Transcript Are we Fit for the Future?

Are we Fit for the Future?
Judy Palmer
Radcliffe Science Library
Oxford
[email protected]
Professional futures
Most successful professionals and
professions were those with their eye
on the horizon
Future of the Professions;Council for Excellence in Management and
Leadership 2002.
Information futures
Amazoogle culture
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Order vs anarchy
Scarcity vs overload
Transitory collections and publications
Environmental scan : pattern recognition,
OCLC, 2004
Future assumptions
Increased emphasis on digitisation
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Evolving skill set for librarians
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Demands for faster and greater access
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IP issues
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Demand for technology driven services
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HE seeing libraries as business
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Students will see themselves as customers & consumers
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Growth of distance learning
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Open access to publicly funded research will increase
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Privacy
ACRL: Top Ten Assumptions for the Future
http://www.ala.org
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How much do we know about our
users?
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Scientists use:
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Google
Yahoo
PubMed
Librarians use:
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Science Direct
ISI Web of Science
MedLine
PubMed
What do we know about what our
users think of us?
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Copyright/IPR
IT Support
Metadata manager
e-accessor
VRE manager
E-learning facilitator
Datasets Manager
IR manager
Archive custodian
Subject expert in and out of library
Teacher of info skills
Researchers’ use of academic libraries and their services, 2007
http://www.rin.ac.uk
Researchers’ identification of core roles
for librarians in 5 years’ time
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80
70
60
%
50
40
30
20
10
A r t s & h u m a n it ies
Soc ia l sc ien c es
Ph y sic a l sc ien c es
Tech specialist
Manage
datasets
Teach info
skills
Subject expert
Administrator
Manage IRs
Custodian
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Life sc ien c es
The relative importance of librarians' roles in 5 years
time: the views of library directors, other library staff,
and researchers (per cent)
T ea c h er of in for m a t ion lit er a c y
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Spec ia list a dv isor in c opy r ig h t /IPR
Su bjec t ex per t (libr a r y )
90
80
70
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IT su ppor t ex per t
Su bjec t ex per t (em bedded)
50
40
30
20
Ma n a g er for m et a da t a
A dm in ist r a t or
10
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T ec h n ol spec 't (e-a c c ess)
IR m a n a g er
T ec h n olog y spec ia list (V REs)
Fa c ilit a t or for e-lea r n in g
Library directors
Cu st odia n a r c h iv es, spec c ollec t ion s
Ma n a g er of e-sc ien c e/g r id da t a set s
Library staff
Researchers
Librarians and Users
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There are significant differences of perceptions and views
between researchers and librarians, and differences in
awareness of key issues. They agree that communication
channels need to be improved. How is a major challenge.
The research community – in the widest sense – is using
social networking technologies to exchange and share
research-based information. The role of libraries in these
developments is at present ill-defined.
Researchers may not readily recognize that the content they
receive on their desktop is provided through the library, or be
aware of the administrative overheads involved. This presents
a branding and marketing challenge for libraries.
Are librarians obsolete?
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http://www.degreetutor.com/library/adul
t-continued-education/librariansneeded
What do we need to be?
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Organisational anthropologists
Explorers outside the library
Linguists and Translators
Analysts and Assessors
Information architects and Structure
Engineers (metadata)
Subject information experts
Knowledge Managers
Techno-sperts
Impact of Web 2.0
Traditional Library Activity
Web 2.0
Cataloguing
Automated metadata (del.icio.us
Classification
Folksonomies, semantic web
Acquisitions
E-bay,Paypal,Amazon,
Abebooks
Reference
Wikipedia
User education
Chatrooms
Space
Bedroom and Starbucks with a
laptop
Collections
Youtube, Flikr, Google Books
Professional expertise
Wisdom of crowds
The Social Web or Web 2.0
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE
Fighting fit!
“Take the high ground. Stay in touch
and keep on moving!”
Advice to US Marines