will open in 2016. The four space model also plays a significant role in developing programs, as for example ‘The Model Programme for Public Librariesְ’1 by the Danish Agency for Culture, where it is used as a framework for the interactive homepage offering inspiration for new solutions and new design measures. Last but not least, the model is used as the basis for the development and articulation of the public library’s role in a democratic society. Here it is used as a framework for explaining and discussing the new role of the library, when politicians in particular ask the question ‘Why public libraries in the digital age?’
REFERENCES Audunson, R. (2005) The public library as a meeting-place in a multicultural and digital context – the necessity of low-intensive meeting-places. Journal of Documentation. Vol. 61, No. 3. Bauman, Z. (1998) Globalisation.The Human Consequences. Cambridge: Policy Press. Danish Agency for Culture. [Online] Available from: http://modelprogrammer.kulturstyrelsen.dk/en/. Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity. Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity Press. Hvenegaard Rasmussen, C. and Jochumsen, H. (2007) Problems and Possibilities – The Public library in the borderline between modernity and late-modernity. The Library Quarterly. The University of Chicago Press. Vol. 77, No. 1. Hvenegaard Rasmussen, C. and Jochumsen, H. (2009) The Fall and Rise of the Physical Library. Paper presented at The 17th BOBCATSSS Symposium, Porto 28–30 January 2009. [Online] Available from: http://eprints.rclis.org/bitstream/10760/12925/1/40.pdf. Jochumsen, H., Skot-Hansen, D. and Hvenegaard Rasmussen, C. (2012) The four spaces: a new model for the public library. New Library World. Vol. 113, No. 11/12: 586–97. Levien, R. E. (2011) Confronting the Future – Strategic Visions for the 21st Century Public Library. ALA Office for Information Technology Policy, Policy Brief No. 4, June 2011. [Online] Available from: http://www.ala.org/offices/sites/ala.org.offices/files/content/oitp/ publications/policybriefs/confronting_the_futu.pdf. Palfrey, J. and Gasser, U. (2008) Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. New York: Basic Books.
1 http://modelprogrammer.slks.dk/en/.
CHAPTER 3
The Influence of Digital Media on the Design of Libraries Charlie Smith School of Art and Design, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Ever since the Internet came into common use, pessimists have predicted the death of the library and its replacement with digital information, freely and immediately accessed via the World Wide Web.They claimed the library would be rendered obsolete by this virtual world of knowledge.This has not proved to be the case. Nonetheless digitisation is affecting library design and this piece reflects on the rich and diverse roles libraries play and why even digitally literate young adults do not foresee a future without them, nor without physical books. Over a period of four years, architecture students at Liverpool John Moores University have been designing new libraries.This theoretical project encouraged them to think experimentally about the very essence of a library and their designs illustrate a real insight into how libraries could evolve in future. The projects are fantastically diverse, exploring the library as a place for many things. Interestingly though, in each case a place for physical books was created. Arguably, so long as there is a need to access physical books there will be a need for libraries. There is also richness in the activities that take place around the physical books, suggesting greater potential for libraries as civic buildings serving their community. The projects can be loosely categorised under three headings: ‘libraries in the future’, ‘libraries for preservation’, and ‘hybrid buildings’.
LIBRARIES IN THE FUTURE These projects speculate about what a library might become in several decades.They include buildings designed for promoting physical books in a digital dystopia and for promoting physical books as a symbol of the democracy of knowledge across the community. The term ‘digital native’ is used to identify people who have lived all their lives in the digital era (Herther, 2009). The students who created The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00003-8
Copyright © 2017 C. Smith. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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these designs are all digital natives, knowing only a world with the Internet. As such they research, network and structure knowledge in very different ways from people from the pre-Internet age. To them, Prensky (2001) suggests, a library is something on their laptops. Oblinger and Oblinger (2006) contend that students rarely visit libraries anymore, being more likely to use the Internet for their research. Nevertheless, the digital-native designers of these ‘libraries in the future’ still understood their main purpose as being to provide access to knowledge and enhance the cultural life of the society in which they sit – in short, real buildings housing physical books.
LIBRARIES FOR PRESERVATION Some students adopted the view of libraries in the digital-era as museumlike and proposed ‘libraries for preservation’. They designed libraries in homage to the traditional idea of a repository as an archive of our cultural heritage. These projects included archives for photographs, memories, meteorological records and scientific theories. One student proposed a building for exhibiting books as visual art – its contents to be viewed not read; another celebrated the activities and rituals of the traditional library – a library as a museum of itself.
HYBRID BUILDINGS The doom-mongers seem to have overlooked the fact that libraries are much more than storage vaults for physical media. In their ‘hybrid buildings’ students combined a library with another, often civic, building and suggested ways in which they might diversify to survive.These projects include a nursery fused with a library to create a school for storytelling, a writing retreat and an exploration of the library as different types of ‘third places’ – a third place being somewhere for meeting and interaction between the spheres of work and home. Libraries are an indoor extension of the streets and squares of our towns and cities; parks for exercising the mind and high streets for cultural therapy. They provide for a cocktail of activities as diverse as studying, searching, meeting, playing, relaxing, conversing, debating, socialising, eating, sheltering and seducing. It is this complexity of purposes that libraries serve that means their future cannot be reduced to a simplistic debate of physical versus digital media.
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Biladeau (2009) suggests that in the digital age libraries will increasingly be places of entertainment and socialisation. But would the places in which these different forms of ‘meeting’ occur even exist without the spaces in which to store, read and browse physical books? One student proposed an extremely diverse programme of events and meeting spaces that extended outside of the library itself, thereby emphasising the importance of a rich mixture of places in a library for users to occupy. The student nevertheless retained a collection of physical books at the building’s heart. It is easy to dismiss suggestions that physical libraries should not be left to decline as nostalgia, but it is less easy to dismiss their value as meeting places and cultural facilities. Just as debate over printed and digital books is not a debate over content, but about the significance of the object itself and what it symbolises, debate over libraries is about their role and significance within our civic fabric. Although not easy to define, nor quantify, it is real and vital and is evidenced by the cultural, psychological and physical voids left by the many recent library closures around the United Kingdom. Spaces for different ways of meeting could be designed in buildings that do not necessarily revolve around physical media. This would encourage new perspectives about what libraries are imagined to be. After all, libraries have a long tradition of providing access to digital media for those unable to do so elsewhere, and they should continue to facilitate technology as it evolves. So whereas in the past visitors have wanted to use a photocopier and then the Internet, soon they could access 3D printing and Virtual Reality. The impact of increasing digitisation on library design is less about what it means to books and physical content and more about understanding which new spaces and services will be required.
THE FUTURE OF LIBRARY DESIGN Some would argue that libraries are suffering a crisis of identity, from which they must emerge with new understanding of their place in the civic realm and its community. However, over four years not one of these digital-native students questioned the existence of libraries or proposed digital collections. Rather these imaginative projects exploring the theoretical boundaries of what a library could be without exception envisaged it as having a physical collection. They suggest that in an increasingly digital age physical media will retain a central presence. There is a visceral element to reading physical books in a library that cannot be replicated digitally. Our senses of touch, smell, sight and sound are
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more richly stimulated. Is the sterile experience of viewing a Rothko painting on a 21-inch monitor in any way comparable with seeing it in a gallery? This sensorial interaction with books, papers and journals is fundamental to the architectural experience of a library. These projects also persuasively demonstrate the complex roles that libraries play and suggest radical ways in which these could be developed. As well as being places for physical books, libraries should imaginatively nourish a range of interactions between users. They should explore new ways of ‘meeting’ and new uses that are facilitated by digital technologies (Zimerman, 2012); just because information is in virtual space does not mean that interactions based around it must be. In just 20 years the concept of what a library is has changed dramatically, if not unimaginably. Darwin tells us that what survives is that which is most adaptable to change and Moore’s Law implies that digital technologies will continue to change at an exponential rate – so, therefore, must the very idea of what libraries are. The growing influence of digitisation means libraries will be used in ways that we have yet to imagine and they should proactively embrace emerging ways of learning. In the words of the French political theorist Ivan Chtcheglov: ‘You will never see the hacienda. It does not exist. The hacienda must be built’.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The students whose work is discussed are Sarah Aziz, Laura Baker, Alex Bodman, Alexandra Gadd, Andrew Jewsbury, Lee Newell, Omar Shariff, Liam Thomas and Ross Whittle.
REFERENCES Biladeau, S. (2009) Technology and diversity: perceptions of Idaho’s ‘digital natives’. Teacher Librarian. Vol. 36, No. 3: 20–1. Herther, N. (2009) Digital natives and immigrants: what brain research tells us. Online. Vol. 33, No. 6: 15–21. Oblinger, D. and Oblinger, J. (2006) Is it age or IT: first steps toward understanding the net generation. CSLA Journal. Vol. 29, No. 2: 8–16. Prensky, M. (2001) Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon. Vol. 9, No.5. [Online] Available from: http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20 Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf. Zimerman, M. (2012) Digital natives, searching behaviour and the library. New Library World. Vol. 113, No. 3/4: 174–201.
CHAPTER 4
The Best of Both Worlds Julie Arndrup Copenhagen Libraries, Denmark
Danish libraries are at the fore when it comes to the exploitation of digital opportunities. In a small, relatively homogeneous country such as Denmark, it is easy to cooperate nationally and utilise the various digital options optimally, and it is certainly not our view that digitality itself will put an end to the wisdom of libraries. In Denmark, we feel it is the case that the physical library is complemented by the various digital options. A good example is the Danish children’s libraries shared site.1 Here all Danish children find they can access their library, order materials from other libraries to be sent to their local library, communicate with peers and participate in groups based on their interests. A sub-project is the creation of Palleland on a Minecraft server where the Danish children can meet in cyberspace and build things together. Recently the children in the community built a true copy of the buildings in which the international Eurovision Song Contest was held in May 2014. Biblo.dk also facilitates a national summer reading campaign, which is very popular amongst the children, and they eagerly share their book reviews both written and on videos. Another example worth mentioning is eReolen2 where library users can borrow e-books. Both retirees and young people enjoy having the chance to populate the iPad with a handful of e-books for the holidays. Here citizens who are users at their local library can log on and read e-books and also listen to audiobooks. This benefits a broad range of people, including children who have difficulty reading, the elderly and the visually impaired as well as children who do not bother reading the books that they have to in school. eReolen is also an app and can be downloaded in iTunes (name: eReolen). eReolen can only exist if the publishers and the libraries agree on terms and conditions, and this has proven to be a bit of a challenge and there is still room for improvements. 1 www.biblo.dk. 2 www.ereolen.dk.
The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00004-X
Copyright © 2017 J. Arndrup. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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As can be seen from these examples, Danish public libraries understand how to take advantage of digital opportunities in a way that benefits many different patrons. We feel that the digital offer is an enrichment and a good supplement to the traditional library service. We can see that borrowing statistics might be falling when it comes to traditional books, but in some places they are actually increasing. Also the number of people who visit libraries is rising, and we think that the digital services are not keeping people away from the library or from reading. They are just reading in new ways and using the libraries differently. In our view, it is important to include the possibilities that digitality gives us without sacrificing the library’s traditional services. We must be careful not to compete on market terms and offer the same as everyone else when what we have in fact is so unique and hard to find elsewhere; peace and quiet, help when needed and the right to be left alone. Children and young people especially spend so much time in institutions in Denmark that the library’s offer of a free space on their own terms is more necessary now than ever. Part of the large scale digitisation plan for Denmark is that all citizens have a digital mailbox through which they receive all personal emails from the government. This has the effect that there are few places where you can meet a representative of the state face to face, other than at the public libraries and so-called Borgerservice places. Therefore libraries will probably carry out more unconventional events in the future. The challenge will be to get sufficient resources so that future roles and responsibilities do not distract from the traditional library services and that the librarians can use their education the way they intended – and according to the Danish library law; public libraries are to promote information, education and cultural activity by making available books, magazines, audiobooks and other suitable materials such as recorded music and electronic information resources, including the Internet and multimedia.
CHAPTER 5
Informal Interview With Niu Jun, Tammy Ng & Joli Moore – School Librarians at the Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School* Patrick Lo1, Dickson Chiu2 1University
of Hong Kong; 2Faculty of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba in Japan
Patrick Lo (PL): Could you take turns to introduce yourselves, particularly your education background and your professional training as school librarians? Tammy Ng (TN): I am Tammy Ng. I am one of the teacher librarians at the Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School (PLKCKY) (保良局蔡繼有學校).1 My core duty is to take care of the primary school section, i.e., students from year one to five. I graduated in the United Kingdom in 2004, and my undergraduate major was English Language Teaching. I graduated with a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS) from the University of Hong Kong (HKU)2 in 2010. On top of that, I also earned a teaching certificate in Hong Kong. Before coming to CKY, I worked as a teacher librarian at a PYP School. This is my fourth year in CKY, and 2014 was my 10th year working as a teacher librarian in Hong Kong. Joli Moore (JM): I am Joli Moore. I mainly deal with year six to year ten students. I am from Hungary and achieved my Bachelor’s [degree] in Hungary, majored in Literature and Linguistics, and minored in Communications. I got my Master’s in Library and Information Science in the USA. Before I started working at CKY, I was employed at the American International School (in Hong Kong), where I worked as an Elementary School Librarian. This is my fourth year working as a teacher librarian in Hong Kong. Niu Jun (NJ): My name is Niu Jun, and originally I am from mainland China. Before coming to Hong Kong, I lived in the United States for many years, and I achieved my MLIS degree from San Jose State University. Before * The interviews took place on 31 July 2014. 1 Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School – Homepage. Available at: http://www.schooland.hk/ps/cky. 2 The University of Hong Kong – Homepage. Available at: http://www.hku.hk/. The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00005-1
Copyright © 2017 P. Lo and D. Chiu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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moving to Hong Kong, I worked for several public libraries in the United States. CKY is the second school I have worked for in Hong Kong.The first school was the ISF Academy.3 Last year, I finished my second Masters in Chinese Language and Literature. It was really helpful in terms of assisting my colleagues (especially Chinese teachers) with their subject teaching. My library study focused mostly on English-language literature, as it was very helpful on collection development for our jobs at the public libraries.
Tammy Ng
Jolie Moore
Jun Niu
3 The
ISF Academy – Homepage. Available at: http://www.isf.edu.hk/en.
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PL: In Japan, also in China and also in Hong Kong, many schools cannot even afford to have one full-time librarian on the staff, but this School (CKY) has three full-time librarians working concurrently side by side, under one single school library – could you tell me about the situation at CKY? What objectives and results are you trying to achieve by having three librarians working together within the same school? NJ: I think it depends mostly on how you expect the library to function within the school community as a whole. If the library only serves as a storage space or warehouse for printed books, and performs merely the check-in and check-out functions, you don’t really need a fully trained professional librarian with an MLIS degree; a high school or college graduate with some years’ experience would be more than sufficient. However, when it comes to implementing Information Literacy (IL) or reading advisory services, there would definitely be a requirement for someone with much more training and special professional skills to deliver those lessons. For the other local schools in Hong Kong, they might be perfectly operational with just one single teacher/librarian overseeing all of the operations of the entire school library, but they would not be able to achieve all the things that we are currently doing at CKY. PL: At the other local schools in Hong Kong, it is almost mandatory that practising school librarians are also certified teachers – so what is the situation here at this school? To work as a school librarian at CKY, is having the MLIS degree more important than the teaching diploma? TN: In my personal opinion, the teaching diploma and the MLIS qualification are equally important, especially when you are working for a school, in which we [school librarians] need to conduct a variety of outreach and educational activities for the students. For example, in addition to overseeing the daily operations of the school library, you also need to have the basic knowledge and skills to deal with issues such as psychological problems and disciplinary issues among the young students. More importantly, you also have to understand the whole curriculum, the needs of the other classroom teachers and what they are doing as well and so on. For these reasons, as a teacher librarian you need to have a much wider overview of the whole school community, because we librarians have a much bigger, and in fact a very influential role to play. Supporting the information and reading needs of the students is just a very small part of our many duties. Hence, we librarians have to know everything that is going on within the whole school.
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But in reality, it is difficult in Hong Kong, because there are not many universities that offer MLIS programmes. In the context of Hong Kong, it is sometimes unrealistic to expect practising librarians to have both the teaching diploma and the MLIS degree. PL: Since the three of you come from very distinctive cultural and educational backgrounds, how do you complement each other? How do your different experiences contribute to the library programmes as a whole? For example, NJ previously worked for a number of public libraries in the United States before coming to Hong Kong, while TM and JM have more training as classroom teachers and school librarians. Maybe you could tell me more about the organisational/staffing structure of this school library at CKY? TN: That is why our jobs as teacher librarians here at CKY are so interesting. During the initial stage, it took us a lot of time to learn about each other’s strengths – that is why we have such clear-cut job descriptions between the three of us. Tammy is in charge of the primary division, Joli is responsible for English teaching from Year 6 to 10 in the secondary division and Jun supports the DP programme and Chinese teaching in the secondary division. PL: Based on my observations, the students at CKY seem to be coming from multicultural backgrounds – do you think the information needs and reading interests among students of different backgrounds also tend to be different? Could you tell me about your experiences here at CKY? TN: Dealing with students from multicultural backgrounds could be a big issue when it comes to collection development. For example, when we are placing orders for new books, we sometimes encounter titles that touch on issues regarding the sexual orientation of young people, issues such as homosexuality could be controversial among religious families or Chinese families with very traditional values As a result, we would have to discuss this issue with each other before any purchasing decisions are made. PL: Do you mean students and parents from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds perceive issues relating to sexuality very differently? Do you mean one of your duties as a teacher librarian here is to use your professional judgements to exercise censorship of any new titles coming into the library? NJ:Well, I would say it has more to do with how to select the most suitable books for your targeted group. In other words, we make an effort to select books that are appropriate to our students’ needs in the local ‘Hong Kong context’, rather than using the word ‘censorship’.
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No one can deny the fact that homosexuality does exist in our society, but we also need to know that we are in Hong Kong and the majority of our students are from local Chinese families. This is not to say that none of the books in our school library touch on those topics, but we obviously need to be careful how students are educated in support of their sexual development along with the guidance and counselling department. At CKY, both the primary and the secondary students are sharing the same school library – and one of the unique features of this school is that students of all ages and levels do love reading, and our school does put a lot of emphasis on the teaching of both English and Chinese languages. We want our students to be fully bilingual. PL: Can you give me examples of successful library programmes launched by your team of teacher librarians? NJ: We do quite a lot actually. We really try to make our school library busier and busier every day.Yesterday, we sat down together and counted the total number of [library] programmes that we accomplished in the past year: reading competitions, book swaps, book illustrations, student librarians, parent volunteers, Christmas card designs, you name it. Since last year, we have invited several Chinese and English authors to come to give talks to both our primary and secondary students. PL: In terms of your library programmes, do you focus mostly on author talks? NJ: No, it is just one of our many programmes launched by the librarians. We have another programme called Battle of the Books, catering for the elementary students. It is a very popular reading incentive programme among the local international schools in Hong Kong. Even though this was the very first year that our school took part in this programme, we made it into the final and volunteered to be the host of the semifinal [of the Battle of the Books]. For this semi-final, quite a number of schools came to our school to compete with our students. Another activity we have at our School is called the Book Swap. After the children have finished the books – provided they are still in good condition – they are encouraged to swap with their friends. And we also have [a] student librarians [programme]. Even though we have full-time library assistants working at our library, we still want to raise the ‘leadership role’ among the students: we want them to take part in something that could contribute to the school community as a whole, and also to learn something (such as a sense of responsibility and group work and so on) through performing these library duties. They did a good job in terms of keeping our bookshelves tidy, as well as setting up the posters.
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PL: School librarians are not considered subject leaders in the traditional sense, as they do not need to prepare students for any major or public examinations. Additionally, compared with PE or music teachers, their contributions and achievements could be easily reflected in the numbers of awards or prizes won by their students. On the other hand, it does not seem to be the case for most school librarians. And a large number of teacher librarians are suffering from a lack of recognition, a lack of support from the classroom teachers, as well as from the senior management. In your opinion, do you think such unfortunate situations are caused by the fact that the quality of work and the success of school librarians are difficult to measure, especially in quantitative terms? NJ: If your successes are measured strictly by high school grades, students’ prizes, awards, or medals and similar – yes, they are indeed hard to measure in terms of library input. But for the Battle of the Books event that took place in May [2014], I think we would definitely call it a ‘success’! But such difficulty in performance measures is not only found in school libraries.When I was working for a public library back in the United States, it was equally hard to measure the success in quantitative terms either. But I remember a public library manager in the United States telling me, ‘last year we were the third busiest [public venue] in town – the first one was COSTCO’; and the second one I forgot. She said in the following year, ‘I want to be number two!’ You know COSTCO is one of the most popular and busiest supermarkets in the city, and a lot of [American] people like to go shopping there. At that public library [in the United States] which I worked for, they would use the automatic door-count system to calculate the total number entering the library each year. So what I am trying to say is that as long as the students still enjoy reading, still come to the school library and continue to use our services and resources voluntarily, we are already ‘successful’! Most importantly, it is our main role and core responsibility to foster students’ motivation towards voluntary reading, as well as to stimulate their interests for self-learning, especially self-learning that will take place beyond their routine classroom environments. PL: In the current digital era, there is so much reading material readily available on the Internet. Given that there is already so much that can be downloaded for free from Google, what roles do the school library and school librarians play nowadays, in terms of contributing to these young students’ overall learning and reading experiences? Does your school library still place heavy emphasis on printed resources?
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NJ: Hong Kong is a small place, but there is already a variety of schools and communities and families from different social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. So how could we accommodate all their different needs and interests? Yes, we still have a huge collection of printed books. But on top of that, we also have a rich collection of e-books and other online audiobooks for students, as well as for their parents to enjoy. Currently, we have over 250 [English language] online audiobook titles and the downloading rates are really fast. We bought these online audiobooks from a US publisher, and they were just made available online for our students not long ago. Both students and parents can use their smartphones or iPads to listen to them via online streaming. The reason for selecting these online audiobook titles was because a majority of our students are from local Chinese families, and their parents would like them to acquire better English pronunciation, as well as listening comprehension skills. Soon after I made these audiobook titles available online [for the students], I was surprised that there were already 900 downloads within the very first week. Since we only have about 900 students in total in our primary school, such high downloading statistics meant that both the students and their parents were using these audiobooks actively; and we [school librarians] have done something ‘right’ for the students. So I think this is a really positive sign that the parents also liked what we have provided for their children, and they have been supporting what we are doing. Indeed, we librarians have spent a lot of effort promoting these newly acquired audiobooks by putting up signs everywhere inside the library and constantly reminding the parents about the audiobooks’ availability. PL: Do you have any good suggestions or strategies in terms of requesting the senior management to grant you extra manpower or resources for implementing any new programmes or services for your library? NJ: I think the most important thing for us [librarians] is to find out, as well as to understand, the mission of the school. In our case, we first have to understand that it is a school library, and not a public library, nor an academic library. Then, you need to figure out what a school library needs to do and what you need to do as a school librarian. Then you have to break down the school mission into different layers, e.g., what does the headmaster expect, then the administration, the management style, the curricula and finally the parents.
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For example, year one teachers are planning to ask the students to develop topics for their school projects by the end of the semester. In order to support their teaching and learning needs, we [librarians] need to order books or other resources beforehand, so that by the time the students are asked to work on their assignments, we will have the materials readily available in the library; and they could just come and check out the materials and take them home to work on their projects. I know you mentioned print versus online, and I understand that printed books can provide a sense of security, and sometimes the amount of information available online can get overwhelming. And often, children don’t know what to choose. So when these young year one and year two students come to the library, I just tell them this is a new [printed] book on dolphins and they are already happy with my recommendation. What I am trying to say is that you need to find your way to work with the senior management and figure out the limitations of the school that you are working for. Because every institution has its limitations: resources-, staffing-, policy-related and so on. For example, because of my previous background in public librarianship, I really wanted to do a book fair for this school. I tried proposing this book fair idea to the Principal several times; unfortunately, it never got approved because this school is operating under the umbrella of the Po Leung Kuk Charity Organization4 so there is not much we could do about it. Because doing a book fair would mean inviting the local bookstores to come to our school and sell books to the whole school community at a discount (e.g., 20% discount for teachers and 10% discount for students) it would no doubt be a mutually beneficial event. Unfortunately, we simply cannot do it at this school because book fairs would involve profitmaking. Eventually, we decided to do the Book Swap instead, which involved no money after all; and the Principal, the parents and the students were all very happy with the end result. As it turned out, students don’t mind reading second-hand books, though we talked with the students beforehand that those books meant for Book Swap should all be in good condition. With reference to the curriculum – the school that I previously worked for, they followed the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) curriculum. And library and information literacy skills instruction was not part of the GCSE curriculum.The whole idea of Information Literacy is to teach students how to search for information; how to select; how to evaluate; how to synchronise information and most importantly how do you apply it. But this set of IL skills is not measured under the GCSE 4 Po
Leung Kuk – Homepage. Available at: http://www.poleungkuk.org.hk.
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programme. But of course, they are experiencing the need to introduce IL to GCSE right now. But when I first arrived at that school, they did not believe in any of this IL instruction. So I just kept pushing IL to the school, but then I felt the resistance among the other teachers was very strong. But for this school it is relatively easy for them to accept new changes as long as they see my proposals are appropriate and feasible. PL: To NJ, before coming to Hong Kong, you were working as a public librarian in the United States.With reference to your background and experience in public librarianship, how does it in any way contribute to your current work as a school librarian? NJ: Coming from public librarianship, the training for, and concept of, serving the general public are found to be most useful and relevant to my current job as a school librarian. After I started working here [CKY], I made a few changes in terms of the library regulations/operations. For example, originally the magazines could not be loaned out to students and I immediately asked, ‘Why not?!’ In addition, I did not understand why the students were not even allowed to check out the back issues. Then I was told that because the back issues were not catalogued, as they had no barcodes attached. I discussed this with my team and we concluded them we could catalogue them – just don’t do full cataloguing; rather key in the magazines’ main titles and the range of issues that are available. I simply did not see the need to perform full cataloguing for these leisure magazines for teenagers, especially when we are not an academic library. All we wanted was to make these magazines conveniently available for the students to borrow from the library at any time. So we decided to change all that; and 2 months later, we completed cataloguing the entire magazine collection. And now, not only can you search these magazine titles via the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), but you can also check them out of the library. I am sure there is damage and loss in the process of circulation, but it is still worth doing for the students’ benefit in the long run. Another thing I changed was adding the ‘Book Reservation Function’ to expand the scope of our services. This service saves the students effort and time in looking for books. So I would say the most student-friendly library policy is a flexible one that make the library materials more a ccessible to them and their library experiences are more enjoyable. For example, in the past, when the students had unpaid overdue fines, they would not be able to borrow books. But we started using this new system, through which students are able to log into their library accounts remotely and renew the books by themselves, even when the borrowed items are overdue. And
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though their library accounts show that they have a small overdue fine, they can still continue to borrow books. In short, these are the little things that I learned from my previous job as a public library manager. The major difference between public and school librarianship is that as a public librarian, the largest part of my job was to develop strategies to attract the general public to come to use the library.Whereas for my current job as a school librarian, much of my time is spent on developing collaborative learning projects with other local schools. When you are working in a school library, you will have a much more coherent user group. Of course, individual students will have different questions, different interests, different preferences and different needs. For example, we have a male student here named Max – he is always the first user to come to the library and says,‘Hey! Ms. Niu…’ After saying ‘Hi’, he will just disappear behind the bookshelves. There is another student, he always comes in to the library and looks at Google Earth. His dream career is to fly off somewhere in a jet aircraft. The ultimate advantage of having a group of steady users is that you can spend time getting to know them, and thereby doing extra little things to cater for their individual reading interests and learning needs. PL: So would you say the major advantage of working with a consistent user group is that you are able to spend more time trying out different things and ideas to maintain their interest, as well as to observe individual students’ learning progress under an ongoing basis? NJ: It allows me to monitor the progress that individual students are making. For example, a few days ago, I said to one of the students, ‘Oh! You don’t know how to renew your books? Come over! Let me show you how to do it.’ Then a few days later, he came into the library again and successfully reserved and renewed the books all by himself. And again, a few days later, he said to me, ‘Wow! I found this book, and it is really interesting. But do you know how to find this book and that book in the library as well?’ As you can see, through these little interactions with individual students, I can see they are gradually becoming more and more interested in our library and are becoming increasingly ‘self-dependent’. PL: As a school librarian, what part(s) of your job do you find most satisfying? TN: I would say learning from other classroom teachers that I have fulfilled my role and I am doing a good job as a school librarian – that makes me really happy. I also think I have maintained a good relationship with the parents, because I am currently overseeing a large team of library volunteers and they are all parents. This is an experience that I never got from my previous workplace. When I first started this parent volunteer programme, I
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only had only 40 parent volunteers; but now we have more than 120. The sheer increase in the number of parents participating speaks for itself. JM: I love connecting with other people through books. I enjoy ordering books that later become popular among student groups and books which support the curriculum. I also love dealing with student librarians. Additionally, I like to involve student librarians in doing something other than just shelving books. For example, when Christmas was approaching, I asked them to create a Christmas book display and bulletin board. Finally, they got to look at the end results and were all very happy and proud of their involvement/achievement. It is always nice to help them realise that the library can also be a fun place – and not just a place for shelving books. NJ: I also feel like Tammy and Joli. I feel more like a ‘bridge’ – I am linking together the people, students, parents, visitors and library student interns – that connects to the right place to find the right resources. There are so many resources out there, regardless of whether they are printed or online, and I am happiest whenever I can connect people to whatever materials they need or want. PL: Many school librarians in Hong Kong are reluctant to try out new services and explore new ideas, being afraid to make mistakes. Or they worry that their new proposals or ideas will not get accepted by the senior management or by the other classroom teachers. But at the same time, they complain that recognition, support and opportunities have not been given to them. Do you understand the reasons behind this difficult situation? NJ:Yeah! It can be very difficult. Often, you only have only one or two librarians working at a school; and you could easily feel lonely or even isolated. If you don’t have the necessary training or other senior teachers who could guide you, then you are stuck. For example, nowadays a lot of people can drive a car; but at the same time, there are others who still cannot drive. You simply cannot give a car to someone without having taken any driving lessons, and then expect them to know how to steer the wheel in a few weeks. And why and how we are driving is more important. TN: And I would say this really depends on your experience. I think the school librarians have to understand that the different schools have different cultures, and also different management structures and styles. I cannot speak for a lot of school librarians, but I would say it could be really difficult because if you are spending money for the school, the senior management has an obligation to check on you more often, ensuring what you are doing for the school library is actually making sense; as well as being beneficial for the school community as a whole. It is understandable because managing a budget is a very sensitive matter, especially for education institutions.
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PL: Since there is not a checklist region-wide or a nation-wide syllabus to follow, do you think this makes the job of a school librarian much more difficult in comparison to the work of other mathematics, history or English language teachers? NJ: Absolutely. [TN: Yeah! Absolutely.] But I think these things all depend on how much you yourself want to do as a school librarian. For example, this afternoon we are doing this interview with you. I don’t think the Principal will come and blame us for not giving any library lessons. In the end, it all comes down to our own professional judgement, our experience, and whether we see the need to give library lessons at this particular time, and how frequently these lessons should be given. We asked for this extra work, meaning that in the beginning, we had to tell the senior management that library lessons are important for the students, and students should be given these library lessons on a regular basis. Since we asked for this, we have to be prepared to handle the extra workload, as well as the additional responsibilities that come along with the job. As I said earlier, make yourself worthwhile! Make yourself important! Make yourself visible and gradually you can see great and positive impact on the students, as well as support from the other teachers and senior management. NJ:Yes, I totally agree with JM. I think it is sad to see schools without a library or without having a fully trained and qualified school librarian to manage the school library full time. I should also point out that in addition to having the appropriate qualifications, it still takes many years of training and hands-on experience to become a good school librarian. Since we all have different professional training, education and cultural backgrounds, I am sure everyone can bring something unique and meaningful to their professional practice as school librarians. There is no doubt that most schools have a much lower number of senior teachers. Maybe only 10 out of 200 teachers will eventually get promoted and become senior teachers or subject leaders. Hence the opportunities for promotion are indeed very limited as well as competitive; and they will only be awarded to the individuals who can bring the most to the whole school community. For this reason, many school librarians in Hong Kong are frustrated about their narrow and unpromising career paths, causing them to feel they are not important within the whole school. Although they have all the required qualifications (teacher diploma, school librarian certificates and so on), they are not being recognised. For this reason, some school librarians are the burnout teachers: they don’t enjoy teaching anymore; they can’t or don’t want to face the students and they don’t want to deal with the parents.
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A combination of all these different factors leads them to take up the ‘easy’ job of school librarian. But the job of a school librarian is definitely NOT easy if you take it seriously; it is not easy at all! PL: So, are you saying it is also up to the individuals to take the school library job seriously? NJ: Exactly, there are also many satisfied principals, who have retired, but still want to open another school. At the same time, there are other principals who are totally burnt out and frustrated with their own jobs, and don’t want to deal with the parents or deal with any management issues. Yes, this is also true for the school librarian profession. So if you are young, you should be passionate and creative about your work, or at least try to learn to create satisfaction from your work. PL: How do you develop such constant passion and enthusiasm towards your work as a school librarian? NJ: I think it depends largely on how, where and when you first entered into the profession, for example, who your co-workers are; who your mentors are; what your own personality is like; whether you are intellectually curious – meaning if you are a good learner and a good listener. It is usually a combination of all these different factors. What I am trying to say is that you can only ‘lead the horse to the river, but you cannot force the horse to drink from it’. JM: The nicest thing about being a teacher librarian is that there is a great deal of openness that comes with the job. While other classroom teachers have to follow a set curriculum strictly, we teacher librarians get to write our own curriculum and adjust it when necessary. Since we do not have a strict checklist-like syllabus to follow, we teacher librarians have a lot of freedom to exercise our professional knowledge and skills for the overall welfare of our students. TN: I think you become passionate by sharing ideas with other people who are equally passionate about their work as school librarians. I think sharing experiences and ideas is really important, because you definitely learn from other people’s successful experiences, as well as not repeating their mistakes. I think I am really lucky because at my previous workplace, I had a very good supervisor who taught me a great many skills, such as1 collection development. In Hong Kong, it is good that we have a professional association called ALESS (Association of Librarians in English Speaking Schools in Hong Kong)5 – and many librarians from the local 5 ALESS
(Association of Librarians in English Speaking Schools in Hong Kong) – Homepage. Available at: http://aless.wikispaces.com.
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international schools and EMI (English as Medium Instruction) schools in Hong Kong are active members of ALESS. I encourage school librarians to share their experience and ideas with each other, while by sharing you are the one who learns a lot. PL:Thank you very much.
CHAPTER 6
The Disembedded Librarian: A Vision of the Librarian’s Future Role in an Educational Context Mai Aggerbeck1, Karen Frederiksen1, Kirsten Maibom2 1VIA
Faculty of Health Sciences, Campus Holstebro,VIA University of Applied Sciences, Central Region of Denmark; 2Centre for Research in Ageing and Dementia at VIA University College, Central Region of Denmark
BACKGROUND The production of knowledge is increasingly organised in networks and often tied to specific projects and problems of a temporary and fluid nature. In tandem with the change in the perception of learning and criteria for what ‘good’ knowledge is, this development will exert a strong influence on how we seek knowledge in the future (Aggerbeck et al., 2014 cited in Harrits et al., 2014). In this article we presume that, as a consequence, libraries will become more heterogeneous and follow different development paths from task to task. But what characterises a traditional library versus a future library? The Oxford English Dictionary (Simpson and Weiner, 1989) defines ‘library’ as: 1. A place set apart to contain books for reading, study or reference; (the library as a place, the physical location, the building); 2.The books contained in a ‘library’ a great mass of learning or knowledge; (the library as collection); 3. A scribe (the library staff i.e., the agglomeration of librarians, staff, and tools of the trade arrayed to curate the resources entrusted upon them by the academy). These three facets used to be fully integrated in the mindset of the students, teachers and other users in the institution.Today they seem to be challenged by the new production of knowledge, and the innovative and disruptive technologies. Along with the change in the perception of learning and criteria for what ‘good’ knowledge is, these technologies have a strong impact on the access of knowledge and information and how we seek knowledge. How are the three facets of the library (place, collection, staff) challenged? The End of Wisdom? Copyright © 2017 M. Aggerbeck, K. Frederiksen ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 and K. Maibom. Published by http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00006-3 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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LIBRARY AS PLACE The library as a place is changing from an analog to a digital environment. The physical collections are rapidly being overtaken by digital collections and to some extent integrated in learning and research processes – this means often tied to specific projects and problems of a temporary and fluid nature, as mentioned earlier (Aggerbeck et al., 2014 cited in Harrits et al., 2014). Some libraries seem to maintain their position as a limited organisational unit in the institution, which is understandable, but new needs and educational policies and demands will probably force the library to revise its role, position and organisational structure (Ross and Sennyey, 2008).
COLLECTION The analog library is also challenged by the competitive market environment, ‘which is the most significant change libraries face today’ (Ross and Sennyey, 2008): databases, Google, Google Scholar and so on. The new disruptive technologies are adapted rapidly, and integrated in daily life almost without notice. Lewis (2004, cited in Herrington, 2013) argues that disruptive technologies are the biggest threat to the academic library today, but these technologies are revolutionary and have the potential to blaze a new path for the academic library, whether wanted or not. In accordance with these technologies, the new production of knowledge and the open access to this knowledge are already introduced and required. Cataloguing and registration procedures are transformed into digital services, and the digital collections are independent of geographical boundaries (Herrington, 2013). However, whether or not the book as print material will disappear in the future is not the issue of this article.
STAFF The relations between and the respective roles of the students, the librarians, the lecturers, and the researchers are changing.The challenge for the librarian is that the contact between the users of the library and the librarian has diminished in the digital environment, as compared to the contact in an analog environment. The requirement for the librarian’s services is decreasing and research is becoming easier to perform for the researchers themselves – this will of course require special information literacy skills. The production of knowledge has changed radically and the access to that knowledge has become easier and more convenient. These changes require
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clear goals, new organisational structures, and new workflows and networks to reshape the role of the librarian. To justify the raison d’être of the librarian he/she is forced to reformulate his or her purpose and task vis-à-vis the users in new professional contexts. The tasks of the librarian will, in our opinion, turn into processes of knowledge creation and adaptation to constantly renewed needs and demands in a defined professional context. In relation to the future of education and research libraries, there will be requirements for new competences and skills, leading to an expert role in the facilitation of learning and research processes. There will also most likely be new demands on the way the work is organised – especially in terms of structure and leadership.
THE EMBEDDED LIBRARY A report from the Danish Research Library Association Working Group1 outlines a number of scenarios for the future education and research library. In the following, we outline the impact of the ‘embedded librarian and information specialist’ on the role and position of a local library at VIA University College, Campus Holstebro. The embedded librarian and information specialist is, in our understanding, described and interpreted by the Danish Research Organization in the following ways: • Library operations and library services are characterised by fragmentation and specialisation. Information specialists no longer have a common set of skills and values. • There are many more and varied disciplines and specialisations than before. • The traditional library processes are either replaced by technological solutions or outsourced to private companies. • The librarian and information specialist still support research and teaching. • The relationship to the parent institution has changed. • The library, as we knew it, is now phased out. • The portfolio of the librarian and information specialist will, in research and teaching environments, become more integrated relative to the
1 Fremtidens
Forskningsbibliotek: Rapport fra Danmarks Forskningsbiblioteksforenings arbejdsgruppe vedr. FFU-bibliotekernes fremtid (2012), p. 13: (29.09.14) http://dfdf.dk/dmdocuments/ DF-Fremtidens_forskningsbibliotek_rapport_til_DF_29_august_1.pdf.
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recipients in the form of the embedded librarian and information specialist, included as a member of research teams and teaching teams. • The librarian and information specialist is no longer associated with a physical building/library. We agree with the tendencies and see the potential of the aforementioned. With regard to the future librarian we find it fruitful to include Giddens’ (1990) concept of disembedding to describe his or her role in the embedded library. Giddens (1990) describes disembedding as social relations lifted out of local interaction contexts and reconstructed across indefinite time-space distances. Furthermore, he places the concept in relation to expert systems that involve disembedding mechanisms because they symbolically remove social relations from the immediate vicinity.
THE HOLSTEBRO MODEL – THE DISEMBEDDED LIBRARIANS In the Holstebro model the library and the education service have joined forces and developed a method and a new content of the library, implemented in a new working structure. The key element is that the partners jointly develop the educational, professional, pedagogical and didactic lifecycle. The focal point of this is based firstly on a perception that knowledge work and knowledge handling are situational (Jensen, 2007). Secondly, it is based on the assumption that information literacy is not only a separate professional subject, but also a subject that must be present in a number of other professional subjects. Librarians in the Holstebro example are disembedded from the physical library space, work as trainers and mentors in knowledge seeking and knowledge handling and are experts within their area of knowledge; for instance, in the health professions such as nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. This is not only in regard to the training of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and nurses on campus, but also in relation to the students’ clinical training.The librarians are also partners in the supervisor team for the undergraduate students. Furthermore, the librarians share offices with the lecturers, participate in relevant meetings, pedagogical days and so on. In the physical library, the services are maintained professionally by a team of library assistants. According to Giddens (1990), the systems, in which expert knowledge is integrated, affect many of the things we do continuously. In a focus group interview with the stakeholders in May 2013, it was revealed that the innovative development of interactions between library and education service
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on the one hand has provided a new and different perspective on library development, and on the other hand the education service has become particularly aware of the library’s potential. The realisation of this potential is assured by the representation of the library on the campus board where the chief librarian takes part. In addition, this reformulation has more visibly contributed to the alignment of education to national accreditation requirements. In relation to our assumptions, we will in the next section discuss the problem areas that exist around development of interactions between library and education services. We will argue that organisations that understand how to embrace disembedded librarians and their fragmented development have the potential to meet the challenges and demands in the future.
THE DISEMBEDDED LIBRARIAN – THREATS OR OPPORTUNITIES? It seems important to understand the huge changes that are taking place in the value chain for learning and research. These changes are partly influenced by disrupted and innovative technologies, partly by new ways of knowledge production, which are closely related to the development of new technologies. The question is: whether we are prepared to understand and use new technology? A threat could occur, for instance, if the traditional understanding of the library is maintained. Then the change could at some point be perceived as a threat. Future students will require new services and expert knowledge. We will argue that this can only be met if you rethink goal, structure, content, and competences and skills. Looking at opportunities, we see a range of new prospects arising in the context of technological development within the field. According to Giddens (1990), experts’ disembedded functions gradually strengthen their ability to create and change, and they will find new ways to work in alternative and new communities. It is a release, and not exclusion. Disembedding is in our understanding also a vision and a means to develop our future context. An example of how to outline this structural transformation for the librarians in the University Colleges of Denmark is found in a new model for student activities in the study programme: The study activity model.2 The model describes four categories of study activities. The first category 2 http://www.uc-dk.dk/da/presse-og-debat/pressemeddelser/88-nye-ukategoriseret/489-forvent-
ninger-til-studerende-g%C3%B8res-tydeligere.html.
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includes activities involving teachers and students. These activities are initiated by the teacher, and they may be lectures, classes or tutoring, for example. The second category includes activities in which only students participate, but the activity is initiated by the teacher. Activities are meetings without teaching, study days, internships, study visits and so on. The third category includes the participation of teachers and students – initiated by students. It can be study groups, presentation of the study products or seminars. The final category includes the participation of students – initiated by students. It may be self-study and preparation, preparation of study products or other related activities. The embedded library is a natural part of this model, and disembedded librarians will have an important role in all four categories. In consequence, librarians need new professional and pedagogical competences. It means that there is a forward movement from service level to expert level in a learning context for the librarians.
EVIDENCE-BASED TRAINING COURSES In many ways the demands of evidence-based practice challenge the content of information retrieval training courses, because the evidencebased development trend means an increased pressure towards the use of scientific precision and documentation. It is indeed important to emphasise that the performance of the task varies from education to education depending on the educational context as well as the scientific theoretical basis, culture and tradition within the educational discipline. Health Sciences has a different didactic approach to information literacy than the teacher training programmes. One significant implication of the recent emphasis on scientific methods, validity and reliability, is that training courses should include elements focusing on how to ensure the quality of the information retrieved. Traditionally speaking, library work has not been much concerned with evidence-based librarianship or evidence-based methods, when searching information. Of course, librarians have always been very systematic in their database searches; they have also possessed skills in information retrieval. However, from an evidence-based point of view, basic processes have been more or less ignored by paying less attention to appraising the validity and relevance of the evidence retrieved. The ability to select and appraise the information retrieved becomes important when students adopt evidencebased practices. The capacity to interpret and actually use the information becomes critical. In addition, the benefits of user training courses are
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obvious. Therefore, when planning training courses, it will be essential to ensure an element of support and guidance as to how to actually interpret and use the information retrieved. This fact inspired us to initiate a new model of knowledge collaboration which supported evidence-based practice and included librarians in new expert roles.
INTERPROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITIES The project presents a new model of knowledge collaboration and aims to develop competences in professionals within the neurological field.The focus will be to establish professional networks and new technology to support the knowledge collaboration. The context of the project is interprofessional knowledge communities with the participation of occupational therapists, physical therapists, librarians and teachers from the university college, and researchers from the University of Aarhus. The ambition is to analyse the interaction between theory and practice, where research, education and practices develop each other. The library and the established group of occupational therapists and physiotherapists made a list of technical terms and vocabulary in the neurological field for an Internet-based encyclopedia as a wiki. In the encyclopedia the context-based descriptions of headings were presented. The term ‘facilitation’ was described as follows. A nominal definition, a neurophysiological definition and a neurotherapeutic definition were given on the basis of academic sources. These definitions were supplied with a physiotherapeutic comment, which describes how the term was used in practice. The discussions in the network and the experiences from practice in tandem with the research results created the new knowledge necessary to develop best practice. The project had a central interdisciplinary aspect.The project e xperimented with new ways of learning in communities of practice – inspired by Wenger (1998) and Dewey (1938) – by letting the social interaction, i.e., the group discussions and knowledge exchange, pave the way for the development of new knowledge.The interactive learning process was facilitated by the librarian teachers, who ensured a pedagogical and didactic approach with regard to the evidence-based practice. Indeed, evidence-based practices do not only imply systematic – in contrast to intuition and best guess – collection of valid and reliable research results. Library training courses should also address the validity and reliability of the documents and information retrieved to be considered sufficient.
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With some adjustments for 2014, this project has become a model for the embedded library with disembedded librarians in VIA University College, Campus Holstebro. The project also showed that the practitioners from the clinical settings did not have adequate information literacy competences to retrieve and assess research and research methods. To meet this need we established another project with a focus on mentoring of the participants in the entire knowledge creation process. The mentors were librarians as well as lectures from VIA University College, and the setting was the clinical practice. This innovative model is not organised around the mission of a physical library (space), but is context and process oriented. We want to emphasise that the model is context specific and capable of being adjusted to any specific educational context. To summarise: this model ensures that ideas, systems and solutions lodged in the library are not detached from the educational and institutional context, but are continually carried into the organisational level. This means that the structure of dialogue and communication is both transparent and dynamic. The advantage is that the library will expand beyond its present definitions. By extension, the library will be open to new forums and networks that can challenge the traditional understanding of the library. A consequence of this is that libraries will become more heterogeneous according to specific contexts and tasks.The same opinion is underlined by Herrington (2013): ‘the future is not the same for all academic libraries. There should not be a ‘one size fits all’ academic library, but rather each should reflect the goals, mission and pedagogy of its institutions.’
CONCLUSION The speed of disruptive technologies testifies to the fact that the library as we know it is facing huge new challenges not only in terms of form and content of meaning, but also in terms of the organisational framework of understanding. Our conclusion is that it will be an interesting and worthwhile challenge to take such technological determinism and new ways of knowledge production on board. The process inspired us to cross boundaries in our thinking and draw on cross-disciplinary resources. Being a generic model, the example from Holstebro seems to meet some of the demands and challenges of the librarian’s future role. Both the embedded library and the disembedded librarian are organised within educational programmes and research as the focal points in a specific educational context. Innovative initiatives are continually discussed and developed in communities of
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practice, involving lecturers, librarians, library assistants and leaders. In this way we jointly can meet the challenges of the future in a proactive and advantageous way that allows for the integration of the new synergies provided by the technological advances and the new production of knowledge in an educational and professional context.
REFERENCES Dewey, J. (2008(1938)) Experience and Education. New York, NY: Touchstone. Giddens, A. (1990) The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford: University Press. Harrits, G., Johansen, M., Kristensen, J., Larsen, L. and Olesen, S. (2014) Professioner under pres. Status, viden og styring. Aarhus:Viasystime. Herrington, V. J. (2013) The Academic Library: Cowpath or Path to the Future. Journal of Library Innovation.Vol.4, No.2: 54–68. Jensen, J. B. (2007) Langt ude? Essays om fremtiden. Aarhus: Academica. Ross, L. and Sennyey, P. (2008) The Library is Dead, Long Live the Library! The Practice of Academic Librarianship and the Digital Revolution. Journal of Academic Librarianship. Vol.34, No. 2: 145–152. Simpson, J. and Weiner, E. (1989) Oxford English Dictionary. (2nd ed.) Oxford: Clarendon Press. Wenger, É. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: University Press.
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CHAPTER 7
Using Formal and Informal Channels to Update Librarians’ Skill Sets Diana L.H. Chan Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST)
LEARN FROM REALITY What is the future of libraries in this world of rapid change? Society transforms over time and is shaped by the macroeconomic factors, technological shifts and peoples’ behaviour. Libraries do not exist in isolation. In addition to their historical roles and missions, they need to transform and move along with current trends to avoid becoming obsolete. Libraries are key components of a knowledge society, supporting patrons to satisfy their variety of needs. Many learning activities could be conducted in facilities other than libraries. Why do we need libraries? It is useful to observe and learn from recent history, especially from the business world. Kodak and Polaroid faced enormous challenges as film was replaced by digital cameras. Digital cameras also face the risk of being replaced by smartphones. Only businesses that are adaptable and can co-evolve with new and disruptive technology will stay competitive. This also applies to academic libraries.
MILLENNIAL STUDENTS The campus is now filled with millennial students, who grow through experiential learning. They are content creators and produce multimedia presentations and assignments. They use information through mobile devices. If we find a gap in using information between ourselves and our children, the same gap exists between librarians and our students.We cannot serve our users well without knowing the User Experience.
The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00007-5
Copyright © 2017 D.L.H. Chan. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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CHALLENGE FOR LIBRARIANS Today librarians face stern challenges from many directions: technology, social media, users’ demands and internal processes. These days, we need to manage both physical and virtual collections, and deal with digital rights management, licencing and copyright.We need to teach with new teaching pedagogies; assess students’ learning outcomes and competency; and market our services and resources to various user groups. Not only do we need to be equipped with digital skills, social media skills and multi-tasking abilities; we must also expand our roles in learning, scholarly communications, educational technologies, and document and data archiving. How should we upgrade our skill sets and learn to take up new roles? How do we change our service attitudes?
NEW ROLES AND SKILLS The 2014 NMC Horizon Report identifies the roles and skills of librarians as one of the 18 topics that will have a large impact on academic and research libraries worldwide over the next five years (Johnson et al., 2014). Librarians are expected to be equipped with new skill sets to play new roles and deliver new services. In a study of 113 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries’ vacancy postings, it was found that more than half of the advertised positions were newly created or significantly redefined jobs (Sierra, 2012). However, we cannot lay off half of our workforce and replace it with new staff. Libraries need to use a combined strategy of recruiting new blood with new skill sets and reskilling existing staff.We need to regard staff development as mission-critical and adopt a proactive rather than reactive approach.
PRACTICES OF RESKILLING AT HKUST LIBRARY The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library (HKUST) emphasises retraining and reskilling staff. One of its 2015–18 ten strategic goals is to ‘equip staff with appropriate expertise and skills to deliver quality services; encourage staff development and further promote team effectiveness’. We use a mix of formal and informal training, organised by the Library, University and our library consortium. They are conducted by experts and academics, professional trainers and library staff themselves. Through such training, the staff will progress further in a learning organisation. Library staff at HKUST participated in 112 programs with 1341 attendances in
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2015/16. With 25 librarians in a workforce of 90 people, this level of participation is very encouraging.
Formal Training Organised by the Library, formal training spans from new staff orientation, refresher sessions and user education workshops, to specialised training by professional trainers or speakers. Librarians have been trained on a variety of management topics such as customer service, branding, leadership and negotiation skills.These sessions helped librarians and paraprofessionals to manage their work and their teams better.They have further developed knowledge on scholarly communications issues such as digital humanities, publishing trends and research data management.Teaching librarians often attended workshops on instructional pedagogies, blended learning, MOOCs and experiential learning organised by the Center for Education Innovation. Librarians are encouraged to participate and present in local and overseas conferences as well. In 2010, HKUST Library organised a large scale cross-training program with 30 sessions on operational workflows of different units. Some staff volunteered to contribute in some new service areas, which was a useful by-product of the cross training (Chan and Soong, 2011).
Informal Training A series of informal training sessions has been offered by librarians themselves. Library Connect is a bi-weekly hour-long presentation session when librarians take turns to share their professional knowledge on projects they are engaged in or conferences they have attended. Refreshments are served to create a more casual environment. Topics presented have included infographics, WhatsApp a librarian, ethnographic research, shared Integrated Library System (ILS), etc. Fun Fun Cafe is a social platform to connect staff and nurture relationships through social activities such as tai chi and food preparation. It is offered during lunch time when staff mingle, learn and socialise together. This is a soft approach to cultivate guan-xi (relationship and connection) which can smooth working relationships. The 40 plus student helpers working in the Learning and Information Commons connect at work through Facebook and are coached by experienced student helpers and staff.
Upgrading Technical Skill Sets HKUST’s Publishing Technology Center and IT Service Center gave library staff special sessions on photography, video making, digital imaging, poster
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design, cyber security and emerging Information and Communications Technology (ICT) trainings. The Library also offered sessions on applications software such as 3D printing. Library staff were also given office hours to learn from the online training program of Lynda.com.
Consortial Training The academic libraries in Hong Kong have formed a consortium, the Joint University Librarian Advisory Committee ( JULAC). JULAC organises annual staff forums for its members to share best practices and new initiatives; and an Academic Librarian Conference to disseminate research findings and report on professional advances. JULAC had also organised special training programs such as the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Immersion Program in 2012, the Data Curation Training Program in 2015 and the Teaching Capacity Building Programs in 2016. The Leadership Institute at the University of Hong Kong Library organises annual residential training programs for local as well as Asian librarians. These trainings form a community of practice.
Learning Circles HKUST has the conventional organisation structure of functional departments. However, its structure is supplemented by a network of crossdepartmental committees, working groups and teams. There is a team of instructional and subject librarians, the Poster Design Force, a Facebook team and a photography team. Teams of library staff formed learning circles to learn new skills, explore new technology and deliver new services. There is a learning circle to study changes in the Information Literacy Framework. The e-learning team learns to create videos, tutorials and interactive games. The user communications team is learning marketing and social media strategies. The 3D printing team offered the service after a year’s experiential learning by trial-and-error. The scholarly communications team identified online tutorials and training programs to upgrade themselves on data curation. These learning circles build up collective wisdom and accumulate knowledge over time, which expand their members’ capacity in delivering new services.
Librarians Engaged in Research This is an initiative in which librarians take on research projects individually or in groups. They choose a work-related topic and start to engage in research. The aim is to make conference presentations or publish in journals.
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Collective Learning This is the key to success in transforming librarians’ roles and upgrading skills. When staff from different functional units work together in a team,
knowledge is transferred, shared and accumulated. This was well illustrated by the 2014 Discovering the Universe Exhibition. A successful and creative partnership was formed across library units and with academic units. Three subject librarians worked together with the Special Collections Librarian in which they used Augmented Reality and QR codes to showcase the exhibit of rare books by Copernicus, Galileo and Ptolemy in the Special Collections Gallery. A School of Science coordinating faculty invited students to serve as tour guides, after they received briefings from the faculty and librarians. Student attendees to the exhibition tour were given credit in a science course. These students then served as tour guides in the Science Festival organised by the Science Museum in the city. This collaboration worked to help students articulate knowledge learned. Such formal and informal learning channels have several explicit outcomes. They focus on learning new skills such as 3D printing; or knowledge such as data curation; and/or nurturing an attitude such as team spirit.
NEW ROLES ALREADY PLAYED The New Roles for New Times report from the ARL identifies six trends in transforming librarians’ liaison roles ( Jaguszewski and Williams, 2013).They are as follows: • Develop user-centred library services • A hybrid model of liaison and functional specialist is emerging • Organisational flexibility must meet changing user needs • No liaison is an island • Collaboration is key • Create and sustain a flexible workforce Over the years, librarians at HKUST have experimented and played new roles in embedding librarians in courses, organising author workshops, created a learning commons, providing 3D printing, running exhibitions, organising a variety of co-curricular activities such as book talks, art demonstrations and e-discovery week. These activities were done as user-centred services in collaboration with academic and supporting units.
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HOW SHOULD LIBRARIANS RESPOND? A task force chaired by Electronic Information for Libraries has released two new librarians’ competency profiles in the area of scholarly communication and e-research in the ELPUB 2016 conference in Germany (COAR, 2016). They will help librarians to identify skill gaps and areas for development and training. There will be more competency profiles to come. Librarians need to keep track of the drivers and trends, and be prepared for coming challenges. Library staff should be innovative, experimental, risk-taking, proactive, open-minded, flexible, adaptable and ready to take on duties that are not well-defined. Library staff must also design future library space to align with new learning needs and engage users; and manage space to maintain its vibrancy, inspiration and welcoming environment. Library staff need to be knowledgeable facility tour guides, resource and exhibit curators, event and activity organisers, and function moderators. They need to come out of the office and from behind the counter, show their presence, and participate and engage in different kinds of learning functions and activities happening in the university community (Chan and Spodick, 2014). To achieve these, librarians can learn from the business. The American Society for Training and Development gives out best awards to companies each year. It was found that many of the companies receiving awards include learning in their staff members’ annual objectives; enforce a link between learning and performance, and maintain a strong culture of learning (T&D, 2012). Each librarian should be encouraged to set annual targets on what they need to learn. The library will then be a learning organisation that we grow together with our users. The future of libraries relies on librarians’ capacities to continuously transform our roles and skills.
REFERENCES Chan, D.L.H. and Spodick, E. (2014) Space development: a case study of HKUST Library. New Library World. Vol. 115, No. 5/6: 250–262. Chan, D.L.H. and Soong, S.C. (2011) Strategic repositioning in a dynamic environment. Library Management. Vol. 32, No. 1/2: 22–36. COAR. (2016) Librarians’ Competency for E-Research and Scholarly Communication. [Online] Available from: https://www.coar-repositories.org/activities/support-and-training/ task-force-competencies/ Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada,V., and Freeman, A. (2014) NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Library Edition. Austin, Texas, the New Media Consortium. [Online] Available from: http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2014-nmc-horizon-report-library-EN.pdf.
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Jaguszewski, J.M. and Williams, K. (2013) New roles for new times: transforming liaison roles in research libraries. Association of Research Libraries. [Online] Available from: http://www. arl.org/nrnt. Sierra, T. (2012) Staffing for the future: ARL university library hiring in 2011. ARL Fall Forum 2012. [Online] Available from: http://www.arl.org/storage/documents/publications/ ff12-sierra.pdf. T&D (2012) ASTD Best Awards 10th Anniversary. October, p. 30–36, 38–48, 50–80.
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CHAPTER 8
Library 2.0: Lost Illusions? Tibor Koltay Institute of Learning Technologies of Eszterházy Károly University, Eger (formerly the Department of Information and Library Studies of Szent István University, Gödöllő), Hungary
The future of libraries in the digital age will depend on the use of Library 2.0 tools. Or, will it indeed? One way to find the right answer to this question is to have a look at some earlier views on Web 2.0 and Library 2.0, as I believe that looking back may prove useful in providing a clearer picture of the future. Hungarian librarians are often accused of being conservative, reacting to new developments slowly and reluctantly. The international literature, or at least that part of it, which reflects library and information science and librarianship from Western (to a substantial extent American) viewpoints, seems to show something different. We often witness a celebratory attitude towards new technologies. Despite warnings and criticisms from thinkers and researchers from many other disciplines (also involving Western authors) we often see uncritical uptake of new technologies, and in particular Web 2.0 and Library 2.0. On the other hand, fears and excessive criticisms are strongly present and still exist. Library literature repeatedly seems to take criticisms of Web 2.0 (meanwhile rechristened to social media) into consideration only to a small extent. This was understandable to a certain degree in the light of the sweeping popularity of Web 2.0 applications among potential library users and especially younger generations (Koltay, 2010). In 2006 Peter Godwin urged the profession to ‘discuss the social aspect of networks enabled through Web 2.0 which are so readily embraced by the Internet generation and which can be the key for librarians and academic staff seeking to reach them.’ (Godwin, 2006, p. 273). This was obviously only one example and Godwin was not the only one who embraced these ideas enthusiastically. However, recently, in the first chapter of the book Information Literacy Beyond Library 2.0 he noticed that the general enthusiasm for Library 2.0 has vanished and scepticism about its merits has appeared (Godwin, 2012, p. 3). It is important to note that his latter writing is in the style of a review, in which he enumerates the upsides and downsides of The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00008-7
Copyright © 2017 T. Koltay. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Library 2.0, while indicating that it signifies important changes in the thinking of the profession. Earlier, Roy Tennant had used hard words to criticise Library 2.0, when he consigned the term to the ‘dustbin of history, never to be seen again’ (Tennant, 2011). It was also Godwin (2012), who stated that social media have become a mainstream set of tools and approaches. However, he added that we cannot disregard what price we have to pay for using Web 2.0. He was right in underlining that these apparently free tools have often come at the price of the invasion of privacy as we are the product that social media sell to advertisers. These thoughts seem to show a shift in opinion, including lost illusions among information professionals. What Bawden et al. (2007) said about the difficulty in foreseeing the long-term effects of Web 2.0 on libraries and the information professions is still true. We can also be certain that criticising Web 2.0 is not enough if we want to achieve a balanced view of new technological developments and their effects. We must attempt to discover their use for purposes that properly serve different library constituencies. Nonetheless, critiquing these phenomena may stimulate identifying the most plausible aims and the most useful tools that can serve library goals. Although such criticisms did not attract much attention to date, I believe that this is the way that we, as a profession should follow in the future. I do not want to say that we could not witness criticism from the profession itself and from other fields. The commercial motives of Web 2.0 gave enough reason for people to be sceptical and critical. For instance, Cronin (2005) criticised the excessive wordiness and sometimes incoherent talkativeness that characterises personal blogs, where banality and vulgarity are much in evidence in the fight for attention. He also described the harsh reactions of some militant bloggers that he received for this criticism. However, blogging seems to be changing to a certain extent. Let us take, for example, the Occasional Informationist 1 run by David Bawden. It is obvious that the quality and trustworthiness of this blog come from the trustworthiness of its author. More than that, it moves the genre into a new direction. I am speaking about the fact that we can often read in this blog editorials (to be) published in the Journal of Documentation, edited by Bawden. We can call these writings either preprints or postprints. In any case, for those who cannot access the journal, they provide a way to read at least some of the editorials and I believe that this is a good tool to motivate reading them and occasionally other 1 http://theoccasionalinformationist.com/.
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articles. This may be a one-time undertaking, feasible only in the given environment, but it is still noteworthy. In a different environment, blog entries are beginning to accumulate trust. These writings appear in daily and weekly newspapers or magazines. It seems to me that they are only masked as blog entries, while they are in fact articles written by professional journalists, enhanced with the possibility of writing comments in response to them. If we can trust these papers, it is not necessary to call them blog entries or articles.Their reputation – if there is one – comes from the publications where they appear. Both examples show that the picture of social media is complex and intricate. While we have undoubtedly lost our initial illusions, we are also able to find real innovation. Obviously, blogging is not identical to Library 2.0.Time proved Crawford (2006) right, when he stated that this expression covers two different concepts. One is Library 2.0 and then there is the bandwagon called ‘Library 2.0’. In the case of the bandwagon there are several concepts behind the name and they provoke confrontation. These concepts attract both the ones who are eager to dismiss today’s libraries and librarians and those who are in favour of continuing to improve and extend library services. We should not forget that none of these discussions negates the fact that applications based on Web 2.0 techniques and developed by libraries are of the utmost importance by virtue of their ease of use and their PR effect on users. Last but not least, let me mention that – although exercising considerable well-founded criticisms of social media Web 2.0 in libraries – Lilburn (2012) reminds us that we have to be careful not to draw premature conclusions, neither extremely pessimistic, nor overly optimistic ones. Fortunately, he is not the only one, but he is right, indeed!
REFERENCES Bawden, D., Robinson, L., Anderson, T., Bates, J., Rutkauskiene, U. and Vilar, P. (2007) Towards Curriculum 2.0: library/information education for a Web 2.0 world. Library and Information Research. Vol. 31, No.99:14-25. [Online] Available from: http://www.lirgjournal.org.uk/lir/ojs/index.php/lir/article/view/49/74. Crawford, W. (2006) Library 2.0 and ‘Library 2.0’. Cites and Insights. Vol. 6, No. 2. [Online] Available from: http://citesandinsights.info/l2a.pdf. Cronin, B. (2005) Vox populi: Civility in the blogosphere. International Journal of Information Management. Vol. 25, No. 6: 549–550. Godwin, P. (2006) Information literacy in the age of amateurs: how Google and Web 2.0 affect librarians’ support of Information Literacy. Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences. Vol. 5, No. 4: 268–287.
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Godwin, P. (2012) Library 2.0: a retrospective. In Godwin, P. and Parker, J. (eds) Information literacy beyond library 2.0. London: Facet. Koltay, T. (2010) Web 2.0 contradiction: commercial and library use. Library Philosophy and Practice. [Online] Available from: http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/koltay.pdf. Lilburn, J. (2012) Commercial Social Media and the Erosion of the Commons: Implications for Academic Libraries. Libraries and the Academy. Vol. 12, No. 2: 139–153. Tennant, R. (2011) 7 Words or Phrases to Never Say or Write Again. The Digital Shift blog, March 17. [Online] Available from: http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2011/03/roy-tennantdigital-libraries/7-words-or-phrases-to-never-say-or-write-again/.
CHAPTER 9
Digital Music Preparation in the Modern Orchestral Library Matthew Naughtin San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco, California, USA
Music preparation is the most challenging task for an orchestral music librarian. A major problem has often been the abysmally poor quality of the orchestra materials available for older repertoire – particularly opera and ballet music – much of which is only available in copies of poorly engraved 19th century editions or has never been engraved at all and exists only as hand-copied manuscripts. The computer age has brought a great improvement in the quality of orchestral materials available from publishers, and modern orchestral musicians have become accustomed to clear, digitally engraved editions of the standard orchestral repertoire. In fact, librarians in many orchestras are contractually obligated to provide music that meets high standards of legibility. That said, while a few ‘boutique’ publishers have taken on the task of creating new editions of older, poorly engraved repertoire, their efforts so far have only scratched the surface of the problem. To deal with this, many librarians have taken the bit in their teeth and created their own digital imprints of hard-to-find works using photocopiers, scanners, image editing programs and digital m usic-engraving programs. This chapter will discuss the various strategies and technologies that have become commonplace in modern orchestral libraries.
MUSIC-ENGRAVING PROGRAMS In the digital age librarians have several options for dealing with poorquality orchestra materials, but when working with original hand-copied manuscripts the only option may be to make a completely new computer-engraved score and set of parts. Proficiency in the use of digital music-engraving programs such as Finale and Sibelius has become a near-universal job skill for music librarians.
The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00009-9
Copyright © 2017 M. Naughtin. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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This raises the delicate issue of where a librarian draws the line between performing his or her normal duties as a music preparer and becomes a music copyist – which, in my opinion, is a completely separate profession and should be compensated accordingly. Some librarians have crossed this line and become, in essence, music publishers in their own right, creating new editions of music both out of necessity and for their own personal satisfaction. I work for a ballet company, and every ballet company routinely adapts the standard classics of the repertoire to fit its own personnel and style. Radical cuts, re-orderings and insertions of foreign material are to be expected, and the preparation of conductor’s scores and orchestra parts to work with a heavily restructured and edited sequence of numbers in a classic ballet is a daunting and time-consuming task, particularly when the existing materials are poorly printed or hand-copied. With today’s digital technology, the creation of clear, easy-to-read orchestra materials has become easier, faster and more accurate. A skilled copyist can enter and edit the score in a music-engraving program, extract and format the instrumental parts and transmit digital PDF files of the materials over the Internet to be printed out by the music librarian in substantially less time than is needed for traditional hand-copying and physical shipping. Here is a page from the original score of Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus Fig. 9.1. And its digital re-engraving by Lars Payne, music librarian of the English National Ballet, using the Sibelius program Fig. 9.2. And here is a page from the Overture to Rinaldo by G.F. Handel Fig. 9.3. And a digital re-engraving by the author, using the Finale program Fig. 9.4.
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Figure 9.1 Don Quixote original. Image by the Author
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Figure 9.2 Don Quixote in Sibelius. © Lars Payne 2007 (used by permission)
Figure 9.3 Rinaldo original. Image by the Author
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Figure 9.4 Rinaldo in Finale. Image by the Author
If a choreographer wishes to commission an original musical score, most modern composers are capable of providing a digital score and orchestral parts. The composer is also expected to provide either a printed piano reduction of the score or a synthesised recording generated from the digital score for use by the choreographer and dancers in the rehearsal studio. Music-engraving programs make the creation of a printed piano reduction a relatively quick process and are also capable of producing
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synthesised mp3 recordings. If the composer is not computer-savvy enough to enter the score in a digital music program, he is almost certainly paying a music copyist to do so, since no professional orchestras accept handwritten materials nowadays. Another advantage of the digital format is that, if the choreographer asks for changes, the composer or copyist can make them quickly and record a new sound file in a few minutes.
PHOTOCOPIERS AND IMAGE SCANNERS Since Xerox introduced the office-sized photocopier in the 1960s, copier technology has gradually improved to the point that the devices are now indispensable allies for harried music librarians. In fact, a good photocopier is the librarian’s Stradivarius. A bit of virtuoso technique with a copier can work wonders with faded, hard-to-read music and solve problems that once could only be addressed only with pencils, pens and whiteout. Photocopying old, yellowed parts, enlarging and darkening the music and lightening the background with judicious use of contrast settings can bring old music back to playability and make musicians happier. Librarians skilled in the use of digital image editing programs can also work wonders with PDF files scanned from the original hard copies on multifunction copiers. Modern multifunction digital photocopiers are sophisticated machines that can print, copy and duplex on multiple sizes and thicknesses of paper as well as scan documents to create digital image files in formats such as PDF, TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) and JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group). They can be networked with computers in the music library to transmit and receive files and data, enabling them to print images sent directly from a computer. The most popular and versatile brands of digital photocopiers currently being used in orchestra music libraries are the Ricoh Aficio and the Konica Minolta Bizhub, both of which can scan and store image files on internal hard drives for quick access as well as transmit the files to a computer for editing. A separate desktop image scanner is not strictly necessary with a multifunction copier in the library, but the high-quality images that flatbed scanners produce and their wider choice of resolutions and tonal values make them a more flexible choice when using music recognition programs (discussed below).There are many fine flatbed image scanners on the market, the most popular brands being Epson, Canon and Hewlett–Packard.
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THE PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT (PDF) I do not believe I am exaggerating when I say that the advent of this technology has revolutionised the workflow in orchestral music libraries over the last 15 years. Developed by Adobe Systems in 1993, the PDF is a digital file format capable of encapsulating a complete document, including the text, fonts, graphics and other information needed to view and print it, in a compact file that is easily transmitted over the Internet or over internal digital networks. Since PDF images are scalable, any PDF with a resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch) or more can be sent to a printer or digital copier and reproduced with no loss of quality on all of the paper sizes (letter, B4, 10″ × 13″ or 10″ × 14″) most commonly used in orchestra libraries. Along with the convenience of being able to store and retrieve music scores in a convenient, printable format, the PDF has solved one of the more intractable and stressful problems orchestral librarians encounter: missing or lost performance materials. Human fallibility being what it is, it sometimes seems miraculous that 80 or so musicians are able to show up at a rehearsal or concert with all of their music in hand. In the past, if one of them did not, the librarian’s first hope was that there were extra copies to substitute for the missing part. If not, the forgetful musician often was forced to read off a conductor’s score. Now librarians routinely post messages on the MOLA (Major Orchestra Librarians Association) Website’s ‘Music 911’ forum that alert other librarians in the Association to their plight and usually produce scanned PDFs of the missing music in email inboxes within minutes. Music publishers also have become acclimated to sending PDF files to librarians when problems arise with rented music sets that have been shipped with incomplete or incorrect parts and scores. Another very useful digital resource available for replacing missing music is the huge quantity of scanned PDFs of public domain music available on the Internet, particularly from the Petrucci Music Library.
IMAGE EDITING PROGRAMS Once a page of music has been scanned into a PDF or JPEG file, it can be edited and manipulated by a variety of image editing programs. The most versatile and powerful of these is Adobe Photoshop, which comes in both a professional version, Photoshop CC, and a more basic version, Photoshop Elements. Photoshop Elements is certainly adequate for the needs of orchestra music libraries and can produce excellent results when used to enhance the legibility of old, faded and discoloured music.
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Figure 9.5 Score original. Image by the Author
Here is an old score page Fig. 9.5. And the resulting improvement when levels of brightness, contrast and sharpness have been adjusted in Photoshop Elements Fig. 9.6. The finished page can be saved as a PDF, compiled with other PDF pages and printed out on the library’s digital copier. Photoshop Elements can also be used to change the sequence of music on a page by extracting
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Figure 9.6 Score in Photoshop. Image by the Author
sections of the image and pasting them in different places.This is very useful for editing scores that have large numbers of cuts and insertions (ballet music is notorious for this). There are several programs available that can assemble a series of PDF pages into a single multi-page document or rearrange the page order in an existing document. The best-known of these are Adobe Acrobat Pro, Nuance OmniPage and PaperPort.
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MUSIC RECOGNITION SOFTWARE An interesting offshoot of the increasing sophistication of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) programs that can convert scanned images of printed text into editable digital documents has been the development of software that is able (with varying degrees of success) to scan printed and handwritten music scores and convert them into files that can be edited with the two most popular music notation programs, Finale and Sibelius. SmartScore (a basic version of which is bundled with Finale) and PhotoScore (bundled with Sibelius) both claim high rates of accuracy (PhotoScore boasts of being 99.5% accurate) and allow extensive editing of music within the program before it is ported to the host notation program. However, the quality of the results I have achieved with both programs has been mixed at best. Given a high-quality original (preferably created by a computer notation software), both programs produced very accurate – in the 90–95% range – recognition that required minimal correction to be usable. This is quite impressive, considering that the software is recognising not only notes and rests, but also clefs, key signatures, time signatures, slurs, dynamics and text expressions, titles and tempo markings. But the quality of the scores most librarians will be interested in translating to a music notation program will not be so high – that is why they want to improve them in the first place. Bear in mind that I produced the following examples without any official training in using the software, so my results can surely be improved on. But most music librarians will be in the same boat, so here goes. Here’s a page from a typical 19th century edition of the Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1 Fig. 9.7. Here it is as interpreted by PhotoScore Fig. 9.8. And here as scanned by SmartScore Fig. 9.9. As can be seen, neither program does an exceptional job of creating an error-free reading, although the SmartScore file has a slight edge in accuracy. Much editing will have to be done before either of these files will be usable. For handwritten music scores, the results from both programs were unacceptable. I scanned a reasonably well-notated page from a handwritten part for Daniel Auber’s Variations de ballet Fig. 9.10. Here is how PhotoScore saw it Fig. 9.11. And here is SmartScore’s interpretation Fig. 9.12.
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Figure 9.7 Brahms original. Image by the Author
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Figure 9.8 Brahms in PhotoScore. Image by the Author
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Figure 9.9 Brahms in SmartScore. Image by the Author
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Figure 9.10 Variations de ballet original. Image by the Author
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Figure 9.11 Variations de ballet PhotoScore. Image by the Author
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Figure 9.12 Variations de ballet SmartScore. Image by the Author
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So digital music recognition software has a long way to go before it becomes an effective time-saving tool for orchestra music librarians. Nonetheless, I have great hopes that – someday – I will be able to scan a tattered, shoddy old score from a 19th century Russian ballet and produce crystal–clear parts for my musicians. In conclusion, it is obvious that I consider the influx of digital media into the realm of the orchestral library to be a very positive development. Scanners, copiers, music-engraving programs and image editing programs all greatly enlarge the options at a librarian’s command, enhance the speed with which tasks can be completed and immensely improve the quality and accuracy of the final product: music on the stands.
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CHAPTER 10
The Academic Library in 2020 Bruce E. Massis Columbus State Community College, Ohio, USA
If, in fact, one of America’s most respected institutions is its higher education system (8 of the top 10 highest ranked universities are located in the United States – the other 2 in the UK according to The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings (2016)), the academic library, positioned on each of these campuses, must also meet or exceed a similar level of quality, even as continuous evolutionary change will undoubtedly impact the higher education environment into the future. There are significant models, many already in place, where academic libraries seek to reinvent themselves to survive and thrive into the next decade and to remain well positioned as an essential campus service ensuring that the library is ‘…not just a social safety net; it’s an essential piece of education in any community’ (Takeaway, 2010). This statement is as accurate when discussing academic libraries as it is when referring to the public library. The academic community is certainly no less of a community to its students, faculty, staff and administrators than the public library is to its local community. Similarly, it serves as an oasis of intellectual discourse and a social centre for its community that needs to offer a multitude of programmes and services into 2020 and beyond. Not all academic libraries enjoy the same freedom for experimentation, trial and error, or research and development that either 4-year research universities or organisations in the private sector do, so it is incumbent upon library planners to ensure future sustainability of their libraries where they can maintain a mix of traditional and progressive thinking to best serve students. There are, then, a number of examples of existing models of academic libraries that, while still evolving, often with limited resources, have already been building for some time those foundations of service and structure that will maintain and sustain our academic libraries into the year 2020.
The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00010-5
Copyright © 2017 B.E. Massis. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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THE JOINT-USE MODEL With all of the discussion these days regarding the future of the academic library, futurists and pundits are going so far as to suggest that libraries must go even further than they currently do to prove their worth and benefits to boards, funders, legislators, students, parents and the public itself. ‘Colleges are relying more and more on tuition, and the more they rely on tuition, the more they’re going to have to have programs that lead somewhere…All of that is driving more customer-responsiveness...Colleges have to act more like competitive institutions’ (Marcus, 2014). One way to accomplish such alignment on a college campus is for the academic library to engage in a public/public or public/private library partnership.This model of library service can be viewed as a visible symbol of the potential of future sustained growth for the academic library. One successful example of this partnership model may be found on the campus of Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Southeast Florida, a partnership between NSU and Broward County Public Library, providing a standard of excellence in academic library planning and partnership that may, indeed, serve as a model for the academic library in 2020. ‘Through a unique agreement with Broward County, NSU’s Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center serves the residents of Broward County as well as the University’s students, faculty, and staff members. This means the community at large can enjoy the resources and services this spectacular venue has to offer…the 325,000-square-foot Alvin Sherman Library is one of the largest library buildings in the state of Florida and offers full collections of research materials, specialised databases, popular fiction and nonfiction books, magazines and journals, CDs, and DVDs’ (Community, 2014). There are, of course, other joint-use facilities that have been established throughout the United States and many more across Australia and other nations. ‘When Tidewater Community College (in Virginia) and the City of Virginia Beach discovered that they were about to build libraries across the street from each other, they combined forces to build a joint academic and public library’ (Morehart, 2014). As funding continues to be a challenge in the academic and public funding environments, and the cost of higher education has continued to boil on the front burner of concern to parents, legislators and educators alike, alternatives to the traditional library model in higher education will continue to emerge resulting in library partnerships of this kind.
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THE DIGITAL DELIVERY MODEL Through the ongoing digital transference from print to electronic resources at an ever rapid and expanding pace, it is clear that the electronic or digital delivery of academic library materials supporting the college curriculum will continue to gain greater traction. In a recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, it has been determined that ‘well over half of new acquisitions at all academic libraries in the 2012 fiscal year were e-books. Community colleges added a higher share of e-books than fouryear institutions did. By the end of the fiscal year, more than a quarter of the overall materials at less-than-four-year institutions consisted of e-books’ (Percentage of E-Books at Academic Libraries, by Institution Type, FY, 2012, 2014). Several academic libraries have already entirely transitioned from print to digital delivery of what would historically be bookstore or library materials. One of the more prominent ones that could indeed serve as a model of library service for the future may be found at Lynn University located in Boca Raton, Florida. Starting in the fall of 2013, ‘an Apple iPad mini loaded with the ‘Dialogues of Learning core curriculum’ books, summer reader, iTunes U courses and other class materials and useful apps (were) provided to all incoming freshmen…’ (Lynn University launching one of higher education’s most extensive tablet-based learning programs, 2013). The national recognition of this program has encouraged other higher education institutions to investigate such service delivery mechanisms with selected commercial providers. As another example, Florida Polytechnic University (FPU), opened its doors to its first entering freshman class in 2012 with a library that, is predominantly digital (electronic access to 135,000 licenced e-books and more than 65 databases). Since ‘the steady shift from print to digital formats is well underway, (and) legacy print collections mean that fully bookless libraries are still so rare as to be mostly a novelty’ (Riley, 2014), FPU also provides students with partner rights to use to the print collection of a nearby college as well. There are certainly budgetary and access challenges that academic libraries must face in making the transition from print to digital, not the least of which is the retrieval of materials only in digital format under licences from the publishers that restrict use or that require separate fees for streaming and public performances of the material. The result of which might be that, ‘…streaming does not solve the licensing problem…It may provide students
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with an alternative avenue for accessing recordings not in a library’s collection, but it also eliminates the library as the steward of digital artifacts’ (Kolowich, 2014). However, as the percentage of students accessing academic library information more in a digital and less in a print format, it will behove academic library leaders to examine the library’s information delivery processes (and its associated costs) to determine whether or not such a shift can assist in carrying their library into the future. Alternately, recent data suggest that the entirety of a digital shift by libraries must still be approached with understanding usage and caution. In a recent study, it was reported that ‘92 percent preferred paper books instead of e-books’ (Derla, 2016). So, it is the wise library seeking a wholesale shift into a fully digital delivery system to tread warily, examining all of the potential successes and pitfalls prior to going forward.
THE SUBJECT-SPECIFIC ACADEMIC LIBRARY MODEL For many years, it has been incumbent upon well-funded four-year academic institutions to encourage the growth of subject-specific libraries on campus. From Agricultural Studies to Engineering, to Veterinary Medicine and numerous subjects in-between, on larger campuses, libraries have been established to ensure that students studying those pursuits can be best served, not only through the collections, but also by librarians who serve as subjectmatter specialists in those areas of study. One of the challenges as society churns toward 2020 is the need to provide specialised collections for areas that may not have even been yet developed for new courses. At present, in expanding academic areas of study such as Cybersecurity, Robotics, Gaming, Sustainability, Logistics, and of course, Medicine and Law, academic libraries have recognised the need to continue to build and maintain cutting-edge collections, often under severe budgetary constraints. As an example, with the explosive growth in our ageing populations, the Healthcare field, especially, is likely to precipitate even greater interest by students as we move toward 2020. ‘By 2020, national health spending is expected to reach $4.6 trillion and comprise 19.8 percent of GDP.The government-sponsored share of health spending is projected to increase from 45 percent in 2010 to about 50 percent by 2020…’ (National Health Expenditure Projections, 2010–2020, 2010). Therefore, college and university libraries must keep up with additions to the many subject areas within this field to support the curriculum, not only with standard print materials, but also with databases and numerous forms of digital material that will be developed for existing digital delivery platforms and
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for those, some of which have not yet been developed.The budget impact on these academic libraries will place a strain on staffing, thereby developing the need to create more digital access and distance librarian support.
ACADEMIC LIBRARY SPACE MODEL IN 2020 With spaces transformed by an improved technology infrastructure and fewer physical materials (shelving and print books), and, as technology costs lessen, greater numbers of students will undoubtedly visit the academic library with their own digital devices in hand. They will also arrive at the doors of the academic library with expectations that the library will provide maker spaces for 3D printing, a plethora of hand-held devices available for loan such as iPads, mobile hotspots, and a market basket of data sources well beyond a standard grouping of academic resources so that research and development in the academic arena can support data-driven decision-making for students preparing to enter the workplace. In a report published by the Association of College and Research Libraries, this will become particularly important and that its implications will result in the following: There will be a growing demand for library professionals with data curation, data mining, and analysis skills. Academic library administration should gauge the demand for research data services on their campuses and initiate programs offering these services to their communities. Academic library administration should consider the reallocation of resources and reorganization of staff in order to initiate research data services on their campuses. Academic library administration should promote professional development opportunities that encourage the development of data curation and data mining skills. ACRL (2013)
With that in mind, the building itself might well be reconfigured with more robust wireless access points and fewer standalone individual workstations.This space gain can be translated into rooms that currently house computer labs and made into destinations awash in comfortable and/or functional furniture, soft lighting, carpeting, soundproof glass walls, collaboration spaces, high-speed Internet with unconstrained broadband and shared storage so that virtual access may be accomplished with greater ease and efficiency.
CONCLUSION Predicting the future is always a rather dicey proposition. The safe bet is to look to the present to use as a foundation on which to base the future because it is what we know.There have been only so many basic variations on a theme
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when it is related to academic libraries regarding their mission, service and structure. Should this remain the case, then the future of the academic library will, undoubtedly, hinge on many of the successful models currently in place, with some slight variations. Given the nature of project management, where one must plan the plan prior to planning the project, there is usually a moment of recognition that quantum change tends to take time.The year 2020 is only a mere four years away, so basing the future model of the academic library expecting that such change will arise with the snap of a finger is quite unrealistic. However, once engaged in the planning, the library must move forward into the future, bringing with it all the change that is necessary to ensure its position as an essential academic resource on campus. In the words of Eastern Philosopher Alan Watts, ‘The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance’.
REFERENCES 2010 Librarian of the Year on the Library of the Future. (2011) The Takeaway. [Online] Available from: http://www.thetakeaway.org/2011/jun/15/community-center-andmulti-media-lab-library-future/. Community. (2014) Nova Southeastern University. [Online] Available from: http://www. nova.edu/community/libraries.html. Derla, K. (2016) More Than 90 Percent Of College Students Prefer Reading Paper Books Over E-Books. Tech Times. [Online] Available from: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/131055/20160205/more-than-90-percent-of-college-students-prefer-readingpaper-books-over-e-books.htm. Environmental Scan 2013 by the ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee. (2013) ACRL. [Online] Available from: http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/publications/whitepapers/EnvironmentalScan13.pdf. Kolowich, S. (2014) How Streaming Media Could Threaten the Mission of Libraries. The Chronicle of Higher Education. [Online] Available from: http://chronicle.com/blogs/ wiredcampus/. Lynn University launching one of higher education’s most extensive tablet-based learning programs 2013. [Online] Available from: http://www.lynn.edu/about-lynn/news-andevents/news/lynn-univer sity-launching-one-of-higher-education2019smost-extensive-tablet-based-learning-programs. Marcus, J. (2014) Community college district tries full slate of innovations, all at once. The Hechinger Report. PBS News Hour. [Online] Available from: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/community-college-district-tries-full-slate-innovations/. Morehart, P. (2014) Designs That Last. American Libraries. Sep/Oct 2014. p 39. National Health Expenditure Projections 2010-2020. (2010) [Online] Available from: http:// www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/ NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/proj2010.pdf. Percentage of E-Books at Academic Libraries, by Institution Type. FY 2012, 2014. [Online] Available from: http://chronicle.com/article/Percentage-of-E-Books-at/147835/.
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Riley, S. (2014) New Florida University Unveils Bookless Library. [Online] Available from: http://lj.librar yjour nal.com/2014/08/academic-librar ies/new-flor idapolytechnic-unveils-bookless-library/. The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2016. 2016. The Times Higher Education. [Online] Available from: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/worlduniversity-rankings/2016/reputation-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/ rank_label/sort_order/asc/cols/rank_only.
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CHAPTER 11
Using Technology to Make More Digital Content Available to All Bernard Scaife University College London Institute of Education, UK
In common with many higher education (HE) libraries, in recent years the Newsam Library and Archives at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) has widened its role to include that of publisher. One of the consequences of this is that we have to face new intellectual property rights challenges, which have traditionally been dealt with by the publishing industry. These include the management of third-party rights. As librarians, we are starting from a relatively strong position, in that for many years we have been carrying out tasks like negotiating licences with publishers to give our users access to subscribed-to content. This means that we have probably already acquired the sorts of skills required. This role shift has been prompted by several factors. First, we have had to address the changing expectations of our users who want digital material and want to access it now. Second, the adoption of Open Access movement principles by the Government means that any library whose collection partly comprises official publications is able to exploit licence models such as the Open Government Licence (OGL),1 part of the Government’s ambition to make its activity more transparent by releasing documents under the equivalent of a Creative Commons (CC) licence. It was in this context that the Newsam Library and Archives created the Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA),2 to preserve official publications in education from the 1990s onwards, many of which were disappearing from the Web due to link rot.3 DERA has proved to be something of a victim of its own success. Its high usage indicates that there is demand for it, and its content is exposed on web search engines. Indeed, the majority of traffic comes via organic searches. But by the same token, rights-holders are easily able to find their work. It was this discoverability which caused some unexpected rights issues to crop up. 1
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/2/. Education Resource Archive http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/. 3 From Link Rot to Web Sanctuary: Creating the Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA) http:// www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue67/scaife. 2 Digital
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Copyright © 2017 B. Scaife. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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In mid 2013, we were approached by a number of professional photographers who claimed that their rights had been infringed by us. One of these claims was based on photographs contained within Government pdf documents which had been released under the OGL. They claimed that their work had not been attributed in the document and we understood that the Government department from which the document had originated was dealing with similar claims from the same rights-holders. (This chapter is not concerned with the legal aspects of rights claims so I will not go into detail about how this developed and was eventually resolved). In my experience, the standard response by libraries assessing the IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) implications of making a digital collection available openly is to assign a risk value to the set of contents and concludes that due diligence needs to take place and that either the staff resource is not available or that this activity would need to be externally funded. Sadly, this would normally result in the material being restricted from public access. Returning to our DERA case, the photographs themselves were judged to be of little intrinsic value to the context of the documents. However, our view was that the documents themselves were an important resource which would allow research into the history of late 20th century Government policy in education, and that it was our job to ensure they remained openly available to researchers wherever possible (as indeed they had originally been before DERA existed). However, it was also important that we were not exposed to further infringement claims. My immediate response when I was tasked with finding a solution to the issue was that we could not possibly look through 18,500 documents manually to identify such potential problems. I wondered whether there was a way that technology could step in and reduce some of the routine work involved with opening, scrolling through and scanning multiple-page documents, and taking action. I intend to focus upon what we did in some detail, as it describes very effectively the skills and techniques which I believe need to be employed by libraries in the digital age. I was aware of an open source utility called pdf images4 which can extract images from pdf files. Would it be possible to use this to eliminate files which contained no photographs at all? If this was viable, it would exempt an entire tranche of the content from requiring any further checks. My solution was to harvest all the documents from our EPrints5 server (which hosts DERA) into a separate work area. I then wrote a simple php 4 Poppler 5 EPrints
Utilities http://poppler.freedesktop.org. Repository Software http://www.eprints.org.
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script which cycled through each document. First, I used PDFtk,6 another open source utility, to split each pdf into single pages. For each page, pdfimages attempted to grab all images. A log file was produced and, by listing all those documents which had no images according to the script, I immediately eliminated 4700 documents from the total number (18,500), a saving of many hours’ work with a quarter of the documents needing no further action. The next stage was to see whether it was possible to extract the photographs from the remaining documents and represent them in a meaningful way which would allow the person checking to spot obviously risky candidates, by virtue of them ‘jumping out’ of the page. A folder structure was constructed based upon the EPrints record key. Each image was then extracted, creating a series of jpeg files numbered 1 to n (in the order they appeared in the page and then the document). Finally, the output files were viewed using image viewing software. We used IrfanView,7 as it features a folder and image thumbnail representation together with labour saving shortcut keyboard combinations to navigate swiftly between files and folders in a logical sequence. We discovered that the images came in three varieties. Fragments of formatting in the document (for example, a coloured horizontal line); logos (generally not contentious for our purpose); and photographs and other images, which is what we were interested in identifying. Because the third category was less frequent, and more visually interesting than the other two, they tended to ‘jump out’ of the page. A further enhancement was needed to proceed. Where an image was identified as potentially risky, it was often necessary to view it in context (i.e., within the full page itself) to assist with the decision-making process. Another subfolder was created and files placed within which were labelled .jpg. These were linked to the filename of the photograph thumbnail in question, so that you could easily tell that photograph x was from context page y. Finally, we added the first two pages and the last page of the document, because these tended to contain more specific licencing information and this was a place where one might hope that third-party rights-holders would be listed within the copyright statement. See Fig. 11.1 for a diagrammatic representation of the folder structure. 6 PDFtk
– the pdf toolkit from https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/. from http://www.irfanview.com/.
7 IrfanView
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Figure 11.1 Image folder structure.
For us, information about the original publishing organisation was also of importance, because whilst some organisations’ materials were available under OGL, others used their own licences, which represented a different risk level. For this reason, we extracted the metadata to a spreadsheet which was to form the basis of our due diligence findings for any material where issues were identified. In retrospect, this also helped to allay any fears that the initial segmentation might be inaccurate. The Collection Development Librarian was able to confirm that the organisations for which images were being automatically detected seemed to correlate with his expectations as someone familiar with the collection material. Finally, we used another technique which might best be described as ‘significant keyword’ extraction. Pdftotext8 is able to extract text from a pdf and make it available for further processing (where it is machine readable). By looking for words or phrases such as ‘Permission of...’ ‘copyright’ ‘photograph[s] courtesy of...’, we can use this as a technique to dive into the document and retrieve rights-holder information without needing to manually scan it. The extracted phrases were surrounded on either side by a chunk of contextual text (allowing for easy disambiguation of phrases 8 See
4 above.
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like ‘photographs are used by students in school to...’ as opposed to ‘photographs available courtesy of...’) and presented in a spreadsheet for further checking and decision making. It was found that this process was rarely necessary due to the thoroughness with which the previous process had identified the contentious material. However, it is a technique which functions well for ongoing work with new documents that are being considered for addition to a repository, and we have used it for that purpose. Of course, not all the documents were in pdf format, meaning that the software tools could not access them, but it was relatively simple to script in an error check which produced a list of noncompliant files for manual checking. A useful side effect was the identification of files with no file suffix at all. By identifying and fixing these, we have improved accessibility to the digital collection. Whilst I have deliberately concentrated in some detail on the DERA project here, as it serves well to illustrate my point, it should be evident by now that this technique will be equally applicable in other areas. Indeed, at the IOE the following scenarios would all be ones in which this technique could be employed: • to identify similar rights issues in our prototype Digital Archives repository which contains material from similar organisations to DERA, although originally unpublished. • to identify third-party rights within theses which were digitised retrospectively to check for the presence of journal articles which are available via subscription only, thus removing the risk of breaching such licences. • to identify versions of articles (e.g., the publisher copy) which publishers do not permit to be made openly available, to manage the anticipated increase in full text research outputs being added by academics to the institutional repository following the HEFCE Open Access mandate.9 The impetus for this activity was not to add an extra stream of work to the library’s processes, although it must be acknowledged that there still needs to be a staff commitment to make the final judgements and take action such as redacting third-party images. Rather it is about reducing the tedious and time-consuming initial phase of rights identification. My view is that libraries can find the means of undertaking more of this kind of work in tandem with computing power used appropriately. I believe we should be using this kind of technique to help us confront the labyrinthine rights clearance process head-on, thus delivering our users the content they need in a risk-managed and practicable way. 9 http://www.hefce.ac.uk/rsrch/oa/Policy/.
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CHAPTER 12
New Trends in Higher Education: Can Information Professionals Rise to the Challenge? Evgenia Vassilakaki Department of Library Science and Information Systems, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Greece
INTRODUCTION The development and adoption of virtual learning environments, the incorporation of course management systems to assist the goals of the learning process, the offering of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) by prestigious universities, the increased competition among educational institutions for developing competitive graduates, the ensuring of funds for research and development (R&D) are only a few factors informing the characteristics of today’s higher education (Goetsch, 2008, Vassilakaki and Moniarou-Papaconstantinou, 2015, 2016). Students are now able to access course material and assignments from anywhere and anytime by using any technological device (for example, tablet, smartphone, desktop computer, netbook). They can now interact with fellow classmates and ask for guidance from their tutors in real time, by using, among others, the discussion forums assigned to the specific course. MOOCs also enabled students of different nationalities to enrol on online, long-distance courses and thus, created a multicultural, without borders or language restrictions, community of students.This new, still underdevelopment educational environment poses a series of challenges for academic libraries and information professionals. In this context, academic libraries and librarians need to reconsider their role in serving this worldwide educational community (Vassilakaki and Moniarou-Papaconstantinou, 2015, 2016). This paper aims to discuss the role(s) that academic information professionals need to embrace to keep up with the changes in higher education. For years, the librarian’s role in the academic environment was unquestionable. Libraries were the places where a student could find trustworthy and high value information to complete their assignments and librarians The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00012-9
Copyright © 2017 E.Vassilakaki. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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were the people to ask for assistance. In most cases, this communication was performed face-to-face, and/or at the reference desk. Even when a query was placed in a digital format, the student at some point of his/her studies would have dropped by the library and asked a librarian (Bezet, 2013; Sinclair, 2009). Overall, an academic library was considered a valuable asset for an educational institution that wanted to produce highly skilled and competitive graduates. In this ever-changing environment, information professionals need more than ever to redefine their role to match users’ needs and protect their place in higher education. However, students’ characteristics and searching behaviours are no longer known to libraries because they have now no direct relation with the specific academic institution but with the specific online offered course. Nowadays, students are distant learners and academic libraries are faced with the challenge of finding alternative ways, possibly through online surveys and podcasts, to identify these users’ information needs. In addition, information professionals can become embedded in online programs and pursue a close collaboration with teachers with the view to provide the needed guidance at the point of request. Libraries need also to invent or reinvent ways of training these users by providing customised and personalised information literacy programs. However, these should be offered in different languages, and if not possible, in the most spoken languages in an attempt to address the cultural characteristics of these students. Academic libraries are also faced with the challenge of providing multilingual information services, e-resources and information retrieval systems to multicultural and multilingual audiences whose number has grown exponentially over the last few years (Vassilakaki et al., 2015, 2012; Vassilakaki and Garoufallou, 2013). Furthermore, the technological developments in higher education have altered the way students interact, communicate and share information. In this context, academic libraries need to further develop and offer services that will be available 24/7 and provide systems that would allow instant sharing of information. Providing 24/7 services to online, long-distance students can prove to be a real challenge, since information professionals would need to offer guidance and instant feedback to students living and studying in different time zones. Another challenge that academic libraries and librarians need to rise up to is users’ age. Specifically, students are not only coming from diverse cultural audiences but also from different age groups. In most cases, these students are not young users pursuing their first degree but postgraduates or even
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working people who aim to further enrich their knowledge on current developments or wish to further develop their skills and competencies. Overall, academic libraries need to identify the specific user generations they serve and parameterise their information services to offer information services that match users’ expectations. The changes in higher education call for academic libraries and information professionals to embrace now more than ever a teaching role and provide students customised and personalised information literacy programs. These programs, among others, will aim at promoting mobile information literacy, integrating literacy in curricula, promoting collaborative learning and teaching and engaging interactively in online distant courses offered. Most importantly, information professionals need to be embedded in the online courses and work with the teachers to offer students the needed information at the point of request, which is now the online educational platform. Finally, they will also need to become technology specialists and always stay aware of the new techno logical developments because they will be called to train users who are successfully using this new technology.
CONCLUSIONS The higher education environment is transforming and changing rapidly. Academic libraries need to rise up to the challenges if they want academic institutions to continue to consider them as unquestionable and of high value asset for producing competitive graduates. Academic libraries need to identify their place in these new and underdevelopment online learning environments. They need to embrace change and adapt to this new and emerging educational environment by adopting the roles of a teacher and of an embedded librarian. Nowadays, librarians’ educational role and active involvement in the learning and research process, their leading role in developing and promoting information literacy programs for students are the way forward in addressing the future challenges.
REFERENCES Bezet, A. (2013) Free Prize Inside! Embedded Librarianship and Faculty Collaboration at a Small-Sized Private University. The Reference Librarian. Vol. 54, No. 3: 181–219. Goetsch, L.A. (2008) Reinventing Our Work: New and Emerging Roles for Academic Librarians. Journal of Library Administration. Vol. 48, No. 2: 157–172. Sinclair, B. (2009) The Blended Librarian in the Learning Commons: New Skills for the Blended Library. College & Research Library News. Vol. 70, No. 9: 504–516.
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Vassilakaki, E., Garoufallou, E., Johnson, F. and Hartley, R.J. (2015) An exploration of users’ needs for multilingual information retrieval and access. Metadata and semantics research, Springer International Publishing, Heidelberg: 249–258. Vassilakaki, E. and Garoufallou, E. (2013) Multilingual Digital Libraries: A Review of Issues in System-Centered and User-Centered Studies, Information Retrieval and User Behavior. International Information and Library Review. Vol. 45: 3–19. Vassilakaki, E., Johnson, F. and Hartley, R. J. (2012) Image Seeking in Multilingual Environments: A Study of the User Experience. Information Research. Vol. 17. Vassilakaki, E. and Moniarou-Papaconstantinou, V. (2015) A Systematic Literature Review Informing Library and Information Professionals’ Emerging Roles. New Library World. Vol. 116, No. 1/2: 37-66. Vassilakaki, E. and Moniarou-Papaconstantinou,V. (2016) How Public Library Users Perceive the Information Professional: Is the Image Transforming? New Library World. Vol. 117, No. 7/8: 449–63.
CHAPTER 13
Six Futures of Academic Libraries1 Joachim Schöpfel French National Centre for the Reproduction of Theses (ANRT), University of Lille, France
Nobody can, in good faith, predict the future of academic libraries. One of their main characteristics is an amazing diversity and variability which is essential to survival in unstable and fast-changing environments. Another feature is their flexibility and great capacity of adaptation. In natural and human history the survivor is not necessarily the fittest and strongest species but the one who adapts best. Perhaps there is no such thing as ‘the future of academic libraries’ but many options and scenarios, depending on local opportunities. Six topics in particular will shape the development of academic libraries in the coming years.
CONTRIBUTION TO THE CAMPUS The future of academic libraries is on the campus. It depends on the future of the university.The university’s strategic decisions determine the library’s degree of freedom.What is good for the university becomes a priority for the library. First of all, this means that there cannot be one and only one model for academic libraries. Universities are different one from the other. Not all have Nobel laureates or Fields Medallists among their staff or alumni, and the number of highly cited researchers, highly ranked papers and staff varies from campus to campus. The academic libraries must provide information content and services in line with the specific needs and practices of their communities. Their main question must be ‘What is my added value for education and research?’ And the answer should be a specific value proposition, not a general or standard offer. The second observation is that this value proposition must include more than information and documentation. Each university conducts its own policy with respect to society, culture, ecology and economy. As central to the campus, academic libraries are expected to contribute to these projects 1 This
contribution is a shortened and updated version of a communication presented at the UNAM conference on university libraries in 2013: Schöpfel (2013). ‘The future of academic libraries’. In XI International Conference on University Libraries: Current Status and Trends, UNAM, Mexico, November 6th- eighth, 2013.
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and actions. Especially in the emerging environment of open science, such as a new way of doing research and science based on openness, big data and cloud computing, library services need to redefine their customers and business, including unaffiliated knowledge workers and citizen science. The third comment, in spite of all the differences, academic c ommunities share some common values and ethics, such as scientific freedom, integrity, excellence and humanism. Librarians have a long tradition with values and ethics, as the 2012 IFLA Code of Ethics for Librarians and other Information Workers reminds us: ‘Librarianship is, in its very essence, an ethical activity embodying a value-rich approach to professional work with information’ (IFLA, 2012). Libraries are places for the pursuit of truth and antidotes to fanaticism (Crawford, 2015). In a context where political and economic interests are not always supportive of such ethics, academic libraries can (and should) take a leadership position in defending and claiming these fundamental scientific and democratic values.
NEW CONTENT The holdings of academic libraries are extremely rich, and the capacity to manage all these items and to make them available for the scientific communities is one of the strong points. Yet, we can identify at least three challenges.
Open Science More and more scientific content is freely available on the Internet, through institutional repositories and open access journals, via social networks, personal websites and so on with an increasing risk of information overload and because of partly lacking validation or labelling, of information pollution. The challenge for the academic libraries is twofold: provide discovery tools for effective and efficient item selection, and propose valuable content in line with the needs of the scientific communities, which includes a shift from acquisition policy to a kind of Web intelligence, and from catalogue and database production to the curation and tagging of web resources.
Research Data Science entered the era of the fourth paradigm, which means data-intensive scientific discovery and the dissemination of scientific results without traditional publications (Hey et al., 2009). Academic libraries face three challenges: collect and preserve these new digital objects on data repositories, create and manage
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metadata and identifiers for all kinds of datasets, and connect datasets and publications.The fourth challenge will be to handle ‘orphan’ datasets produced by individual researchers and small research teams. Data librarians will increasingly be part of the library staff.
Scientific Heritage Most academic libraries possess some kind of unique items, such as grey literature, photos, maps or personal archives. Today, the scientific communities, also the governments, research organisations, and funding bodies want these often hidden materials to be uncovered and made available, as primary sources for further research but also as a witness of history of science. For academic libraries, the challenge is to identify this material, to set up, fund and manage digitisation projects, and to handle sometimes rather complex questions of intellectual property, digitisation, metadata, platforms, access rights and so on.
NEW VALUE CHAINS Academic libraries start to move along the traditional value chain, from selection and acquisition (downstream) to production and dissemination (upstream). These new functions will often be related to the hosting and management of institutional repositories or other document servers. In this role, academic libraries will take over some of the publishers’ traditional activities, such as handling intellectual property rights (together with legal advice) and managing submitted papers (format control, versioning…). Often, this editorial function will include some kind of quality control; sometimes, this selection process may be separated from dissemination and appear as post-deposit peer review or other, alternative forms of commenting and tagging. Sometimes, too, the academic libraries will develop new services related to the production and dissemination of content, such as attribution of unique identifiers, web analytics and usage statistics with options for altmetrics, export and exploitation of publication files for scientometrics and evaluation and so on. Two other functions may affect the future role of academic libraries:
Linking of Data Catalogue records, metadata and authority files contain useful information for current research information systems. How will they connect their data silos to those systems?
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Exploitation of Data Academic libraries are interested in semantics, text and data mining, ontologies and so on. Will they be able to transform this interest in a genuine service offering of knowledge management?
LEARNING CENTRES Academic libraries redesign their physical space and create good places where students and staff love to go and spend time, even if they do not want to read books or journals. Making them look like a Starbucks may not be realistic in all cases, yet one should keep the principle in mind: to provide a place that people will like on Facebook, a caring environment that they will support, where they will return because they know they will have a good time and find what they want. A place connected to the world, to others, to the Internet and social networks, a resourceful place, with access to documents, hardware and software, assistance, help and advice. A ‘third place’ compliant with Ray Oldenburg’s description: welcoming and comfortable, highly accessible, free or inexpensive, with food and drink, and with regulars such as staff (Oldenburg, 1989). This may also mean more openness to innovation and industrial R&D (Schöpfel et al., 2015).
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Academic libraries are scientific and cultural institutions, supporting education and research, but there is more than that – they are also part of the local campus and, like any other service, potential contributors to the sustainable development of their institution and environment and should be evaluated within this framework. They are but a small piece on the global game field.Yet they are part of the game, and society needs their specific contribution for sustainable development ( Jankowska and Marcum, 2010). The growing n umbers of green academic libraries show the way and may serve as models (Hauke et al., 2013). Yet, sustainable development asks for more, and academic libraries will need to learn new concepts such as social responsibility, accountability and contingent valuation. It is not so much to reinvent libraries, but to rethink their way of working, their projects and objectives, in terms of sustainable develop ment (Schöpfel, 2013).
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THE SMART LIBRARY Our highly urbanised and connected culture gave birth, a couple of years ago, to a new concept of urbanism, called the intelligent or smart city (Hollands, 2008; Nam and Pardo, 2011) which stands for a comprehensive framework of urban policy and governance, innovation and infrastructure, modern information and communication technologies and connectedness, economic competition and individual lifestyle, and sustainable development. This mixture of information technologies, mobility, digital nomads and local community makes the concept relevant for the discussion on the future of academic libraries. At least, the concept of the smart city may be helpful to consider the academic libraries from ‘outside’, as a challenge for innovative concepts, based on local resources and history but at the same time, experimenting with new digital services, instigating (not only suffering!) new uses of information and knowledge, and combining data management and grid architecture with modern lifestyle.
CONCLUSION The future of academic libraries will be made of all of this – service development, space, values and so on.Their diversity and flexibility will be helpful to adapt and survive in the fast-changing environments of higher education and research. Their knowledge of the information behaviours and needs of the scientific communities is another key element for future development, together with their physical space that can become an asset for the development of new services and their long tradition with networking and. Perhaps it is still too early to develop a consistent c oncept of the smart and sustainable academic library, a library that is social, open, digital, connected, mobile, networking, a virtual space and at the same time, a good place to live and to learn and to work. But I admit that among all options, this is the one that I prefer. We should work on it.
REFERENCES Crawford, A. (ed.) (2015) The Meaning of the Library. A Cultural History. Princeton University Press: Princeton and Oxford. Hauke, P., Latimer, K. and Werner, K. U. (Eds.) (2013) The Green Library: the Challenge of Environment Sustainability. IFLA Publications 161. De Gruyter, Berlin/München. Hey, T. et al. (Eds.) (2009) The Fourth Paradigm. Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery. Microsoft Corporation: Redmond, WA.
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Hollands, R. G. (2008) Will the Real Smart City Please Stand Up? City. Vol. 12, No. 3:303–320. IFLA (2012) Code of Ethics for Librarians and other Information Workers. IFLA Governing Board, FAIFE (Committee on Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression), The Hague. Jankowska, M. A. and Marcum. J. W. (2010) Sustainability Challenge for Academic Libraries: Planning for the Future. College & Research Libraries. Vol. 71, No. 2:160–170. Nam, T. and Pardo, T. A. (2011) Smart City as Urban Innovation: Focusing on Management, Policy, and Context. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance, ICEGOV ‘11, pp. 185–194. New York, NY, USA. ACM. Oldenburg, R. (1989) The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts, and How They Get You Through the Day. New York: Paragon House. Schöpfel, J. (2013) Towards the Global Library – Applying the Agenda 21 to Library Marketing. In Gupta, D. K., Koontz, C. and Massisimo, A. (eds) Marketing Library and Information Services - II: A Global Outlook. IFLA Publications 159. De Gruyter, Berlin/München: 409–423. Schöpfel, J., Roche, J. and Hubert, G. (2015) Co-working and Innovation. New Concepts for Academic Libraries and Learning Centres. New Library World. Vol. 116, No. 1/2: 67–78.
CHAPTER 14
Digital Pedagogy and the Student Voice Steve Bowman University of Chichester, UK
DIGITAL PEDAGOGY Today’s students have not changed incrementally from those of the past. A really big discontinuity has taken place. One might even call it a singularity – an event which changes things so fundamentally that there is no going back. This singularity is the arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century. Prensky (2001).
Prensky’s paper was one of the first to identify a shift in the information seeking behaviour of students at all levels of education, away from the ‘analog’ paradigm, and towards a new ‘digital’ mode of information behaviour. Throughout the last two decades this perceived change has influenced the strategic and operational management of libraries, especially in Higher Education (HE). The emergence of so-called ‘Digital Natives’ (Prensky, 2001) has also led to changes in the way that educational professionals construct and deliver courses in HE. New ‘Digital Pedagogies’ have emerged that are specifically tailored to the perceived behaviours of ‘digital natives’.These pedagogies have shifted the focus of teaching away from face-to-face physical (analog) interaction, and towards an online, interactive, constructionist pedagogy, which can be led by the student, as much as the teacher. These digital approaches find their ultimate expression in the ‘Massive Online Open Course’ (MOOC). Courses designed on a MOOC model allow students to access the course when and where they wish, study at their own pace and are (generally) free of charge. The largest providers of MOOC courses are Coursera1 [726 courses] and (in the United Kingdom) FutureLearn2 [40 courses].Two broad categories of MOOCs are defined in the UUK report Massive open online courses: higher education’s digital moment 1 www.coursera.org. 2 www.futurelearn.com.
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Copyright © 2017 S. Bowman. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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cMOOC. These are courses based more closely on the original ‘constructivist’ distributed peer learning model, Courses are typically developed and led by academics through open source web platforms…[and] xMOOC These courses are typically structured around more conventional lecture formats and are increasingly delivered through proprietary learning management platforms with contractual relationships with academics and institutions. UUK (2013a).
The nature of MOOCs being online, free of charge and (generally) nonaccredited, and the completion rate for this type of course is very low – ‘Of the initial enrolments, the total number of students who tend to complete a course can reach 20% but the majority of courses have a completion rate of less than 10%’ (UUK 2013a). The above quote suggests that, while there may be an appetite for an entirely online service, there is still a place for ‘analog’ learning and teaching, especially at HE level. This need is evidenced through the ‘Student Voice’ and especially through the National Student Survey (NSS).
THE STUDENT VOICE [The UK] has had a long history of student voice, from Robert Owen’s school in New Lanark (allowing the children to direct their learning through questioning, 1816) to Neillie Dick’s anarchist school in Whitechapel (set-up by her in 1908 aged 13); A.S.Neill’s Summerhill School and Alexander Bloom’s St George’s-in-the-East (1945–55). Wikipedia (2013).
Within HE in the United Kingdom, the ‘Student Voice’ has become an increasingly important factor in the way that education is delivered and managed over the past 10 years.The Higher Education Funding Council for England suggests that … broader discussions are initiated across the sector about the nature of HE learning communities, to include a more explicit focus on notions of learning partnerships and perceived barriers to, and effective practices in, creating cohesive learning communities. HEFCE (2009).
The impact of the Student Voice can most clearly be seen through the annual ‘NSS’. This comprises a survey of the ‘learning experience’ of graduates, with the information gathered after the end of the final year of university. It is the results of the NSS over the last two years that have led to this paper.
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THE FUNDING REGIME The introduction of the new funding regime for English HE in 2011, though having a negligible effect on the number of students entering HE (Coughlan, 2013), has had far greater impact on the perception of HE and teaching for these students: … students in England are paying much more for their education and this is having an impact on their perceptions. They are paying a lot more, receiving a little more and increasing their expectations in terms of value for money HEPI (2014).
With the vast majority of students now paying £9000 per annum tuition fees, students have far more expectation of ‘value for money’ than under the previous state-funded scheme. The manifestation of this expectation is resulting in a digital disconnect between the perceived direction of university and library infrastructures, and the needs of students. Plans by the UK Government to further reduce the amount of central funding made available to institutions, along with a possible rise in the student tuition fee contribution, will only increase these expectations.
THE DIGITAL DISCONNECT Ever since the publication of the report Information behaviour of the researcher of the future ( JISC, 2008), Higher Education Institutions generally, and libraries in particular, have followed the recommendation to ‘[A]djust to a new reality: the need to compete for attention among user groups, especially the young, who demand involving, dynamic and personalised content experiences that can compete with the likes of Facebook’, and this has been further refined by the recent JISC Guide Engage students with mobile learning ‘As 80% of people will be accessing the Internet using mobile devices by 2015, organisations need to embrace mobile learning quickly. By adopting mobile learning, organisations can increase student satisfaction and retention, widen participation and potentially reduce costs.’ ( JISC, 2013). This has resulted, over the past 10 years, in many ‘fixed’ computer resources being decommissioned, with a concentration on ‘mobile’ access through laptops, tablets and now mobile phones becoming the default.
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NSS comments (below) over the past two years (since the introduction of increased student fees) point to a very different perception of how libraries should be supporting students in their information searching behaviour: Never enough copies of key texts in the library… [N]ot enough books, not enjoyable reading from a screen. Then working with one, surely it is better to look at the printed book than the electronic screen… Feel the library’s resources need to be expanded. During 3rd year I needed to use a computer in the library, it was always too busy. Or the books I wanted were always already out… Although the new learning resources centre is wonderful, there are still not enough computers by far… The ratio of computers to students is terrible. We need more computers. (NSS, 2013)
As can be seen by the comments above, students see ‘value for money’ under the new funding regime as being demonstrated by more ‘desktop’ machines being provided for them (both in the library and in the classroom), and in the purchasing of additional copies of physical books (‘not enjoyable reading from a screen’) for libraries and academic departments. In the NSS 2013 return, there were no calls from students for more access to library services through mobile devices or across social networks.With the focus having been on a reduction of ‘analog’ resources in the form of fixed equipment and physical titles on the shelves, this disconnect is now particularly visible following the change in funding regime.
THE WAY FORWARD? It may be that the current disconnect between student expectations (essentially ‘analog’) and university policy and practice (almost exclusively digital) may decrease over time in a similar fashion to the ‘blip’ in university entrance numbers in the year following the introduction of higher student fees (Coughlan, 2013). The current tendency of students to see their time at university as ‘consumers’ may revert to a more experiential viewpoint in the longer term. However, I believe that wider socioeconomic factors, such as the continuing decrease in government funding for HE (see Fig. 14.1) will lead to student calls for greater investment in ‘analog’ resources in future, thus taking us back to an
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Figure 14.1 Balance between Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) teaching grant and tuition fee loan outlay to 2014–15. Note: 2011–12 income is based on Higher Education Statistics Agency student record and includes students eligible for Student Loans Company funding. Source: HEFCE and BIS (Universities UK, 2013b).
institutional information technology infrastructure model last seen in the last century. The way forward lies in both listening to, and educating, future students in their interaction with university library resources.
REFERENCES Coughlan, S. (2013) Record numbers of students enter university. BBC, London.[Online] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25432377. HEFCE, (2009) Report to HEFCE on student engagement. Centre for Higher Education Research and Information, The Open University.[Online] Available from: http://www. hefce.ac.uk/media/hefce/content/pubs/2009/rd0309/rd03_09.pdf. HEPI, (2014) Student academic experience survey 2014: summary and recommendations. HEPI, Oxford.[Online] Available from: http://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ HEA_hepi_summary_4page_WEB.pdf.
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JISC, (2008) Information behaviour of the researcher of the future.[Online] Available from: http://www. jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/reppres/gg_final_keynote_11012008.pdf. JISC, (2013) Engage students with mobile learning.[Online] Available from: http://www.jisc. ac.uk/guides/engage-students-with-mobile-learning. NSS, (2013) Verbatim comments. University of Chichester. Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon. NCB University Press Vol. 9, No. 5. UUK, (2013a) Massive open online courses: higher education’s digital moment? Universities UK, London.[Online] Available from: http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/ Documents/2013/MassiveOpenOnlineCourses.pdf. UUK, (2013b) Where student fees go. Universities UK, London. [Online] Available from: http:// www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Documents/2013/WhereStudentFeesGo.pdf. Wikipedia, (2013) Student voice. [Online] Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Student_voice.
CHAPTER 15
Information Literacy in a Digital Age: Embedding Information Literacy in the Curriculum Vivien Sieber, Julia Anthoney, Heather Barker, Ellie Roberts University of Surrey, UK
INTRODUCTION ‘Information literacy is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner.’1
Information overload is an inevitable consequence of the digital revolution (Bawden and Robinson, 2009).This chapter explores how instant access to information alters our understanding of learning and the acquisition of knowledge. Although teaching methods have changed over time, they remain remarkably similar to those of earlier centuries. Should we now revisit our understanding of what learners need in a digital age? Are current teaching methods fit for purpose? Inskip (2014) reviews the development of our understanding of information literacy; recognising tensions at transitions within education and into the workplace. These case studies describe transitions into, and on from, Higher Education (HE) in preparation for employment. In a context of information overload, with multiple resources available from search engines, it is increasingly important that students learn to use information with respect. First year undergraduates, and some graduate students, do not understand the term or recognise the value of information literacy. Although there are many excellent examples of teaching information literacy to undergraduates, either embedded in the subject domain or as stand-alone units; students are reluctant to attend librarian-led information literacy sessions (Zimerman, 2012). These case studies describe shared good practice between librarians and study skills developers. In 2011, the requirement for information and digital literacy to be embedded in the curriculum was endorsed by the Surrey 1 http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/advocacy/learning/information-literacy/pages/skills.aspx.
The End of Wisdom? Copyright © 2017 V. Sieber, J. Anthoney, H. Barker, M. Dickinson ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 and E. Roberts. Published by Elsevier Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00015-4 All rights reserved.
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University’s Teaching and Learning Committee. The University’s Academic Standards Guidelines state that modules must ‘ensure that information literacy is embedded in modules at all levels to empower students to use information and resources effectively’. The Bridging the Gap projects, funded by the Widening Participation and Outreach department, explored school pupils’ (14–16 and 17–19) experience of, and attitude to, information literacy and IT skills.The findings included the important fact that both experience and understanding of information literacy was limited amongst the respondents. The Surrey Top Achievers Recognised and Supported (STARS) project created a student-led programme for high achievers which included sessions on researching in the real world.
WHAT DO SCHOOL AND COLLEGE STUDENTS UNDERSTAND BY INFORMATION LITERACY? Bridging the Gap Project The Bridging the Gap projects one (2012–2013) [BtGI] and two (2013–2014) [BtGII] were funded by Widening Participation resources at the University of Surrey.The initial pathfinder project involved working closely with 11–16 year old pupils from mixed comprehensive and students (16–19) from a sixth form college to explore pupil attitude and expectations of HE and their experience with independent study and information literacy.A parallel strand involving first year undergraduates (Biosciences) and academic staff (Biosciences and Psychology) explored the needs, expectations and experience of academic staff in relation to undergraduate development of study skills and information literacy in relation to the development of ‘academic maturity’. We found that while sixth form pupils anticipated that independent study would be a major component of HE, they had no clear understanding of what it meant and their information skills were limited (Dickinson and Dickinson, 2014). First year undergraduates were able to describe some of the difficulties they faced on arrival at university and recognised differences in the approach to study between school and university. However, they were less able to recognise or articulate progress made since arrival, despite evidence that they had developed search and other information skills. It also became clear that teachers had limited experience with Technology Enhanced Learning and were themselves unaware of advanced searching or Google Scholar. We created a series of ‘Learning Sequences’ with accompanying ‘Teacher Toolkits’. Sequences were made from evaluated Open Educational Resources covering aspects of a topic while the Toolkits suggested ways of integrating resources in class teaching2. 2 http://libweb.surrey.ac.uk/library/Skills/BtG/index.html.
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The Extended Project Qualification3 (EPQ) was designed to provide an opportunity for students to carry out and write up research on an agreed topic to extend their abilities beyond the A level syllabus; enable independent study and prepare for university. We identified the EPQ as an ideal opportunity for intervention introducing information search and evaluation. The case study below describes a pilot workshop for EPQ students who had identified their project titles.
Case Study 1: Information Literacy Workshop for Extended Project Qualification Pupils We organised a workshop for nine sixth form students (Ashcombe School, Surrey) as they were starting their projects and held it in an IT training room. Participants were presented with a sequence of activities (table given below). The initial icebreaker activities were games (Edwards et al., 2013). The first two activities were intended to help participants think about difference types and sources of information; activity 3 introduced the importance of evaluating information found on the Web. This was followed by a demonstration of advanced Boolean searching and Google Scholar. Students then constructed searches relating to their EPQ topic; most identified useful materials. Participants were also asked to use and evaluate an online sequence of Information Literacy resources. Feedback, collected via a focus group, was very positive. Activity 1
Activity 2
Card sort activity: groups 4–6 were asked to sort cards with different information sources (newspaper, book, website, journal etc.) in relation to: • Currency • Credibility • Good for… • Not so good for… This stimulated discussion of the merits of different types of publications. The class was divided into groups of 4–6 and given either of these: • Academic Journal • Academic book • Trade journal • Copy of ‘The Times’ Groups were asked to identify the advantages and disadvantages of each type of publication. Continued
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Project_Qualification,
ects/aqa-certificate/EPQ-7993.
http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/proj-
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Case Study 1: Information Literacy Workshop for Extended Project Qualification Pupils—cont’d Activity 3
Activity 4
Activity 5
Students were introduced to the importance of evaluating the information that they find on the Internet. Individuals were given two URLs to evaluate (one ‘bogus’ and one of good authority) along with an ‘Evaluation matrix’(Leigh et al., 2008) and asked to score the two sites. The aim of this exercise is to highlight variation in quality of different sites. Advanced search included: • Google Scholar • Limiting the ‘last updated’ field and ‘domain’ fields • Boolean. Students then used and evaluated the ‘Information Literacy’ learning sequence http://libweb.surrey.ac.uk/ library/Skills/BtG/Information%20literacy%20sequence/ Information%20literacy.html
Surrey Top Achievers Recognised and Supported (STARS) Project The STARS project, also funded by Widening Participation, aims to provide student-determined sessions for high achieving students.The programme offers opportunities to develop advanced skills and work towards realising potential in academic and broader areas related to employability; for example, leadership and team work (Dickinson and Dickinson, 2014). The employability aspects of the STARS programme led to inclusion of developmental content on a range of professional attributes and skills, including information literacy. Eyre (2012) and Sokoloff (2012) identified a mismatch between academically oriented information literacy and the use of information literacy skills in the workplace. They highlight differing understanding and expectations of information literacy skills between employers and graduates.This is relevant to universities as students may need to be helped to recognise the value of information literacy and its application in the transition to employment, and to be able to articulate their skills in ways which can be recognised as valuable by employers. A complementary pair of workshops was developed for the STARS programme to better prepare participants for workplace realities. These
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Case Study 2: ‘Researching in the Real World’: Preparing for Exit From University This session was held for Level 6 final year and STARS students, with the intention of contrasting searching in a university setting, with subscriptions to databases and e-resources, to finding and identifying quality information in the real world, with limited access to these resources. Handling confidential or commercially sensitive material in a professional and ethical way was introduced via real world examples in relation to social media, plagiarism (ethical use) and information security and the changing information landscape (e.g., open access). The workshop was held in a training room with no PC access and addressed the questions below: Question 1
In what circumstances will you need to research in the real world?
Question 2
Where can you discover good quality information in the real world? • Physical world (not many considered public libraries) • Virtual world
Question 3
What types of research skills can you think of using in the real world?
Question 4
Write down the types of questions can you ask to evaluate the information you find on the Internet?
Although students had developed some search skills, they were unsure of advanced terminologies (e.g., wildcards, truncation). Links to online resources (e.g., Journal TOCs) were provided for use after the session.
were ‘Writing in the Real World’ and ‘Researching in the Real World’. The intention of the latter was to highlight how advanced academic information skills could be transferred to ‘real life’ personal or workplace situations where access to some of the academic ‘infrastructure’ (such as bibliographic databases) cannot be assumed. Emphasis was placed on critical evaluation along with re-emphasis of the beneficial impact of employing appropriately advanced search techniques. While all participants were aware of the need to think critically about Web-based information, they had varying levels of skill in information literacy. In discussion, the participants stated that they had not previously considered information searching as an identifiable skill which could be promoted to a potential employer, nor did they recognise the term IL. The issue affecting transition might be absence of IL skills or recognition of the value of IL skills in the workplace.
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REFLECTION These contrasting case studies explore individuals’ understanding of information literacy in school and towards the end of undergraduate studies. Sixth formers had very limited understanding or experience of information literacy. There is increasing evidence that despite using the Web, digital natives need teaching if they are to understand and respect information (Rowlands et al., 2008; Helsper and Eynon, 2010; Kolikant, 2010). Although all final years had developed some information handling skills, there was variation and all could be developed further. Clearly we need to help undergraduates recognise the importance of information throughout their studies and its potential value in employment.
REFERENCES Bawden, D. and Robinson, L. (2009) The dark side of information: overload, anxiety. Journal of Information Science.Vol. 35: 180–191. Dickinson, M. J. and Dickinson, D.A. G. (2014) Practically perfect in every way: can reframing perfectionism for high-achieving undergraduates impact academic resilience? Studies in Higher Education. Edwards, A., Walsh, A., and Hill, V. (2013) Games and Gamification for Information Literacy. In: LILAC 2013, 25th March to 27th March 2013, Manchester, UK. Eyre, J. L. (2012) Context and learning: the value and limits of library based information literacy teaching. Health Information & Libraries Journal. Vol. 29: 344–348. Helsper, E. and Eynon, R. (2010) Digital natives: where is the evidence? British Educational Research Journal. Vol. 36: 503–520. Inskip, C. (2014) Information literacy is for life, not just for a good degree: a literature review. CILIP. Kolikant, Y.-D. (2010) Digital natives, better learners? Students’ beliefs about how the Internet influenced their ability to learn. Computers in Human Behaviour. Vol. 26, No. 6: 1384–1391. Leigh, M., Mathers, L. and Towlson, K. (2008) Information Source Evaluation Matrix. De Montfort University. Rowlands, I., Nicholas, D., Williams, P., Huntington, P., Fieldhouse, M., Gunter, B., Withey, R., JamaliI, H. R., Dobrowolski, T. and Tenopir, C. (2008) The Google generation: the information behaviour of the researcher of the future. Aslib Proceedings: New Information Perspectives. Vol. 60: 290–310. Sokoloff, J. (2012) Information literacy in the workplace: Employer expectations. Journal of Business and Finance Librarianship. Vol. 17: 1–17. Zimerman, M. (2012) Digital natives, searching behaviour and the library. New Library World. Vol. 113: 174–201.
CHAPTER 16
From Being Libraries to Becoming the ‘Switchmen’1 of Scholarship in the Digital Age Chérifa Boukacem-Zeghmouri Claude Bernard University, Lyon 1, France
‘Beaming Up’ academic libraries in the future is a stimulating intellectual activity, allowing us to take a step back and see the host of evolutions that these lasting institutions have been experiencing.The main lines of a credible future scenario can then emerge.Within the academic world, to which they belong, libraries have witnessed – and often participated in – the changes that have occurred in recent scientific communication events (subscribing to Big Deals, supporting Open Access, developing institutional repositories, helping to manage research data and so on) and/or been part of pedagogical innovations (developing learning centres, creating massive open online sources, providing pedagogical support in classrooms, helping students to build their information literacy and so on). The scope of these libraries has therefore been transformed, going from an established role to a wide range of functions. These important changes – and the economic implications that go with such changes – have their roots in the digital age and the Web. But the academic communities’ practices, usages and behaviours also contribute greatly in structuring the new scholarly world.The ways in which these behaviours are evolving make us question the current role of libraries. At the same time, the dynamics inherent to these scholarly practices have opened up niche markets, themselves operated by new Web and media stakeholders – often start-ups –which play the role of intermediaries (Google, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Mendeley, ScienceOpen or also Kudos for instance). These new intermediaries make up the news of the academic world. They have seeped into the modalities that shape the (collaborative and participatory) creation of scientific publications and pedagogical knowledge as well as its production (complex and multimodal products), its dissemination (various business models: Gold, Platinum, Freemium) and, finally, its 1 Or ‘Pointsmen’, as
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valorisation (Altmetrics). Innovation, which has always been present in the academic world, has been heightened by these intermediaries who consider it as a priority. Amidst the never-ending race towards innovation, their common goal consists in lasting as long as possible on the academic scene and to, ideally, create a major place for themselves within this world. Libraries are used for exchanging with scientific publishers, after having spent several centuries establishing collections of documents for their users. But now, they must also work with Web stakeholders. The latter tend to federate communities of users around platforms and encourage them to interact around content that may have been created by the users themselves or that may simply be shared.The library’s traditional role as a mediator is pushed back in favour of Web platforms.The latter act as mediators by promoting the activity of research communities that interact together (through comments, exchanges, sharing…). For students, lecturers and researchers, the pace of these changes renders the academic ecosystem both more complex and borderless. It reflects a nebulous environment in which it is harder to navigate. The constant innovations, the several prescriptions and normative discourses leave little place for reasoned analysis, critical distance and doubt. And this may precisely be where the future of academic libraries lies. Academic libraries could see future developments by positioning themselves as strategic players, observing and analysing the abundance of innovations presented by the other stakeholders who will do anything to remain in the system. The future of academic libraries in the digital age could consist inter alia in looking at how they can capitalise on qualities such as knowledge, know-how and expertise in the midst of a shifting and constantly transitioning environment. Libraries could then help users build a digital culture which leads them to scrutiny, as well as provide them with helpful signs or even with a general ‘road map’.The future of academic libraries lies in adopting a global view of the evolutions that occur in the academic world, whether in research, learning or in teaching. The future of academic libraries lies in them accompanying users to do a ‘critical reading’ of the new logics and values at work in the academic environment. Libraries could also provide a ‘survival’ set of tools: information, training, expertise, advice, orientation and help.Typically, in the area of scholarly communication, much can be done by libraries and their librarians to get closer to researchers to help them to handle the international standards required by their funders (Copyright, research data, Open Access publication…). As partners, libraries have here huge opportunities to be part of the race researchers are dealing with (Klain-Gabbay and Shoham, 2016).
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These are all themes on which academic libraries will need to focus as they modify their roles and services. To think of the future of libraries, we must seize this niche area: testing products, appraising services, accompanying transitions and determining what underlying issues exist beneath the innovations offered in the academic environment, in research, teaching and learning. This increasingly open environment causes reference points to disappear. The older generations have difficulties navigating in the environment, and the new generations do not always know how to position themselves. The risks are tremendous, especially at the times of ‘predators’ (Beall, 2012). In this context, libraries can build themselves a future by offering ‘levelling’ processes or services that bring actors together and contribute to guarantee trust and authority. This is all the more necessary as the academic world tends to become more and more globalised, and where mobility, exchanges and collaboration are becoming the norm, while levels of knowledge are heterogeneous, as are behaviours and representations. This can constitute barriers for students or researchers. Libraries can federate their audiences by focussing on these pressing concerns. The future libraries will therefore represent processes more than spaces or places (Dowler, 1997; Latour, 2011). In this new light, libraries will fully take part in the academic world’s evolutions as well as accompany these transitions and, more importantly, will help the public engage with this environment. Libraries can therefore move away from a ‘victim’ status – simply bearing the changes – and, instead, become a fully assumed stakeholder. The future of libraries is actually engrained in the present since, in some cases, libraries already play the role of consultants among the public, helping with the choice of tools, resources, publishing models and so on. Libraries will play this role with great amounts of credibility. Are they not the ones that spread the library model, including on the Web (Latour, 2011)? And it is precisely because the library model has become central that it is time for libraries to move forward and suggest new roles. But, in that case, will the future of libraries lead to a renaming process? If this were the case, what new designation could we opt for? ‘Switchmen’ seems to be the best term to describe the role of libraries in the future. They are not very visible, sometimes forgotten, but they guide users and are essential to overall navigation. ‘Switchmen of the scholarly world in a digital age’. This expression could correspond to the future of libraries. At a time when Google is reinventing itself,2 adopting new roles and a different name, libraries have all the 2 Time
Magazine, August 2015: http://time.com/3995782/google-is-trying-to-reinvent-itself-andmaybe-silicon-valley/.
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credibility to do it too. And in this new turn, which libraries must now negotiate, the biggest difficulty may be that they will be confronted with their own image and their own capacity to make it evolve.
REFERENCES Beall, J. (2012) Predatory Publishers are Corrupting Open Access. Nature Review Genetics. Vol. 489: 7415. Dowler, L. (Ed.) (1997) Gateways to Knowledge:The Role of Academic Libraries in teaching, libraries, and research. MIT Press. Klain-Gabbay, L. and Shoham, S. (2016) Scholarly communication and academic librarians. Library & Information Science Research.Vol. 38, No. 2: 170–179. Latour, B. (2011) Plus elles se répandent, plus les bibliothèques deviennent centrales. Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France. Vol. 56, No. 1: 34–36.
CHAPTER 17
Playing, Creating, Learning: The Future Public Library for Children and Families Louise Overgaard Aarhus Library, Denmark
Many times a day I pass through the children and family section at Dokk1 in Aarhus. I meet many school classes engaged in various activities, children and families reading, drawing, playing and dressing up. Dokk1 opened in June 2015 and has had very many guests and activities since then. The development of Dokk1 has taken years and many development processes and projects. From 2013 to 2015 I worked as the team leader for the children and family section at the old Main Library in Aarhus. Together with the children and family team we worked on developing this new future library for children and families. I often think back on the work, all the thoughts and initiatives we worked on during the two years when the team and I worked on the development of the children and family section on Dokk1. Here is a flash back to the journey we took while we prototyped, tested and implemented children and family services at the old library to be ready to move to the new Dokk1: It is Saturday afternoon and a week in the children’s library at the old Main Library in Aarhus has just ended. It has been a week that clearly shows that children’s libraries are developing to become active cultural learning places with a high frequency of activities and with the role as melting pot for cultural institutions. Besides taking out materials, children visited the library this week to hang out, play with our toys, dress up, play Wii, read, draw or try our iPad treasure hunt that takes the children on a tour around the entire library. Also in this particular week on Monday the children watched short movies and on Tuesday they performed in or listened to the local music school’s children’s choir. Wednesday they joined the tween reading club or worked with technologies in Coding Pirates Aarhus.Thursday mothers and their babies took part in a rhythm lesson and in the afternoon children created masks. Friday internationals (ex-pat) families met with the International Playgroup, The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00017-8
Copyright © 2017 L. Overgaard. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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and Saturday scouts solved puzzles around the library. Children also came from kindergartens and schools and spent their day at the library.The school classes learned how to code LEGO Mindstorm robots, do rapid prototyping, create good schoolwork presentations or to take information literacy courses.
DOKK1 SHOULD BE A UNIQUE PLACE FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN AARHUS The team that created all these activities back then knew that one of the top priorities in Dokk1 was to be a unique place for children and families. That meant that we had to develop the children’s library, the services and the staff ’s skills. It also meant that we had to make choices and address what we believed to be the core of a library for children and families. We were creating a library for 0–12 year olds and their families. The library service should be relevant to all kinds of families. Our goal was to be even better at supporting children and families with different needs and backgrounds and at supporting the societal need for healthy children who can play, try, create, collaborate, develop and innovate. We wanted Dokk1’s children and family services to be an entry point to a variety of media, knowledge areas, cultural expressions and ways of collaborating and in the team we worked with the vision to become a unique place for children and families where they can explore, create, play and learn through stories1.
It was an ambitious vision and by combining our beautiful new space, our partners, our local community, our media, our staff and our many stories, we wanted to create this unique place for Aarhus.
EXPLORATION AT DOKK1 We wanted to create a space with things to look at, to touch, to wonder about and to climb on. A space with the possibility to use the available media to tell stories and to experience something new every time children would visit. Put simply: the library space should be inspiring and a place to explore. For us an inspiring library would have enough space to hang out and have activities and objects to interact with. An inspirational library would 1 This
is an example of the team’s vision rather than a quote taken from a source.
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prioritise space for people, experiences and relations even if it meant having fewer materials. At the same time, it was important to disseminate the materials in an interesting way with a personal touch. In everything we did our goal was to create inspirational settings for the children and their families, for instance, through creating and recreating our space. Other examples included giving personal recommendations for books, music, games and apps on the digital screens or when we exhibited the results from creative workshops, we had hosted at the library. However, an inspiring library also had to have inspiring activities taking place. We experienced that children got inspired by seeing what other children did, families got inspired by hearing other families’ stories and people got inspired by meeting each other, by talking to each other and by doing things together. In our activities we focused primarily on children and families as being participants and co-creators.We wanted to develop a relational library where knowledge and creativity could come alive and we aimed at creating a place where children and families could take part, could perform and could experience together. Participating, co-creating or showing skills were important elements as we developed the children and family section at Dokk1. This was the case when pupils from the local music school presented the instrument of the month, when we selected interactive theatre plays, when we showed an old steam engine or when a local professor brought a terrarium to the library to talk about ants.
DOKK1 SHOULD BE A PLAYFUL LIBRARY Children and families also explore through playing and we aimed to be a library full of play and filled with opportunities to play. Play is a cultural expression just as children’s books are and play is essential for children’s personal and social development.They learn how to interact, to create relations, to use their bodies and to use their imagination through play. Children need to play, they need time to play, they need the opportunity to develop their play and they need to play to have fun. Unfortunately, the opportunity to play is decreasing; the increased focus on learning and results makes it harder for children to have the time and the space to play.
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But is the library the right place to play? In 2009 the Danish Agency for Culture published a report about future library services for children (see Danish Agency for Culture (2010) for the English version). This report gives 10 recommendations and one of these is for libraries to work with play as a valuable activity and an important cultural expression. In Aarhus we agree that the library is an important space for playing.The library is not bound by formal learning goals; the users visit in their spare time and we give the families a non-commercial service. We are also an institution that can facilitate play across generations and between different children and families. According to play expert Stine Liv Johansen another reason for the library to focus on play is that children previously spent a lot of time with older children who inspired and took part in facilitating the play. Now children spend most of their time with peers using media and hence get a lot of their inspiration for play through media. To be a part of a group the children need to be able to relate to the same stories and have access to the same media. The library can be a place where all children can gain the access and the inspiration for their play. Play can take many forms. It can be quiet or noisy, introvert or expressive, or calm or wild. At Dokk1 we planned to have the space to support all these kinds of play and we needed to facilitate the space for the different kinds of play. In some rooms high intensity and speed should not be frowned upon and in others the play should be calmer and less intense. We thought a lot about play and facilitating play when we selected toys, when we played music, when we created activities, when we invited students to present what playful activities they had created and when we created haunted house experiences at the library during Halloween.
DOKK1 AS A PLACE FOR LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT OF SKILLS However, play was not the only agenda we had for the children and family section at Dokk1. We also needed to be a place where children and families could develop skills and could take part in informal learning activities. At the same time the library would have an obligation to support the formal learning system. Today’s children are constantly being confronted with an ever changing world, the necessity to learn new skills and the ability to interact with
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new technology. Societal changes demand more from our children and hence from the parents and professionals – including the libraries – to support the children. Anne Skare Nielsen (2014), the Danish futurist, has created a list with 10 skills future children cannot cope without. The three most important skills are 1. To learn, unlearn and relearn. 2. To be a part of dedicated communities. 3. To be skilled – which means to be able to learn techniques, to develop methods using the techniques and continue to use the techniques in a disciplinary way. When the Institute of Museum and Library Services describes the skills of the 21st century, they focus on learning and innovation skills described as ‘the ability to think critically and problem solve, to create and innovate, to communicate and collaborate and to be visual, scientific and numerical literate.To be able to think cross-disciplinarily and to be basically literate – being to read, write, listen and speak’ (Institute of Museum and Library Services 2014). The two definitions fit well and the library can support these important skills. Being an informal learning facility, the library has the opportunity to be creative in the ways we support the children’s needs. Through experiencing, creating and collaborating, children can learn many kinds of skills. If combining this with various kinds of media, materials and ways of telling stories, the library can be an informal learning arena and can support formal learning arenas. When developing services with a learning perspective, we focused both on traditional library materials, on robots, coding and computer games, on creating ideas and collaborating and on making and creating with all kinds of materials from waste to leaves to paint. We always tried to meet the children and families through their motivation, interests or needs.
THE CHILDREN AND FAMILY SECTION DRIVEN BY THE STAFF, PARTNERSHIPS AND THE COMMUNITY The demands for being a place to play, explore and learn, for supporting both children and families and the overall broader perspective on the role of the ‘children and family library’ made our work complex. Along with this came the need to address the roles and the skills of the staff. In Aarhus we did not have sufficient staff to fulfil all these demands and to create all these services.We depended on partnerships and had a focus on
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engaging the local community. But the foundation of an interesting, relevant, supportive library for children and families was – and will without doubt continue to be – an effective library team. I believe that a strong library team recognises that partners and volunteers bring expertise that we do not possess and that we bring expertise that the partners can utilise. The staff create win-win situations with partners and work increasingly as network creators and as facilitators who can see new perspectives and understand how to link the library to the surrounding society. A strong team recognises that children and families come first and the staff can combine traditional materials with new media and create new ways for children and families to express themselves and to gain experiences. A strong team understands that supporting language development and stimulating the love for stories and reading comes from creating a low and interesting entrance point where a multiple set of methods and materials can be used. A strong team understands and supports children’s and families’ various needs for skills – be it information literacy, digital literacy, innovation and learning literacy or social skills.
THE JOURNEY WILL CONTINUE The team and I tested event types, service types, worked on defining our roles and Dokk1 opened in June 2015. Even though Dokk1 is used by many school classes and children and families the journey is not over for the team and the children and family section. To continue to be a unique place where children and families can explore, create, play and learn through stories the space, the development of library services for children and families will never finish. The services, the library and the staff must develop and evolve all the time in order to be a relevant library.
REFERENCES Institute of Museum and Library Services, 21st Century Skills List, 10th August 2014. [Online] Available from: http://www.imls.gov/about/21st_century_skills_list.aspx. Johansen, S. L. Kvalitetslegeplads ved Dokk1 – Oplæg til discussion om leg. Johansen, Stine Liv og Karoff, Helle: Børns ret til leg - Legebloggen på videnskab.dk: [Online] Available from: http://videnskab.dk/profil/stine-liv-johansen. Johansen, S. L. Fjernbetjente børn. [Online] Available from: http://www.kommunikationsforum.dk/artikler/boerns-medieforbrug.
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Nielsen, A.S. 10 egenskaber fremtidens børn ikke kan undvære, DenOffentlige.dk, 2014. [Online] Available from: http://www.denoffentlige.dk/fremtidsforsker-10-egenskaberfremtidens-boern-ikke-kan-undvaere. The Danish Agency for Culture, Folkebibliotekerne i Videnssamfundet, Copenhagen, 2010 English summary. The Public Libraries in the Knowledge Society. [Online] Available from: http://www.kulturstyrelsen.dk/fileadmin/publikationer/publikationer_engelske/ Reports/The_public_libraries_in_the_knowledge_society._Summary.pdf. The Danish Agency for Culture, Fremtidens Biblioteksbetjening af børn, 2009. [Online] Available from: http://www.bs.dk/publikationer/andre/fremtidens/.
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CHAPTER 18
The Future of Libraries in Nigeria Stephen Akintunde University of Jos, Nigeria
INTRODUCTION Libraries in Nigeria fall into classical categories of Academic, National, Public, School and Special. They are all part and parcel of the British colonial heritage. Nigeria, the most populous Black nation, has a population of 172 million, with about 250 ethnic groups. It is basically an oral-literate society, with literacy rates of 59.57% for ‘15 years and older’, and 26.35% for ‘65 years and older’ (UNESCO, 2015). In all categories, males have a higher literacy rate than female. Public and academic libraries are used to illustrate the future of libraries in Nigeria, because they are two institutions that seem to project the prospects and challenges of libraries in the country.
PUBLIC LIBRARIES The public library in Nigeria has always served as a melting pot for both the aspiring young and adults because of the unique opportunity it offers for enlightenment and further education. However, over the years, the public library became more of a reading room than a storehouse of knowledge because of neglect. In the past, the public library space was used as a cultural meeting point where art and other cultural exhibitions were held and story hours observed. Books and newspapers were current, and there was a budget for the library. In terms of administration, the public library has always been part of the civil service which has experienced neglect and poor funding in the last couple of decades.Whereas public libraries can be found in the capital cities of the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, less than 10% of the 774 local government councils have functional libraries. Today, the public library is more of a space to prepare for public examinations such as the General Certificate in Education (GCE). Individuals also use the library for social interaction, exchanging ideas about examinations and current socio-political issues. The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00018-X
Copyright © 2017 S. Akintunde. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Public libraries in Nigeria are therefore lacking behind in the innovativeness that many libraries across the globe are experiencing because of inability to have necessary funding.The future of public libraries in Nigeria, for now, looks bleak except there is a strategic intervention, which will transform the libraries. The interventions could be in the form of funding, introduction of technology, and training of staff to adapt to, and adopt innovations. Public library structures would have to be redesigned to accommodate information technology – the platform on which many library services run today. Many of the buildings have been there for the last half-century without significant improvements in terms of structure and aesthetics. The same goes for equipment. Most public libraries in Nigeria do not have Internet connectivity. Many are barely able to have one or two computer systems to keep records of a few resources. Most cannot afford offthe-shelf integrated library management systems. Installation of free and open source integrated library systems (ILS) is problematic because there is very limited or no support to manage the systems. In a report on the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) in African public library services, of which public libraries in Nigeria were part of the study, it was found that ‘most public libraries do not have budgets for ICTs, and the lack of funds is the major barrier to the deployment of ICT in public libraries’ (Chisenga, 2004, p. 19). It is apparent, therefore, that the public library in Nigeria, constrained by resources that can make it globally responsive, is facing a redefinition of role and the possibility of extinction. This becomes more real as more and more library patrons are able to access resources electronically online and may not need to visit an ‘archival’ library that offers only space and no current resources or access to resources. The following quotes by library patrons in reply to a question on the future of libraries in Nigeria are noteworthy:
SOME QUOTES Libraries ought to be repositories of knowledge but traditional libraries are fast eroding due to diminishing patronage and the rise of e-libraries… In Nigeria, I foresee public libraries closing shop, institutional libraries becoming wholly ICT based, and a rise in smaller, urban based private libraries driven by social entrepreneurs… These emerging libraries would be non-profit, less open access, mostly e-based, and serve as information centres for educational and professional linkages for a small target clientele. Public library user
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In terms of research, brick and mortar libraries will, and are already giving way to cafes and browsers due to availability and accessibility of virtual information. However, the physical patronage may only exist to serve the needs of those seeking not books but perhaps solitude or privacy. PhD student
The library is becoming more and more of a reading space than a research centre. My phone serves as a tool for acquiring up to date materials… so I think the future of most libraries in Nigeria is that of providing a structure to read rather than the provision of books and other related items. An undergraduate student who hardly uses the library
The future of libraries in Nigeria depends on the ability of libraries to key into the digital system of operation; else they will become obsolete and irrelevant. A social researcher
ACADEMIC LIBRARIES However, academic libraries in Nigeria have been serving an increasing population of users. Like public libraries, they have also been constrained by budgetary costs. In some cases, academic libraries operate on zero budgets. However, unlike public libraries, academic libraries such as university and polytechnic libraries have some comparative advantages over public libraries in terms of sources of alternative funding and the embrace of technology. With budgetary costs, one challenge that has continued to rise is that of applying information and communications technology for library services. While this is a global trend, the cost of providing ICT services is enormous. Many academic libraries are not able to afford the cost of electronic books and journals. In trying to overcome this challenge, Nigerian university libraries, in 2008, formed a consortium – Nigerian University Libraries Consortium (NULIB) with the aim of applying economy of scale to reduce costs to individual libraries. This has been fairly helpful, especially NULIB’s partnership with Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) based in Rome.1 In the past decade, funding agencies in Europe and America had invested a lot in higher education in Nigeria. The American Partnership for Higher Education had been very generous by supporting the capacity building of Nigerian university libraries.The capacity building was in terms of staff and resources development. The International Network for the Availability of 1 http://www.eifl.net/.
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Scientific Publications (INASP) based in the United Kingdom continues to contribute immensely to the provision of access to research literature by Nigerian academic libraries, and the training of librarians. However, libraries that have benefited from these interventions are only a fraction of the increasing number of tertiary education institutions in the country. For instance, there are 128 universities in the country.The American Partnership directly supported about 10% of these, using them as models. Notwithstanding, through these interventions, the libraries have been able to develop capacity in the training of staff, deployment of hardware and software, making them leading lights among Nigerian university libraries. Nevertheless, most of the libraries are presently faced with the challenge of sustainability at the end of the funding period. In 1992, the supervising and accrediting agency for universities in Nigeria – the National Universities Commission (NUC) directed that universities set aside 10% of all funds coming into universities as Library Development Fund (LDF). This was complied initially by the respective institutions, but over time, universities did not comply because of poor funding of public universities, making library development even more precarious. This prompted the Committee of University Librarians of Nigerian Universities (CULNU), rising from its 96th Bi-Annual meeting in November, 2014 to issue a communique drawing attention of universities to the existing directive: The committee notes the non-implementation of Library Development Fund (LDF) policy in universities and urged all university administrations to make this facility available to university libraries The Punch, 2014, p. 20.
However, there is another source of funding otherwise referred to as the life wire of libraries of tertiary education institutions in Nigeria. This is the Tertiary Education Tax Fund (TETfund) which makes a yearly intervention in the development of libraries in tertiary institutions. It is a statutory fund realised from the taxation of companies in Nigeria. This intervention has been used by tertiary education libraries to acquire more current books and journals, and particularly, invest in the development of ICT infrastructure in tertiary education. But, even this is not enough to take the libraries to the height of development that they would desire to be. So, many libraries still lack the resources – hard texts and ICT facilities that will enhance good learning. The future of academic libraries is therefore uncertain because of the generally unreliable source of funding and the resultant poor state of
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libraries. When asked about the future of libraries in Nigeria, respondents had this to say:
FURTHER QUOTES Libraries in Nigeria can either survive or go into extinction. Libraries are supposed to be centres of learning and excellence but issues of funding, outdated materials, lack of modern information resources, poor reading culture, librarians not professional enough, etc. can cause libraries to become extinct. With modern technology comes a hope that we have a future if we can properly harness the many resources at our disposal, meeting patrons at their very point of need. We can further promote our services by enlightening members of the public on our potentials and services. Then, hopefully, we won’t find ourselves standing alone in our libraries in time to come. A Librarian
The future of libraries in Nigeria is bleak for a number of reasons: declining reading habit, poor facilities, inadequate funding, insensitive leadership, social media challenges, and dearth of trained personnel. Good leadership can turn the situation around for good. A postgraduate student
Libraries will be indispensable in this information age, particularly digital. With online education being embraced, libraries will play a key role in national development. A lecturer
There is still hope for libraries in Nigeria, though presently there is not much awareness about the usefulness of a library. In the nearest future, and with information explosion, our libraries will be better appreciated. For now, I can merely say that the e-library is gaining acceptance among the youth and counterculture. This is likely to see an improvement in the years to come. So, yes, the future of libraries in Nigeria is full of hope and expectation. An undergraduate student.
CONCLUSION From the foregoing, it is certain that libraries, especially academic libraries in Nigeria are slowly integrating into the global system, but are very much constrained by funding. Technology is a major challenge for the libraries, which they need to fully embrace if they are to remain relevant. Library staff also need to rise up to the challenge of providing effective and relevant services to clients, who have other means of gathering information from the virtual world. It would appear therefore that the future of the library in
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Nigeria very much depends on the professionalism of librarians rising above current challenges and bringing library services to a respectable level and the options available for potential library patrons to find needed information.
REFERENCES Chisenga, J. (Ed.) (2004). The use of ICTs in African public library services: a survey of ten countries in Anglophone Africa. Oxford: INASP. Committee of University Librarians of Nigerian Universities (November 20, 2014). Communique of the 96th bi-annual meeting of the Committee of University Librarians of Nigerian Universities (CULNU) held at the University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The Punch, p. 54. Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL): Enabling access to knowledge in developing and transition countries. [Online] Available from: http://www.eifl.net/. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (2015). International literacy data 2015. [Online] Available from: http://www.uis.unesco.org/DataCentre/ Pages/country-profile.aspx?code=NGA®ioncode=40540.
CHAPTER 19
Reinvigorated Opportunities: Libraries as Essential Institutions for Youth Daniella Smith College of Information at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA
INTRODUCTION With the emergence of the Internet and digital media, a debate has developed about why society needs librarians and libraries (Denning, 2015;Weeks, 2015). The world seems to forget that not all information and information access are equal. A large quantity of information that is available today is not correct. Unfortunately, anyone with access to a computer and the Internet can interpret history (Vähämaa and West, 2014).This trend is disconcerting because, as Harris (2011) notes, the first place youth will look when they have a project is on the Internet. Although the Internet is regularly used by students to complete assignments, they do not frequently verify the information to determine its accuracy (Metzger et al., 2013;Walraven et al., 2013). However, instruction can improve the ability of students to locate information (Latham and Gross, 2011) and evaluate the credibility of information (Walraven et al., 2009). These are skills that are frequently taught by school and academic librarians.
AN ESSENTIAL PART OF SOCIETY The amount of incorrect information on the Internet, the pervasiveness of digital media and the need for youth to develop 21st century skills are all reasons why libraries are an essential part of society that should not be overlooked. For example, a study found that as much as 24% of the information available on Twitter, a microblogging platform, is perceived to be inaccurate (Mitra and Gilbert, 2015). Libraries, on the other hand, provide vetted information resources. Furthermore, youth often experience their first structured learning environments when attending programs at libraries. Children today have access to technology at an early age (Hisrich and The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00019-1
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Blanchard, 2009). As preschoolers, they need interaction to develop their cognitive skills.The story times offered by libraries help children to develop social, reading and information literacy skills that are essential to them later in life (Peterson et al., 2012). Libraries provide this irreplaceable human interaction with other children for free. These experiences would not be the same if they were offered exclusively online (Weeks, 2015).
CONQUERING ANXIETY Kuhlthau (2010) asserts that, even though youth grow up with computers and use them for social interaction, they still need to learn information literacy skills such as finding resources, discerning credibility and synthesising information. The information search process (ISP) often causes them to experience anxiety, and the complexity of the process should not be overlooked by information professionals (Kuhlthau, 1991). We can assume that youth who experience this anxiety are likely to avoid using libraries in the future, even when a visit to the library is needed to complete college coursework. Latham and Gross (2011) also point out that many people do not know that their information literacy skills are lacking until they have difficulty completing research in college. In these cases, college students need experts such as librarians to teach them how to find and synthesise information. It does not matter if the information is in a digital or book format, college students find it difficult to locate information when they do not possess basic information literacy skills.
MAKING SPACE FOR STEM LEARNING AND INFORMATION LITERACY The White House (2014) held a Maker Faire to stimulate creativity, entrepreneurship and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning. Librarians are enthusiastically answering the White House’s call to action to create more makerspaces and STEM learning activities (American Library Association, 2014). Libraries have been initiating makerspace projects that encompass physical or virtual spaces. These makerspaces are a vital part of communities because they have the power to democratise access to information and tools that individuals would normally not be able to use (O’Duinn, 2014). There are great divisions along socioeconomic, gender and ethnic lines in access to STEM resources (National Math + Science Initiative, 2014).
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O’Duinn (2014) asserts that makerspaces can counteract these disparities by introducing members of communities to scientific inquiry that reflects their interests.This allows community members to become citizen scientists who endeavour to find solutions that are relevant to their needs. While makerspace research is still in its infancy, studies indicate that makerspaces facilitate learning through the provision of hands-on experiences (McKay et al., 2016; Sheridan et al., 2014). In a case study examining the development and implementation of a makerspace in a school, the authors found that including a makerspace in the library transformed the library into a vibrant learning hub (Kurti et al., 2014). The makerspace helped the students to take ownership of the learning process. The makerspace also encouraged students who typically did not interact with each other to collaborate on projects.The authors further observed that the makerspace improved the students’ problem-solving skills. Makerspaces need not be limited by age. They are effective for life-long learning, yet they are particularly beneficial to youth who need to understand the inquiry process. It is never too early to teach information literacy skills. Students need to learn these skills at a young age so that they will be proficient when they matriculate throughout K-12 and enter college (National Math + Science Initiative, 2014). Makerspaces in libraries offer the opportunity to practice these essential skills in information environments while engaging youth in activities such as using 3D Printing, creating digital products such as websites, and developing code for applications that address community problems.
CHANGING THE OLD IN TO SOMETHING NEW Programs such as those that focus on makerspaces have the potential to influence young people’s future careers. But, because there are so many activities for youth to choose from, librarians need to meet youth in contexts that they can relate to (Loertscher, 2014). It is not enough to simply create programs and assume youth will attend them. Every library that wants to reach youth needs some type of youth advisory group and a marketing plan that utilises social networking tools such as Facebook.com, Twitter.com, http://www.Scoop.it/ HooteSuite.com, and Smore.com to disseminate information. This is important since youth are pervasive social media users. A research study noted that 92% of teens in the United States use the Internet daily (Lenhart, 2015). Face-to-face interaction is great. Additional online groups are also beneficial because they do not place limitations on space and time. Youth can
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be found on several social networks such as Goodreads, writing book reviews. They also enjoy sharing their opinions on Facebook and Twitter. Why not allow them to share feedback on library programming via a survey or blog discussion? Librarians can even go a step further by hosting library programs online using tools such as Google Hangouts.
CONCLUSION Digital media presents pros and cons for librarians serving youth. The availability of an abundance of information online leads many to question the necessity of libraries. On the contrary, the very nature of digital media makes it even more important for youth to have the ongoing support of libraries and information professionals. As a culture that rewrites the facts and presents fabrications as accurate portrayals continues to emerge, Generations X and Y will need to be prepared to verify the truth. Moreover, information poverty still exists (Savolainen, 2016), and the poorer of the generations will need to know where they can turn for support. Librarians who are able to teach information literacy skills and provide informal environments for learning will be the future’s champions of equality.
REFERENCES American Library Association. (2014) American Library Association supports makerspaces in libraries. [Online] Available from: http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2014/06/ american-library-association-supports-makerspaces-libraries. Denning, S. (2015) Do we need libraries?. [Online] Forbes. Available from: http://www. forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2015/04/28/do-we-need-libraries/#676e41ec6b91. Harris, F. J. (2011) I found it on the internet (2nd ed.) Chicago: American Library Association. Hisrich, K. and Blanchard, J. (2009) Digital media and emergent literacy. Computers in the Schools. Vol. 26, No. 4: 240–255. Kuhlthau, C. C. (2010) Guided inquiry: school libraries in the 21st century. School Libraries Worldwide. Vol. 16, No. 1: 17–28. Kuhlthau, C. C. (1991) Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user’s perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science (1986–1998). Vol. 42, No. 5: 361. Kurti, R. S., Kurti, D. and Fleming, L. (2014) Practical implementation of an educational makerspace. Teacher Librarian. Vol. 42, No. 2: 20–24. Latham, D. and Gross, M. (2011) Enhancing skills, effecting change: Evaluating an intervention for students with below proficient information literacy skills. Canadian Journal of Library and Information Sciences. Vol. 35, No. 4: 367–383. Lenhart, A. (2015) Teens, social media & technology overview 2015. [Online] Pew Research Center. Available from: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/ teens-social-media-technology-2015/. Loertscher, D. (2014) Climbing to excellence: Defining characteristics of successful learning commons. [Online] Available from: http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest/docs/KQ_MarApr14_ClimbingtoExcellence.pdf.
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McKay, C., Banks, T. D. and Wallace, S. (2016) Makerspace classrooms: Where technology intersects with problem, project, and place-based design in classroom curriculum. International Journal of Designs for Learning.Vol. 7, No. 2: 11–16. Metzger, M.J. and Flanagin, A.J. (2013) Credibility and trust of information in online environments. The use of cognitive heuristics. Journal of Pragmatics.Vol.59, part B: 210-220. Mitra,T. and Gilbert, E. (2015) CREDBANK: A large-scale social media corpus with associated credibility annotations. [Online] Proceedings of the Ninth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media. Available from: http://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ ICWSM15/paper/view/10582/10509. National Math + Science Initiative. (2014) Increasing the achievement and presence of under-represented minorities in STEM fields. [Online] Available from: https://nms.org/Portals/0/ Docs/whitePaper/NACME%20white%20paper.pdf. O’Duinn, F. (2014) Science by the people: Public librarians meet citizen scientists. Feliciter. Vol. 60, No. 1: 14–15. Peterson, S.S., Jang, E., Jupiter, C. and Dunlop, M. (2012) Preschool early literacy programs in Ontario public libraries. Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research.Vol. 7, No. 2. [Online] Available from: https://journal.lib.uoguelph. ca/index.php/perj/article/view/1961/2623#.VHu1STHF-s0. Savolainen, R. (2016) Approaches to socio-cultural barriers to information seeking. Library & Information Science Research.Vol. 38, No. 1: 52–59. Sheridan, K. M., Halverson, E. R., Litts, B. K., Brahms, L., Jacobs-Priebe, L. and Owens, T. (2014) Learning in the making: A comparative case study of three makerspaces. Harvard Educational Review.Vol. 84, No. 4: 505–531,563–565. Vähämaa, M. and West, M. D. (2014) The dilemma of group membership in the internet Age. Public knowledge as preferred misinformation. Javnost-The Public. Vol. 21, No. 1: 5–101. Walraven, A., Brand-Gruwel, S. and Boshuizen, H. P. A. (2013) Fostering students’ evaluation behaviour while searching the internet. Instructional Science.Vol. 41, No. 1: 125–146. Walraven, A., Brand-Gruwel, S. and Boshuizen, H. P. A. (2009) How students evaluate information and sources when searching the World Wide Web for information. Computers & Education.Vol. 52, No. 4: 234–246. Weeks, L. (2015) Do we really need libraries?. [Online] NPR. Available from: http://www.npr. org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/05/05/403529103/do-we-really-need-libraries. White House. (2014) Maker faire. [Online] Available from: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ maker-faire.
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CHAPTER 20
A Cooperative Model for a National Digital Library Bas Savenije Independent Adviser, The Netherlands
While the Internet provides an ever-increasing amount of information, readers are in need of a selection that takes into account the quality of the information. An important aspect of the information is the reliability of the source involved and (at least in many cases) its independence. This is a role to be provided by digital libraries. Essential values of the library sector include its reliability, independence, accessibility, pluriformity and authenticity. This role, by definition, cannot be taken over by the market.
A NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY In The Netherlands the national library, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB),1 traditionally collects one copy of every newly printed Dutch publication and its objective is to be able to make all Dutch publications digitally available by 2025. In 2015, under the new Dutch Library Act, the KB is allocated new core tasks, in particular the management of the network of public library facilities and the development and maintenance of the national digital library. This is a perfect situation for setting up a national digital library: the national library translates the infrastructure for public libraries, combined with its national role in the area of science into an integrated portfolio of services for end users and the supporting positions needed for this.This creates a dynamic information environment (platform) that can form the basis for innovation and development. In my view, a national digital library makes the content of all libraries financed by public funds visible. Its mission is: provide easy access to information, which can be traced back to a recognisable source from an independent position. Just like everyone can walk into a library building for information, or to read the newspaper, the national digital library is also accessible to 1 https://www.kb.nl/en.
The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00020-8
Copyright © 2017 B. Savenije. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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everyone, from home or wherever you are. Access is free of charge; no membership is required. This means that people can easily: • see what information is offered by publicly funded libraries (catalogue), • consult out-of-copyright information, and • become a member of the library for other information. The out-of-copyright information that everyone can consult directly contains, in particular: • cultural and scientific heritage: anything published before 1876 is out-of-copyright in any case; • the materials for which the copyright has been bought off: books, newspapers and magazines; • Open Access materials, and particularly scientific publication other than magazines based on the subscription model. In a structure like this, the customer is provided with maximum service in his search for information. The digital library consists of three components: • The collections of all libraries financed by public funds. • The target groups: citizens, children, professionals, researchers, persons with a reading impairment, etc. • Mediation between target groups and objects: searching and finding, personalisations, context. The library goes beyond offering information and helps the customer to get the maximum out of it.
COOPERATION IN THE LIBRARY SECTOR As stated, a national digital library should not limit itself to public libraries. From the libraries’ perspective, this is useful because it allows for synergy and promotes efficiency through a joint infrastructure. The national library, university libraries and public libraries should have regular discussions about the communal information infrastructure for libraries. In The Netherlands, for instance, a flexible model has been created where subjects such as processing metadata, offering digitised collections, interlibrary loans, licences and services can be raised collectively when required. But the main advantage is to the user. Until now, the user is too often inconvenienced by the fact that the libraries are funded from different systems. Public libraries are funded by the local authority to serve the regional community. Scientific libraries and libraries belonging to educational institutions are funded by their institution for the benefit of the employees and
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students of the institution itself. In all cases, access is limited to the institution’s own target group. However, many communities are not local in the geographic or organisational sense, such as amateur researchers, interest groups or patient associations. Currently, the digital collections from one library sector are not accessible for the users from other sectors, or only at conditions that are a considerable inconvenience or expense. A familiar example is the access to scientific information outside the scientific institutions. It should be an important spearhead of the national digital library to make a considerable improvement to the access across the sectors. One of the strategies in doing so is the support of Open Access of scientific publications.
COOPERATION IN THE CULTURAL HERITAGE SECTOR The national digital library will limit itself mainly to books, newspapers and magazines. Archival material is collected, stored and made available by the archival institutions. The organisation responsible for audio-visual material fulfils a key role in this area. Other organisations, such as the Academy of Arts and Sciences, play a central role in the provision of research data. The collections of archives, media, museums and knowledge institutions are increasingly becoming available online and in digital format. In these sectors, functional and technical facilities are being developed to be able to digitally manage these collections, make them available and use them. The sectors differ, but they have the same purpose: to make collections visible, allow them to be used and store them in a sustainable way. Cooperation between these (heritage) institutions is essential. The user would like integrated access to the various collections and is often only moderately interested in the institutional origins. By making sensible agreements about metadata and aggregation, this is achievable. But cooperation is also necessary for storage and preservation. The traditional difference between the various collections is fading. The difference between libraries and archives is based on a definition of the concept of ‘publication’ that is no longer entirely up to date. New publication forms such as websites and blogs, for example, do not fall within this definition, nor are they considered as ‘archives’ by the archive world. They risk falling between two stools. What is more, now that the publications collected by the library are becoming digital, new forms of publication are also occurring through the combination of various media. In science, we see
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publications provided with the primary data, or a publication that consists of an annotated data model. Books are sometimes provided with audio and moving images. The publications in question cannot be taken apart into components without throwing out the concept of the publication.Therefore, they must be kept in their integrated form, but it is inefficient to set up separate infrastructures for storage in the various institutions. It is therefore necessary that the heritage institutions work on an integrated storage facility.
CONCLUSION The introduction of information and communications technology (ICT) has led to the fading of many existing boundaries. In the information sector, this is clear between the parties in the traditional information chain: the publisher, the book store and the library are all working on redefining their future role. The same applies for the traditional boundaries between the various parties in the heritage sector.The social objectives of these organisations will be seriously hindered if the parties hold on to the traditional boundaries too tightly and for too long. The purpose of these organisations is less and less determined by their own mission, and increasingly by their network and the role that they play in it. As a result, cooperation is becoming an essential condition of existence.
CHAPTER 21
In the Core of Research Belén Fornovi-Rodríguez University of Almeria, Spain
In the Research Library environment, much is being talked about relating to concepts previously unknown to librarians such as: open linked data, librarians as data curators or librarians embedded in research groups appear amongst the latest trends to explore. Actually, the support provided to researchers has always been one of the main purposes of libraries. It is only that the techniques we use which have evolved and developed. There is not so much difference between the behaviour of the researcher who accessed the library 20 years ago to obtain information, and the one who tries nowadays to extract the same or similar information from a repository. In both cases, libraries and librarians are playing key roles. It is true that the library does not always retain the required material (fortunately!), but librarians are still in a position to filter, to preserve and to offer the intellectual production at the scientific community’s disposal, both as publications and as data processed. Currently, we Research Support Librarians, are working in several ways: We assist our patrons in how to use the advanced functionalities of information resources, how to process the alerts and the citations of their papers and how to select the scientific journals in which to publish to disseminate their results. We offer to publish their works in the Institutional Repository and to help manage their data. We advise them on how to use the social networks, for example, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, Methodspace, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, to make their publications more visible. We show them the auto-archiving policies of journals and publishers.We offer them services on Bibliometrics, such as how to acquire bibliometric indicators so as to complete the applications for research activity assessment1 and how to get a more consistent public profile as scientists, using the different tools available. 1 Spain
has a similar system to the British Research Excellence Framework (with another name and a slightly different procedure).
The End of Wisdom? Copyright © 2017 B. Fornovi-Rodríguez. ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 Published by Elsevier Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00021-X All rights reserved.
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Several recent reports have confirmed that these are the general lines in which libraries and researchers are working together nowadays. Looking at a recent European Research Area (ERA) report: Achieving a fully functioning ERA must be a key goal of future research and innovation policy initiatives. This should acknowledge the need for science to deliver sustainable solutions to societal challenges, the growing demand for research integrity and accountability, and the drive towards a new mode of conducting and sharing research, i.e. Science 2.0 European Commission (2014).
Also the ERA Communication Synthesis Report (Report EUR 26232) states the role of libraries on the access and preservation of scientific information, which is part of the ERA priority 5: ‘Optimal circulation access to and transfer of scientific knowledge’ (Doussineau et al., 2013). Furthermore, the report recognises the crucial role that repositories have played in collecting, preserving and disseminating digital intellectual output from research. And, at the same time, considers that ‘This slower progress of open access to data can be explained by two factors (Science Metrix, 2013): (i) The heterogeneous nature of scientific data […] [and] (ii) The relatively slow progression of OA data repositories may be due in part to the lack of champions, such as with OA scientific papers repositories which might have developed faster due to the role played by librarians.’ (European Commission, 2013) The implementation of an Open Science infrastructure is one of the goals of the European Cloud Initiative, that ‘should open up to every research centre, every research project and every researcher in Europe the world-class supercomputing, data storage and analysis capacity which they need to succeed in the global, data-driven innovation system.’ (European Commission, 2016) In the same sense, The NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Library Edition points out as fast and mid-range trends the increasing focus on research data management for publications and the increasing accessibility of research content. The same report also mentions the importance of bibliometric and citations technologies, the semantic web and linked data, or the importance of digital identity as elements to consider in the next years (Johnson et al., 2015). In view of these reports, it could seem that our next tasks will be the result of a greater development of the current ones. Nevertheless, our future as research support librarians is intrinsically linked to the future of research itself.
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But what about our libraries? There are some aspects in which we can influence, to some degree, what is happening but we cannot completely control all factors, such as the following: • Budget: we depend on the financial situation at international and national levels. This point is decisive to materialise our professional and technical projects. • Staff: highly related to budget, this factor depends on our funders, and on governmental policies (especially in the case of public funding research libraries). • National laws and mandates: particularly important for further development (or not) of open access policies.Among the stakeholders, are research groups, the publishing industry, and of course, librarians. It is interesting to observe the movements and power of associationism in our profession. On the other hand, there are some other factors inherent to our profession, about which we could have a broader scope for action (needless to say: the next lines reflect only my very personal view and experience and are fruit of a self-analysis). Let us take as an example the figure of the librarian embedded inside research groups.What can we do to strengthen the links between the scientists and the librarian? Despite the fact that librarians are highly skilled p rofessionals, sometimes we may need to move away from our comfort zone. Simple movements on our part, such as thinking out of the box, feeling part of a research team or having a project-oriented approach (as generally researchers do), might lead us to step over our current threshold of integration among our patrons. In fact, not only do we need to support them in the best way, but we should also demonstrate that we are part of their team. Whatever happens in the future, research libraries and librarians will surely remain as important elements supporting, helping and facilitating the creation of knowledge. We did it before and we can do it in years to come. To summarise it is a matter of focus and willingness: of being more and more at the centre of research.
REFERENCES Doussineau, M., Marinelli, E., Chioncel, M., Haegeman, K., Carat, G. and Boden, M. (2013) ERA Communication Synthesis report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. European Commission. Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament. European Research Area. Progress Report 2014. SWD (2014) 280 final. [Online] Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2014/ EN/1-2014-575-EN-F1-1.Pdf.
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European Commission. EUR 26538 EN – Recommendations on the Implementation of the ERA Communication – Report of the Expert Group 2013. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. [Online] Available from: http://ec.europa. eu/research/era/pdf/era_progress_report2013/expert-group-support.pdf. European Commission. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. European Cloud Initiative – Building a competitive data and knowledge economy in Europe. COM (2016) 178 final. SWD (2016) 106–107 [Online] Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/communication-europeancloud-initiative-building-competitive-data-and-knowledge-economy-europe. Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V. and Freeman, A. (2015) NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Library Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. [Online] Available from: http://www.nmc.org/publication/nmc-horizon-report-2015-library-edition/. Science Metrix (2013) Country and Regional Scientific Production Profiles. Brussels: European Commission. Available from: http://science-metrix.com/en/publications/ reports/country-and-regional-scientific-production-profile.
CHAPTER 22
Information Management of the Future Rafael Ball ETH-Library Zürich, Switzerland
INTRODUCTION Information management means finding, organising and providing information as well as establishing correlations. From that, new knowledge, i.e., the truth can be generated. The management of information in the digital age has been essentially based on the usage of data from relational databases, data which has been filed in a well-structured form and a category system just as precise. For 30 years the motto for databases has been that only well-structured input can become structured output. This idea of structured, precise and exact data and its ‘containers’, the databanks, goes back to the 1980s and presumes that all data has to be precise, exact and absolutely clear. Today, 35 years later, this way of thinking is no longer up-to-date. The information management of the future is not only going to be based on structured data, but it is going to use the vast quantity of information and data that is openly available and free of charge (Open Data) to obtain meaningful, relevant results. In the age of big data not only causalities are the only possibility to make correct statements any longer – correlations are achieving the same result. Due to the vast and openly available amounts of data, probabilities are so high that they practically become true. Then it will no longer be important why a certain result is achieved, but only that the available result is correct. Without the help of IT specialists, algorithm systems will be able to develop true statements from the immense quantities of data on the Internet. The statements are generated without someone first elaborately structuring and filing the data. They are generated without entering the data into relational databases and creating specific categories for its output. The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00022-1
Copyright © 2017 R. Ball. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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More so than in the past the information management of the future will be able to do without intellectual preparation and processing because intelligent algorithms will supply the majority of the results. The book title ‘The End of Wisdom?’ suggests the end of knowledge and wisdom. Do we actually fear that with the end of the analog information world and its printed books and journals there will be not only the end of the book collection and library, but also the end of wisdom? This fear, however, is unfounded. On the contrary: the rise of electronic information and the gigantic increase of its quantity is the best reason why wisdom will not be lost, but will even be increased. For information has always been the basis for the development of knowledge and wisdom. Information in its various forms in the analog world is a requirement for the intellectual permeation of contents and the generation of insight and wisdom. Not only since the digitisation of our world, but long before had the quantity of information as the basis for the development of knowledge and wisdom risen nearly exponentially. In the course of digitisation, however, and especially after the establishment of the Internet as the central medium of digital content there is practically no stopping. The quantity of information (and not only which is relevant to academic insight) exploded to an extent that is difficult to imagine. Google processes 24 petabytes of data per day, a volume that is thousands of times the quantity of all printed material in the US library of Congress together. Facebook … gets more than 10 million new photos uploaded every hour. Facebook members click a ‘like’ button or leave a comment nearly three billion times per day.… the 800 million monthly users of the Google’s YouTube service upload over an hour of video every second.… by 2012 Twitter had exceeded 400 million ‘tweets’ a day. Mayer-Schönberger and Cukier (2013, p. 8).
This is the reason why there is talk about an information overload which is not really correct. The information existed even before the Internet, only now the Internet makes it faster and easier to access. The digital world itself, however, does not require more knowledge and wisdom than the analog world. Due to the good availability on the Internet this basis of information is now more readily accessible and easier to use. On this basis – in the intellectual battle and with corresponding contextualisation – knowledge and insight are generated from this information.
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Still – one might add, because the automation of information processing will reduce the intellectual effort in the future and automated systems will also be able to generate knowledge from information.
HISTORY Up until now the task of academics (and less of librarians) has been to generate knowledge and wisdom from existing contents by contextualisation, interpretation and further development. That was intellectual (informational) work. The purpose of libraries and librarians in history, however, was always only to collect information, process, structure, make it available and archive it. They created the basis for academics to generate insights intellectually. Libraries have never collected knowledge as such and therefore the idea of the library as a place for storing knowledge is wrong. Of course, structuring, classifying and systemising information as such can already be regarded as a certain contextualisation and therefore as a contribution to the generation of knowledge and insights. However, there is a difference in quality whether books of similar content are placed on the same shelf or whether a scientist establishes a relation between the contents of two books and an essay, a relation that has not been recognised in this way up until now. In this aspect libraries and (the usually more modest) librarians have always overestimated themselves, because they are merely contributing to the processing and long-term archiving of contents, and not their contextualisation. Furthermore, libraries and librarians have been collecting metadata and matching it with the existing information. For hundreds of years, this was accomplished by producing handwritten and printed catalogues of various forms (book or codex form, card catalogue) before the relational database emerged in the course of digitisation as a magic weapon of the libraries. Now machine-readable, efficient catalogues could be created which included neat, accurate metadata for each book, each journal and for any other medium and were easily searchable by computer. The actual generation of knowledge, however, was not facilitated by this, since it only located certain contents within the collection of the library. Managing the metadata in libraries was mainly based on the usage of relational databases.The descriptive catalogue data was filed in a well-structured
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form and in a category system just as precise. For 30 years the motto for databases had been that merely well-structured input could become structured output. In a world of small data, reducing errors and ensuring high quality of data was a natural and essential impulse. Since we only collected a little information, we made sure that the figures we bothered to record were as accurate as possible. Mayer-Schönberger and Cukier (2013, p. 32).
This idea of structured, precise and exact data and its ‘containers’, the databases, goes back to the 1980s and presumes that all data has to be precise, exact and absolutely clear. Those were still the days of ‘small data’. Today we are hurrying into the world of ‘big data’ which is ruled by new paradigms: We are even seeing the ethos of inexactitude invade one of the areas most intolerant of imprecision: database design. Traditional database engines required data to be highly structured and precise. Data wasn’t simply stored; it was broken up into ‘records’ that contained fields… Yet this view of storage and analysis is increasingly at odds with reality… These realities have led to novel database designs that break with the principles of old – principles of records and preset fields that reflect neatly defined hierarchies of information. Mayer-Schönberger and Cukier (2013, pp. 44–45).
PRESENT The quantity of data is rising steadily. Even in analog times the increase of information in the academic environment in the form of books and journals had reached exponential growth. Today there are not only massive amounts of information as the basis for academic work, but in the digital world it exists in a different media form which can be used in a versatile and extensive way. For today the majority of information is digital, which verifies a paradigm shift in the information management. Everything in the information management that had to be achieved intellectually on an analog basis can now take place on a digital basis and at least in part also in automated form. In the Internet today there is not only a huge quantity of electronic information to be found in the form of academic journal articles, books or conference lectures, but also an equally large quantity of various contents in different media formats, available simultaneously and worldwide.
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Complete availability of information, mankind’s dream once thought hardly possible, has become true. This ‘information miracle’ is strangely disproportionate to the complaints about the information overload which can be heard more and more in connection with the Internet. One reason for this is certainly the (unconscious) fear of the loss of organised aggregation of knowledge in the form of distinctive steps through books and journal articles. The characteristics of the digital revolution, however, are continuum and (apparent) chaos during the development of knowledge: Im Westen haben wir uns Wissen über ein paar Jahrtausende hinweg als ein System stabiler und konsistenter Wahrheiten vorgestellt. Kann es sein, dass uns das mehr über die Grenzen der Medien des Wissens verrät als über das Wissen selbst? Wenn Wissen kommuniziert und konserviert wird, indem man es mit Tinte auf Papier schreibt, dann ist Wissen eben das, was es durch institutionelle Filter schafft und sich nicht verändert. Das neue Medium des Wissens ist aber weniger ein System zur Veröffentlichung von Aufsätzen oder Büchern, sondern eine vernetzte Öffentlichkeit. Vielleicht können wir mithilfe der Data Commens neues Wissen produzieren, allerdings wird dieses Wissen dann eher die Form einer permanenten Diskussion annehmen, innerhalb deren es einmal hierhin gezerrt wird und einmal dorthin. So sieht Wissen im Zeitalter des Netzes aus. Es ist nie wirklich stabil, es ist nie vollständig aufgeschrieben und es ist nie endgültig fertig. Weinberger (2013, p. 237).
For a few thousand years we have imagined knowledge in the Western world as a system of stable and consistent truths. Is it possible that this tells us more about the limits of the media of knowledge than about the knowledge itself? If knowledge is communicated and conserved by writing it on paper with ink, then knowledge is whatever makes it through institutional filters and does not change. The new medium of knowledge, however, is less a system for publishing essays or books, but a networked public. Perhaps we can produce new knowledge with the Data Commons. However, this knowledge will assume more the form of a permanent discussion within which it will be pulled first in one direction and then in another. That’s what knowledge looks like in the times of the internet. It is never really stable, it is never completely written down and there is never a final version.’ Translation Rafael Ball
Another reason for this discrepancy is caused by the fact that the processes in information management and the people utilising these processes are still tied to the analog way of thinking of the 20th century. Locating, structuring, providing, storing and processing digital information follows quite different mechanisms than that of analog information. Above all,
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digital data is reusable in multiple forms and can be applied again and again in a meaningful way in quite new relationships: Once they have been compiled, primary data sets can be analysed any number of times for different purposes and for different stakeholders. The data functions as a driver of innovation, creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, and in an ideal world results in new business ideas, products or services. Dapp and Heine (2014, p. 3).
So also the metadata processes in libraries follows a different logic in a digital environment than the logic the library catalogues are based on. Taking this into account, information management must not only be rethought, but also remade. Several times I have already referred to the gigantic data quantities in connection with the information management of the future.This, of course, implies an approach which is ever present today: the topic of big data. At the petabyte scale, information is not a matter of simple three- and four- dimensional taxonomy and order but of dimensionally agnostic statistics. It calls for an entirely different approach, one that requires us to lose the tether of data as something that can be visualized in its totality. Anderson (2008).
Complaints about an information overload are due to the massive amounts of data which can no longer be managed intellectually and can be processed by machine only in a limited way.This is where the big data technology comes in. What else should be employed when massive amounts of data are available that the classic information management processes cannot cope with, processes based on a combination of intellectual evaluation and relational databases. No longer can anybody, no library, no information centre, locate and structure the confusing immense amounts of data and information available on the Internet today. Neither can they provide this data in terms of a library system or classification as the basis for the intellectual processing by academics while generating knowledge and insights. Here big data offers a solution: Big data is an all-encompassing term for any collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand data management tools or traditional data processing applications.1
Big data simply means the processing of massive unstructured data and the discovery of correlations that lead to statements about these (Internet) contents. 1 ‘Big
Data.’ Wikipedia. 7 October 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data.
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Particularly important in this context is the aspect of unstructured data. As mentioned earlier, libraries have been filing their metadata for decades in well-structured forms in relational databases and thus made it searchable and available. For this approach it was of great significance to have precise data, to describe it properly, to keep the data set clear, to classify the categories precisely and also to apply the schemata clearly and to the complete data set. This procedure corresponded entirely to the classic library categories of correctness and precision in registering metadata according to library cataloging rules. Moving into the world of big data will require us to change our thinking about the merits of exactitude… As mentioned earlier, the obsession with exactness is an artifact of the information-deprived analog era…, every data point was critical, and thus great care was taken to avoid letting any point bias the analysis. Anderson (2008, p. 40).
Big data follows an entirely different approach. The massive amounts of digital data can no longer be collected and processed with the classic approach of structuring and categorising into fixed schemata. Therefore we must take leave of the idea that each piece of information available on the Internet today can be accessed, structured and classified. These new tools ‘let one manage far larger quantities of data than before, and the data – importantly – need not be placed in tidy rows or classic database tables.’ (Anderson, 2008, p. 6) Today the idea of structured data in relational databases and fixed category classifications is no longer up-to-date. The information management of the future is not only going to be based on structured data, but it is going to use these vast amounts of data that are openly available and free of charge, for example as part of the Open Data movement to obtain meaningful, relevant results. This data, however, exists in various formats; it is not structured and cannot be structured due to the inner logic of the dynamic Internet world. And yet, it comprises an increasing part of the data needed for generating knowledge and wisdom. Pat Helland, one of the leading database experts describes this radical change like this: We can no longer pretend to live in a clean world. Anderson (2008, p. 45).
The acquisition of knowledge, however, can be rethought in the age of big data: true or false statements are no longer based on causalities, but correlations. Due to the vast, openly available amounts of data the probabilities are so high that they practically become true.
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In many contexts it is no longer important why a result has been achieved, but only the fact that there is a result. Without the help of IT specialists’ algorithm, systems will be able to develop true statements from the immense amounts of data on the Internet. The statements are generated without someone first elaborately structuring and filing the data. They are generated without entering the data into big relational databases and creating specific categories for its output. More so than in the past the information management of the future will be able to do without intellectual preparation and processing because intelligent algorithms will supply part of the results. The power of the specialists begins to crumble. Linking digital contents to a vast amount of openly available data is the true added value of the digital age. This requires dynamic systems that are constantly establishing and linking themselves, and Google shows us how to do it. Google’s index is arranged automatically and leads quickly from billions of pages worldwide to the searched pages or information. Statistical central systems come from the times of analog thinking and the technology of mainframe computers, and no matter how enormous and big they are they cannot achieve anything comparable. In their structure libraries and their catalogues (even if they have been moved to the Cloud) remain data storage of the 1980s which as expected follows statics, precision and stringency, – each data set was expensive, important and valuable. Standard data and standardisation go back to that time. A new study on big data states:‘Whereas previously we mostly processed structured information in relational databases, newer data sets… are increasingly structure-free, making conventional databases far less suitable for extracting value. ... Experts estimate that nowadays only 15% of data is structured, with around 85% regarded as unstructured.’ Dapp and Heine, 2014, p. 8) Therefore what counts today is flexibilisation because everything is changing constantly and everything is basically modifiable. That is why not only the old categories do not work anymore, the systems based on standards and norms do not work anymore either. They date back to the age of industrialisation when set standards determined quality, quantity and performance. Mercedes Bunz describes Die stille Revolution: wie Algorithmen Wissen, Arbeit, Öffentlichkeit und Politik verändern“: „Die Industrialisierung basiert … auf dem Aufbau von Systemen, weshalb der Vorgang der Normierung entscheidend ist. Das Digitale dagegen fragmentarisiert und verteilt, weshalb Flexibilisierung als wichtigster Aspekt an die Stelle starrer Normen tritt. Bunz (2012, p. 76).
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The industrialisation is based … on the structure of systems, therefore the process of standardisation is crucial. The digital material, however, fragments and distributes which is why flexibilisation as the most important aspect replaces rigid standards. Translation Rafael Ball
Also the lengthy discussion about the new cataloguing standard ‘Resource Description and Access’ (RDA) and its introduction worldwide2 insistently show that the speed of progress of structured systems will always lag behind the actual development. This is due to the fact that system librarians and formal specialists cannot break away from maximum demands on the precision of single data in the system. In the age of big data, however, it is less the precision of data than its incredible mass that leads to relevant and correct statements and thus to added value, even if the single data set itself is not quite precise anymore. At the same time libraries will not be able to collect the immense quantities of digital information worldwide, to access and store them in the long term.There are concepts for archiving digital information from the Internet. These concepts, however, are not very useful because they contradict the Internet with its fast and vague nature of information on the one hand and on the other hand because the amount of data is so immense that it cannot be fully archived in libraries anymore. Therefore libraries have to take leave of the idea of the collection. Even in analog times librarians could not collect everything that had ever been written and published in the world. The collection was always only a (random) selection of special publications. In the age of nearly unlimited, digital and freely available Open Data information can no longer be completely evaluated and archived. The idea of Open Data, based on the convergence of information and communication technology with openly available data on the Internet will not only generate new incentives but will overcome the separation of popular, administrative, scientific, library-oriented and other data to combine it in a useful way regardless of its original source. ‘After all, these ‘open’ data sets can be used freely by journalists, researchers, companies and members of the general public for all kinds of different purposes, both private and commercial, and, most importantly, they can be re-used again and again. This freely available data, in combination with web-based technologies,
2 Resource
Description and Access.’ Wikipedia. 7 October 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Resource_Description_and_Access.
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creates an economic benefit in the form of new business models and innovative products and services.’ Dapp and Heine, 2014, p. 29. At the same time society is well on the way to accept this distinctive feature of digital information and its archivability. Due to their repeated use relevant Internet contents are filed in various places on the Internet and are thus subject to some sort of informal archiving keeping them available on the Internet for a long time. Thereby the Internet has replaced the library in the sense that informal structures are storing relevant, utilised and shared information nearly automatically. The information management of the future will therefore be able to do far more than locating, processing and arranging rigidly structured information as it presently does. By using big-data technologies now even parts of the contextualisation can be automated which up until now had been reserved for the intellectual processing by researchers. Massive amounts of data are examined in regards to relationships, and new correlations are revealed. This is how answers are found to questions that no one has ever asked and knowledge is generated that no one had ever intended. This way big data can assist science with the intellectual processing of information while generating knowledge, insights and wisdom.And nobody should be surprised that in doing so the issue of causality is put to a new test. It is no law that the causality which was described by the philosopher Immanuel Kant as the central connection of our thinking, must apply unchallenged and beyond limits. Only in our Western way of thinking does causality play such an important role. Insights and thus wisdom can be generated without causality and even managing life’s reality certainly does not always rely on causality. Since big data the precision of data has not been a law anymore, even though it has been demanded up until now.The loss of precision of (library) data will be overcompensated by the value of the massive amount of data openly available worldwide as an interactive infrastructure. It is supplied by everyone who has an interest in it: authors, publishers, book dealers and academics, search engine operators and librarians. All of them will give their input voluntarily because each one of them has a special interest in providing their products and services in new networks in the most straightforward way. Ultimately, big data may require us to change, to become more comfortable with disorder and uncertainty. The structures of exactitude that seem to give us bearings in life… are more malleable than we may admit; and yet admitting, even embracing, this plasticity brings us closer to reality. Mayer-Schönberger and Cukier (2013, p. 48).
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Information management of the future therefore must break away from the tradition of the classic rule of three of locating, processing and providing and face up to the digital reality. And there are wonderful tasks waiting for the information management of the future: the Internet with its digital massive amounts of data has created a basis librarians have been dreaming about for centuries, but today it terrifies them instead. This fear, however, is unnecessary, because with the proper inner attitude it becomes clear that the digital world of the 21st century offers an excellent basis for generating knowledge and wisdom. Damit unsere Kenntnis der Fakten akkurat bleibt, muss sie laufend aktualisiert werden – und es ist genau diese Veränderbarkeit, die uns mit einem Gefühl der Konfusion und Beunruhigung zurücklässt. Die sich permanent ändernden Fakten müssen falsch sein, schlieβlich verändert sich die Wahrheit nicht, sie ist zeitlos. Es scheint, dass wir hier immer noch nach den Regeln eines älteren Diskurses denken und uns an eine Logik halten, die uns zwar lange Zeit gute Dienste geleistet hat, die aber im Grunde im Zeitalter der Druckerpresse verhaftet geblieben ist. Denn während der neue Fakt niemals exakter gewesen ist war er auch nie weniger dauerhaft. Bunz (2012, p. 62).
In order for our knowledge of the facts to remain accurate it has to be updated constantly – and it is exactly this variability that leaves us feeling confused and upset. The facts that constantly change must be wrong, after all the truth does not change, it is timeless. It seems that we are still thinking by the rules of an older discourse and that we hold on to a logic that has served us well for a long time, but which basically clings to the age of the printing press. While the new fact has never been more accurate it has also never been less permanent. Translation Rafael Ball
REFERENCES Anderson, C. (2008) The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete. Wired Magazine. Bunz, M. (2012) Die stille Revolution: Wie Algorithmen Wissen, Arbeit, Öffentlichkeit und Politik verändern, ohne dabei viel Lärm zu machen. Berlin: Suhrkamp. Dapp, T. and Heine, V. (2014) Big Data. The Untamed Force. Frankfurt: Deutsche Bank Research. Mayer-Schönberger,V. and Cukier, K. (2013) Big Data. A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live,Work and Think. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Weinberger, D. (2013) Die digitale Glaskugel. Big Data. Das neue Versprechen der Allwissenheit. (2nd ed.) Berlin: Suhrkamp.
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CHAPTER 23
Webraries and Web Archives – The Web Between Public and Private Niels Brügger Centre for Internet Studies and NetLab, Aarhus University, Denmark
During the last two decades a number of national libraries have established Web archives, but how does publishing on the Web challenge the notion of Web archives that underlies these initiatives?
THE WEB DISAPPEARS There is no doubt that the Internet and especially the World Wide Web – or simply: the Web – has become an inherent part of most societies within the last two decades. It is hard to imagine the lives of individuals, groups and societies today without the Web, and as such it is part of our cultural heritage. However, although we may have the impression that the Web is always ‘out there’, ready to be accessed, and that we are able to find material many years after it was put online, it is not an archive. Or to put it differently: in some cases the Web functions as an archive in the sense that old material can still be found, but in most cases it is simply a communication platform, where information is disseminated or ‘conversations’ take place, without any purpose of being preserved for posterity. Although we may be lucky to find old websites from the late 1990s still online, we cannot be sure to do so, for the online Web is heterogene, messy, and unstructured when it comes to preservation: parts of it may be preserved online, whereas others are not, and no one manages this except for the individuals, groups or organisations that put things online for whatever purpose they have – and remove them again, deliberately or without knowing. The overall consequence of this is that material on the Web disappears at an unprecedented pace. The average life span of a web page is often said to be two months (Brügger, 2012). It is therefore crucial that this part of our cultural heritage is collected and preserved for future viewing and study. The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00023-3
Copyright © 2017 N. Brügger. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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NATIONAL WEB ARCHIVES To address this, most countries have established national web archives. In the United Kingdom, the UK Government Web Archive1 was established in 1996 with a view to preserving UK Central Government websites, and in 2005 the UK Web Archive2 was established with the remit of preserving websites selected for their historical, social and cultural significance. Even transnational web archives exist, such as the United States–based non-profit Internet Archive,3 established in 1996 ‘to build an Internet library’ (About the Internet Archive;4 cf also Kimpton and Ubois, 2006). For a brief history and an overview of Web archiving strategies, see Brügger, 2011; for an overview of existing Web archives see Member Archives.5
PUBLICATION = MAKING AVAILABLE FOR THE PUBLIC Libraries, and especially national libraries, should be the cultural heritage institutions to archive the Web. However natural this seems, it tends to obscure to what extent Web archives – in their present librarian form – are, in fact, Web archives. It is therefore worth taking a closer look at the broader landscape of preservation of the cultural heritage. When setting out to collect and preserve the cultural heritage, a division of labour is usually made between, on the one hand, institutions that preserve artifacts – museums – and, on the other hand, institutions preserving documents, in the broad sense of the word, namely archives and libraries. The fundamental difference between the latter two revolves around the concept of ‘publication’: archives keep what has not been made publicly available, such as personal documents (diaries, photos, correspondence and so on) or internal documents from companies and organisations (minutes of meetings, strategy papers, accounts, for example), whereas libraries preserve all that has been made available to the public. Thus ‘publication’ must not be confused with, for instance,‘printed’, although this is where it all started when printed books and newspapers (and before that copied manuscripts) were held in library collections.The core of the concept of ‘publication’ is the word ‘public’, and therefore – in line with Immanuel Kant’s 1 www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/webarchive. 2 www.webarchive.org.uk/ukwa. 3 www.archive.org. 4 https://archive.org/about/. 5 http://netpreserve.org/resources/member-archives.
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ideas of Publicität (Kant, 2006, pp. 17–23, 44–109) – ‘publication’ means ‘made available to the public’, regardless of which media type is used for doing this. Or to formulate this in another way: what is published is accessible to every member of the public. An example of this is the Danish national Web archive Netarkivet6 which collects Web material and makes it accessible through the use of passwords which every member of the public can access, either by simply requesting a password or by paying for it.
WEBRARY OR WEB ARCHIVE? Following this line of thought, the term ‘Web archive’, which is the phrase coined two decades ago for the activity of collecting and preserving the Web, is somewhat misleading when it is applied to national Web archives based in libraries, because what is archived by these institutions is in most cases already in the public domain on the Web, and not the private web (for example personal email correspondence, personal profiles on social network sites, or companies’ intranets).Therefore a national Web archive with a remit to preserve the national Web should rather be called a ‘Webrary’, that is ‘a collection of Web publications’, whereas the term ‘Web archive’ should be used for institutions that collect and preserve the non-public parts of the Web (for instance, the Danish National Business Archives preserve intranets from companies and organisations in the business sector). However, in both cases we may want to use the verb ‘Web archiving’ for the activity of collecting and preserving the Web, regardless of which part of the Web is in question. This fact, combined with the use of the phrase ‘Web archive’, has become an established practice and is inscribed in the names of national Web archiving initiatives – the Internet Archive, the UK Web Archive, Netarkivet – implies that it is probably not possible to change this terminological inconsistency.
BLURRED BOUNDARIES However, what is at stake here is not only a terminological issue. Rather the advent of the Web is challenging and blurring the fundamental distinction between archives and libraries that has prevailed for centuries. Obviously, a lot of what is on the Web is clearly either non-public: companies’ intranets – or public: a news website. But a lot of Web material is not 6 http://netarkivet.dk/.
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clearly either/or. In a number of cases material that is publicly available on the Web should not have been there, either because it was published by mistake or because the author was not aware of the reach of his or her expression. An example of the first is that people’s social security number, health information and the like that has been unintentionally put on the websites of municipalities or hospitals, and an example of the latter is the syndication of expressions on personal social media profiles such as Facebook, that is the automated dissemination of content from a profile page to other Facebook pages – or even beyond Facebook – through an opaque network of ‘friends’ and newsfeeds. These types of material can be considered published in the sense that they have been made publicly available, and they should thus be preserved within the realm of libraries, but, on the other hand, they can also be said to belong to the private sphere since they were not intended for publication, and they may then belong to the realm of archives, if they should be preserved at all.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MEDIA CHARACTERISTICS Although it can be maintained that ‘publication’ is not media specific in the sense that it is not exclusively connected to one specific media type such as print (cf. above), nevertheless the specificity of each media technology plays a role for how expressions are made public, especially regarding access to the public, intentionality and time. Print media as well as traditional broadcast media tend to have gatekeepers in the form of editors, publishers, programme planners, hosts and the like, and usually there is a time lapse between an expression being formulated through until it is published, be that a book, a letter to the editor, or participation in a broadcast programme, the exception being live broadcasts and phone-ins in broadcast media (even here most broadcasters have a time delay of a few seconds between recording and broadcast). In addition, all these media types are characterised by a heavy and resource demanding production machinery (technology, man power, funding…). All these phenomena imply that in all media types preceding the Web, there have been a number of filters between the formulation of expressions and their publication. A letter to the editor may have been written – and even posted – in a moment of fury, but an editor has probably stopped or modified it, thus keeping it non-published. An archive may later be interested in preserving the letter, whereas a library would not have this possibility, because it was never published.
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THE UNFILTERED WEB To a large extent the access barriers to the publication technology on the Web are very low, and although the gatekeeping and time delaying filters do also exist on the Web on a number of websites that ‘look’ like books, newspapers and the like, these filters only apply to a fragment of the Web. In general, the Web allows for everyone to publish. In addition, the widespread use of syndication, for instance status updates in Facebook,7 adds to the unfiltered character of the Web. All in all, publication on the Web has the possibility of becoming less reflexive and intentional than in other media types: the technological barriers are very low, gatekeepers are to a large extent absent, the time between expression and publication can be extremely short and the reach of an expression can be difficult to assess. These characteristics of Web publication imply that things that were clearly meant to be private may be made publicly accessible, either by accident or because of the opaqueness of the publication channels of the Web. Thus the previously clear distinction between non-published and published – and thereby between the remits of archives and libraries, respectively – is blurred with the Web.
THE END OF LIBRARIES AS WEB ARCHIVES? What is then the future for libraries as Web archives? Will this blurring of the boundaries between private and public undermine their existence? Two possible developments can be identified. On the one hand,Web archives within the realm of libraries (‘Webraries’) could integrate more and more of what was previously considered private communication, but is now made public on the Web, either by purpose, or unintentionally simply because this type of material enters the Web archive, although it was not intended to be publicly available. In this sense the library moves towards the archive. On the other hand,Web archives within the realm of archives (Web archives sensu stricto) may have to integrate material that is clearly made publicly available today, but was previously only private communication, for instance diaries in the form of blogs, photo albums or video collections in the form of Flickr8 or YouTube.9 In this sense the archive moves towards the library. 7 https://www.facebook.com. 8 https://www.flickr.com. 9 https://www.youtube.com.
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In any case, the advent of the Web and its specific way of publication tend to force libraries as well as archives to rethink the previously clear distinctions between what they were supposed to do. Close collaborations as to technical solutions, curating and dissemination may be valuable, just as a certain degree of overlapping activities must probably be accepted. Publication on the Web may not be the end of libraries as Web archives, but it reminds us that the lines between Web archiving institutions still remain to be negotiated.
REFERENCES Brügger, N. (2011) Web archiving — between past, present, and future. In Consalvo, M.and Ess, C. (Eds.) The Handbook of Internet Studies. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell: 24–42. Brügger, N. (2012) Web History and the Web as a Historical Source. Zeithistorische Forschungen. Vol. 9, No. 2: 316–325. Kant, I. (2006) Toward Perpetual Peace and Other Writings on Politics, Peace, and History. New Haven/London:Yale University Press. Kimpton, M. and Ubois, J. (2006) Year-by-year: From an archive of the internet to an archive on the Internet. In Masanès, J. (Ed.) (2006) Web archiving. Berlin: Springer: 201–212.
CHAPTER 24
Not Only But Also? Karen Carden University of the Arts London (UAL) Library, UK
NOT ONLY BUT ALSO? In this short piece I would like to argue – not I hope defensively, but with evidence from my own institution and others – that the future of all libraries is not inevitably digital and that there are some institutions and subject areas for which the book remains, and will remain, very important not only for its content (or indeed its wisdom) but also for itself. In a 20 year career I have worked in both old and new universities across the range of UK university mission groups, and like most of us I have seen a lot of change in that time – including the digital revolution in library resources which started in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects and sprinted ahead from the mid-1990s. The call for papers for this present publication began with the words ‘much has been written about the end of libraries and the death of the book…’ and indeed it has. I remember taking part in a very energetic and fiercely argued debate in the Oxford Union about this at a conference in 20091 where librarians, publishers and academics from across the world argued vociferously for and against the proposition that ‘the book is dead’. I think the outcome was probably ‘the book is dead, long live the book’ – and I am certain we will still be talking and writing about this in the years to come because we are not all in the same place on the page or on the change curve.
NOT ONLY… I am currently Resources and Systems Manager at University of the Arts London (UAL).2 UAL is Europe’s largest specialist arts and design university and has around 19,000 students from more than 100 countries. UAL has six colleges – Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea 1 Second 2 UAL
Exploring Acquisitions Conference. 15–17 April 2009. Oxford, UK. http://www.arts.ac.uk/.
The End of Wisdom? ISBN 978-0-08-100142-4 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100142-4.00024-5
Copyright © 2017 K. Carden. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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College of Arts, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Arts – with international reputations in art, design, fashion, communication and the performing arts. Like other specialist institutions UAL is a bit ‘different’ in some ways, especially when we compare ourselves or try to benchmark against other Higher Education organisations. One of these differences is our customer profile. We have primarily creative and artistic staff and students who have a very high level of visual literacy – and there is no doubt that this influences their information-seeking behaviour in our libraries and spaces. We offer resources in six college libraries, two learning zones and our university Archives and Special Collections Centre. Much of our students’ research is project-based or serendipitous rather than driven by reading lists as it is in many other universities. Different subject areas clearly have different library needs, and the pace of change – including a move to more digital resources – is more variable than one might think across disciplines. From the point of view of library collections, this difference shows quite clearly in practice. Although UAL has had a generally rising number of e-resources over recent years with e-books – including those purchased using patron driven acquisitions – e-journals, databases and online image collections, in reality we have a small to medium-sized e-resource collection in relation to the size of the institution. We also appear to be bucking the trend in the purchasing of print materials, where the number continues to rise year-on-year. This print element of our library resources continues to grow at a steady rate, and we have not realised the decline in book purchasing that many other universities have seen. This is in part due to the nature of the subjects taught as there is not so much ‘e’ to buy in some of our areas of discipline, but is also in part due to a true preference for the printed resource in learning and research. The vast majority of our selection is still done by professional librarians, in partnership with academic course teams – not driven by item lists from academic staff. And this selection activity is supported by staff experience and expertise in librarianship and the disciplines taught at UAL. Many of our staff are themselves practising artists or have an art and design background. Students seek knowledge and inspiration for their practice from our collections, so there is a great deal of serendipitous browsing and keen use of printed books and journals in our library spaces to use as visual references for their work. Use of all our libraries – measured by the total footfall per year and head counts at specified times during the SCONUL sample weeks – remains relatively high and growing. Quite how enthusiastic this use can be
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in some of our libraries at times is represented in the impressive picture below,3 of just (a corner of) one of our libraries taken at the end of the day a busy time of year when the book trolleys are already full.
Obviously we need to be careful not to make assumptions from limited or purely local evidence. But there seems to be some indication from our own experience and from the work of the Library Impact Data Project that there are lower levels of e-resource use in art and design libraries (or in the art and design departments of multidisciplinary institutions) but not fewer – and probably more – visits to libraries.4 We will be very interested to see if this is reflected in the ongoing JISC Library Analytics and Metrics Project, which is looking at all sorts of metrics including the relationship between academic discipline and library usage (of all kinds, physical and digital) with actual data from multiple institutions.5
3 Copyright
CSM Library staff, September 2013. Collins (2012). Findings post 2: discipline matters. Retrieved from: < http://library.hud.ac.uk/ blogs/projects/lidp/2012/08/08/findings-post-2-discipline-matters/>. 5 Jisc (2013). Library Analytics and Metrics Project. Retrieved from: < http://jisclamp.mimas. ac.uk/>Graham Stone BSc (Hons), DipILS, MCLIP, FHEA Information Resources Manager/Senior Research Fellow (part time) Computing and Library Services University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield. 4 E.
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Consequently, in the medium term at least, art and design libraries might not be looking at a purely, or even primarily, digital future. The way our users work, a preference for the printed, continued opportune browsing, and the continued (perceived or real) weaknesses of on-screen digital images and colour reproduction may all play a part in this. However, this is not the whole story with regard to the importance of printed material.
BUT ALSO… There is another aspect of the printed book worth briefly noting in relation to art and design libraries – the importance of the thing itself, as an object or entity rather than only for what it contains. Many libraries of all kinds have special collections and archives, collected for their historical interest for teaching and research – UAL has enormously rich special collections, some managed by the library and some by our colleges, representing all areas of the subjects taught here.6 But arts libraries – including ours – also collect books or book-like materials for reasons other than merely the information they hold or the fact that they are part of a special collection, archive or donation. They might be collected for their illustrations, their design, their paper and bindings, their typography or other elements relating to their production for example. These are not easy and sometimes impossible to represent digitally – the element that makes them important may be entirely related to ‘look and feel’ – and many of our internal customers and visitors from elsewhere use them in their study and research. At UAL we also collect artists’ books – which are one-off or very small edition works of art in a book or book-like form7. These are often unique, important outputs from the artist (which do not necessarily stick to the standard form of the ‘book’ as we might think of it although some do) and can only really be appreciated as physical objects – an example from our collections is below.8
6 Collections
& Archives. Available at http://www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual/library-services/collectionsand-archives/. 7 Gustavo Grandal Montero, Academic Liaison Librarian at UAL: ‘What is an artists’ book? A very short answer would be that an artist’s book is an artwork that is realised using the medium of the book’. 8 Denise Hawrysio, Killing, 1988 © Denise Hawrysio, reproduced courtesy of the artist. Special Collections, Chelsea College of Arts Library, University of the Arts London.
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Other material of this type is the ‘zine’, self-published, often intimate and vibrant publications produced by individuals or groups which seem to have had renaissance in recent years.9 There are a couple of examples of zines from UAL’s collection in the picture10 given. 9 Leila
Kassir, Academic Liaison Librarian at UAL: ‘Defining exactly what is a zine can be quite tricky and is, to some extent, open to argument. One thing you can say for all zines and fanzines is that they are self-published and are created from a DIY (do-it-yourself) ethic … they are, by and large but with exceptions, non-commercial and non-mainstream, with a small circulation and irregular release (some may never exist beyond issue 1). The word fanzine is an amalgamation of fan and magazine, whilst zines are often fanzines without the fan element, although it can also be a shortcut to saying fanzine. One thing I find clearer to express is why they are important. Whether it’s a punk fanzine from 1977 with articles on records and gigs, or a zine created in 2014 discussing what life is like as a working-class woman, zines provide a space where non-mainstream opinions can be articulated.These opinions and ideas can be shared with others, thus creating communities. It is interesting that the web and social media have not killed-off this form of expression, if anything there has been a resurgence in recent years, which in itself says something about the importance of these intimate, expressive publications.’ 10 The Eel: from Hackney and beyond, issue 11, Focus on Dalston (2009) edited by Tony Collins, Adam Wright; design by Kate Rogers. Image © LCC Library. Vague, issue 12, Tales from the blank generation [1982] by Tom Vague. Image © LCC Library.
196
The End of Wisdom?
These are not static collections, and material like this is being produced continually. I have provided a couple of footnotes from colleagues who know much more than me about these resources,11 but the point is like the material above, artists’ books and zines are not easily digital objects. Like archives, even when digitised, the value is often in the object itself – its materiality – not purely the information it contains.
11 For
more information about the artist’s books held at UAL and how our staff use them, please also see GRANDAL-MONTERO, G., (2012), Artists’ books in HE teaching and learning. Downloaded from University of the Arts London Research Online Repository: < http://ualresearchonline.arts. ac.uk/5517/>.
INDEX A
B
Academic communities, 141 Academic libraries, 7, 9, 11, 12, 16, 120, 142, 155–157. See also Dokk1; Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library,The (HKUST); Libraries contribution to campus, 123–124 digital delivery model, 107–108 joint-use model, 106 learning centres, 126 models, 105 new content, 124–125 open science, 124 research data, 124–125 scientific heritage, 125 smart library, 127 space model in 2020, 109 subject-specific academic library model, 108–109 sustainable development, 126 value chains, 125–126 Academy of Arts and Sciences, 167 Access to information, 165 Adobe Acrobat Pro, 95 Adobe Photoshop, 93 Advances in Library Administration and Organization, 7 ALESS. See Association of Librarians in English Speaking Schools in Hong Kong (ALESS) American Society for Training and Development, 80 Analog library, 66 Archives, 186 Art and design libraries, 194 e-resource use in, 193 Artists’ books collection, 194 Arts libraries, 194 Association of Librarians in English Speaking Schools in Hong Kong (ALESS), 63–64 Audiobooks, 49–50 titles, 57
Battle of the Books, 55–56 ‘Beaming Up’ academic libraries, 141 Bibliometrics, services on, 169 Big data, 178 technologies, 182 Blogging, 85 Blurred boundaries, 187–188 Book Swap, 55, 58 Borgerservice places, 50 Bridging The Gap Project, 136–137 information literacy workshop, 137–138 Bring your own device (BYOD), 27 Budget, 171 budgetary costs, 155 BYOD. See Bring your own device (BYOD)
C Camberwell College of Arts, 191–192 Capacity building, 155–156 CC licence. See Creative Commons licence (CC licence) Central Saint Martins, London, 191–192 Chelsea College of Arts, London, 191–192 Children’s libraries, 49, 146 cMOOC courses, 130 Collections, 8, 10 book-based, 3 subject-specific, 23 Collective learning, 79 Colleges, 106 community, 107 Committee of University Librarians of Nigerian Universities (CULNU), 156 Communities, 49 children and family section driven by, 149–150 Competency, 76 Confronting the Future, 43 Consortial training, 78 Cooperation in cultural heritage sector, 167–168 in library sector, 166–167 197
198
Index
Cooperative model cultural heritage sector, cooperation in, 167–168 library sector, cooperation in, 166–167 national digital library, 165–166 Copyright statement, 115–117 Creative Commons licence (CC licence), 113 CULNU. See Committee of University Librarians of Nigerian Universities (CULNU) Cultural heritage sector, cooperation in, 167–168
D Danish libraries, 49 Borgerservice places, 50 eReolen, 49 Danish national Web archive Netarkivet, 186–187 Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS), 21 Data exploitation, 126 Data linking, 125 Data quantity, 176 DERA. See Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA) Digital age. See also National digital library future of libraries, 83 information literacy Bridging The Gap Project, 136–137 reflection, 140 STARS project, 138–139 information management in, 173 Switchmen of scholarship in economic implications, 141 innovation, 141–142 libraries, 143 library’s traditional role, 142 open environment, 143 Switchmen of scholarly world in digital age, 143–144 Digital delivery model, 107–108 Digital disconnecting, 131–132 Digital Education Resource Archive (DERA), 113 Digital Information Reviews, 5
Digital Information Strategies, 3 Digital libraries, 3, 6, 165 Digital Library Economics, 3 Digital media, 159 future of library design, 47–48 hybrid buildings, 46–47 Internet, 45 libraries for preservation, 46 libraries in the future, 45–46 Digital music image editing programs, 93–95 music recognition software, 96–103 music-engraving programs, 87–92 PDF, 93 photocopiers and image scanners, 92 preparation, 87 Digital natives, 45–46, 129 Digital pedagogy, 12, 129–130 digital disconnecting, 131–132 funding regime, 131 way forwarding, 132–133 Digital world, 4–11 Discovering the Universe Exhibition, 79 Disembedded librarians collection, 66 embedded library, 67–68 evidence-based training courses, 70–71 Holstebro model, 68–69 interprofessional knowledge communities, 71–72 library as place, 66 opportunities, 69–70 staff, 66–67 threats, 69–70 Disruptive technologies, 8, 66 Distant learners, 120 Dokk1 development, 145 exploration at, 146–147 library to, 145 place for children and families in Aarhus, 146 for learning and development of skills, 148–149 playful library, 147–148 Don Quixote, 88, 89–90
Index
E E-books, 49 EIFL. See Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), 155 Electronic Information for Libraries, 80 Embedded library, 67–68 EMI. See English as Medium Instruction (EMI) End of librarians, 31–33 End of libraries, 1–3 End of wisdom, 4 End of Wisdom,The, 24–25, 174 English as Medium Instruction (EMI), 63–64 Enthusiasm for Library 2.0, 83–84 EPQ. See Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) ERA. See European Research Area (ERA) eReolen, 49 European Research Area (ERA), 170 communication synthesis report, 170 Evidence-based training courses, 70–71 Experience society, 41–42 Experts’ disembedded functions, 69 Exploration at DOKK1, 146–147 Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), 137
F Face-to-face interaction, 161–162 Facebook, 187–188 Facilitation, 71 Finale, music-engraving programs, 87, 91 Florida Polytechnic University (FPU), 107 Formal and informal learning channels challenge for librarians, 76 learning from reality, 75 librarians responding, 80 millennial students, 75 new roles, 79 and skills, 76 practices of reskilling at HKUST library, 76–79 Formal training, 77
199
Four space model, 39–41 inspiration space, 41–42 learning space, 42 meeting space, 42–43 performative space, 43 uses, 43–44 FPU. See Florida Polytechnic University (FPU) Fun Fun Cafe, 77 Funding, 154 agencies in Europe and America, 155–156 regime, 131 source, 156–157 Future library services for children, 148 Future of library design, 47–48
G General Certificate in Education (GCE), 153 General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), 58–59 Google, 141, 143–144 processing 24 petabytes of data, 174
H HE. See Higher education (HE) HEFCE. See Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Higher education (HE), 129–130 libraries, 113 new trends changes in, 121 development and adoption of virtual learning environments, 119 distant learners, 120 information professionals, 119–121 librarian’s role in academic environment, 119–120 Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), 133 HKU. See University of Hong Kong (HKU) HKUST. See Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library,The (HKUST) Holstebro model, 68–69
200
Index
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library,The (HKUST), 76–77. See also Academic libraries; Dokk1 collective learning, 79 consortial training, 78 formal training, 77 informal training, 77 learning circles, 78 librarians engaged in research, 78 practices of reskilling at library, 76–77 upgrading technical skill sets, 77–78 Hungarian librarians, 83 Hybrid library buildings, 46–47
I ICT. See Information and Communications Technology (ICT) IL. See Information literacy (IL) ILS. See Integrated library systems (ILS) Image editing programs, 93–95 Image scanners, 92 INASP. See International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) Informal interview with Hong Kong Librarians ALESS, 63–64 audiobook titles, 57 Book Reservation Function, 59–60 Book Swap, 55 GCSE, 58–59 homosexuality, 55 Po Leung Kuk Charity Organization, 58 school librarians in Hong Kong, 61–63 Informal training, 77 Information overload, 135 professionals, 119–121 provision, 2–3, 6, 12, 17 technology, 154 Information and Communications Technology (ICT), 2, 154 Information literacy (IL), 27–28, 53, 121, 160–161 in digital age Bridging The Gap Project, 136–137
reflection, 140 STARS project, 138–139 skills, 159–160 learning, 160 Information literacy beyond library 2.0, 83–84 Information management, 173 achieving on digital basis, 176 big data, 178 characteristics of digital revolution, 177 collecting metadata, 175 course of digitisation, 174 descriptive catalogue data, 175–176 in digital age, 173 of future, 183 library cataloging rules, 179 metadata processes in libraries, 178 Open Data, 181–182 purpose of libraries and librarians, 175 quantity of data, 176 structured data in relational databases, 179 Information search process (ISP), 160 Inspiration space, 41–42 Institute of Education, London (IOE), 113 Institute of Museum and Library Services, 149 Integrated library systems (ILS), 154 Intellectual property rights handling, 125 Intermediaries, 141–142 International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), 155–156 Internet, 8, 45, 159, 165 Interprofessional knowledge communities, 71–72 IOE. See Institute of Education, London (IOE) ISP. See Information search process (ISP)
J JISC Library Analytics and Metrics Project, 193 Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), 92 Joint University Librarian Advisory Committee (JULAC), 78 Joint-use model, 106
Index
Journal of Documentation, 84–85 JPEG. See Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) JULAC. See Joint University Librarian Advisory Committee (JULAC)
K Knowledge management, 26 Konica Minolta Bizhub, 92 Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB), 165
L LDF. See Library Development Fund (LDF) Leadership, 67 Learning centres, 126 circles, 78 organisation, 76–77 space, 42 Librarians, 160 engaged in research, 78 liaison roles, 79 purpose, 175 role in academic environment, 119–120 Librarianship, 124 Libraries, 186. See also Academic libraries; Webraries cooperation in library sector, 166–167 in digital age, 1 digital world, 4–11 directions and options for libraries, library managers and users, 17–22 end of librarians, 31–33 end of libraries, 1–3 end of wisdom, 4 route maps for future, 22–29 sleeping, 11–17 directions and options, 17–22 for library managers, 17–22 for library users, 17–22 as essential institutions for youth changing the old into something new, 161–162 conquering anxiety, 160 information literacy, 160–161 Internet and digital media, 159 part of society, 159–160
201
space for STEM learning, 160–161 in future, 45–46 Library Connect, 77 literature, 83 operations, 67 as place, 66 for preservation, 46 purpose, 175 services, 67 space, 32 Libraries and Society, 3 Library 2.0 tools blogging, 85 future of libraries in digital age, 83 long-term effects of Web 2. 0 on libraries, 84 social media, 85 Web 2. 0, 83 Library Development Fund (LDF), 156 Library Impact Data Project, 193 London College of Communication, 191–192 London College of Fashion, 191–192
M Major Orchestra Librarians Association (MOLA), 93 Makerspaces in libraries, 161 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), 8, 119, 129 Master’s degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS), 51 Media characteristic importance, 188 Meeting space, 42–43 Metadata collection, 175 processes in libraries, 178 MLIS. See Master’s degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS) MOLA. See Major Orchestra Librarians Association (MOLA) MOOCs. See Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) Moore’s Law, 48 Multifunction digital photocopiers, 92 Music recognition software, 96–103 Music-engraving programs, 87–92
202
Index
N National digital library, 167. See also Digital age; Public libraries cooperative model for, 165–166 cultural heritage sector, cooperation in, 167–168 library sector, cooperation in, 166–167 National laws and mandates, 171 National Student Survey (NSS), 130 comments, 132 National Universities Commission (NUC), 156 National web archives, 186 New librarians’ competency profiles, 80 New production of knowledge, 65–66 New professional contexts, 67 New roles, 79 New Roles for New Times, 79 Nigeria, libraries in, 153 academic libraries, 155–157 public libraries, 153–154 quotes, 154–155, 157 Nigerian University Libraries Consortium (NULIB), 155 NMC Horizon Report The: 2014, 76 NMC Horizon Report,The: 2015 Library Edition, 170 Nova Southeastern University (NSU), 106 NSS. See National Student Survey (NSS) NSU. See Nova Southeastern University (NSU) Nuance OmniPage, 95 NUC. See National Universities Commission (NUC) NULIB. See Nigerian University Libraries Consortium (NULIB)
O Occasional Informationist, 84–85 OCR. See Optical Character Recognition (OCR) OGL. See Open Government Licence (OGL) Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), 59 Open Access to data, 170
materials, 166 movement principles, 113 supporting, 141 Open Data, 181–182 Open Government Licence (OGL), 113 Open Science infrastructure, 170 Optical Character Recognition (OCR), 96 Oxford English Dictionary, 65
P PaperPort, 95 Partnerships, children and family section driven by, 149–150 PDF. See Portable document format (PDF) Pdftotext, 116–117 People’s University, 7 Performative space, 43 Photocopiers, 92 PhotoScore, 95, 96, 98, 101 Photoshop elements, 93 Physical library, 39 Place for physical books, 45 Playful library, DOKK1, 147–148 PLKCKY. See Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School (PLKCKY) Pluriformity, 165 Po Leung Kuk Charity Organization, 58 Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School (PLKCKY), 51 Portable document format (PDF), 93 Print element of library resources, 192 Private communication, 189 Production of knowledge, 65–67 Public domain on Web, 187 Public libraries, 21, 23–24, 26, 153–154. See also National digital library for children and families Dokk1, 145–146 exploration at DOKK1, 146–147 journey continuing, 150 place for learning and development of skills, DOKK1, 148–149 playful library, DOKK1, 147–148 section driven by staff, partnerships and the community, 149–150
Index
development of Internet, 39 four space model, 39–41, 43–44 inspiration space, 41–42 learning space, 42 meeting space, 42–43 performative space, 43 space, 153 Publication barriers to publication technology, 189 making available for public, 186–187 Publicität, 186–187 Publishing Technology Center and IT Service Center, 77–78
R R&D. See Research and development (R&D) RDA. See Resource Description and Access (RDA) Research and development (R&D), 119 Research library environment, 169 ERA, 170 implementation of open science infrastructure, 170 national laws and mandates, 171 project-oriented approach, 171 research libraries and librarians, 171 research support librarians, 169 Research support librarians, 169 Reskilling practices at HKUST library, 76–79 Resource Description and Access (RDA), 181 Retraining, 76–77 Retro-technological approach, 27 Ricoh Aficio, 92
S Scholarly communication, 142 School librarians, 53 in Hong Kong, 61–63 School librarianship, 60 Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), 160, 191 SCONUL sample weeks, 192–193 Sibelius, music-engraving programs, 87 Smart library, 127
203
SmartScore, 94, 96, 99, 102 Social media Library 2.0, 85 Social networks, 161–162 Staff, 66–67, 171 children and family section driven by, 149–150 development, 76–77 STARS. See Surrey Top Achievers Recognised and Supported (STARS) STEM. See Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) Strategic intervention, 154 Student(s) clinical training, 68 expectations, 132–133 fees, 132–133 library projects, 46 student-friendly library policy, 59–60 voice, 130 digital disconnecting, 131–132 funding regime, 131 way forwarding, 132–133 Study activity model, 69–70 Subject-specific academic library model, 108–109 Surrey Top Achievers Recognised and Supported (STARS), 136 project, 138–139 researching in real world, 139 Sustainable development, academic libraries, 126 Switchmen of scholarship in digital age economic implications, 141 innovation, 141–142 libraries, 143 library’s traditional role, 142 open environment, 143 Switchmen of scholarly world in digital age, 143–144
T Tagged Image File Format (TIFF), 92 Technical skill sets upgrading, 77–78 Technology and Information Systems (TICs), 23
204
Index
Technology to digital content IOE scenarios, 117 libraries assessing IPR implications, 114 Newsam Library and Archives, 113 open source utility, 114 significant keyword’ extraction, 116–117 Tertiary Education Tax Fund (TETfund), 156–157 Threats, 69–70 TICs. See Technology and Information Systems (TICs) TIFF. See Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) Traditional library processes, 67 Trends, Discovery and People in the Digital Age, 3 21st century, 9
U Unfiltered web, 189 University of Hong Kong (HKU), 51 University of the Arts London (UAL), 191–192
V Value chains, 125–126 exploitation of data, 126 linking of data, 125 Virtual learning environments, 119
W Web 2.0, 4, 83 on libraries, long-term effects, 84
Web Archives, 187 blurred boundaries, 187–188 end of libraries as, 189–190 importance of media characteristics, 188 national web archives, 186 publication—making available for public, 186–187 unfiltered web, 189 web disappearing, 185 Web disappearing, 185 Web publication characteristics, 189 Webraries, 187. See also Libraries blurred boundaries, 187–188 end of libraries as web archives, 189–190 importance of media characteristics, 188 national web archives, 186 publication, 186–187 unfiltered web, 189 web disappearing, 185 Widening Participation, 136, 138 resources, 136 Wimbledon College of Arts, 191–192 World Wide Web, 45
X xMOOC courses, 130
Z Zines, 195–196