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Libraries are community centers that aim to meet a wide variety of civic and social needs. The emergence of smartphones has put access to information in nearly everyone's hands. Not forgetting about the recent global pandemic, libraries are using mobile technology to deliver a consumer-like experience to patrons. Libraries are also moving their collections and services online. From articles to books, the libraries are constantly pushing out content digitally to help users to get information easier. Not only that, libraries also spend a lot of money on upgrading technology and websites. In response, libraries are engaging with patrons differently and serving them in new ways.

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In this new era, the transition of traditional library to digital library presented the librarian with new opportunities. This transition is happening because of few factors which are it make student easier to access to library source such as journals. With the online digital library system, student can access it anywhere and anytime. As our current situation, digital library is becoming the needs of the current generation. It is because when the changing culture of society, acceptance to the transmission medium also changes. More and more people are attracted to digital information because of its connection to the internet. With the convenience of today's technology, it makes it easier for users to read every information easily. In my opinion, having digital library in this new era make us more easier to find and access to the information wherever we are.

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The changing roles of librarian in the digital library environment

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The changing roles of librarian in the digital library environment

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Modernity era is an era that we live now. Technologies everywhere. We can search and get an information just by clicking our fingers on our keyboard. Library professionals, a librarian can provide a service for everyone such as a digital library. Digital library is a need because we can search an information in just a second without going out to go to the library. A busy workers can doing their research faster and a tired students can doing their research just by relaxing and sitting on their chair. Librarians can convert the information into a digital form using the technologies they have. So, digital library is a great service that the librarians can provide to everyone.

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This paper explores the growing needs of information acquisition ,processing, storage and dissemination, a large number of new technologies have been adopted and modified by library professionals from time to time in the digital environment . It's a refreshing change for library professionals who have struggled with the complexity, cost and practically of the present generation of technology tools.

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(PDF) Role of library professionals in the Digital Era

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This paper explores the growing needs of information acquisition ,processing, storage and dissemination, a large number of new technologies have been adopted and modified by library professionals from time to time in the digital environment . It's a refreshing change for library professionals who have struggled with the complexity, cost and practically of the present generation of technology tools.

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The library plays a role important to students. This is because libraries give information support to education and learning institutions. Everyone can get a lot of information also acknowledged there. Library help students to achieve a good academic and better during examinations by reading various books. But because of Covid-19, it’s hard for them to go to the library to get information and any resources. Luckily, we have an online library service to make students easier to find a lot of information even only online and this can avoid them from spreading the Covid-19 virus in the future.

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August 2012 By Ben White, Head of Intellectual Property, British Library
As gateways to knowledge and culture, libraries play a fundamental role in society. The resources and services they offer create opportunities for learning, support literacy and education, and help shape the new ideas and perspectives that are central to a creative and innovative society. They also help ensure an authentic record of knowledge created and accumulated by past generations. In a world without libraries, it would be difficult to advance research and human knowledge or preserve the world's cumulative knowledge and heritage for future generations.

Libraries are keenly aware of the need to maintain the balance between protecting the rights of authors and safeguarding the wider public interest. Copyright exceptions, which are currently under discussion in WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), form an integral part of national copyright systems. They play an essential role in enabling the delivery of library services to the public and in achieving the copyright system's goals of encouraging creativity and learning. This article explores the enduring importance of libraries and some of the intellectual property-related challenges they face.

Libraries represent different things to different people - from a place where mothers can take toddlers to read their first stories and students can study, to a service allowing anyone to borrow a book, access the Internet or do research. Quite simply, libraries offer a means by which we can gain access to knowledge.

Supporting education

Libraries are synonymous with education and offer countless learning opportunities that can fuel economic, social and cultural development. The inspiring story of William Kamkwamba from Malawi underlines the difference a library can make. Having borrowed a book about windmills from his local library, Mr. Kamkwamba learned how to build an energy-producing turbine for his village. On the strength of this experience he went on to study at a leading US university. That one book not only changed his life; it also transformed the lives of those in his village community. Such stories explain why many countries are eager to ensure that libraries continue to provide access to knowledge, learning and ideas.

The same digital file - pre- and post digital corruption (Photos: British Library)

In addition to lending books, libraries are also involved in copying materials for research or private study purposes. Students cannot afford to buy every book, or pay for every television broadcast or journal they need to access for their studies. They therefore rely on the services of a library.

The exceptions and limitations that are an integral part of many national copyright systems play a critically important role in enabling libraries to deliver such services. For example, they allow libraries to make copies on behalf of students and others for research or study purposes, of works that might not otherwise be directly accessible to them. Libraries also make interlibrary loans possible, providing local access to materials that normally reside in a library hundreds, or even thousands, of miles away.

Just five years ago, applying the concept of interlibrary loans to digital works was problematic. However, with the widespread availability of electronic platforms that effortlessly control access to content, such as iTunes and Kindle, and the expansion of electronic interlibrary loans by some research libraries - although there is still some way to go in discussion with publishers - this is no longer the insurmountable problem it may have appeared to be a few years ago.

Preserving Cultural Heritage

Recognizing the cultural importance of sharing, Mahatma Gandhi said that, "no culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive". The stimulus to share and reuse information and knowledge comes in many guises. Perhaps the most deep-rooted of our human instincts is the desire to preserve our culture for future generations. This is one of the most important functions of libraries.

Libraries are rich repositories of historically and culturally significant collections, many of which are not available anywhere else in the world. Without an appropriate copyright exception, a library could not preserve or replace a damaged work while it is still covered by copyright. For example, it could not lawfully copy or digitize an old newspaper or a unique sound recording to preserve it. Without appropriate library exceptions, this cultural heritage would be lost to future generations.

Today, many works are only "born digital", such as websites or electronic journals, and are unavailable in print format. Without the legal means to preserve and replace works in a variety of media and formats - including format shifting and migrating electronic content from obsolete storage formats - many of these works will inevitably be lost to future generations of historians.

The Root Challenges

The challenges facing libraries are linked in large part to the fact that, while international copyright agreements guarantee exclusive rights for authors and other right holders, the interpretation of the exceptions and limitations that entities such as libraries depend on in order to provide their services is left to national parliaments. In sum, exceptions and limitations are national and optional, whereas the rights accruing to right holders are international and guaranteed.

In 2008, WIPO commissioned a study on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives. The study found that statutes relating to library exceptions differ greatly from one country to another. It also found that, of the 149 countries surveyed, 21 had no library exceptions in their copyright laws, and 128 had a least one statutory library exception, with many, most often in developed countries, having multiple library-related provisions. Even where library exceptions to copyright laws do exist, however, they generally date from the pre-Internet age and now need to be updated and adapted to the digital environment.

The study's findings highlight the important role that library exceptions play in enabling library services, and how they facilitate knowledge acquisition by students, citizens, businesses as well as academic researchers. They also point to the need for a common approach to ensuring equitable access to knowledge, and to providing libraries with the legal means to preserve the unique cultural, artistic and scientific heritage of each country.

The opportunities of mass digitization

The Internet has created tremendous opportunities in terms of accessing knowledge. Making the collections of the world's great libraries available to the public through large-scale digitization, however, has yet to be realized. While it is difficult to foresee the full implications of such an undertaking, the benefits promise to be widespread and powerful.

A record in need of conservation and preservation work. Without appropriate exceptions a library cannot preserve or replace a damaged work that is still covered by copyright.

One particularly moving example of the benefits of mass digitization comes from my own library, the British Library. A number of years ago we digitized a series of 20th century recordings from Uganda and put them online. We were subsequently contacted by a student at Sheffield University who explained that some of the recordings were of Ugandan royal court music, an art form that had all but disappeared. Given the historical importance of the recordings, we made copies for Makerere University in Kampala, and Ugandan musicians are now trying to piece together how to play this unique music once again.

Today's citizens want access to information online. While libraries have some funds to digitize collections and put them on the web, the many challenges of clearing intellectual property (IP) rights in in-copyright materials (combined with the fact that copyright can reach back as far as the 1870s) means that libraries often prefer to digitize out of copyright material. This has led to what is referred to in the European Union as the "black hole of the 20th century."

Libraries have no desire to undermine vibrant markets, but evidence suggests that there is little market activity for many older in-copyright works. A report by the French government ,submitted to the French Senate supporting a new law to enable mass digitization, estimates that 57 percent of works published in France since 1900 are either orphan works - works whose creators or right holders cannot be identified or traced - or out of commerce, the only means of accessing them being from a library.

Studies suggest that while the scale of the orphan works problem varies, the number of such works can be relatively high, even with books that have a long history of well-organized and professional production and distribution. A recent European Union-funded study entitled "Seeking New Landscapes" , for example, found that 42 percent of randomly selected monographs from 1870 to 2010 were orphan works. In many countries, reuse of such works is unlawful without the express permission of the right holders. Finding an appropriate and lawful means to deal with orphan works, therefore, is a key element in opening the way to mass digitization.

While large libraries, and indeed Google, have digitized parts of their out-of-copyright collections, legally digitizing copyright-protected materials on a large scale remains a pressing issue. Since 2005, the European Commission has sought ways to address these legal complexities. While the 2012 Orphan Works Directive appears to be useful for the digitization of niche collections, it is still unclear when Commission activities will translate into effective legislation that will support the mass digitization of 20th century in-copyright works - collections, of course, that are largely preserved in national libraries and museums at the expense of the tax payer.

Contract law vs copyright law

Despite its many benefits, the digital age has, unfortunately, caused an erosion of copyright law in that the act of using purchased digital content is no longer regulated by copyright law but by contract law. Whereas national copyright laws strive to promote creativity by balancing the needs of creators with those of users, this is not expressly the case with contract law.

Copyright laws are designed to foster innovation. They protect the investment of creators in the production of their work, while guaranteeing that others may use that work in support of innovation, competition and learning. Evidence suggests however that private systems of law, such as contract law, do not create this innovative synergy between creators and users but reflect instead a more static, one-sided relationship between content distributors and customers.

A 2007 review of 100 contracts by the British Library shows contracts are systematically undermining copyright law in that existing statutory limitations and exceptions often become null and void under contract law. For example, only 2 of the 100 contracts in the study allowed explicit access by visually impaired persons, and only 23 allowed a library to archive the materials they had purchased.

Despite this fundamental shift, policymakers globally have been slow to recognize that copyright law is increasingly peripheral to regulating access to copyrighted works. From the perspective of libraries, the issues are stark. Billions of euros are spent annually on purchasing electronic materials, but the uses that can be made of this purchased content are diminishing. Moreover, libraries are facing a situation equivalent to one in which, in the analogue world, every book on a shelf comes with a different contract allowing different things. How can access to knowledge be lawfully or practically managed in such a case? Must every citizen, student or researcher become an expert in contract law to understand what they can lawfully do with a digital work? Certainly libraries feel very strongly that policy makers need to engage in this issue as a matter of urgency to ensure that the positive role that copyright exceptions play in the innovation cycle is not indelibly undermined by private contracts.

The IP challenges confronting libraries today raise a number of fundamental questions about the role of copyright law in fostering innovation and creativity. We in the library community believe that copyright law should continue to be central to innovation policy. Libraries play a key role in fostering literacy and learning, in creating the building blocks of development, and in safeguarding the world's cultural and scientific heritage. We need to act swiftly to ensure libraries can continue to deliver their services effectively, for the public good in all countries.

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Guaranteeing Access to Knowledge: The Role of Libraries

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August 2012 By Ben White, Head of Intellectual Property, British Library As gateways to knowledge and culture, libraries play a fundamental role in society. The resources and services they offer create opportunities for learning, support literacy and education, and help shape the new ideas and perspectives that are central to a creative and innovative society.

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As we know, libraries play an important role in facilitating people to access information in the digital arena. British Council Digital Library providing services that will help on access the information in the digital arena is by providing digital library membership so that people can use the digital library for free. There are many services that provided by this library such as people can access information by read a magazines and newspaper because library have the latest magazines and newspaper from around the world. People also can use the eBooks and audiobooks that can help them to find information from thousand of books to read or listen to, from fiction to plays, non fiction and self development. Next, library also offers a video-based how to training resources for student, undergraduates and those who embarking their career. The library also provided the academic books that also can help people to access information especially for student. In my opinion, the library must always ensure that each information is correct. In this way, of course people will be able to use digital library to access information quickly by only using their devices.

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Welcome to the British Council's Digital Library in UAE

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Access our digital library from the comfort of your home or on the go

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Libraries are constantly facing challenges due to new technology. To keep up with the latest developments, modernizing facilities and using electronic information tools and techniques to provide services in digital form have become essential. This has caused a major shift in the responsibilities of librarians, who are not only engaged in collection development but are also entrusted to provide advanced technological services, as well as generating financial resources for their respective institutions. This change has become easier in the electronic information era as information is treated as the ultimate resource. Computers and networks are expected to play an increasingly important role for resource sharing and information management. Use of information and communications techonology (ICT) is now treated as an essential technology for libraries. Emerging technologies, media, publishing trends, information storage methods, information retrieval practices, and more have changed the concept of library and information services. In this book, analyses are given of the possible changes in library and information services due to the emergence of the digital and virtual environment. The contents of this volume are broadly divided into twelve chapters on these topics including ICT in Libraries, Electronic Resources in Libraries; Soft Skills and Librarians, Institutional Repository, Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright, Marketing of Library Services, Application of Cloud Computing in Libraries, E-Learning and Librarianship, Knowledge Management in the Digital Era, Emerging Technology in Libraries, Open Source Software and Modern Library Services.

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Modern libraries: Moving from a transactional to a relational library

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Whilst the library of the past was defined by transactional services - lending and returning of books - nowadays the dynamics of the library has changed by adding a relational side to all its processes.

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Libraries used to play a lot of roles such as educational roles, research roles and many more. Last time, finders of information and information resources depend entirely on libraries and librarians. However, the world is changing. The development of the Internet, technologies and social media have changed the way human live. We are in an era where people, especially the youths and generation Z cannot be separated from internet and social media platforms. Librarians nowadays have a more active roles unlike before, where they used to have a passive roles. They are no longer

custodian of books but a gate way to myriad of information sources. A 21st century librarian is expected to perform a lot more roles in facilitating access to public information such as adoption of OPAC services, adoption of use of social media, and electronic mailing.

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we know that the traditional libraries can be accessed freely by all people, but sometimes the traditional library faces a lot of trouble in keeping all the information materials safe. One of the ways to avoid any damage to all the material is by creating a digital library. this can keep all the information materials safe from any damage. other than keeping the material safe, it also helps people to find any kind of information that they need easily. living in a modern era and facing the covid-19 pandemic, a digital library is a must for us, especially students. instead of going to the traditional library, students can access all of the information from the certain library's website or OPAC. with a digital library, it would make our life easier both for the user and the library organizer. Users will find it easier to find any reading materials and the library organizer will be at ease because they don't need to think about any damage to the physical material.

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Abstract

The Digital library plays an important role in promoting the use of information. Digital libraries give solutions to main challenges to traditional libraries such as storage. This paper discusses the concept of digital library and how it helps in conserving manuscripts and what type of equipments or software are required in this work. We want digital information in every field so that every library should be a digital library. It highlights the Necessity, Challenges and issues in creating digital library, there are certain issues which should be taken care like copyright and Intellectual Property Right. This article also explores successful digital library project set up in India and what is the future of digital library in Indian scenario.

2. Digital Library

The "Digital" word means that all knowledge is divided into two digits the binary string of 0s and 1s that make up the genetic code of data. Libraries store materials in electronic format and access the same format. The concept of digital libraries has appeared 'libraries without wall' (Dabas, 2008).

A definition of digital libraries is from Digital Library Federation (1999) "Digital Libraries are organizations that provide the resources, including the specialized staff to select, structure, offer intellectual access to interpret, distribute preserve the integrity of and ensure works so that they are readily and economically available for use by a defined community or set of communities."

According to NSF/ARPA/NASA Digital library initiatives, (FY 1994) states, "Information sources accessed via the internet are ingredients of a digital library. Today, the network connects some information sources that are a mixture of publicly available (with or without change) information and private information shared by collaborators. They include reference volumes, books, journals, newspapers, national phone directories, sound and voice recordings, images, video clips, scientific data (raw data streams from instruments and processed information), and private information services such as stock market report and private newsletters. These information sources, when connected electronically through a network, represent important components of an emerging universally accessible, digital library."

According to Duguid, Paul, (1997) "The concept of a digital library is not merely equivalent to a digitized collection with information management tools. It is rather an environment to bring together collections, services and people in support of the full life cycle of creation, dissemination, use and preservation of data, information and knowledge."

According to Gladney, H.M., et.al (1994) "A digital library service is an assemblage of digital computing, storage and communications machinery together with the software needed to reproduce emulates and extend the services provided by conventional libraries based on paper and other material means of collecting, storing, cataloguing, finding and disseminating information."

Key Terms in this Chapter

Virtual Library: A Virtual Library is a collection of resources available on one or more computer systems, where a single interface or entry point to the collections is provided.

Traditional Library: Traditional Libraries gives emphasis on storage and preservation of physical items, particularly books and periodicals those in which librarian were a custodian of the library. Information is physically assembled in one place; users must travel to the library to learn what is there and make use of it.

Digital Preservation: Digital Preservation is the set of procedures and activities that ensures continued approach to information, existing records, scientific and cultural heritage which are available in digital formats.

Information Technology: Information Technology (IT) is the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data.

Scanning: The process of translating photographs into a digital form that can be recognized by a computer.

Copyright: The legal right granted to a copyright holder for the exclusive sale, distribution or reproduction of a creative work. It is a form of intellectual property that prevents others from using a creative work without consent of the owner.

Digital Library: It is a collection of documents which is organized in electronic form, available on the Internet or on CD-ROM disks. Depending on the specific library, a user may be able to access magazine articles, books, papers, images, sound files, and videos.

OPAC: (On-line public access catalogue): OPAC is an online database of materials held by a library or group of libraries. Users search a library catalog principally to locate books and other material available at a library.

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role of digital libraries in the present era: challenges and issues: library & information science

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Role of Digital Libraries in the Present Era: Challenges and Issues

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The Digital library plays an important role in promoting the use of information. Digital libraries give solutions to main challenges to traditional libraries such as storage. This paper discusses the concept of digital library and how it helps in conserving manuscripts and what type of equipments or...

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Role library digital in this site can increase share in the UK market, including mobile apps and discovery systems. So, e-book in this library also is distributors on the global market. Other than that, on this site I have read about Denmark has provided an instructive model for the centralized e-lending provision. The public library in Denmark, they have made a partnership with the three largest publishers and a consortium of the largest public library. Last, from this system digital they, have made through the service known as Eroelen made from the partnership. The system has provided users with a large selection of popular material including new releases and best sellers.

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As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder for people of various parties to physically enter the library and make researches. Despite that, with the presence of new technology in this modern era, we are able to effortlessly access to the data inside library without being present there physically. This is because the library has a role in facilitating access to information in a digital arena. Most libraries nowadays give an easy access to their users by providing online website or OPAC. For example, National Library of Malaysia provides this kind of service for its users. The online library not only prevents the spreading of the virus but also provide an easier way for the users to find information as they can find them via online website wherever they are and whenever they want. However, in my opinion, an online library service should be as convenient as the physical library service and easy to be adapted by people of all age in order to gain information without facing any difficulties. I would suggest the library to create a tutorial for the users beforehand so that they would not feel lost and confused while trying to find information using the online library service.

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We are now in covid-19 era and era that every thing we should using internet to find something.so almost all library has a digital library or online library.This is because everyone who want to use library online easy to find any book or any information.And now library can offer information in the form,print,audio,video,microforms,numeric,computer programs,or multimedia composites of each in they digital library.For librarians,the most important issue is to provide the information in whatever form.The development in electronic access to scholarly journals is a key example of the shift from ownership to access.For me digital library is the most important in student life or librarians because of they always want to find information and study material.so that digital library can help them to find any study material and information and no need to go to public library or any library.they just using digital library.

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DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

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Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to analyse the effectiveness of digital library usage, the hindrances faced, and the satisfaction derived by students during the period of COVID-19 when all universities were closed down in Ghana.

Study design/methodology/approach: The researchers employed the survey method to collect data for analysis. Data collection was made with the use of semi-structured questionnaire displayed online for many respondents to access and respond. Based on the design employed, this study can be classified as quantitative. A total of 500 university students from the categories of undergraduate, masters, doctorate and others participated in the research. The data collected were analysed and frequencies determined.

Findings: The results of the study showed that digital libraries were made available, well updated and maintained regularly by the library staff of the various universities in Ghana. Students effectively used the library systems and felt very much satisfied with the contents and quality of the resources available at the site as well as the flexibility of the system itself. Few challenges were encountered by students when using the system but these challenges did not have any substantial adverse effect on the usage of the digital libraries.

Limitation: Some university students could not access and respond to the online survey (questionnaire) due to poor internet connectivity in some parts of the country.

Originality: The research contributes to Digital Library Management as it showed the challenges encountered and the satisfaction derived by students from the usage of Digital Library during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Digital Library Usage during the Covid-19 Pandemic

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Purpose: The purpose of the study is to analyse the effectiveness of digital library usage, the hindrances faced, and the satisfaction derived by students during the period of COVID-19 when all universities were closed down in Ghana. Study design/methodology/approach: The researchers employed the survey method to collect data for analysis.

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Living in a modern era and full of technological sophistication makes people life more easier. It is because people can just access most of everything through online. For example online library services. The library's role in facilitating access to information in a digital arena is where the library can control over the content, its access and its longevity may no longer be appropriate and sustainable. Through this people can easily find a study materials and can access the library through online. This way also can avoid themselves from getting the Covid-19 virus spreading more and more in the future.

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As is often the case in times of change, organizational structures and the language for describing an organization's activities do not adequately reflect the transformations under way. Consequently, while the descriptions that follow derive from traditional functions of libraries (collection development, cataloging and access, user services, and place) these descriptions fall short in the contemporary context.

The sections that follow use selected examples to explore the dimensions of change in the classic roles of libraries. Are core functions and expertise being sustained? How have external forces left their mark? The cases include instances where traditional functions have been stretched and build on core activity, as well as instances where innovation reflects a significant break from past activity. The cases also reveal an evolution from models that capitalize on the distributed environment to models that are more open and diffuse.

Collection Development

Libraries have been in the collection business for centuries and are defined largely by the functions of collection development and management, that is, by a continuum of processes to select content appropriate for a particular community, make it accessible, manage it, and preserve it. These discrete functions have been viewed as necessary components of good collection stewardship, and they have obvious definition in a physical context. Libraries bought books (which they then owned), organized them, made them available through library facilities, and took steps to ensure the longevity of the volumes for future use.

To some extent, this full stewardship model is being followed in the digital arena. Libraries acquire and secure ownership of digital content (typically through license), store the content on local servers, and make it accessible to a target community. Libraries attempt, as protocols permit, to ensure long-term access to the digital collection through license conditions and through practices to create backup and redundancy, and to migrate the content over time. In a variation of the model, some libraries host commercial content or centrally manage content of other campus units. In both of these cases, the classic collection stewardship model is sustained largely intact. A defining characteristic of this traditional model is the library's ability to exercise primary responsibility for and control over the content and future access to that content.

Federation

Increasingly, the capabilities of the distributed environment prompt an unbundling of the discrete component functions of traditional collection development and management responsibilities. Models in which the library retains central control over content, its access, and its longevity may no longer be appropriate or sustainable. Consequently, we see instances of libraries providing access to electronic content that they neither own nor manage. The library may also preserve and archive content that is not accessible to users.

An interesting illustration of this unbundling of collection functions can be found in a model of collection federation. These efforts typically create structures with both decentralized and centralized responsibilities. Federated systems allow distributed content to be brought together and used as an integrated collection. Individual content managers retain ownership and governance over each discrete collection, but the content is made accessible under the principles of the larger federating system. The University of Michigan Library's Image Services provides a good example. This program offers mechanisms to integrate image content (e.g., photographs, art, or architecture) from independent providers and to represent it in a larger access system. The collection providers retain control, managing the individual image collections in a variety of different local database systems. Differing types of descriptive metadata are used for each collection, but each is converted to a standard encoding (using SGML or XML), and fields are mapped to minimal Dublin Core metadata in the federating system.

Image Services is optimized to provide access, without the overhead of a management system for the image collections themselves. Users can access each collection individually and exploit the full access protocols for each collection or search across all collections or a subset using the mapped, core metadata elements. User tools are also incorporated, allowing image analysis (e.g., pan and zoom) and comparison, subset creation, and presentation options within the federated system. Thus, the functional benefits of federation can be achieved without diminishing the features and specialized functionality of each independent collection.

Federation may seem to be a simple approach to bringing content together; however, the underlying design principles and intellectual effort involved suggest a far more complex role for the library. The difference from the full stewardship model is also significant. Whereas traditional models bring content control to the library and create a central access strategy, the federating model balances distributed content and collection-specific functionality with cross-collection functionality and tools. Figure 1 outlines the distribution of responsibilities that occurs in the federated model of Michigan's Image Services.

DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES IN COLLECTION FEDERATION

Distributed Collection Manager Responsibilities
Library Federation Responsibilities

Collection development and management

Content identification and agreements

Metadata development and maintenance

Metadata mapping and maintenance

Database development and management

Tool assessment and development

Rights management

Access system development and maintenance

Collection archiving

Rights protection

Content provider relationships

Fig. 1. University of Michigan Image Services Federation
What is entailed in collection federation? First, content providers have to be identified for inclusion and evaluated by the federating agent (in this case, the library). Negotiation and education are often required to secure the participation of content providers. Contractual agreements may be necessary that specify the responsibilities of each party and the conditions for the use of the content. Each collection database structure must be analyzed and understood to map metadata schema. At the federating system level, user assessment and task analysis are needed to inform the design of the search system, and analytic tools must be incorporated. A system architecture needs to be developed to implement the search, display, and tool functions that draw on distributed content. Finally, federation requires ongoing assessment of system functionality and maintenance of the relationships with the content providers.

Organizationally, the service reflects a melding of expertise related to the subject domain, content characteristics, access, service, and technology. One could add to the list skills related to human-computer interaction, interface design, and usability assessment. Technology infrastructure is imperative, as are the "organizational infrastructure," (i.e., the server and software apparatus) and the "relationship apparatus" reflected in sustaining the federation partnership. Threaded throughout programs of this sort are often issues of intellectual property, licensing, and rights management. The organizational implications are significant. There are obvious investments required to build the technology components. Perhaps more critical than any financial investment, however, is organizational support for the coalescing of expertise within and outside of the library.

An additional implication of the federating model relates to the responsibility for documenting and preserving scholarly resources over time. In the federated model, the library controls neither the content nor the permanence of these resources. To the extent that component collection databases are dynamic and subject to decisions of the distributed collection managers, the library must forgo its traditional archiving role. However, this prompts a new responsibility for the library in influencing and educating individual content providers, the institution, and the community about the requirements for preservation and archiving of resources.

Library as Publisher

As a second example of new paradigms for the library's role in collection development, we see libraries becoming more engaged in the publishing process, including content presentation, management, and distribution policies and practices. This moves the library closer to the point of creation and distribution in the publishing process and broadens its functions beyond archiving and mediation for published works.

There are several variations on the theme of library-as-publisher. In some instances (e.g., Stanford University's HighWire Press or Johns Hopkins University's Project MUSE), the focus has been on providing robust distribution services for established society and university presses. Other enterprises, such as the California Digital Library's e-Scholarship program, serve more as incubators, providing tools and services to facilitate innovation in publishing, particularly e-print or similar repositories. The content creators and producers are within the University of California system, where they may serve institutional interests as well. Finally, there are examples such as the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia (EPIC), where the partner organizations exercise direct control over content, pricing, and distribution in a classic publishing model.

Although these three publisher/distributor examples differ in the degree of control over content (e.g., content evaluation and editorial control), they share some features. Each model engages the library directly in the processes of publishing. Consequently, there is an opportunity for libraries to advocate for responsible practices (e.g., on pricing, licensing, or archiving) as well as to develop new relationships with publishers.

The ideologies that inform these new roles in publishing are potentially in keeping with the values of libraries and the emerging interests of institutions and authors relative to intellectual property ownership and conditions of use. In some cases, there are opportunities to respond to institutional interests regarding the retention of copyright and cost-effective processes and products that can be sustained for the future. Less clear is the extent to which these new roles tap the core expertise of libraries and librarians. Libraries usually bring expertise in information dissemination and use, rather than contribute to the editorial or evaluative aspects of publishing. Consequently, it seems more likely that publishing ventures for libraries will be carried out in partnership with other organizations that have these necessary skills. In this context, library involvement in publishing and content distribution plays off of the fundamental experiences libraries have with information acquisition, access, use, and preservation.

Information Access

Organizing and providing access to information is another classic role of libraries. The twin functions of cataloging and classification have allowed published works to be fixed in a framework of knowledge and to be given multiple access points for retrieval-a combination that has supported general inquiry over time. These functions have brought predictability and a cumulative order to vast amounts of material. As protocols for structuring and sharing bibliographic data were developed for automated systems and networks, libraries have been able to share these data and build more flexible access systems. In many respects, bibliographic utilities such as OCLC and RLIN and the model of shared cataloging represent early, primitive models of distributed and open approaches to library functions. As distributed forces prevail, models are emerging that no longer rely on central data and capabilities, but rather harness resources through new, distributed mechanisms.

Traditional access activities have been largely undifferentiating and unintrusive; that is, all materials added to libraries have generally had the same descriptive treatment and the functionality or structure of the works themselves have not been materially altered by these processes. As new types of digital content emerge that are structured, include multimedia, and encompass associative links to other resources, it is unlikely that these classic techniques for access can suffice.

Doug Greenberg (2000) has offered a stark characterization of the contrast between traditional library and Internet techniques of access:

If the key to the library's power is its rigid, counterintuitive arrangement of static information in a comprehensible and hierarchical structure, the key to the Internet's power is its flexible arrangement of dynamic information that permits the human mind literally to jump from one thing to another and back again with no more than stream of consciousness as a guide. It is anybody's guess which of these systems is better adapted to human creativity and curiosity.

The challenge for libraries is to sustain the significant capabilities developed through standards-based bibliographic processes while taking advantage of new access strategies that have been created as a result of new media standards and communication protocols.

Libraries have responded to the challenges of content description for new digital media, extrapolating from existing cataloging practices to develop various metadata schema. These schema have recognized the new types of attributes necessary to represent digital objects and services fully, that is, to describe more than just their content and topic. Administrative and structural metadata, for example, add significant value and capture information about provenance, property rights, and methods of creation or capture, as well as information about the object's structure that can be used by retrieval systems.

Communities and Collaboratories

Metadata developments generally reflect an extension of cataloging practices to new dimensions of content and access. Libraries are seeking to understand how these new access strategies might better serve target user communities. In particular, libraries now analyze how content should be represented to achieve the desired functionality within access systems. Assessing functionality increasingly requires an understanding of how content is used, and by whom. For example, metadata for a collection of plant or animal specimens might incorporate scientific as well as popular names to serve both research investigators and K12 users. Or a research user may need to map specimen data for geographic analysis, thus requiring the specification and inclusion of spatial references.

As the information environment has become more distributed and more collaborative, how have these forces affected the library's role in facilitating access? Two interesting examples can be found in the OAI and in the functions of metadata harvesting. Although OAI initially focused on e-print archives and new models of scholarly communication, it now is involved in the development and promotion of "interoperability standards that aim to facilitate the efficient dissemination of content . . . independent of both the type of content offered and the economic mechanisms surrounding that content" (Lagoze et al. 2002).

Metadata harvesting techniques address the inability of the popular network search engines to tap the riches of digital libraries and other content that lives within databases and repositories (the so-called deep Web). Metadata harvesting projects involve both "exposing" metadata associated with digital library collections (using specified protocols) and developing harvesting services that can gather these exposed metadata and create access services appropriate for specific uses or user communities. In the early phase of development, both general and specialized services have been proposed; the latter require attention to domain-specific vocabulary or other characteristics associated with specific formats, uses, or users.

As an example of a specialized service, the University of Virginia's proposed American Studies Information Community will draw on harvesting protocols to bring together disparate types of information (text, data, media, images) for a community, defined as a group of scholars, students, researchers, librarians, information specialists, and citizens with a common interest in a particular thematic area. The project is being undertaken collaboratively with other institutions and content providers (e.g., Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Virginia Tech University, and the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art). The University of Virginia describes these information communities as "learning and teaching environments in which subject-driven websites are developed around print and digital versions of our collections and the teaching interests of our faculty members . . . Information communities will foster interdisciplinary and collaborative research and publication amongst scholars with common interests."

This access model is interesting because it reflects several trends that are also evident in the broader landscape. The new service will take advantage of a distributed collection model and a range of partners. The descriptive techniques will reflect enhanced attributes appropriate to the subject area and the diverse formats in the distribut ed collections. Analytic tools will be incorporated to add value to the content and to stimulate collaboration. Perhaps most significant, the access system is explicitly designed to serve a social role as a catalyst for an interdisciplinary community-a far more intrusive role than is provision of access alone.

A similar model for creating a collaborative environment that mixes content and tools can be found in the construct of a collaboratory, having its genesis in the research community. In many respects, collaboratories are a new incarnation of the "invisible college" of the past, in that they focus on creating a communication environment. Collaboratories have been defined as "tool-oriented computing and communication systems to support scientific collaboration" (National Research Council 1993). An often-cited example of a collaboratory, the Space Physics and Aeronomy Research Collaboratory (SPARC), provides an online knowledge environment for atmospheric scientists worldwide. SPARC incorporates the ability to control remote telescopes and instrumentation, to review and collaboratively analyze observational data of atmospheric events, to create and archive vast amounts of research data, and to use tools to manipulate the data.

To the extent that libraries begin to develop access techniques in response to a community and to support the potential development of collaboratories for these communities, we see them assuming a far more integral role within the scholarly arena. In contrast to the approaches to access created in the past, which were focused on published content and largely independent of the less formal aspects of scholarly communication (as in the invisible colleges), this emergent model has the potential to bridge formal and informal communication structures and to develop these structures working closely with the target community of content creators and users. The role of the library moves from manager of scholarly products to that of participant in the scholarly communication process.

Access and the Semantic Web

A second example of new dimensions of access-an exploration of the emerging Semantic Web-is still in a formative stage.

The creator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, is the intellectual force behind the Semantic Web as well. Berners-Lee notes, "the Semantic Web is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one, in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation" (Berners-Lee 2001). The Semantic Web brings together metadata, a language to structure the data, and a road map (or ontology, as known in the artificial intelligence community) that explains relationships between terms. These ingredients for knowledge representation-structured content, rich metadata, and a framework or ontology of relationships-allow software agents in computer systems to make inferences and therefore retrieve more intelligently from the vast body of distributed information on the Internet.

Designing the Semantic Web will require a mix of skills, and librarians have the potential to contribute significantly to this effort. One area in which they may become involved is metadata creation, where librarians' expertise in descriptive techniques has obvious relevance. The more complex arena of ontologies-defining relationships between entities such as classes and subclasses or properties and subproperties-is one in which librarians have latent experience in areas such as thesaurus development. Primarily the domain of computer scientists, ontologies and their specification could involve the library community in more multidimensional description, defining and specifying the logic of relationships between metadata elements and objects, e.g., "This document is a digital manifestation of a print object."

In addition to benefiting from rules for representing content and defining relationships, the Semantic Web will benefit from establishing a means of certifying the authenticity and provenance of the content. Otherwise, the diversity of providers and the scarcity of benchmarks to discern quality will seriously limit the Internet as an information retrieval system. How do we know the origin of what we retrieve, whether the descriptive information matches the object, and whether we can believe and trust the metadata? To move the Web from an unstructured and undifferentiated mass of information to a more useful and scaleable information environment, systems of trust and provenance will be essential.

Trust in the Semantic Web can be established through context (e.g., content or metadata from a known group or an authoritative source) or through digital signatures to verify authorship. While the Semantic Web is still in an early stage, one can imagine a scenario in which content selected by or associated with a library access service could establish a context in which the integrity of the information could be validated, in the same way that library acquisition of content in physical collections reflects a selection decision. This possibility, coupled with the proposed methods to validate the source (for example, with digital signatures that certify the content in a similar fashion to publisher imprints), could significantly enhance the library's role in refining retrieval.

Greater intelligence in information systems (for example, through software agents) can make connections between resources, respond to user preferences, and retrieve content on the basis of an array of attributes. If libraries previously were valued for their role in mediating between content and user, what does this new and seamless mediation portend for their future roles? A critical aspect of the library's future may lie in the notion of trust. In the past, a user would make general inferences about a resource on the basis of the fact that it was "associated with a library and its collection" and through use of descriptive information provided by the library. By continuing its descriptive role and using new virtual mechanisms to convey context for users, the library can continue to be a signifier that the resource or collection has been examined and formally described, and that a decision has been made about inclusion. This context could be created through well-defined collections of content and services, use of metadata to represent content attributes fully, and development of structures that can validate content and its source.

In the examples cited previously, we see instances where the library's role-in this case, providing access to information-is being reshaped by distributed forces and open models. Here, too, we see the potential for the library's more active engagement and collaboration. Moving beyond simple, descriptive access, libraries will be challenged to understand and fulfill community requirements for robust retrieval and for providing assurance of the integrity and authenticity of content.

User Services

Library user services have traditionally focused on collections support (i.e., helping users identify, retrieve, and use resources) or educational activities to help patrons use their libraries more effectively. These activities have largely been distinct; for example, reference services respond to individuals with specific questions, and instructional programs target classes with general educational needs. The analysis that follows provides examples of more distributed approaches to user services that reflect the development of complex and integrating systems of support.

Evidence of changing user behavior has been documented but is not fully understood. Academic libraries have reported declining in-library attendance and declining use of in-library services such as reference and circulation, although some are experiencing increases in instructional activity (Kyrillidou and Young 2001). Other data indicate a rise in the use of and preference for electronic content (Self and Hiller 2001). Institutional instructional management systems are offering alternative venues for course reserve materials, and the use of traditional course reserve methods has declined. While the profession has yet to analyze fully the relationship among these trends, they suggest increased location-independent use of library and non-library content and heightened interest in acquiring the skills needed to make better use of the myriad systems and services now available on the network. Course-management systems also reflect the increasing desire for services that integrate resources (e.g., syllabi, readings, lecture notes, chat capabilities). These shifts in user behavior and interests prompt the library both to extend traditional services in the networked environment and to consider the broader set of user needs to be addressed in systems of user support.

Virtual Reference Systems

The past decade has seen a rise in reference services to support more virtual inquiry. Whereas, initially, the library mainly served remote users who were affiliated with the institution, it eventually came to serve a more global market. Virtual reference methods began with simple communication exchanges, such as reference via e-mail. They now incorporate tools that allow reference librarians to more fully understand the nuance of the reference interview context (e.g., using video technology to capture nonverbal behaviors) or to provide real-time assistance with electronic resources (e.g., through "chat" functions and through technologies to "capture" the user's workstation and guide or "co-browse" networked resources).

Many non-library reference services have blossomed on the Internet. These "expert" or "Ask-a" services may match users and experts, offer specific topic strengths, or incorporate natural language technologies to parse the inquiry and provide a more rapid, automated response. A recent survey of such services suggests that these sites are most effective in response to fact-based inquiries, and that the niche for digital reference services in academic libraries may lie in supporting more in-depth and source-dependent questions (Janes, Hill, and Rolfe 2001). Consequently, users may seek answers to simpler questions on the "greater network" and use library services for more complex inquiries. Given the unlikely coordination between commercial and library services, an interesting set of "design" issues arises. Should libraries develop specialized services, assuming that the Internet will fulfill general needs? Will non-library services of the Internet be of sufficient quality and reliability to satisfy users?

While no data exist to capture the changes in complexity of questions posed to virtual reference services, subjective evidence suggests that these questions are becoming more difficult, and that more queries now require combining content, technology, and instructional assistance (Janes 2002). If users are already beginning to differentiate their sources of support, libraries will have no choice but to determine how best to develop services in the context of what is commonly available on the Internet. Directing users to available fact-based reference sites may be one option, particularly during times of the day when libraries cannot provide human-mediated assistance. The bottom line is that when designing services, libraries must take into account the broader service landscape and user behaviors.

The evolution of electronic reference from single to multi-institutional services creates a more complex framework for virtual assistance. In these models, reference services are collaboratively staffed and mechanisms are developed to profile staff and institutional specializations in systematic and structured ways. In addition, the services often incorporate capabilities for real-time discussion and knowledge databases to store the results of reference transactions for future use. The Collaborative Digital Reference Service coordinated by the Library of Congress, for example, is developing an international infrastructure that is designed to manage inquiries submitted by users worldwide and is staffed by librarians worldwide (Kresh 2000). While the model highlights seamless access to global resources, it also harnesses the human capital of library professionals. Expertise is as important as the network of library collections.

As more functional and intelligent systems are being developed for collection access, the development of reference systems has also involved the specification of standards to enable interoperability among sites and to allow more complex functionality. Evolving protocols and metadata will specify the representation, communication, and archiving of user transactions (Lankes 2001, Butler 2001). The emergence of these standards, along with the move from institutional to collaborative models, is creating a more finely articulated system that supports transactions, communication, and management needs for distributed services.

Viewed in the context of the three developmental stages described earlier, virtual reference services are early in the second stage, beginning to test collaborative approaches. Mechanisms for coordination are still relatively primitive, and the descriptive metadata infrastructure needed to support collaboration is nascent. There are reasons for this rate of development. Developing techniques to describe individual or institutional expertise or to capture complex questions will entail significant effort. The organizational and governance issues are equally challenging. Earlier cooperation among institutions for reference services was done largely through hierarchical systems of referral within state or regional cooperatives (where size of collection and staff determined placement in the hierarchical tiers). The "point-to-point" systems now emerging in virtual, cooperative reference represent a far different model of collaboration-one in which the rules of engagement must be newly specified.

Characteristics of more diffuse activity will become more tangible as virtual reference systems are more widely adopted and integrated seamlessly into the library organization and the instructional and research systems of the academic community. Within library organizations, the next phase of development is likely to show evidence of greater integration between on-site and virtual services, integration of reference and technology expertise, and more finely specified tiers of service and referral (see, for example, Ferguson 2000).

Reference systems may be included as visible and discrete services in online instructional and research environments, or they may be seamlessly interwoven to allow automatic support. For example, a library reference system could be incorporated into a research collaboratory environment as a separately identifiable resource to be selected when help is needed. Alternatively, mechanisms may be developed within access systems to prompt users to seek reference assistance when they are having problems (e.g., after several unsuccessful searches or inquiries). These prompts could be mediated by librarians or addressed by automated "Help" files tied to the specific problem.

Research on user failure in libraries has documented areas where users frequently experience problems; for example, the library may not own the desired item, users may ineffectively use the catalog or other access services, or a desired item may not be found on the shelf. Often, the user does not interpret these problems as "failures," and they do not necessarily result in a request for assistance. In the electronic environment, there is an opportunity to build in mechanisms to capture problematic interactions between content and user. This opportunity to provide point-of-problem guidance, along with the ability to collect detailed data on use, may allow the library to be a presence in an area where it previously was unable to provide support. A key challenge will be striking the right balance between proactive and reactive assistance.

While the traditional notion of library services focuses on user-initiated requests within a library facility, the more diffuse constructs bring reference and technical expertise to a wide range of contexts, within both physical libraries and online environments. Query-based services are expanded and enhanced with more context-sensitive or resource-specific support. Ultimately, the library's presence becomes more pervasive and its services more fully integrated into the processes of learning and research.

Information Literacy

Instruction-helping people use library resources more effectively through directed and structured educational activities-is another core service that libraries have traditionally offered users. (Such support has been geared typically, although not exclusively, to undergraduate students.) In the digital age, putting bounds around "library resources" has become a daunting task. Moreover, the instructional needs of users have changed dramatically as new methods for teaching and learning have emerged.

What has changed in the learning environment? While the answer to this question varies by institution and by discipline, certain trends are evident. In the 1990s, higher education was influenced by two forces that, though unrelated in principle, ultimately became intertwined in reshaping the educational experience. First, technologies emerged that enabled distance-independent, asynchronous venues for instruction. These technologies were adopted not only for use in distance education programs but also for more generalized applications on campus. The second phenomenon was the growing pressure to rethink the academy's approaches to teaching and learning, particularly with respect to the undergraduate community. These two forces have created a volatile environment, but one that offers tremendous opportunities for libraries.

Several recent reports chronicle the changing philosophies of the instructional experience. In 1998, a National Governors' Association poll found that the facilitation of life-long learning and the development of more collaborative and applied opportunities for learning were among the governors' top priorities in higher education. The same year, the Boyer Commission report, Reinventing Undergraduate Education, challenged universities to revitalize undergraduate curricula and to create a baccalaureate experience that draws on and is in tegrated with the institution's overall programs and mission (Boyer Commission 1998). More recently, the Pew Charitable Trust's National Survey of Student Engagement (Kuh 2001) and the Kellogg Commission report on the future of state and land-grant universities (Kellogg 2001) described the need for stronger links between discovery and learning through opportunities for student engagement in active learning and in community issues.

These analyses have prompted institutions of higher education to give greater priority to undergraduate education and to rethink the fundamentals of the undergraduate experience. University of Illinois Chancellor Nancy Cantor has described these fundamentals as a trinity of needs, saying that "students must be prepared to embrace technology, to work collaboratively, and to interact with a diverse set of people and ideas" (Cantor 2000).

There are countless examples of institutional responses to the themes highlighted in these analyses. At a general level, there are alternatives to lecture-based and classroom-intense methods. Projects, often group based, are increasingly part of the curriculum. Opportunities for engagement with community and social issues are on the rise. Discovery-based learning models are in evidence. Many institutions have launched initiatives to integrate these developments. For example, the University of Maryland's Gemstone program fosters multidisciplinary community experiences with active engagement in real-life problems. Teamwork and technology are critical components. The James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence at the University of North Carolina has created a place for collaborative inquiry, teleconferencing with remote sites, and a laboratory for innovation in teaching and learning. The common themes are, as Cantor (2000) details, technology, collaboration, and diversity (in the broadest sense, as reflected in the intellectual diversity of interdisciplinary programs).

How do these changing values and priorities in the educational experience affect the library and its roles in support of teaching and learning? Do traditional approaches of bibliographic instruction still resonate? While information sources and methods for finding information are still a useful component of library instruction, a broader construct of information literacy has emerged as a framework for effective information inquiry. This framework can provide a repertoire of essential skills that support students in new learning contexts.

What skills are necessary for information inquiry in the digital age? Is it possible to separate content skills from the tools that facilitate access? Has the basic function of inquiry changed as new analytic capabilities become available? A number of perspectives have been brought to bear in understanding these new dimensions of learning and associated skills. These perspectives generally articulate two dimensions of literacy. One dimension reflects the need for skills to exploit technology to use information effectively. The second dimension is the need for a conceptual understanding of information and knowledge processes. In reality, a marriage of these fluencies is needed. The traditional functions of identifying, finding, and evaluating information are joined with more conceptual notions of inquiry, information analysis, and use. These information skills are now interwoven with technology skills.

Bruce (1997) has posed one of the more interesting integrated frameworks for information literacy. It features a series of maturational levels that begin with a basic capability with technology and move the individual to an increasingly more sophisticated appreciation of information sources, information use and problem solving, and information management. Building an understanding of the characteristics of information is also important to literacy; issues of intellectual property, authenticity, and provenance are critical in a networked environment where the traditional signifiers of quality are absent. Libraries are then challenged to articulate a conceptual framework for instruction that integrates these concepts and skills in support of student learning.

Two different models of information literacy programs illustrate how these practical and conceptual dimensions are integrated. The University of Texas's Texas Information Literacy Tutorial (TILT) program has developed a set of online modules that teach research skills. While designed to develop technical and information resource skills, TILT also seeks to build an understanding of information issues relating to censorship, privacy, commerce, global communities, and legal and policy constructs. TILT uses discovery-based and interactive approaches to learning. A particularly interesting aspect of TILT is its open source agreement for the underlying software, which will permit collaborative development of future enhancements.

The University of Washington's UWired program is a collaborative undertaking of the libraries, campus technology offices, and educational program offices. It targets both faculty and students, and has developed tools and content for these distinct audiences. Like TILT, the program employs active learning techniques in its tutorials and also develops the learner's technical skills. UWired includes an outreach dimension as well, designing programs carried out within "commons" facilities in libraries, faculty symposia, and workshops; for-credit seminars; ties with freshman curricula; and programs with the community, the school system, and international partners. This program has clearly served as a catalyst for creating partnerships and for extending the library's reach beyond the campus-based curriculum.

TILT and UWired offer compelling examples of successful collaboration and the use of new pedagogical and technological methods to instruct both students and faculty. Both approaches represent a synthesis of traditional librarian experience and increasing knowledge of instructional design, the architecture of networked information within a discipline, and relevant tools for analysis and access. Diffuse characteristics are notable as the programs reach into the curriculum and are adopted as integral components of the educational experience. The diffusion continues as opportunities are made available to share the development with others and as the capabilities are leveraged in service to the institution's outreach agenda (e.g., Washington's international programs).

Organizational Models

As libraries have become more distributed and more collaborative on their campuses, some interesting organizational models have emerged that involve librarians more directly in academic program development. Several of these programs have characteristics that recall the clinical librarian models developed in the last several decades. For example, Stanford's Academic Technology Specialist Program has created discipline-specific appointments that emphasize providing assistance onsite within academic departments (Keller 1997). Combining subject and technology expertise, these professionals are vital links between academic programs and central curatorial or computing staff resources. The University of Michigan's recently launched Field Librarian program similarly joins subject knowledge, technology, and library expertise. The appointments are developed collaboratively with academic programs, and the field librarians are physically located within the academic department to facilitate their direct engagement in faculty teaching and research.

Library as Place

The library has a continued role as place. In the past, this function has been characterized as a location for individuals and information to interact-a place for users to tap collections or for library staff to bring users and information together. The physicality of libraries and their collections is an often-cited value. The ability to browse and experience the gestalt of an array of resources has been a time-honored technique for inquiry, and the physical experience of books, maps, or manuscripts is important for many. Library facilities also serve a social function, providing a common ground for users to interact or a neutral site for individuals from different disciplines to come together.

The changes in library roles discussed thus far have obvious consequences for library facilities. Once the physical centerpiece of a campus with large, central collections, library resources are now more distributed and library users more nomadic. The challenge is twofold: reconceiving library buildings to reflect changing user behavior and needs, and developing the library's network presence as a virtual place of comparable value.

Libraries face a paradox with respect to facilities and their use. Data from the Association of Research Libraries and individual institutional analyses show a decline in building traffic. Yet some campuses report increased interest in 24-hour availability of library facilities. The University of Washington's ongoing survey of users reflects these trends, with the most recent responses indicating decreased facility use by faculty and graduate students, and a modest increase in use reported by undergraduates (Self and Hiller 2001). Washington has a 24-hour undergraduate library facility and well-established computer facilities within libraries, which the survey data indicate are heavily used.

While most libraries have incorporated computing capabilities, the characteristics of new computer facilities are noteworthy. A recently launched service of the Coalition for Networked Information and Dartmouth College Library, Collaborative Facilities, compiles and disseminates information about new types of campus facilities that are being developed within libraries, many of which receive collaborative support from campus organizations. Several of the projects focus on creating new types of instructional services and integrating digital media and computer resources. These new uses of facilities are consistent with the changes in the curriculum and research methods noted earlier. While still serving as a place for collections, library facilities increasingly serve as environments for learning and collaboration.

As geography loses its primacy as a basis for organizing libraries and as the phenomenal growth of digital content continues, libraries are challenged to identify ways to make their virtual roles visible and tangible to their campus communities. Too often, users do not know where responsibility lies for networked content and services; information and services are simply there, and presumably free. Is there a new sense of place in a digital context?

As described, there are emergent roles for libraries in a digital context that are extrapolations of existing functions. Here, the challenge may be to ensure awareness of these now-virtual services and the library's responsibility for them. A more complex undertaking is establishing roles that do not easily build on existing library functions. While marketing is no less an issue, a fundamental hurdle is the demonstration of library expertise through sufficient investment to make visible its role in innovation.

While the nature of library facilities will change, the notion of library as place remains important in both physical and virtual contexts. Increasingly, this sense of place serves strategically to further the development of new roles.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The Report of the Task Force on Archiving Digital Information (1996) suggested there might be instances where "fail-safe" archives could be created, i.e., where organizations take responsibility for archiving content at risk of loss. While access to the archive is the goal, it is possible that legal constraints might prohibit making the content immediately available.

² The University of Virginia's Information Communities are described at http://www.lib.Virginia.edu/dlbackstage/infocomm.html.

³ See Weinstein and Alloway 1997 for a discussion of ontologies in digital libraries.

⁴ See Lynch 2001 for further exploration of this topic.

⁵ The Association of College and Research Libraries' information literacy standards focus on locating, evaluating, and using information effectively. The National Academy of Sciences Commission on Information Technology Fluency (National Academy of Sciences 1999) advocates a focus on practical skills and basic concepts, as well as on higher-order intellectual capabilities that "foster abstract thinking about information and its manipulation." John Sealy Brown has suggested a new framework for literacy that includes the abilities to navigate complex information environments, engage in discovery-based learning, exercise judgment in differentiating the utility of information, and learn by action (Brown 2000).

⁶ Within a year of TILT's release in 2001, some 60 institutions had licensed this software.

⁷ Clinical librarian programs were initiated in the 1970s as an interface between practitioner and the medical literature (Smith undated). The programs typically bring the librarian into the practitioner environment-e.g., in physician rounds-and provide both research literature in response to presenting cases as well as real-time instruction.

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As is often the case in times of change, organizational structures and the language for describing an organization's activities do not adequately reflect the transformations under way.

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The role of the library in facilitating access to information in a digital environment is to preserve knowledge and make it universally accessible. In recent decades, through digitization and the power of online networks, digital technologies have provided librarians and archivists with new tools to organize information and distribute it more extensively, revolutionizing the way libraries and archives have developed and increased access to their resources and services. For example, libraries and archives had a well-developed strategy for conserving the material that comprised the majority of their collections: paper. The preservation method was centered on maintaining stable temperatures and relative humidity, avoiding floods and fires, and having well-organized shelves. In my perspective, knowledge preservation is ultimately about the future rather than the past. Hence, the future remains dependent on access to information from the past and will become much more so as digital technology affects the ways we forecast what will happen next.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

* Since the days of antiquity, libraries and archives have played a critical role in society by preserving knowledge and making it widely available. This crucial role has on occasion put these institutions in the crosshairs of forces targeting the democratic and pluralistic culture they represent.

* Libraries use an array of tools to preserve knowledge, but the sheer amount of "born-digital" information since the advent of the Internet has greatly complicated the process of preservation for future generations.

* The challenges are amplified when technology companies, for whom preservation of knowledge is a purely commercial consideration, decide a platform is no longer serving their business. This happened in February 2019 with the photo-sharing site Flickr, which decided to limit the users of free accounts to 1,000 photos and videos and automatically deleted any excess files above that amount.

* Preserving knowledge as a way of keeping electorates informed is becoming critical to the future of democracy. For example, the UK Web Archive has captured over 2,400 sites relating to the 2016 referendum on EU membership known as Brexit.

* Digitization is expensive, but the case for funding such initiatives has never been stronger.

Libraries are having a "moment." Two books published in 2018 have brought the role of libraries into broader social debates - Susan Orlean's The Library Book focuses on the civic role of the Los Angeles Public Library, and Eric Klinenberg's Palaces for the People has drawn attention to libraries, especially public libraries, as "social infrastructure." These works are a welcome reminder to a wider public that libraries and archives are essential ingredients to maintaining an open society.

Libraries and archives are essential ingredients to maintaining an open society. Society faces numerous challenges in today's world, and libraries and archives can help us confront those challenges in important ways, mostly by staying true to their core mission. Central to that mission is the preservation of knowledge.

Society faces numerous challenges in today's world, and libraries and archives can help us confront those challenges in important ways, mostly by staying true to their core mission. Central to that mission is the preservation of knowledge. Throughout history, beginning with the earliest communities, libraries and archives have functioned as institutions that preserved knowledge, while helping to pass that knowledge along to future generations. Archaeologists continue to find evidence of archives among the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, dating from as early as the second millennium BCE, and they have also found evidence of the existence of professional roles akin to what we would think of today as librarian or archivist.

From the ancient world onward, libraries and archives have developed new and innovative ways of preserving knowledge, of organizing the material records of cultures, and of finding ways of making that historical knowledge widely available. You can see the importance of these functions by looking at the attempts throughout history by governments and others to deliberately destroy knowledge. In 1814, for example, British forces burned the 3,700 volumes of the still young Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., seeking to undermine the operations of the nascent U.S. government. More recently, in August 1992, the Serbian militia deliberately shelled the National Library of Bosnia in an attempt to eradicate the pluralistic culture the library represented. Horrifyingly, snipers trained their bullets on librarians and firefighters as they scurried to retrieve collections from the burning library.

During the War of 1812 British forces burned the U.S. Capitol and the 3,700- volume Library of Congress. This woodcut shows the British commander ordering his men to "Light up!" the fire with books. (Photo: North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy Stock Photo)

In more recent decades, libraries have tended to shift their emphasis away from preservation to access. The advent of digital technologies has provided librarians and archivists with new tools to organize information and to share it more broadly through digitization and the power of online networks, transforming the way libraries and archives have developed and expanded access to their resources and services. However, this shifting emphasis of the profession (and of budgets) has had the effect of sidelining preservation. At the same time, the more that information is "born digital," the greater the challenges of preserving it for the long term.

Until the advent of digital information, libraries and archives had a well-developed strategy for preserving the material that made up the bulk of their collections: namely, paper. These collections were able to survive over millennia in "regimes of benign neglect" (to borrow a phrase from Clifford Lynch of the Coalition for Networked Information). Stable levels of temperature and relative humidity, avoidance of flood and fire, and well-organized shelving were at the heart of the preservation strategy. Inherently less stable, digital information requires a much more proactive approach, and not just because of the core complexities of technology itself, such as file formats, operating systems, and software. These challenges have been amplified by the widespread adoption of commercial online services offered by major technology companies, especially those in the world of social media - entities for whom preservation of knowledge is a purely commercial consideration.

In recent years we have experienced a spate of threats to knowledge. At the end of last year the photo-sharing site Flickr, struggling to keep pace with competition from the likes of Instagram, announced that it was reducing the amount of free storage that its account holders could have access to. After February 2019, users of free accounts would be limited to 1,000 photos and videos, with any excess automatically deleted. Millions of Flickr users found that much of their content had been permanently, irrevocably removed. Although Flickr (like many other social media companies) claims to be a service for sharing content, many users primarily use it for its free cloud-based storage. What happened at Flickr shows us that "free" services aren't really free at all. The business model of companies like Flickr is based on the trading (often unacknowledged) of user data, and as market share is lost to competitors, "free" services have to make way for paid premium services.

This clay tablet from Tell Telloh, Iraq, dates from 2360 BCE. Its cuneiform script, which emerged from the Sumerian civilization in the fourth millennium BCE, is the earliest known form of writing. (Photo: Dea/G. Dagli Orti/De Agostini via Getty Images)

The problem that the Flickr case study throws up is one of digital preservation. Think of the billions of images that individuals and organizations placed on Flickr. Active users will have known about the coming changes and were perhaps able to move their data swiftly onto other platforms or into a more proactively managed environment. Others who lacked the ability to move fast enough simply lost images of their loved ones, a photographic record of their adventures, or stock photos for their company. Gone forever in the blink of an eye. Consumers have had similar experiences with "free" platforms like Myspace and Google+, which closed down rapidly and with little advance notice. Precious information was lost, some of it gone forever.

Archival practice has its origins in state administration - recording such mundane but vital information as property records, taxation, and import-export details. Even in the ancient world, it was recognized that access to these records was important for efficient administration, but the exponential growth of electronic records has made the preservation of government documents highly precarious. In December 2018 the state government in Maine revealed that it had suffered a catastrophic loss of public documents from the administrations of governors Angus King and John Baldacci, with most official emails sent before 2008 irretrievably lost. Many other kinds of documents were destroyed by state officials, never making it into the Maine state archives. Not only has information for future historians and researchers been lost, but, for example, emails that could potentially be used as evidence in high-profile legal cases have been destroyed. Email records, when pieced together, can tell a story in enough detail to help secure a conviction (or prevent a defendant from going to jail) - as the work done by lawyers like Larry Chapin on the Libor scandal from a few years ago has shown.

In the case of the Enron scandal from the early 2000s, litigation would have been much easier were digital preservation solutions more readily available in the corporate world of the time. As we now know, Enron employees deleted vast numbers of emails and other digital information, hampering the ability of the corporation's auditors from knowing what was going on and, later, making legal proceedings harder - and more costly.

Preservation of knowledge is fundamentally not about the past but the future. The ancient libraries of Mesopotamia were filled with a preponderance of texts containing predictions for the future: astrology, astronomy, and divination.

Preservation of knowledge is fundamentally not about the past but the future. The ancient libraries of Mesopotamia were filled with a preponderance of texts containing predictions for the future: astrology, astronomy, and divination. Rulers wanted information that would help them decide the optimal time to go to war. Today the future continues to be dependent on access to knowledge of the past - and will be even more so as digital technology changes the ways we are able to predict what comes next.

As technology firms develop wearable technologies, the amount of biometric data that will be captured from each of us will reach a point that medics will be able to make increasingly accurate predictions about our future health. This will help in the prevention of disease, but it will also open up major ethical issues. Who will own this data? We may be happy to share medical data with our doctor, but would we be happy with it getting into the hands of our health insurer? Perhaps libraries and archives can play a vital role here, serving as trusted agents providing individuals with access to their personal digital information organized, secured, and preserved to the highest archival standards. Under such a scenario, citizens would control who has access to their personal information, while libraries would be granted the right to aggregate and disseminate anonymized information solely for the purposes of public health.

Access to knowledge will be of critical importance in a number of other areas in the future, for which commercial interests may in fact not serve society's best interests. Most businesses expect to be around for years into the future. But for society more broadly, some organizations have real skin in the game, and this is where digital preservation can become a life-or-death issue. Take the nuclear industry. As a society we really need to be sure we will know long into the future - and I don't just mean the next five to 10 years but hundreds and even thousands of years hence - exactly where we have stored nuclear waste, what material it consists of, when it was placed there, what kind of container it was stored in, and so forth. This data exists today, but the challenge facing the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and other players in the nuclear world is how we can be sure that property developers, mining companies, and water suppliers, as well as local authorities, governments, regulators, and the population at large have guaranteed access to all this information in, say, 500 years' time. We need to know where to find it, that the format the information is stored in can be accessed, and that we can make sense of it when we really need to. Sound familiar? It's called good archival practice.

As our digital lives continue to embrace more and more aspects of what we as individuals and societies get up to on a daily basis, we will continue to encounter ways in which libraries and archives can help society remain truly open. As the political sphere has embraced digital information, we have seen the rise of "fake news" and "alternative facts." Preserving knowledge, in order to inform electorates, is becoming a critical issue to the future of democracy. In recent years, political campaigns across the globe have exploited the platforms and services offered by technology companies, social media firms, and data corporations. Much of that activity has fallen into legal gray zones, if not outside the law.

Two men stand in the Konrad shaft nuclear repository being built in the city of Salzgitter in Germany, which will store low- and medium-level radioactive waste. (Photo: Julian Stratenschulte/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)

Web archives have become important because they are able to permanently preserve the public statements of political candidates, office holders, and government officials (often to their embarrassment), so that the public, the media, and, eventually, voters can call them to account. The UK Web Archive is a collaborative effort of the six copyright libraries in the United Kingdom, and one of its special collections of blogs and websites has captured over 2,400 sites relating to the 2016 referendum on European Union (EU) membership, known as Brexit, as well as the political aftermath of the vote. In April 2019 the Vote Leave campaign deleted a great deal of content from their public website, including references to that campaign's promise to spend £350 million a week on the National Health Service (NHS) if Britain left the EU. The collaborative UK Web Archive captured the website before that content was deleted by the Vote Leave campaign.

Then there is a group called Led by Donkeys (the name has its origins in a phrase used during the First World War, when British infantrymen were often described as "lions led by donkeys," giving a sense of what the men on the front thought of their generals). The mischievous campaigners of today's Led by Donkeys take the pronouncements and (often humiliatingly wrong) predictions of pro-Brexit politicians, blow them up into giant tweets, and then place them on massive crowdfunded billboards across the U.K. (One must note that American political leaders have not been spared this treatment.) This activity, which I call "public archiving," shows the importance of recording information that can call politicians to account for what they have actually said or written. Political discourse has often been a battleground between truth and falsehood, but the digital arena amplifies the influence that political falsehoods can have on the outcomes of elections. We need libraries and archives to increase their efforts at archiving the Internet and to move more purposefully into the archiving of social media.

The case for funding libraries and archives has never been stronger, yet it needs to be repeated and amplified - loudly - if we are to avoid George Orwell's haunting prediction in 1984: "The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth."

The traditional work of libraries and archives costs money, and funding continues to be a major issue. Digital preservation adds considerably to the expense of providing the kinds of services that society depends on libraries to provide. The case for funding libraries and archives has never been stronger, yet it needs to be repeated and amplified - loudly - if we are to avoid George Orwell's haunting prediction in 1984: "The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." ■

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Libraries' Role in Preserving Digital Information | Carnegie Corporation of New York

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KEY TAKEAWAYS * Since the days of antiquity, libraries and archives have played a critical role in society by preserving knowledge and making it widely available. This crucial role has on occasion put these institutions in the crosshairs of forces targeting the democratic and pluralistic culture they represent.

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In this globalization era or Covid-19 era, every library must have Digital Library or Online Library because it is easy to use it. Because of Covid-19 for the past 2 years, right now there are many Online Library, or we called it as Online Public Access Catalogues that is OPAC in short form. These things can help maybe teenager to find their schoolwork and adult also can use it to find some information for their work. Digital Library is easy to use rather than you go to the public library to search some books that is hard to find it but in Digital Library when search the books that you want to borrow, the books will appear on the website.

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Digital Library Services - Library & Information Science Network

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Digital Library Services: Today we live in a world of instant global communication. Everyone is well known with the technological developments that have come with dazzling rapidity. New techniques for recording and transmitting texts, sound or visual images have proliferated. Digital technology has…

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In this pandemic era, all library should have their own library website. This will make it more easier for the society to access into the library's website to get some information regarding the SOPs during this pandemic era and more. The library management can create a system that people can access into it easily. For example, people can find any types of information that they want in the system for free. The system will send you a six-digit number as a code to your email so that you can access into the system. These website and system will make it easier for the society to access into it without going there physically during this pandemic.

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Abstract

This article presents an evaluation of the role of IT utilities in the transformation of academic library services. It begins with a brief overview of the historical development of academic libraries followed by a discussion of current challenges and opportunities for academic libraries. It then offers reflections on the changing role and focus of academic libraries, evident, for example, via the reduction of physical book stock and through an increased focus on collaborative learning spaces. The article also discusses examples of innovative technological developments for learning, data management and the impact of these on the academic library sector, including the need for library staff to develop new skills and roles such as "embedded" librarian roles. The article concludes with reflections on future developments and the role of IT Utilities.

Introduction

The notion that technologies are as a force of "disruptive innovation" in the library sector has been discussed extensively in the academic literature and the wider press. Furthermore, the challenges and opportunities brought about by technological developments such as e-books and broadband Internet access in households with the added pressures from cuts to public services are well known. Many of these developments have called into question what the role of physical libraries is (or should be) in the twenty-first century. For example, the concept of the "library without walls" ( Weiss, 2004) has been mooted whereby patrons can utilize the services of the library irrespective of physical location ( Bilandzic and Johnson, 2013). The dire predictions of the death of the physical library has not come to pass, however, and while visits to public libraries have declined, visits to academic libraries have remained steady. The increasing student numbers at higher education institutions means that the footfall in academic libraries has actually increased although user behaviour, including borrowing patterns have changed significantly over the last 10 years ( SCONUL, 2015). There has also been a shift in the user demographics of academic libraries and changes in the way that patrons engage with the physical space. The roles of institutions such as libraries, museums and archives are evolving beyond being primarily about collecting, storing and disseminating information and towards becoming spaces of social learning and spaces where knowledge is created and shared ( Paulus, 2011). This is evident when we look at high profile examples of innovative new library designs, which tend to combine modern architecture and design with a more community and collaborative approach to service delivery ( Arts Council England, 2013).

These issues were explored in depth in a working group called "Libraries of the Future" organized by the IT as a Utility Research Councils UK (RCUK) Digital Economy Network between 2013 and 2015. The network took a broad definition of IT Utilities and had a remit to investigate "... simple, usable and safe IT provision from smart services, surroundings and information stores." (ITaaU, n.d). A series of participative workshops were held bringing together an interdisciplinary range of: academics, library and information professionals, industry practitioners and other stakeholders to discuss the challenges and opportunities of IT Utilities for libraries. The aim of the group was to inform the research agenda and make recommendations for policy and professional practice, including the education of future information professionals. This article presents an analysis and reflection of the key topics discussed and debated within the group. The specific objectives of the paper are: to contextualize the debates around IT Utilities within the broader context and historical development of the academic library service; to present an overview of some of the key technological developments relevant for the sector; to reflect and critically discuss the impact of these on the role and professional practices of academic library staff and, finally, to consider what the future of academic libraries and academic librarianship will be.

The development of the academic library

As scholarly publication and access has shifted even further towards electronic services academic libraries were forced to adapt further in order to demonstrate the "value added" services that they could deliver ( Gilmour and Sapp, 2003). The management of electronic services in the academic environment-including organization, dissemination, curation and the provision of those services is not without its challenges, but these are issues that library staff should play a central role in solving. As in the past with other innovations, digital developments afford opportunities for academic library staff to create new roles and new ways of delivering services for users. One obvious area is in the creation of seamless information architecture and knowledge organization structures that facilitate easy access and retrieval from online tools. This technical infrastructure is important in assisting users to understand the integrity of scholarly publication and information in an otherwise unregulated and unmediated digital environment.

Technical developments are not the only factor that has impacted on academic library service delivery. The evolving shape of pedagogy in higher education has been one of the key reasons for the change in shape of academic libraries. Students now study in many different ways and the role which the library plays in this is evident with a shift away from places which were traditionally silent study areas to become flexible and dynamic spaces suited to social and group learning. Blended learning, drawing on both the physical and virtual spaces have compelled the reconfiguring of academic libraries in much the same way as technological developments have changed the role of the academic librarian. The Philological Library at the Freie Universität in Berlin, the Sir Duncan Rice Library at the University of Aberdeen or the Hive at the University of Worcester are all recent examples of revolutionary approaches to the design of the academic library which reflect the changing nature of their use.

However, despite this period of growth and investment in new systems and services, many higher education library services suffered from budget cuts and resulting pressures on service delivery although the figures vary between countries and institutions ( Nicholas et al., 2010). Libraries have been forced to make efficiency savings-some also assisted by technologies-such as self-service machines and electronic rather than physical subscription to periodicals (RIN, 2010). Continued financial pressures combined with expectations that academic libraries will take on additional responsibilities such as research data management and open access requirements mean that this is a challenging time for academic libraries. The article will go on to explore these challenges and opportunities in more detail.

The library role in open access and research data management

These new policies and guidelines have had significant implications for research communication, publishers and academics and, of particular relevance for this paper, for libraries. Responsibility for the development and management of institutional repositories has largely been allocated to university libraries as an extension of their traditional function for the storage and dissemination of academic work ( Swan, 2011). The development of repositories can be viewed as being jointly enabled by the funding mandates and also by technical developments, including open source repository solutions that has made the initiatives possible. Many institutions already had repositories in place before the mandate with a large number being developed with support and funding from the JISC in a series of development programmes ( Jacobs et al., 2008).

Collection management in academic libraries has been further complicated by changing business models of academic publishing. For example, commercial publishers are increasingly turning to Article Processing Charges for open access journals. Academic library staff need to be able to navigate the heterogeneous business approaches and to engage and consult with academics and university managers, and determine how resources should be allocated ( Arte and Cassella, 2014). Houghton and Oppenheim (2010) conducted a cost-benefit analysis of new publishing models facilitated by open access repositories in a JISC EI-ASPM project. This included examination of "overlay journals" where authors self-archive in repositories and these are then indexed and used as the foundation for overlay services such as peer-review and quality control ( Houghton and Oppenheim, 2010). The authors concluded that "...more open access would have substantial net benefits in the longer term, and while net benefits may be lower during a transitional period, they are likely to be positive for both open access publishing and self-archiving alternatives (that is, Gold OA) and for parallel subscription publishing and self-archiving (that is, Green OA)." ( Houghton and Oppenheim, 2010: 13). A concomitant development to open access repositories are Current Research Information Systems (CRIS) that are usually used to support institutional research information management with a particular focus on funding and projects ( De Castro et al., 2014). These are separate but clearly related activities within academic research and many systems allow for CRIS/IR interoperability based on systematic metadata exchange to facilitate reporting and monitoring of research performance, and impact to funders, inter-institutional collaboration and other stakeholders ( De Castro et al., 2014).

As well as the technical and logistical challenges of curating academic data and publications, there are also potential challenges for library staff of engaging researchers and overcoming some long held concerns about keeping control of data, concerns about intellectual property (especially if the research has potential for commercialization) or ethical concerns from researchers about the potential for sensitive information to become public or for research participants' anonymity to be compromised ( Cox and Pinfield, 2014). The additional responsibilities of open access and data management are also coming at a time where funding and resources are under pressure for academic libraries. Staffing levels (in particular for professionally qualified librarians) are being reduced in many institutions and there are limited budgets for skills and training of staff. Institutions, such as the Digital Curation Centre provide cross-institutional support and provide resources such as DMPonline to assist researchers in making data management plans. Further national initiatives have been developed such as the Jisc Research Data Registry and Discovery service and the Australian National Data Services have been developed to aid the discovery and reuse of research data ( Davidson et al., 2014) and there are knowledge transfer networks between institutions, but some still question whether libraries have the capacity and skills to take on these new responsibilities.

Library IT utilities for a changing pedagogical environment

Twenty-first century academic libraries extend beyond the walls of their individual institutions to online open access information spaces, dealing with intelligent Internet sharing tools and online social communication, and networking technologies. Academic library staff should also be in a position to support diverse and international university learning communities, and understand and be responsive to the needs of all international students that use the library, ensuring that they receive an equivalent high quality service. In a fast growing international education environment there are new challenges created for academic library staff that call for an investment in skills development and continuous improvements on the basis of delivering effective, meaningful, interactive, flexible and culturally aware library services and programmes. There has been a move towards a more market-oriented approach to HE institutions that is reflected in great competition for recruitment of International students. In England and Wales (but notably not in Scotland) this is compounded by the removal of student recruitment caps and increasing tuition fees. Student satisfaction metrics are increasingly being collected, through mechanisms, such as the National Student Survey that impact on university league tables and have a direct impact on services provided. All parts of universities, including libraries have to respond to this customer-focussed approach and are in competition with each other for resources. Users have increased expectations of ubiquitous digital access "on demand" and many university libraries also have to support a growing population of distance learning students who may never attend campus ( Creed-Dikeogu and Clark, 2013). Online learning and teaching (including MOOCs) requires a significant movement from traditional on campus modes of library delivery, support, and advice that is appropriate to the needs of distance-learning students, whether overseas or home students, and their diverse learning environments, expectations and requirements.

With the transformational impact of IT Utilities libraries are thus increasingly moving towards a model that has shifted power from provider to user. For example, modern libraries are now embracing Web-scale discovery systems that enable the use of a single central index and search interface that allows searching across local library services, subscriptions collections as well as open access resources. This move mirrors the working model of major commercial database vendors, such as EBSCO, Ex Libris, Serial Solutions Summon and OCLC's WorldCat Local, who all offer discovery services that harvest information from a wide variety of publishers and open-access repositories. Some of these services allow features that support user tagging, user ratings and reviews, integration with personal accounts, and sharing with external sites, such as Facebook. Electronic catalogue technology now offers functionality and services which improve information discovery via the Social Web and support searching various open sources including Web search engines and allowing user comments, reviews, ratings, added subjects and keywords, which provide user input to library collections and services.

Technology has transformed additional services traditionally offered by libraries. For instance, online reading lists have been widely adopted by academic libraries as an effective means for creating, editing, personalizing, updating and integrating reading lists into online learning and teaching material, helping students to connect directly and seamlessly with the reading resources of their courses. In addition, academic library staff can readily address the needs of academics for ordering books, as well as their training needs for managing and maintaining their reading lists. This undoubtedly also creates new needs. A study of Talis Aspire and reading lists, for example, highlighted the need to improve communication between faculty and library staff needs ( Cameron and Siddall, 2015) drawing from earlier research that identified an "asymmetrical disconnection" ( Christiansen et al., 2004: 18) between academics and library staff with the former having little understanding of the responsibilities and roles of library staff in setting up and managing these lists.

Another example is the domain of eBooks, which is a growing part of the online services offered by academic libraries, yet there are still some important challenges and difficulties encountered in the selection, licencing, acquisition, management and promotion of these materials. These include dealing with the lack of uniformity and restrictive terms in licencing provision, the diversity of different ways they are made available (platforms, formats and software) and the different expectations of libraries, faculties and e-book providers. Traditional models of book lending followed in the physical library cannot be transferred to the digital environment and students' reading habits and expectations of access create difficulties for libraries to replicate equivalent instant and unrestricted reading experiences. Yet, beyond the challenges encountered, this is another area that library staff are given an opportunity to define and assert new and significant roles. Walters (2013) for instance, asserts that academic library staff are well-positioned to offer guidance to eBook vendors for the development of meaningful e-book licences and usable platforms for the academic environment and this implies that they "have an important role to play in shaping the e-book environment, especially since publishers have yet to agree on the best ways of providing and marketing e-books to academic libraries" (201).

Libraries are some of the most active users of social media, making services more participatory, embracing openness and reaching a wider audience, allowing them to communicate and engage with its community in dialogue, which informs and helps develop its products and services, and how it operates. Social media tools can be used within this context for a number of different purposes. For example, services can create a strong presence and a modern image that could appeal to less frequent users of the physical buildings such as teenagers. Libraries can develop services online (for example, book discussion groups using blogs and wikis) and provide services and product updates on social media tools such as Twitter. Web 2.0 can also offer cost-effective solutions for the production of promotional and marketing material about services and materials available using services such as YouTube. Web 2.0 helps raise awareness of services overcoming barriers associated with traditional methods of publishing (for example, by overcoming delays associated with posting information on the website of the wider organization, a process that is often controlled by the IT department). Social media can also be used as a means of networking, communication and sharing of ideas with other professional organizations and colleagues, who work in different contexts, allowing the wide spread of ideas and creating expanding international networks ( Chu and Du, 2013).

Although the primary utility of social media is centred on marketing and awareness services, they can also be used as tools for information literacy training. For example, libraries can help their users develop information seeking competence in a number of ways using online social media. They can develop database instructional videos that aid navigation and information searching approaches on complex information retrieval environments that could be uploaded on services, such as YouTube and Vimeo; (more information on these is given below); they can create interactive reference services such as FAQs and chat widgets using Springshare's LibAnswers that have been used to great effect ( Stevens, 2013).

Social media can also be utilized independently by users as tools for information searching and discovery. Although search engine use is one of the most popular search approaches to Web information seeking, an alternative way is to use online social media by posing questions to key individuals and groups online, and browsing across online social networks. When online social media are used for finding information, this has been broadly referred to as social search. This technique may involve online social media directly or via the initial use of search engines that index social media webpages (for example, public Twitter posts, social tagging tools such as Delicious). Social search may involve browsing or active requests for help from the searcher to other people. In a study of social search behaviour comparing the experience of searchers who asked a questions to a group of people they knew personally (by means of a social network status message update) and the experience of searching for the same information with a Web search engine, Morris et al. (2010) surveyed Facebook and Twitter users about situations in which they used a status message to ask questions of their social networks. Benefits of asking a social network included opinion-type answers, and that their social network knew additional context about them. Social networks seem particularly useful for subjective questions. People considered the results from their social network highly trustworthy and favoured the delivery of personalized answers. Asking via a social network was also found to provide valuable confirmation of results found via a search engine.

Online social media can therefore serve as excellent information searching and browsing platforms that enable the sharing and communication of ideas, linking to professional groups of interest and creating online communities of practice. The increased popularity of online social communication/networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, has thus introduced a new dimension of finding information on the Internet, which may involve regular monitoring, browsing (for example, online topic discussions and community tags and ranked information) and/or actively seeking answers to specific information needs (via posing particular questions to online social networks of interest).

Finally, searching on online social media can also lead to serendipitous information discovery. A large part of everyday information seeking is based on different social networks of everyday life (we may call these interpersonal sources), and social media play a role in helping people to manage and extend these networks that become valuable and effective information channels. Searching and finding information is therefore made easier if someone within the online network has the knowledge that is being sought.

Makerspaces and gamification

As well as using IT Utilities to transform and enhance existing services, some libraries are also embracing technologies to facilitate new forms of knowledge creation leading to the development of makerspaces. According to Roslund and Rodgers (2014), a makerspace can be defined as:

Makerspace is a general term for a place where people get together to make things. Markerspaces might focus on electronics, robotics, woodworking, sewing, laser cutting, programming or some combination of these skills. ( Roslund and Rodgers, 2014)

This suitably broad definition is reflective of the fact that makerspaces are heterogeneous and vary widely in their use and implementation within library spaces. It is important to note that while some technologies are mentioned in the definition, technology is not an essential component of the makerspace. Instead, the focus is on creation and sharing of knowledge and skills. Makerspaces can be, however, viewed as opportunities for democratizing new technologies such as 3D printing. While the costs of 3D printers have come down considerably in recent years they are still expensive to buy and maintain, and so they are not usually found around the home. Having a 3D printer in a makerspace is seen as being a big draw because they allow institutions such as libraries to fulfil their missions of being an equalizing force for knowledge and information, and to provide innovative ways for engaging with users that go beyond the "traditional" activities associated with libraries.

The value of digital literacy within the context of academic libraries

Within the expanding digital information arena, digital literacy is a highly sought competency among librarians, as library services are now offered through a range of media, including social network sites, mobiles phones or even virtual words. With the ubiquitous availability of digital information in different media forms and the ease of searching on the Web, with the advent of search engines such as Google and Bing, library staff are also expected to constantly remain up-to-date with different approaches followed for sourcing, creating and sharing information that are not necessarily supported within the formal academic environment and should reach out to students in more direct and meaningful ways. Paradoxically, within the era of digital information culture and connectivity (as digital information is growing with a rapid rate and becomes even more easily accessible and discoverable via less controlled routes) the more libraries connect directly with students the more students seem to disconnect from libraries. For example, students carry their knowledge structures, heuristics and tools that they use within their everyday life environments and transfer them to their academic studies without always an appreciation of the library services and their impact on their learning. Within the changing information arena, simplistic methods for searching and browsing beyond taught, "more sophisticated" library skills appear to be dominant. A report of findings from 2,318 respondents to a survey carried out among students across the United States found that students, rather than leveraging the wide range of resources available to them in the digital age and via the library, they instead employed a consistent and predictable research strategy for finding information, utilizing course readings and Google as a first port of call for course-related research ( Head and Eisenberg, 2009).

There have been many studies examining the characteristics of the Google generation on the basis of less sophisticated and surface information seeking strategies, yet these are not necessarily evident only in younger generations. For example as Brewer (2002) has commented, "search engines have become a part of the global culture, reaching a vast and diverse audience" and not only younger populations. This also extends to the way in which people read and use information. For instance, online reading has been characterized in multiple studies to be shallow not only among younger populations ( Liu, 2006), as time is spent on browsing and scanning than on focused reading of texts. The use of digital libraries by scholars has been described as bouncing, "squirrelling" or "power browsing" ( Nicholas et al., 2010), a form of intensively focused search and collection of resources for later use. In sciences, the central unit of information has changed from a journal to an individual article because of the possibility of accessing articles directly in digital libraries ( Tenopir et al., 2009). The Google generation study ( Rowlands et al., 2008) demonstrated that we are all exposed to search engines and social media, and thus a part of the Google generation. Prensky (2009) proposed the notion of "digital wisdom", an enhanced state of being wise with the help of digital technology. The focal aspect of the proposition is that a departure from traditional ways of searching, reading and communicating is prominent. However, this may not necessarily mean that these new practices are to be avoided or that they are inferior. For example, using new generation reader devices may mean successfully combining the flexibility of digitality with many of the qualities of printed books and not that reading has been overall reduced. Using search engines for sourcing information many mean discovering new intelligent methods for information discovery and retrieval and not necessarily utilizing information that is not academic or of low quality. Considering this in relation to the academic librarianship domain, these changes signify the need for addressing new models of information service provision across the spectrum and critically reflecting up what these changes mean for academic librarians and their own practices.

Library staff roles have thus evolved and there is more emphasis on the importance of staying current with new media and digital trends, as well as modern approaches to information seeking and use, sharing and communication. The role of the information professional is viewed as shifting from being a custodian or gatekeeper to that of a facilitator or mediator of information ( Currall and Moss, 2008). Traditional librarianship competencies coupled with, among others, technology and instructional design skills are essential for library jobs that deal with instruction of users and specialist roles have been created to reflect this trend, such as learning developers, learning technologists and skills managers. However, we also see an increasing demand for the development of other transferable skills, such as teaching and instruction with references to new media and ways of learning (for example, online, blended), which have become of paramount importance within the academic library context. For instance one of the concerns is whether library staff are aware of educational theories when teaching information literacy, the lack of which could potentially have a negative impact on learning outcomes. Library staff face challenges in the areas of teaching and particularly in terms of following established pedagogical and teaching models that are required in the effective development of library users' development of information literacy skills.

Empowering academic librarians

The embedded or blended academic librarianship approach is based on establishing a partnership between academics and librarians, placing the librarians at the centre of the learning process and making them active participants in the process of teaching, learning and assessment ( Shumaker and Tyler, 2007; Shank and Bell, 2011. The blended librarian participates actively and holistically in students' learning, developing an essential skill set that blurs the boundaries between traditional library competencies, information technology and instructional/educational design skills. In that way librarians can participate actively in the development of academic courses and ensure that the teaching of information literacy is embedded into the curriculum, work together with academics to prepare reading lists and offer consultancy and support in sourcing quality information in relation to specific subject areas. A number of fundamental qualities empower this role: leadership, commitment, collaboration, communication and engagement that are fundamental for creating partnerships between librarian and faculty ( Bell and Shank, 2004). Although reaching beyond the academic context to address the wider organizational environment, the model of embedded librarianship carrying similar connotations with blended librarianship, is described as the physical movement of the work of librarians from a central library close to the customer groups of an organization. Embedded librarians offer a range of services, including training, research, current awareness and alerting services, assessing literature and managing web content, all of which require the development of information technology skills ( Shumaker and Talley, 2009), but also other soft skills such as team work, collaboration and customer service. Within the context of academic library work specifically, this may involve support for open access (for example, Orchid profiles) and ensuring that work is included in the Institutional Repository with correct metadata, enabling easier citation tracking and analysis (bibliometrics) of academics' research work and helping them prepare for the requirements of the REF. A further area where librarians can assist research is by encouraging and supporting researchers to utilize research focussed social media platforms such as ResearchGate, Google Scholar and Academia.edu, and organizing platforms such as Mendelay and RefMe. This model of blended/embedded librarianship deliberately moves librarians away from the physical space of the library, creating new and less predictable opportunities but also challenges. Schumacher, offers a number of examples that offer evidence around the value of physical collocation, demonstrating the higher level of engagement and contribution possible when librarians work as part of a unit, a community/group, as part of the whole and how librarians' roles transform into team-based expert roles that involve partnership around value-added research and information curation activities ( Shumaker, 2012).

Therefore, information skills instruction may require a better understanding of students' contemporary information practices in everyday life and how this affects their approaches to academic information sources. Furthermore, it creates new roles for academic libraries in terms of advocating the development of information literacy in students and following more collaborative approaches with academics that will enable them to highlight its value by incorporating it within the learning objectives of different courses. This also means that libraries need to keep up-to-date with current research in the area of information literacy and develop more embedded relationships with academic staff.

Conclusion

This article has presented an overview of some of the key areas where IT Utilities are influencing the academic library sector. In particular, academic libraries have demonstrated tremendous adaptability for serving the needs of a larger and more diverse student body (including developments in distance and blended learning) and services are now much more user-driven and tailored in response to the demands of 24-7 access to resources across a wide variety of platforms. Furthermore, academic libraries have also played a key role in the implementation and governance of open access mandates and enabled researchers to widen the reach of their research by the management of institutional repositories and data management. Future demands from users for personalized services and requirements from external funding bodies to demonstrate impact and value for money from academic research will likely lead to further challenges and opportunities for libraries.

As indicated in the article the staffing profile of academic libraries has shifted away from "traditional" academic librarianship roles to a more diverse range of roles including non-professional library assistants, teaching and learning assistants, and specialist "blended" or academic liaison roles. This change, may be perceived by some, as being at odds with the traditional notion of the librarian as the gatekeeper of information and knowledge as it calls for a wider level transition that positions academic librarians beyond the restriction of their physical space and resources, to seek opportunities for continuing learning and development via active collaboration and partnerships, and develop a vision that fosters a learning culture for staff beyond the walls of the library ( Martzoukou, 2013). Training for new library staff (such as postgraduate library and information management courses) must reflect these new roles and demands as well as making available continuous professional development opportunities for existing professionals. The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the U.K. places emphasis on expanding the development of skills beyond traditional library skills in their Professional Knowledge and Skills Base to embrace the depth and breadth of professional, technical knowledge and transferable skills that can be used as a tool for professional development and as a framework for skills analysis, staff training and development plans beyond the domain of librarianship. It is clear that in order for the potential of IT Utilities to be fully realised that additional support needs to be made available to libraries in terms of funding, partnerships with businesses and training and skills development for staff. As academic librarians are called to assert their roles in a changing technological and blended learning environments there is a need for a wider exchange of information and collaboration with other professional groups, both academic and support staff who can provide their expertise on technology and educational/instructional design. The positioning of the academic library within professional support services of universities in the United Kingdom rather than as an academic function may mean that organizational boundaries between academic and non-academic staff may be a barrier to these developments.

A lot of new IT Utility equipment and services are specialised and, while costs and barriers to entry are reducing, there is still an uneven take up of new technologies and more specialised activities. This is particularly the case for libraries outside of major metropolitan areas or in less developed countries. There are further challenges of procurement and maintenance of specialist equipment-beyond the initial outlay there are also costs associated with maintaining equipment, which can be prohibitive. These challenges could be overcome in part by new business models for shared services between institutions and joint working between the library and academic IT services. There should also be rigorous impact assessments conducted of IT Utilities in libraries to assist with benchmarking and to determine recommendations and best practice guidelines to assist with knowledge transfer between institutions. Further, while new academic libraries are being purpose built with collaboration spaces and designed to have activity areas, many libraries, do not have the physical space to host specialist equipment or run workshops or the spaces may not be suitable for the purposes. Academic libraries have not been as strongly hit by cuts to public services as has been evident in other library sectors in the United Kingdom. However, academic library services still need to compete for resources with other departments and must be prepared to justify their spending and demonstrate value in an increasingly market-oriented HE landscapes, and it may also be necessary for libraries to review their service priorities divest from certain activities if required.

Within the fast changing environment of academia, there are not only new emerging roles for academic library staff (for example, research and data management), but also traditional roles (for example, information literacy instruction) that have evolved with greater demands placed on technological, interpersonal, IT and transferable skills. The development of subject domain expertise within multidisciplinary research fields, and the world of academic information has become increasingly more complex with open access, big data, and new models of online learning, teaching and research (for example, blended learning, online research) will likely lead to further challenges and opportunities in future. As shown throughout the article, academic libraries have consistently demonstrated the capacity to adapt and change to meet the needs of users, which is reflected in the new user-centred approach to service delivery.

Data availability

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Additional information

How to cite this article: Tait E et al. (2016) Libraries for the future: the role of IT utilities in the transformation of academic libraries. Palgrave Communications. 2:16070 doi: 10.1057/palcomms.2016.70.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the IT as a Utility Network+ under the RCUK Digital Economy Programme. Grant reference: EP/K003569/1.

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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Libraries for the future: the role of IT utilities in the transformation of academic libraries

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This article presents an evaluation of the role of IT utilities in the transformation of academic library services. It begins with a brief overview of the historical development of academic libraries followed by a discussion of current challenges and opportunities for academic libraries.

# data[].attributes.body
The library role in facilitating access to information in a digital arena is by making a library webpage. Library webpage can be access from multiple locations. The users can get his/her information on his own computer screen by using the Internet. Digital libraries can be accessed at any time, 24 hours a day and 365 days of the year. Library webpage also provide the ability to digitize a printed document, video, audio, or data, so that many users can access it simultaneously without the limits of attending a library building within opening hours. There are many advantages of library webpage. For example, the Yale Library provide very user-friendly interfaces, giving click able access to its resources. It helps they students to search for information easily. Yale Library also provide a personal librarians so that the library users can ask anything if they don't know something.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Can't find the materials you need at Yale? Submit an Interlibrary Loan request and we'll search libraries around the world.

# data[].attributes.body
The term "digital" covers the creation and distribution of all types of information over
networks, digital library that delivers scientific, technical, and business information to
users with a personal computer, Internet access, and one of the common worldwide
Web browsers. The Library without Walls focuses on creating a network of
knowledge systems that facilitate scientific communication and collaboration. We are
living in the information age where the information is basic requirement to everybody
because without information we cannot do anything in a proper way.
In this case we need a proper bridge between user and knowledge so there the
library plays a vital role in the knowledge dissemination. Now day’s information literacy is the key of knowledge where the libraries help us for getting their
information. Library has provided several new media, new modes of studies,
organizing, retrieving the information so that mean library strategically provides
information to all users. Information Professional accomplishes this through the
development, deployment, and management of information resources and services. So
the main faction of the library in the digital era likes a communicator of information
and for that libraries have become increasingly aware that their digital collections.
Information and communication technology has revolutionized the concepts of
libraries so each and every library slowly getting digitized. However, the main
purpose of digital libraries remains consistent with that of traditional libraries in that
the purpose of digital libraries is to organize, distribute, and preserve information
resources just as it is for traditional libraries.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Libraries must now turn their attention to defining their missions and activities in relationship to what is transforming them: the information technology revolution in teaching, learning, and research. (Lynch 2000)

The transformation of libraries to fulfill more diffuse roles within the academy reflects a shift in perspective both for the library and for the other stakeholders in this arena. There are significant challenges to be overcome, not the least of which is the pace of technology development. The volatility of technology contrasts with the glacial speed of change within higher education regarding core values and structure. How can libraries claim these new roles when they face pressures both to innovate and to steer a more traditional course?

An additional challenge lies in the conundrum of market strategy. Should a library assess demand for these new roles and secure funding support before it moves in new directions? Or should it forge ahead, create demand, and hope that funding will follow? Both courses of action have risks. Yet evidence suggests the competition both within and outside the university requires that the library lay claim to areas where its core expertise is relevant, lest it be marginalized.

Libraries have thus far evolved fairly predictably in developing a digital presence and digital capabilities, particularly with respect to technology infrastructure and expertise. As Greenstein and Thorin (2002) have noted, there is an initial phase wherein an individual library's activity is largely project-based. Involvement of others outside the organization is minimal and resource commitments are typically nonrecurring. In this stage, libraries experiment with and exploit distributed technology capabilities. In the next stage, the "adolescent" library has far more interest in its peers. Collaborative activity within the library community emerges, and outreach to others within the campus environment becomes more prevalent. Often in this phase, groundwork is laid for more stable production capabilities for content, access, and services. Libraries add staff and develop new work processes. Resources are reallocated, but often the activities are still viewed as separate from the mainstream.

Nearing a more mature phase of digital capacity, the library organization is better positioned with secure infrastructure and leadership to collaborate with other libraries and other stakeholders. Workflow becomes more integrated, and investment is consistent with mission; i.e., permanent sources of support and organizational structures are put in place. Relationships with other stakeholders are often more "open," that is, characterized by leveraging each other's expertise and strengths to the benefit of a programmatic goal.

While it is possible that a large infusion of funds might hasten this developmental cycle (particularly as it relates to building technology infrastructure), the organizational development necessary to integrate complementary expertise and adjust goals is likely to come only with experience and time. Consequently, these evolutionary stages-moving from distributed, to open, to diffuse roles-may be a requirement, a rite of passage.

Do libraries have a choice about future directions? Residential campuses are unlikely to disappear, and instructional and research programs are unlikely to abandon their interests in traditional libraries for the foreseeable future. Yet the evidence of changes in institutional priorities (e.g., with respect to outreach, new markets, and intellectual property) and in individual user behavior (with respect to expectations and needs) suggests that caution will be shortsighted.

The transformations under way in teaching, learning, and research will require a far different conception of the library. At a minimum, structures for the acquisition and description of digital content need to be in place and services developed to respond to a more nomadic and virtual clientele. These minimal requirements, however, merely extrapolate existing roles for collections, access, and user support. Seizing opportunities for more diffuse roles will require investment in both tangible components and in intangible elements such as leadership and organizational development.

Tangible Investments

Certain investments must be made if the library is to emerge as a player in the changing environment. Participation in new learning communities, in new ventures for knowledge management or dissemination, or in service to new markets requires investment in technology infrastructure and expertise in the handling of digital resources and tools.

In developing digital library infrastructure, there is a tendency to assume that each institution must develop a full complement of capabilities. This assumption is attractive because hands-on experience does provide invaluable developmental opportunities for staff. However, it is also becoming clear that institutions may have difficulty in sustaining the ongoing development of the local infrastructure. Further, an isolationist approach may not allow libraries to leverage institutional strengths or the benefits of a high volume of activity. Consequently, collaborative development of tools, services, and capabilities will be far more common in the future. Evidence of these trends already exists, e.g., the Open Source software movement, cooperative reference services, and university-based initiatives to share tools and methods such as publishing resources of the Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress), Michigan's Digital Library Extension Service, and the Texas TILT program.

Competition has become intense for qualified professionals who can manage and develop new library roles. While many library or information-science graduate programs have revamped their curricula, it is impractical to assume that the needed leadership can come exclusively from newly minted professionals. Investment in professional development and participation in collaborative opportunities that can help advance organizational development are essential. Insights are often born of exposure to new ideas and of the freedom to explore. Consequently, professional development models that include support for experimentation, experiential methods of stimulating creative thinking, and focused interaction with colleagues from other institutions are particularly useful. New contexts for these interinstitutional interactions are also evident in organizations such as the Coalition for Networked Information and the Digital Library Federation, which provide venues for peer-to-peer dialogue and focused attention to common issues.

Technological expertise is in demand, but it is equally important that the profession attract individuals with agility in applying or exploiting new technologies in the service of new roles. It is essential that these individuals have a deep understanding of the communication structures and processes within disciplines. Such capabilities, while informed by technology, reflect development beyond task-specific skills such as cataloging to a contextual knowledge of scholarly processes and user needs. The challenge is to assemble the constellation of technology, subject, and application expertise and to facilitate the necessary collaboration between functional divisions of the library.

A recent survey conducted by the Digital Library Federation (Greenstein and Thorin 2002) captured structural and financial data about university and library development of digital library programs. While offering descriptive information from only a handful of institutions, all of which have more mature programs, the survey results reflect organizational models that are highly collaborative. Partnerships were found with information technology units and, in some cases, schools of library or information science or research institutes. In such models, managing relationships is essential to ensuring program stability. The data also suggest that the library's assumption of new and expanded roles actually attracted new funding-an affirmation that in some cases action must precede explicit institutional support.

Intangible Investments

Infrastructure, expertise, and tools, while enabling, cannot forge a new agenda for the library. Leadership must be present to leverage the library's full range of assets. The examples cited throughout this analysis show how the library adds value through its expertise and its resources. Nonetheless, the prevailing forces also create an environment in which the library's efforts to support virtual collections and services can make the library less visible. An important aspect of leadership in the digital age will be the ability to articulate these new roles in a way that makes the library's contributions substantive and visible.

Seizing opportunities and articulating the library's potential, in turn, require organizational agility, i.e., the flexibility of budget and human capital that allows responsiveness and, when needed, redirection of activity.

In the new environment, a culture of collaboration will be essential if the library is to fulfill its potential for providing services and collections. Collaboration will mean not only embarking on successful joint projects, but also managing campus and external relationships to ensure that the library is present at the table for relevant institutional dialogue and decision making.

The development of diffuse libraries will entail an understanding and appreciation of the shifts under way in all sectors of the academy, investment in infrastructure, and an organizational culture that nurtures and catalyzes relationships. Distributed, open, diffuse-these characteristics describe the stages that mark the library's evolution. Ultimately, the transformed, diffuse library will embody an intimacy of purpose and a full engagement both with institutional goals and with the practical conduct of learning, teaching, and research.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Realizing Diffuse Roles for Libraries * CLIR

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Libraries must now turn their attention to defining their missions and activities in relationship to what is transforming them: the information technology revolution in teaching, learning, and research.

# data[].attributes.body
In this era of globalization, our world has experienced a Covid-19 epidemic since 2019. This has caused things that people always do like going to work, going to school and doing activities like exercising and so on to be disrupted. But, we are lucky, because the world nowadays is getting more sophisticated with the presence of technologies like smartphones, laptops, and so on. This has made it easier for humans to communicate with each other even far away. For everyone's information, colleges are looking to assume a critical part in the innovative work process. A significant component in the exploration cycle is the openness of data assets and administrations given by libraries. Postgraduate understudies are key makers of examination in colleges, and a significant component in their exploration cycle is the admittance to data. This study looks at postgraduate understudies' perspectives on the job of the scholastic library administrations in working with their examination and their fulfillment with the sources and administrations as of now given. Information was gathered from 375 arbitrarily chosen postgraduate understudies in four Malaysian state funded colleges. The discoveries show that the larger part (90.1%) of respondents recognized the significant job of library in working with research, and 72.5% of the respondents were happy with the ebb and flow job being played by the libraries. Nonetheless, certain regions should have been worked on like longer opening times for actual visits, despite the offices for remote access help for supporting understudies' examination. The discoveries will be valuable to scholarly libraries in offering better types of assistance to postgraduate understudies for their examination.

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Bahria University Islamabad Campus, E-8, Naval Complex, Islamabad, PAKISTAN

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THE ROLE OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN FACILITATING POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS’ RESEARCH | Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Universities are seeking to play a key role in the research and development process. An important element in the research process is the accessibility of information resources and services provided by libraries. Postgraduate students are key producers of research in universities, and an important el…

# data[].attributes.body
The digital librarian is one of the methods of the library to provide information to the community. A type of specialist information professional who manages and organizes the digital library, combines the functionality for information, elicitation, planning, data mining, knowledge mining, digital reference services, electronic information services, representation of information, extraction, and distribution of information, co-ordination, searching notably CD-ROMs, online, Internet-based WWW, multimedia access and retrieval. The ultimate goal of a DL is to facilitate access to information just-in-time to the critical wants of end users and additionally to facilitate electronic publishing. The digital librarian plays a distinctive and dynamic role in easy accessing of computer held digital information

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The library's role in facilitating access to information in a digital arena is by allowing the users to do book requests online. Since the pandemic covid-19 happened, it is hard for us to go out because we are scared of the virus and want to protect ourselves and our loved ones from getting infected. By allowing the users to do book requests online, we don't need to waste our time in the library searching for the books that we want. Besides, we can also know the availability of the books that we want to borrow by using this type of library service. For example, the Library of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia provides this kind of service.

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The library has provided a service that permit users to request books through Internet. Users may select the books needed that have been borrowed by others and click the button request available at OPAC. Please be remind that the books that are available on the shelves cannot be booked.s.

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Electronic resources offered by University of Birmingham library 

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Electronic resources offered by University of Birmingham library 

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As we all know, Covid-19 has given a major impact to all of us entire world. However, we are very lucky to have been in an era full of modern technology so called "digital era"  that gives pleasure to all. Therefore, to ensure everyone gets to access the information in a digital era is by providing online services to all users. By doing that, all the users actually can saving their time as well as their energy where you doesn't need to go to the library physically just to borrowing books to doing a research. With that, University of Birmingham provides Electronic resources to the users such as eBooks, eTextbooks, eJournals and eJournal articles, databases, using eResources on mobile devices, Open Access resources and Finding eResources outside FindIt@Bham. By having all those services, its ease all the users, not only to the users but to the librarians too where they could easily managing their works to be more organizing and effectively. To conclude, the existing of digital era brings good to us where all of the information in the internet just on the tip of our finger.

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Find out about the electronic resources at the library and get help in setting up your mobile device or smartphone.

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The role of a library to facilitate access to information in a digital arena can be done by acquiring and securing ownership of digital content and make it accessible to the public or to a target community. Libraries can also make a digital access card like how the Toronto public library has. By having the digital card, people can have access to the library's digital sources and services such as ebooks,audiobooks, streaming videos and music, research databases, reserve a computer and online printing. Besides, the library also need to make sure that their information is up to date in this digital arena. The library's roles in facilitating access to information in digital arena is also by making sure that the library have application of modern technology. This action will help to make the library accessible in this digital arena.

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What you can do at the library and how you can use it. Computer services, theatre and room rentals, help and troubleshooting and research services.

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One of the roles of the library to make sure everyone gets to access the information in a digital era is to create an Online Library website. You do not need to walk into the library just to get information when you can access it online. Every Online Library provided so many services and benefits for the users to make sure everyone gets the information that they want. For example, Princeton University Library provided a catalog with different formats such as audio, book, journal, manuscripts and more based on what the users need. This helps their students to get access to the information via their devices only. Besides that, librarians do not have to be afraid if they could not assist all their users at the library because online libraries also could help the users the same with the services provided.

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What is the library's role in facilitating access to information in a digital arena?

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What is the library's role in facilitating access to information in a digital arena?

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Please attach the picture/link to the services provided by the library (local or international) to help users in accessing information digitally during this pandemic.

Above is my example.

Have a great day ahead!

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Library Services from Friday, 29 October 2021

The Online Library, which includes ebooks, academic databases, academic journals, and so much more, is available 24/7 from anywhere.

Need help finding your way around library resources? Visit Library Essentials or contact your Academic Liaison Librarians. They are available for online research support and referencing advice throughout your time with TU Dublin.

Accessing the Library:

COVID-19 restrictions are still in place in the Libraries. Visit the 'Access the Library' page to learn how you can access the collections and study spaces in the libraries.

Contact your home library if you have a query about accessing the library

NOTE: You need your Student Card to borrow books.

Library Fines

No overdue fines will be charged during the current restrictions.

Please note that our services have been developed in line with Government, Health & Safety, and University protocols and are subject to change.

Book Returns

If you have books on loan or overdue you can return them to any of the libraries. No fines are being charged during the current restrictions.
You can return your Library books to the book boxes in Aungier Street, Bolton Street, and/or Park House Grangegorman Library. You do not need to schedule an appointment to return Library books.

Aungier Street Library book return box

Located outside the Library

Bolton Street Library book return box

Located outside the Library

Park House Grangegorman Library book return box

Located in the main lobby beside the Library reception desk

If you are worried about your library account you can contact your home library by email and library staff will answer your query.

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LibGuides: Library Services & Collections during COVID-19 -city centre libraries: Home

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Skip to Main Content It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

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The amounts of online platform and other digital sources of information are exploding and infrastructure for accessing material improves almost daily. In building the next generation of digital libraries, multimedia and artificial intelligence will play several important roles. The multimedia nature of digital libraries requires digital librarians for the locating of relevant information efficiently and cost- effectively and disseminating it in a wide variety of a formats of digital information system (DIS). The advent of digital libraries presents a plethora of challenges and opportunities to the digital librarian. Digital librarians add value and can make digital libraries truly useful and user friendly.

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This day, libraries and internet has play an important role in helping community to access information especially when this world now were attacked by a pandemic called Covid-19. This pandemic had caused many disadvantages for people that wanted to gained information but luckily now we were in digital age and nothing is impossible when it comes to gaining knowledges. The roles that libraries now doing which are to obtain and secure ownership of digital content that usually by licence, store it on local servers and make it accessable by particular community while the Internet facilitate the libraries to using those method so that people can still access the information that are hold within the libraries even they were in difficulties such as in a lockdown or so on.

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Surrey Libraries is working to keep everyone safe at our branches.

Last Updated: March 11, 2022

We're happy to welcome you to our branches, but things are a bit different. To follow provincial health orders and WorkSafeBC guidelines, we have many safety measures to protect our patrons and staff:

Do not enter the branch if you feel unwell or are required to self-isolate

Masks are recommended

Proof of vaccination is required for in-branch program participation for anyone aged 12+

Anyone displaying symptoms of illness will not be allowed into the branch

Thank you for your continued patience and support as we face this pandemic together.

Find more information in our Surrey Libraries COVID-19 Safety Plan. The City of Surrey also publishes a list of COVID-19 exposures at the City of Surrey's civic facilities.

Safety Measures

What we're doing

Following all Provincial Health Orders

Providing hand sanitizer

Plexiglass dividers at service counters

Frequently cleaning high-touch areas

Training Library staff in safety measures

Checking proof of vaccination for in-branch programming for everyone aged 12+

What you can do

Stay home if you are feeling sick or are required to self-isolate

Consider wearing a mask in the library

Wash or sanitize your hands before entering the building

Follow all signs

Always remain with your children when in the library

Services

Available

Holds pick-up

Book returns (only during open hours at Clayton)

Computer access

Wi-Fi

Browsing shelves to select materials

Newspapers and magazines

Printing and photocopying

Scanning (All locations except the Ocean Park and Port Kells branches)

Self-checkout stations

Paton assistance and technology help

Washroom access

Book sales at some locations

If you do not wish to enter the library and would still like to borrow material, please call your local branch to discuss your options.

Not Available

Group tours at some locations - call in advance to check

Group and silent study rooms at some locations - call in advance to check

Accepting materials donations

Meeting room rentals at some locations

In-person programming with added safety measures

If you have any questions, please contact us.

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We're happy to welcome you to our branches, but things are a bit different.

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Virtual & Augmented Reality in UiTM Library

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Virtual & Augmented Reality in UiTM Library

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In my opinion, the direction of using Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) as the medium in the sharing of the collection of materials, books or media that are easily accessible for use and not just for display purposes is brilliant. Fits with a library responsible for housing updated information in order to meet the user's needs on a daily basis, libraries in our digital era or arena need to make sure that applications of modern technology are applied in the library. Ensuring the relevance of the library as the source of information, this small action by using VR and AR in the library might be the small action that led towards the big leap.

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Virtual & Augmented Reality - UiTM Library

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Bring complex subject matter to life Universities and colleges have always been at the cutting edge of new technologies, driving development and creating the next generation of scientists, developers and entrepreneurs. Virtual and augmented reality technologies are at the frontier of development right now