Challenges for Academic Libraries in the Networked World

Christine L. Borgman

Professor & Presidential Chair in Information Studies

UCLA

&

Visiting Professor of Information Science

Loughborough University

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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From Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure: Access to Information in the Networked World

1. The Premise and Promise of a Global Information Infrastructure

2. Is it Digital or is it a Library? Digital Libraries and Information Infrastructure

3. Access to Information

4. Books, Bytes, and Behavior

5. Why are Digital Libraries Hard to Use?

6. Making Digital Libraries Easier to Use

7. Whither, or Wither, Libraries?

8. Acting Locally, Thinking Globally

9. Toward a Global Digital Library: Progress and Prospects

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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Outline of Talk

• The role of libraries in information infrastructure• Four challenges for libraries in a digital age

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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The Role of Libraries in Information Infrastructure

• What role will institutions play in information infrastructure?

• What are the uses and who are the users of an information infrastructure?

• What information resources and services are needed, and how should they be provided?

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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Four challenges for libraries in a digital age

1. Invisible infrastructure

2. Content and collections

3. Preservation and access

4. Institutional boundaries

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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Challenge 1: Invisible infrastructure

• Information work is – embedded in other structures,

– is transparent,

– is linked with conventions of practice

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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Invisible successes

• Good library design means that people can find what they need, when they need it, in a form they want it

• Good design is less obvious than bad design• Libraries risk being victims of their own success

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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Invisible content and costs

• Digital vs. print resources• Fee vs. free resources• Added value by libraries and librarians

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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Challenge 2: Content and collections

• Purposes of collections (Buckland, 1992)– Preservation

– Dispensing

– Bibliographic

– Symbolic

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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Content and collections (cont’d)

• Digital collections transcend time and place• Access vs. assets• Just in time vs. just in case• Uses and users of collections

– How are collections used, and by whom?

– How do uses and users vary between print and digital collections?

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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Challenge 3: Preservation and access

• Collections must be preserved– Preservation of physical artifacts

– Preservation of content

– Preservation of metadata

– Persistent access

• Digitization does not equal preservation

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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Challenge 3: Preservation and access (cont)

• Persistence of online resources – Location changes: document is at a new URL; documents linked from

the page move to different URLs.

– Content changes: address is the same but the content has changed; documents are updated without changing name or location.

– Format changes: document is migrated to a new software format; intellectual content may be the same, but the documents are no longer “bit for bit” identical.

– Status changes: document content is no longer current; it is superseded by another document at another location, and may or may not be linked to the subsequent document

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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Challenge 4: Institutional Boundaries

• Libraries• Museums• Archives• Schools• Publishers• Businesses• Government agencies...

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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What are digital libraries?

• New forms of information institutions• Multimedia information retrieval systems• Information systems that support the creation, use, and

searching of digital content• Enabling technologies for

– Digital asset management– Electronic commerce– Electronic publishing– Teaching and learning– ...

Ljubljana, Academic Libraries Conference, May 2002

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Summary & Conclusions

• Four challenges for libraries:– Invisible infrastructure

– Content and collections

– Preservation and access

– Institutional boundaries

• Libraries as spaces and places