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 INTRODUCTION Highlight 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 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 PROVISION Managing digital resources e.g. print vs e-books Owning books vs Using books for research Affordability of resources will always be an issue

RESOURCE PROVISION Open Access (OA) materials enhancements advocacy repositories new layer of management article processing fee free to users but cost involved Libraries’ 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 PROVISION Creating new resources Digital library / repository platforms Library systems Social 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 PROVISION Creating new resources Not one-off project, aim for resource creation to be a routine regular library service Work suitable for library involvement Faculty produced, unique resources Requires content organization & description Make use of expertise of librarians

RESOURCE PROVISION Creating new resources Impact on library organization Role of subject librarians Roles of cataloguers Re-organisation of work – drawing on teams

Resource provision PATHS 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

In pursuit of ideas and thoughts DISCOVERY 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 ideas DISCOVERY Libraries are organized for discovery Classification Catalogue

Other ways of discovery DISCOVERY Libraries used less for discovery now Libraries forced to emulate what is available on the Internet Libraries will follow technological trends

Other ways of discovery DISCOVERY 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 libraries DISCOVERY Organized access to scholarly materials “Slow” media (e.g. books) are necessary Provide access to things behind pay wall

Social media DISCOVERY 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 there Not 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 Discovery PATHS TO CONTINUE, IMPROVE & BUILD

Increased information – more critical is unprecedented access More information does not make people more knowledgeable or wiser More information increases noise – previously controlled by libraries FACILITATING LEARNING Information landscape

Burden is on users to discern useful info Meta learning skills FACILITATING LEARNING More important today - to have meta- learning skills – i.e. learning how to learn Why librarians are good at this? Fundamental principle of libraries Non-prescriptive learning CONTENT USER BEHAVIOR Librarian

Involvement in classroom learning FACILITATING LEARNING Teaching information literacy An accepted part of academic librarians’ work – content continuously evolving Often conducted as supporting activity & not integrated in learning Active partnership in classroom learning More 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 participation Archived materials used for revision All the while monitored by the Sociology Librarian !!

Platforms for research & teaching support FACILITATING 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 involvement FACILITATING LEARNING NTU Libraries - Building platforms (e.g. blogs) with teaching staff Provide librarians with experience & contacts Greater & 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 learning PATHS TO CONTINUE, IMPROVE & BUILD 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

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