Libraries unleashed

Today’s Education Guardian includes a Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-sponsored supplement entitled Libraries unleashed, which looks into the impact of ICT on academic libraries, JISC’s contribution to their development and some of the challenges being faced by libraries in the digital age.  As well as being online at the Education Guardian website, a paper copy is available in the newspaper area of level 2, Riccarton Library, and also in the library at Galashiels.

Here are some quotes from the supplement:

Academic libraries are changing faster than at any time in their history.

Spending on libraries and learning spaces over the next five years will be enormous, at around £1bn, according to the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Most academic research is publicly funded, yet the tax-payer cannot get access to its results.

A recent survey shows many students from the so-called ‘Google generation’ lack the basic skills needed for online research.

Students of all ages need to learn to make independent assessments of the quality of material by looking at the authors’ experience, funders, use of sources, and where published.

By embracing the interactive, user-generated world of web 2.0, libraries can ensure they keep pace with bold new ways of learning.

Initial research suggests there is considerable room for university library expansion into e-books.

The expectations of students are one of the biggest drivers of change in libraries.

…although young people are generally at ease with computers, they rely heavily on search engines, view rather than read, and lack the critical and analytical skills to assess information they find online.

The move to digital content has fundamentally altered how librarians support researchers in the last 10 years.

There are items in the supplement on the Saltire Centre, the Quiet revolution in Web 2.0, Academia’s big guns fight ‘Google effect’ and interviews with several librarians on how their role has changed over the past few years.

This is an interesting, thought-provoking supplement, which shows just how much libraries are changing, and will need to continue to change.

How do you think Heriot-Watt Library should develop over the next few years?  How do you think the Library should address the challenges of the digital age?  Why don’t you let us know, either by posting a comment on this blog, or letting us know if you have a comment, complaint or suggestion.

Roddy MacLeod
Senior Subject Librarian