The network reconfigures the library: people and places, collections and services.Lorcan Dempsey

Lir Seminar 200814 April 2008Liberty Hall, Dublin

Picture: Robin Alston

• Then: vertically integrated around collection

• Now: moving apart in network environment

• New skills ….

Space Expertise

CollectionsSystems and services

HIGH TOUCH SERVICEPlace

Place

• Place– Space infused with value– How has the value changed over time?– Engagement with collections, expertise and services?

• Space– Opportunity costs– Valuable real estate– Growing pressure in many

environments

– New spaces

Place

• Infrastructure -> “customer relations”• Higher value activity

– Access to scarce resources – people, equipment, specialist advice, exhibition, …

– Individual, group, social

These student comments suggest that good study space is responsive to the

academic and social dimensions of study in ways that allow students to control them

both.

Scott Bennett

Gleason LibraryU Rochester

Photos: S. Gibbons

ENGAGE WITH THE LEARNING PROCESS

PARTNERSHIP

REPURPOSE AND RECALIBRATE

Place

NEW DIRECTIONSCollections

Collections gridhigh low

low

high

STEWARDSHIP

UN

IQU

EN

ES

SBooks•Journals•Newspapers•Gov. docs•CD, DVD•Maps•Scores

Special collections•Rare books•Local/Historical newspapers•Local history materials•Archives & Manuscripts,•Theses & dissertations

Research, learning and administrativematerials, •ePrints/tech reports•Learning objects•Courseware•E-portfolios•Research data

•Institutional records•Reports, newsletters, etc

Freely-accessible web resources•Websites•Open source software•Newsgroup archives

Trends

• Mass digitization and off-site storage• Licensed: rented• ‘Special collections’ onto the web• Thematic collections of web resources• Research, learning and administrative

materials ‘published’ on the web• The new special collections.

Thematic research collections

• Published materials: discourse

• Primary materials: evidence

• Interpreted materials: exhibition

• Library

• Archive

• Museum

NEGOTIATION

ENGAGEMENT WITH RESEARCHERS AND LEARNERS AS CREATORS

ARCHIVAL PRACTICE: INSTITUTIONAL ASSETS

INTERPRETATION AND EXHIBITION

Collections

THE PERSON IS AN ENTRY POINTExpertise

Source: Susan Gibbons, U Rochester

IMPROVE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND LEARNING CAPACITIES:

PUBLISHING

INTERPRETING AVAILABLE RESOURCES IN TERMS OF SPECIFIC RESEARCH AND LEARNING NEEDS

SPECIALIST CONSULTANCY: GIS, METADATA, IPR, …

MARKETING AND ASSESSMENT: UNDERSTAND NEEDS AND DEVELOP SERVICES TO MEET THOSE NEEDS

Expertise

IN THE FLOWServices and systems

libraryConsumer environmentsManagement environment

Licensed

Bought

Faculty&studentsDigitized Aggregations

Resource sharing

…

Institutional WorkflowPortals,

CMS, IR, …

PersonalWorkflow

RSS, toolbars, ..

Network level workflow

Google, …

Integratedlocal user

environment?Library web

presenceResource sharing, …

Discovery happens elsewhere

Resources are abundant; attention scarce

Build services around workflow

The big squeeze

Now: Federated access to multi-institutional holdings with support for personal collection-building and sharing

SUPPORT FOR FACULTY AND STUDENT GATHER/CREATE/SHARE

PLACING THE LIBRARY IN THE FLOW

DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT

MORE SOPHISTICATED SOURCING DECISIONS

Systems and services

VALUE TRANSLATION: SHOWING THE VALUE OF THE LIBRARY IN THE CONTEXT OF THE VALUES OF THE HOME INSTITUTION

Leadership

Thank youhttp://orweblog.oclc.org