Charting New Roads – Moving Libraries Forward

Questioning libraries

The decline and the Fall of the Library Empire / Steve Coffman. Searcher v20(3) April 2012

The Library Autopsy Report / Brian T. Sullivan. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2 Jan 2011

INTRODUCTIONHighlight some areas of library work that is important

for us to continue doing & to build new capabilities

REFRAMING LIBRARIES

Storehouse of books

and documents

Learning Facilitating the use of

information for

Wisdom

CHARTING NEW & IMPROVED PATHS

Learning & knowledge

As provider of information resources

As discovery tool

As facilitator of learning

FOCUSING ON 3 AREAS

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Promote effective use of information

A place for building community

RESOURCE PROVISION

Most people are satisfied with info found from Google

Formal publications ($$$$!) are essential to academic work & research

Pooling of resources lead to cheaper & wider access

Pooling of resources

New technology requires management

RESOURCE PROVISIONManaging digital resources

e.g. print vs e-books

Owning books vs Using books for research

Affordability of resources will always be an issue

RESOURCE PROVISIONOpen Access (OA) materials

enhancementsadvocacy

repositories

new layer of managementarticle processing fee

free to usersbut cost involvedLibraries’ roles in OA

Roles in Green route

Roles in Gold route

Also need to continue with provision of access to current resources

New technology provides new opportunities for collaborative work with faculty and users

RESOURCE PROVISIONCreating new resources

Digital library / repository platformsLibrary systemsSocial media tools, blogs, etc

NTU example – Bagan Murals, EOS, ADM

ROLE OF LIBRARIAN• Site design• Design information

organization, taxonomy

• Facilitate sharing of content via social media tool

• Add value – design interactive map

Using Wordpress

Interactive map (designed by Library)

OTHER EXAMPLES

RESOURCE PROVISIONCreating new resources

Not one-off project, aim for resource creation to be a routine regular library service

Work suitable for library involvementFaculty produced, unique resources

Requires content organization & description

Make use of expertise of librarians

RESOURCE PROVISIONCreating new resources

Impact on library organization

Role of subject librariansRoles of cataloguers

Re-organisation of work – drawing on teams

Resource provisionPATHS TO CONTINUE, IMPROVE & BUILD

Optimal way to manage a more complex mix of resources, including new ones

Manage IR for green route OA

Manage gold route OA

Produce new resources & content with faculty

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In pursuit of ideas and thoughtsDISCOVERY

Ideas & thoughts change the world

“The whole idea of a library is based on a misunderstanding: that the reader goes into the library to find a book whose title he knows” Instead the essential function of a library “is to discover books of whose existence the reader has no idea” (1993)

An insight from Eco Umberto

A superb place for discovery of ideas

Library for discovery of ideasDISCOVERY

Libraries are organized for discoveryClassification

Catalogue

Other ways of discoveryDISCOVERY

Libraries used less for discovery now

Libraries forced to emulate what is available on the Internet

Libraries will follow technological trends

Other ways of discoveryDISCOVERY

Based on document attributes - libraries

Based on usage pattern, recommendations

e.g. Google, Amazon, Netflix, etc.

Recognize that libraries is just one of many nodes for discovery

Promote use of different sources according to purpose

For academic research and learning, libraries are valuable :

Emphasizing uniqueness of librariesDISCOVERY

Organized access to scholarly materials“Slow” media (e.g. books) are necessaryProvide access to things behind pay wall

Social mediaDISCOVERY

Information discovery - from friends to social media

Social media is a tool for librarians to help users in information discovery

NTU Libraries adopt a whole-of-organization approach – to train all librarians to participate in social media

Libraries need to have strong presence thereNot just for outreach – also to promote information discovery

Using Facebook to lead users to resources

Librarians in social mediaDISCOVERY

Participate in social media sites of users and others

Encourage library staff to build reputation online as information discovery “agents”

Moving reference work to social media space - Waiting for queries vs seeking out information needs

Take holistic approach to discovery in designing library services

Emphasizing strength of library in academic work

Have strong presence in social media

Librarians build strong reputation online

Continue implementation & development of discovery tools

DiscoveryPATHS TO CONTINUE, IMPROVE & BUILD

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Increased information – more critical is unprecedented accessMore information does not make people more knowledgeable or wiser

More information increases noise – previously controlled by libraries

FACILITATING LEARNINGInformation landscape

Burden is on users to discern useful info

Meta learning skillsFACILITATING LEARNING

More important today - to have meta-learning skills – i.e. learning how to learnWhy librarians are good at this?

Fundamental principle of libraries

Non-prescriptive learning

CONTENTUSER

BEHAVIORLibrarian

Involvement in classroom learningFACILITATING LEARNING

Teaching information literacyAn accepted part of academic librarians’ work – content continuously evolvingOften conducted as supporting activity & not integrated in learning

Active partnership in classroom learningMore direct contact with learners

Using course blogs in NTU Libraries

Example 1 : COURSE BLOGS – Conservation Psychology

• Student assignments in blog format

• Psychology librarian set up blogs

• Teach student • Provide advice (reference

services) on content – greater interaction – more embedded

Example 2 : COURSE BLOGS – Contemporary Social Theory – one semester course

Course management tools to discuss readings

Librarian set up blog, with links to reading materials

Blog is openly accessible

All postings are archived

80 students – 888 comments to postings – of substantial length

Students enjoy sharing ideas & opinions with classmates – able to convey better than face to face

Strong class participationArchived materials used for revision

All the while monitored by the Sociology Librarian !!

Platforms for research & teaching supportFACILITATING LEARNING

With history professor :

An international, multilingual resource for teachers and scholars to share resources on scientific & technical issues related to disasters in Japan

Each institution has different situation that requires different approaches in enagaging in classroom learning

Strategies for classroom involvementFACILITATING LEARNING

NTU Libraries - Building platforms (e.g. blogs) with teaching staff

Provide librarians with experience & contactsGreater & better direct contact with learners

Develop new approaches & services to in the future

Continue to develop new programmes in information literacy work

Help teaching staff build cooperative platforms for learning

Facilitating learningPATHS TO CONTINUE, IMPROVE & BUILD

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focus on meta learning skills to deal with global information environment

Find opportunities to be directly engaged with student learning

Continuing value of librariesCONCLUSION

Resource provision, discovery & learning

Libraries has seen through many “end of” predictions

Librarians will decide through their action on the survival of libraries

THANK YOUfcchoy@ntu.edu.sg