Towards Digital Age: Trends of Academic Libraries in Mainland China PRDLA 2010 Meeting Fudan Shanghai

Outline Introduction Challenges Trends

Introduction The cause of academic libraries is part of the cause of higher education The reform and development of academic libraries are depending on the reform and development of higher education of China

The development of Higher Education in China YearHigher institutions Total enrollment Rate of enrollment Average student < 1% < 5% ～ < 10% ～ > 20%15715 Source ： Yearbook of China Education ， Website of the Ministry of Education

Public higher institutions 1908 –4 years 740 –2 or 3 years 1168 Including vocational institutions 1015 Adults higher institutions 413 Private higher institutions 906 Another source (by ): 1983

The development of academic libraries yearAverage budget Average collections Average staff Average space ,851294, , , , , , source ： Journal for Academic Libraries, statistics by Steering Committee for Academic Libraries

Case: Peking University Library yearbudgetcollectionstaffspace ,0003,355, , ,250,0004,169, ,000,0004,672, , ,000,0005,618, ,979 Note: collection not including digital resource

Administrative mechanism –Bureau of Higher Education, Ministry of Education –Policy making –Steering Committee for Academic Libraries— Advisory and Coordinating –Library Society of Academic Libraries—Scholarly communication activities

Cooperation and resource sharing –National : 3 “C”-CALIS, CASHL, CADAL DRAA-Digital Resource Acquisition Alliance –Regional –Local –Special

Challenges In general, as for library development, this is the best period in the history However, we are facing serious challenges –Fast changes –Unbalanced development

Environment changes –E-publishing –E-communication –E-science –E-learning –E-everything –Wireless networking –Open access

User changes –Reading behavior Browsing Scattering –Self-service –One-stop access –Copy and paste –Leaving library –Social networking

Library changes –Catalog became weak –Cataloging is out of main stream –Circulation goes down –Reference decrease –Outsourcing increase –Digital conservation and preservation –Integrating e-resource with paper material –……

Report about Catalog for LC （ 2006 ） : The destabilizing influences of the Web, widespread ownership of personal computers, and rising computer literacy have created an era of discontinuous change in research libraries—a time when the cumulated assets of the past do not guarantee future success. The library catalog is such an asset. Today, a large and growing number of students and scholars routinely bypass library catalogs in favor of other discovery tools, and the catalog represents a shrinking proportion of the universe of scholarly information. 14

The catalog is in decline, its processes and structures are unsustainable, and change needs to be swift. 15

Change is so fast and broad, we are not fit in various aspects: –Vision and attitude –Administration –Management –Organization –Work flow –Staffing –Standard –……

Trends Facing so many changes, it’s useless to resist or stand by, rather, we have to promote the digital library construction, from “Hybrid” to “E-only”. We may need to pay attention to the following trends: –Resource filtering and evaluation –Infometric services

–Embedding knowledge service into e-science and e-learning –Information literacy education –Mobile services –Data linking and knowledge organizing with ontology –Cloud services

More and more, we need a lot of technicians and tools Staff training and knowledge sharing will be the proper way And, cooperation!

Thanks ！