1 Seminar dan Pelatihan Kemelekaan Informasi: Keberlangsungannya dari Sekolah ke Perguruan Tinggi Universitas Pelita Harapan Desember 2007 The Academic Library in the 21 st Century Dr. Diljit Singh University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2 Outline of Presentation The information era The university – yesterday, today, and tomorrow The academic library in the 21 st century The academic librarian in the 21 st century information era

3 The Information Era A shift from Agricultural  Industrial  Informational

4 The Information Era Information in various forms

5 The Information Era Information comes in many forms Paper Books Newspapers Magazines Journals Office document ctc. Film Photographs TV productions X-rays etc Optical CDs DVDs Magnetic Hard disks Servers Electronic s SMS Web sites Blogs etc.

6 The Information Era We live in an Information Era A period where information is very important in our lives, and recorded information is easily accessible through computers and networks and through recorded information

7 The Information Era Work involves information Information involved in the process and the product –Acquisition –Organization –Utilization Productivity and competitiveness depends on how well they can access, generate, process, and apply information efficiently ICT has a major influence

8 The Information Era Affects many types of work Farming (in the past): –plant  harvest  sell Farming (today): –what is the best type of seed to plant? when to use fertilizer? when to harvest? what is the weather forecast? what is the current world market price?...??? Standard jobs –Doctor, lawyer, accountant, engineer, teacher, … Non-standard jobs –Technology-based, self-employed, work at home, part- time, outsourced

9 The University Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Information era has implications on learning YesterdayTodayTomorrow (Agricultural)(Industrial)(Informational) Tied to family and community Separate from families, placed in factory type environment Learn anywhere, anytime, any method Skills determined by surrounding world needs Experts create knowledgeDynamic knowledge – individualized meaning based on multiple sources of information Skills delivered by the experienced Teachers deliver knowledgeEducators facilitate information processing Assessment by supervised practice Assessment unrelated to real world performance Assessment based on ability to apply information to real world

10 The University Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Many changes in education, from school to university The ‘business’ of a university is information –Creation (through research) –Organization (through library, teaching-learning, …) –Dissemination (through teaching, publications, etc.) Changes in ‘what’ is done at a university, and ‘how’ it is done

11 The University Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Changes in universities –from teaching to research –from general to specialized graduates –from initial higher education to continuing education providers –from traditional lecturing to new ways of learning, delivery, assessment, funding, … The need for adaptation to the information age Adapting –Policies and procedure –Infrastructure –Human resources –Curriculum –Resources, including library

12 The Academic Library in the 21 st Century An academic library is part of a college or university, and supports the teaching-learning and research needs of its staff and students The role of the academic library has not changed What changed is how it plays the role –from print to electronic –from collection to access –from routine tasks to innovation –from stand-alone to collaboration –from “you come to the library” to “the library comes to you”

13 The Academic Library in the 21 st Century YesterdayTodayTomorrow ?? Types of materials Print publicationse-books, e-journals, online databases Information in multimedia format Location of materials Resources in the library Resources in and outside the library Resources anywhere in the world AcquisitionResources purchased Resources purchased, donated, exchanged Commercial, personal, and open access OrganizationResources cataloged and indexed Metadata, controlled vocabulary Social classification, folksonomy InstructionLibrary orientationUser instruction, information literacy Personalized knowledge management program Librarian‘Stand alone’Team memberEqual partner in learning

14 The Academic Library in the 21 st Century The library of the 21 st century will be: –An integrated information system –With information available in many formats – print, electronic, graphic, audio, video, etc. available from many parts of the world available anytime anywhere to users easy access, for those know how to find it and who have the means organized in a user-centered way instruction on how to find information readily available –Space in the library will be multi-purpose –With adequate funds –May not be known as ‘library’

15 The Academic Library in the 21 st Century To achieve that vision, the academic library must become a learning organization i.e., continually learning new KSA's (knowledge, skills, abilities or attitudes) and applying them to improve their products or services The way forward for academic libraries –Libraries must be the means, not the end –Libraries must face the realities of technology –Libraries must look at opportunities, not the problems –Libraries must change –Change must be led by the librarians

16 The Academic Librarian in the 21 st Century A librarian is a trained professional with knowledge and skills of the organization and management of information, and services to people with information needs Wherever information has to be located, gathered, processed, organized or used, the librarian has a role there Traditional role of librarian –acquisition, cataloging, circulation, … –‘this is the information we have; take it or leave it’ Today’s role of librarian –help users obtain the information they need –makes use of library skills, technology skills, human skills, management skills (e.g. marketing) –‘what information you need, I’ll try to help you find it’

17 The Academic Librarian in the 21 st Century We have a role in helping our users succeed in the information age Information age –Many information sources –Increased reliance on information –Greater use of ICT to access, process and store information –Governments spending large sums of money on the development ICT infrastructure (the ‘cars’ and the ‘highways’) Need to develop among people the ability to use this information effectively (the ‘drivers’ and ‘the driving skills’); need to develop also the intellectual capacity to use the information wisely (  ‘the thinking driver’)

18 The Information Age: Need for Information Literacy Education in the information age needs acquisition of knowledge AND an understanding of: –how to recognize a need for information –the information resources available –how to find information –how to evaluate the results –how to work with results –how to communicate the findings –how to use the information ethically and responsibly The librarian has a role in developing information literacy

19 To Summarize We live in an information era in the 21 st century, where information is important Education, from school to university, must change based on the needs of the information era The academic library of today is very different from the library of yesterday Academic librarians in the 21 st century must have library, technological, managerial, human, and informational skills, be information literate, and develop information literacy among users

20 In short, be prepared to change !

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