Transcript Track 1 – Part II What can TEL do for researchers

Track 1 – Part 1
What can we do to
prepare the library of the
future for researchers ?
The Europeana Library
Conference
Madrid, December 2012
Background
 Traditional purpose of library under pressure
 Expectations and possibilities shaped by digital
changes
 Changing patterns of work and information
consumption – students, researchers, teacher,
public, publishers, new media companies
 Current economic austerity reducing budgets
Background
 Researchers visiting libraries less often,
particularly in science subjects
 What can national and research libraries
do to remain relevant to those undertaking
research ?
Managing research data
sets
 Library takes more control of managing research
data sets
 Focus could be on researcher at institution or a
particular subject field
 Long-term digital preservation of data sets also
important
 Creating relationships between journal articles
and datasets
Improving Licensing
Capabilities
 Work more closely with consortia or directly with
publishers
 Find better ways to lower costs
 Find ways to improve accuracy of data supplied
by publishers on collections; sharing that
information with other libraries
 Improving negotiations with publishers to allow
for more sophisticated use of licenced content
(esp., text and data mining)
Greater focus on sharing
collections
 Improve metadata via automated
processes
 Sharing metadata (and content) with
different aggregators
 More time and money spent on Search
Engine Optimisation
Changing Physical
Space
 Remove many of physical collections from
direct access within library
 Provide more space for research,
teaching, group learning, individual
learning
 Create library as a more of a social space
Helping Research
Teams
 Librarians becoming part of research
teams
 Providing guidance on such issues as
Open Access and publication, dataset
creation, preservation,
 Subject librarian replaces by research
librarian
Enhancing Discovery
 Working with providers to improve search
experience for users
 Building new tools for searching and
analysing digital content, concentrating on
particular collections or subject areas
 (Alternatively, … letting Google do much
more searching)
Developing Mobile
Technologies
 Providing end-user services via mobile
phones
 Improving resource discovery and
resource delivery via phones (e.g. QR
codes for scanning in the library, location
centric)
 Expand reminder services for users via
mobiles
More public engagement
 Greater exposure of unique collections to
external researchers
 Find new ways for students to interact with
unique collections
 Greater focus on physical exhibition space –
interaction with general public
 More crowdsourcing type projects to interact
with public
Focus on the Digital
Library
 Provide smaller physical library
 Go digital for as much of the library
collection as possible
 Follow public / private deals to digitise
special collections
 Place most of physical collection in other
locations outside main library
Other possibilities …
 You may have other ideas …. ?
 You may have undertaken ideas that you can
share with others
 Discuss in groups of x??
 Write headline ideas on post it notes (as many as
you want
 There are no limits and very few bad ideas !
 Big ideas (broader strategies) AND small ideas
(short-term goals)
 Put them all on sheet on the wall
What can we do to prepare the
library of the future for
researchers ?
Focus on the Digital Library / Students and
Researchers ? / Science, Technology,
Medicine / Arts, Humanities, Social
Sciences / Focus on secondary resources
/ Aggregate digitised primary resources /
Aggregate collections-level metadata /
Maintain focus on bibliographic data
And now …
 Select top 10 ideas on post it notes
 Place them on second sheets on wall,
according to cost and impact
 Select one person to speak for two minutes
on your choices 