IT profiles and curricula for digital libraries in Europe

This paper examines the roles and competences of digital librarians and the trends of education for digital libraries in Europe. It puts two questions: What are the IT (Information Technology) profiles for digital librarians? How should they be educated? The analysis is based on the results of the European project European Curriculum Reflections on Library and Information Science Education and the proceedings of two Workshops on digital library education, held in Italy in 2005. Three approaches to education for the digital library have been described: 1) the emergence of the concept of “memory institutions”; 2) the library approach to information and knowledge management; 3) the IT isolation from LIS (Library and Information Science) schools. The roles of the digital librarian together with the structure of a course in digital librarianship, covering learning outcomes , competences and teaching methods is proposed, but further research is needed

The remaking of the librarian: average customer review 3 out of 5

Conference Theme: Libraries - Gateways to Information and Knowledge in the Digital AgeIn a world of rapid change, librarians often ponder their future, their shifting roles, even what they should call themselves and their libraries. This paper looks at some of these issues in the context of an academic library, the University of Hong Kong Libraries, and looks at the dilemmas facing librarians altering their traditional collection development policies through a growing emphasis on electronic resources as well as attempting to reinvent themselves to be closer aligned with their institution’s teaching and learning processes. The author also draws on his previous experience where experimental integration of libraries, education support and technology services resulted in improved services for students and a variety of experiences for librarians. Through two very different surveys at the University of Hong Kong, a biennial climate survey and a smaller targeted faculty survey, the author considers the views of the University’s users in the context of the changes being undertaken by librarians at his institution.postprintThe Asian Library and Information Conference (ALIC 2004), Bangkok, Thailand, 21-24 November 2004

HUBS AND CENTERS AS TRANSITIONAL CHANGE STRATEGY FOR LIBRARY COLLABORATION

Libraries of science and technology universities worldwide are adapting to a changing environment where cyberinfrastructure, eResearch, and new technology-intensive approaches to teaching and learning are transforming the very nature of universities. While many have adopted new technologies and the resources and expertise to manage them, this is only an initial step. Libraries are experimenting with organizational models that will transform their work capacity and expertise. The goal of these libraries is being an entity that feeds and produces collaborative synergies between faculty, students, information professionals, and technologists. Virginia Tech, among the top research universities in the United States, and its constituent libraries are adopting a unique organizational change strategy that implements eScience and cyberlearning roles. This two-part strategy begins with establishing ‘hubs’. The hubs are collaborative, cross-departmental groups in which library employees of varying backgrounds and skills come together on common themes of strategic importance. The hubs act in one sense as a ‘research & development lab’ to explore, imagine, and brainstorm new library initiatives as well as engender deeper understandings of the university’s core academic enterprise. They also are a ‘strike force’ that implements, supports, and assesses emerging library roles in relation to the institution’s academic mission. In these ways, hubs also create learning and scholarship opportunities for their participants beyond the individual task-oriented projects. The second part of this strategy involves the establishment of research and service centers. At Virginia Tech, these are the Center for Innovation in Learning (CIL) and the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship (CDRS). These centers are designed to incubate and sustain new collaborative synergies between libraries, researchers, instructors, and learners by providing expertise, resources, and new infrastructures to address specific academic research-based needs. The centers become focal points for library action, focused on learning and research activities within other university entities. Benefits to library employees come in the form of scholarship and research with potential for collaboration and new initiatives as relationships grow among project participants. The authors will discuss transformational aspects of the change management model, with lessons from their early experiences. They also will discuss how the model can be adapted by other libraries of science and technology-centered universities

INSPIRAL: investigating portals for information resources and learning. Final project report

INSPIRAL's aims were to identify and analyse, from the perspective of the UK HE learner, the nontechnical, institutional and end-user issues with regard to linking VLEs and digital libraries, and to make recommendations for JISC strategic planning and investment. INSPIRAL's objectives -To identify key stakeholders with regard to the linkage of VLEs, MLEs and digital libraries -To identify key stakeholder forum points and dissemination routes -To identify the relevant issues, according to the stakeholders and to previous research, pertaining to the interaction (both possible and potential) between VLEs/MLEs and digital libraries -To critically analyse identified issues, based on stakeholder experience and practice; output of previous and current projects; and prior and current research -To report back to JISC and to the stakeholder communities, with results situated firmly within the context of JISC's strategic aims and objectives

The changing roles and identities of library and information services staff

A review of the changing roles of library, IT and e-learning staff from 1960 to date. Examines convergence and blurring of roles and what constitutes professional identity