Thinking beyond Digital Libraries. A wrap-up of the 7 th Bielefeld Conference Hans Geleijnse Director of Library and IT Services Tilburg University

Beyond the digital library: the key issues are To make better use of what we have achieved so far To take the perspective of the customers to integrate the digital library in the daily work process of students, teachers and researchers

Orientation on current and future needs of our users HE will become more demand driven Next generation: self sufficient information seekers Collaborative research and learning Need for fast, open, mobile, secure and personalised access to information and IT tools

The library can contribute and make a difference More focus on the integration of the DL in the eLearning process Engagement in development of institutional repositories: access, visibility, archiving Can contribute to more cooperation and integration in the university

E-learning Library should work side by side with faculty in content creation and presentation and should provide support But…this new role will not be accepted naturally and, in general, librarians are not ready for it

Institutional repositories and Open Access One of the most important developments of the last years. In NL all universities have already such a repository Support is increasing Publishers can’t ignore it anymore New solutions and new business models in scholarly communication are needed. There is progress Continue cooperation with publishers… but maybe in a slightly different role

E-learning and E-publishing A sustainable infrastructure is needed Integrated information environment Need for more cooperation between universities, nationally and internationally Also important innovations in the market: digital content, superior tools, etc Commercial exploitation vs. Open access

Information Strategy These issues should be addressed in an information strategy Information Strategy should be part of the University Strategy Library can contribute significantly to the success of the organisation

Organisation Tendency towards more centralized facilities with decentralized services Close cooperation with IT services, Media Services, Learning Centers, Publishing centers Internal work processes of the library should be redesigned. Reduction of some traditional tasks and functions is inevitable

Cooperation Clear tendency towards stronger cooperation at the national and international level Need for common information and IT infrastructure, common standards Preservation and digital archiving Network of repositories en independent entities for certification

Key issues for library strategy We should know more about real use and user behavior Activities and services more user driven Seamless access to information anywhere, anytime and at any device Support to new developments in teaching, learning and research Closer cooperation with departments

Final question Can libraries still provide added value tomorrow? We should not sit around and wait for the answer