Library Learning Spaces in the Digital Age

Students describe the Library as being central to their learning, offering focus and inspiration, enabling access to information and technologies, and collaboration with peers. Deakin University Library’s building redevelopment program has been integral to the Library’s re-imagined value proposition for students learning in the digital age. The introduction of new generation library and learning spaces strengthens the University’s offer to students for a brilliant education where you are and where you want to go through premium cloud and located learning experiences that are personal, engaging and relevant. The Library’s building projects are distinctive in terms of location and the built environment, as well as the characteristics of the university campus communities. Each progressive project has brought new aspirations and challenges. Through joint research with Deakin University’s School of Architecture and Built Environment, the Library has developed a quality framework for planning and assessing library and learning spaces. This paper will discuss the research findings to date on the quality framework and the need to continually review and assess indicators of quality in a highly dynamic digital environment. The Library’s experiences in introducing high-end multimedia provide some insights into planning for and delivering enduring value. The next steps in exploring the question of how library spaces assist students in achieving their learning goals are introduced

The Reflective Practice for Sustainable Future: A Case Study Focusing the Library of Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka

This paper reviews the initiatives taken by the library of Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka (BPUSL) to achieve the SDGs to create a sustainable environment in the library as well as in the university. It also discusses various steps taken by the university as well as the other units connecting it to information as a strategic resource and attempts an articulation of the concept of sustainable information and quality education, building on a sustainable future at the university under the theme of “sustainable university”. The article discusses further recent initiatives taken to upgrade the quality of the library services,  automation project to automate the whole library collection, scanning important rare and old books to create digital archive, preparing attractive library building by planting flowers and facilitating natural resources for reading areas addressing the goals on quality and equitable education, gender equity, literacy skills, health, and the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies, justice and strong institutions. The main objective of the article is to share reflective practices among LIS professionals in the field. Action research method was applied to write this article as it describes the reflective practices which promote sustainable future in the university and future endeavors as well. The paper concludes with suggestions on integrating concepts of sustainable information into higher education and role of information professionals towards the achievement of sustainable goals

High-Throughput Workflow for Computer-Assisted Human Parsing of Biological Specimen Label Data

4th International Conference on Open RepositoriesThis presentation was part of the session : Conference PostersHundreds of thousands of specimens in herbaria and natural history museums worldwide are potential candidates for digitization, making them more accessible to researchers. An herbarium contains collections of preserved plant specimens created for scientific use. Herbarium specimens are ideal natural history objects for digitization, as the plants are pressed flat and dried, and mounted on individual sheets of paper, creating a nearly two-dimensional object. Building digital repositories of herbarium specimens can increase use and exposure of the collections while simultaneously reducing physical handling. As important as the digitized specimens are, the data contained on the associated specimen labels provide critical information about each specimen (e.g., scientific name, geographic location of specimen, etc.). The volume and heterogeneity of these printed label data present challenges in transforming them into meaningful digital form to support research. The Apiary Project is addressing these challenges by exploring and developing transformation processes in a systematic workflow that yields high-quality machine-processable label data in a cost- and time-efficient manner. The University of North Texas's Texas Center for Digital Knowledge (TxCDK) and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), with funding from an Institute of Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grant, are conducting fundamental research with the goal of identifying how human intelligence can be combined with machine processes for effective and efficient transformation of specimen label information. The results of this research will yield a new workflow model for effective and efficient label data transformation, correction, and enhancement.Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Leadership Gran

A Collaborative Workflow for Digitization of Unique Materials

This paper examines the experience of one institution, the University of Maryland Libraries, as it made organizational efforts to harness existing workflows and to capture digitization done in the course of responding to patron requests. By examining the way this organization adjusted its existing workflows to put in place more systematic methods for digital capture of unique collections, the authors hope to provide insight into the benefits and pitfalls of one model for scaling up digitization

UCL (University College London) Libraries Masterplan: Library Report to Estates Management Committee January 2008

This document is a Report from UCL Library Services to UCL on Master Planning activities and outputs which have been undertaken to quantify use and development of estate in UCL Library Services. Prioritised options have been identified for the UCL Main and Science Libraries, and for a new central site option. This work has also addressed the needs of UCL for long-term offsite storage, which concludes that UCL needs to retain its facility at Wickford for at least the next ten years

A Collaborative Workflow for Digitization of Unique Materials

This paper examines the experience of one institution, the University of Maryland Libraries, as it made organizational efforts to harness existing workflows and to capture digitization done in the course of responding to patron requests. By examining the way this organization adjusted its existing workflows to put in place more systematic methods for digital capture of unique collections, the authors hope to provide insight into the benefits and pitfalls of one model for scaling up digitization

Development and construction of China

Libraries in China's higher education institutions have been developing in keeping pace with the flourishing development of China's higher education. This article aims to make an introduction to the construction of China's higher education libraries, especially the recent three decades' achievements since China's reform and opening-up in 1978. In this article, the authors draw a general picture of the development of libraries in China's higher education institutions, covering such eight aspects as management, types and positioning, organizational structure and personnel, expenditure and buildings, reader service, building and sharing of resources as well as automation system.</p

Libraries in Switzerland

Ausgehend von einem historischen Überblick schildert der Beitrag die Entwicklung der Schweizer Bibliotheken in der Zeit von 1970 bis 2010: soziopolitischer Kontext, Struktur des Bibliothekswesen, technischer Wandel, wichtigste Akteure und aktuelle Herausforderungen. Starting with a brief history of libraries in Switzerland, this report focusses on the development of Swiss libraries from 1970 to 2010: socio-political context, structure of the Swiss library sector, change driven by technology, main actors, and challenges at the beginning of the new millennium. Suite à un aperçu historique, l'article décrit le développement des bibliothèques suisses dans la période de 1970 à 2010: le contexte socio-politique, la structure du secteur des bibliothèques, les changements technologiques, les principaux acteurs et les défis actuels