Charting New Roads – Moving Libraries Forward

1. Charting New Roads – Moving Libraries Forward

2. INTRODUCTION Highlight some areas of library work that is important for us to continue doing & to build new capabilities Questioning libraries The Library Autopsy Report / Brian T. Sullivan. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2 Jan 2011 The decline and the Fall of the Library Empire / Steve Coffman. Searcher v20(3) April 2012

3. REFRAMING LIBRARIES Learning Facilitating the use of information for Storehouse of books and documents means to an end Wisdom

4. CHARTING NEW & IMPROVED PATHS Learning &knowledge

5. FOCUSING ON 3 AREAS As provider of information resources 1 As discovery tool 2 As facilitator of learning 3 Promote effective use of information 4 5 A place for building community

6. RESOURCE PROVISION Pooling of resources Most people are satisfied with info found from Google Formal publications ($$$$!) are essential to academic work & research Pooling of resources lead to cheaper & wider access No pooling Tens of thousands of articles $100  3 articles $100 $100  3 articles $100,000… + $100 $100  3 articles To libraries Value-added services $100 $100  3 articles $100  3 articles $100

7. RESOURCE PROVISION Managing digital resources New technology requires management e.g. print vs e-books Owning books vs Using books for research Affordability of resources will always be an issue

8. RESOURCE PROVISION Open Access (OA) materials free to users but cost involved Libraries’ roles in OA repositories enhancements Roles in Green route advocacy Roles in Gold route article processing fee new layer of management Also need to continue with provision of access to current resources

9. RESOURCE PROVISION Creating new resources New technology provides new opportunities for collaborative work with faculty and users Digital library / repository platforms Library systems Social media tools, blogs, etc NTU example – Bagan Murals, EOS, ADM

10. Using Wordpress ROLE OF LIBRARIAN • Site design • Design information organization, taxonomy • Facilitate sharing of content via social media tool • Add value – design interactive map

11. Interactive map (designed by Library)

12. OTHER EXAMPLES

13. RESOURCE PROVISION Creating new resources Work suitable for library involvement Faculty produced, unique resources Requires content organization & description Make use of expertise of librarians Not one-off project, aim for resource creation to be a routine regular library service

14. RESOURCE PROVISION Creating new resources Impact on library organization Re-organisation of work – drawing on teams Role of subject librarians Roles of cataloguers

15. PATHS TO CONTINUE, IMPROVE & BUILD Resource provision 1 Optimal way to manage a more complex mix of resources, including new ones 2 Manage IR for green route OA Manage gold route OA 3 4 Produce new resources & content with faculty

16. DISCOVERY In pursuit of ideas and thoughts Ideas & thoughts change the world An insight from Eco Umberto “The whole idea of a library is based on a misunderstanding: that the reader goes into the library to find a book whose title he knows” Instead the essential function of a library “is to discover books of whose existence the reader has no idea” (1993) A superb place for discovery of ideas

17. DISCOVERY Library for discovery of ideas Libraries are organized for discovery Classification Catalogue

18. DISCOVERY Other ways of discovery Libraries used less for discovery now Libraries forced to emulate what is available on the Internet Libraries will follow technological trends

19. DISCOVERY Other ways of discovery Based on document attributes - libraries Based on usage pattern, recommendations e.g. Google, Amazon, Netflix, etc. Recognize that libraries is just one of many nodes for discovery

20. DISCOVERY Emphasizing uniqueness of libraries Promote use of different sources according to purpose For academic research and learning, libraries are valuable : Organizedaccess to scholarly materials “Slow” media (e.g. books) are necessary Provide access to things behind pay wall

21. DISCOVERY Social media Information discovery - from friends to social media Libraries need to have strong presence there Not just for outreach – also to promote information discovery Social media is a tool for librarians to help users in information discovery NTU Libraries adopt a whole-of-organization approach – to train all librarians to participate in social media

22. Using Facebook to lead users to resources

23. DISCOVERY Librarians in social media Participate in social media sites of users and others Encourage library staff to build reputation online as information discovery “agents” Moving reference work to social media space - Waiting for queries vs seeking out information needs

24. PATHS TO CONTINUE, IMPROVE & BUILD Discovery 1 Continue implementation & development of discovery tools Take holistic approach to discovery in designing library services 2 Emphasizing strength of library in academic work 5 3 4 Have strong presence in social media Librarians build strong reputation online

25. FACILITATING LEARNING Information landscape Increased information – more critical is unprecedented access More information does not make people more knowledgeable or wiser More information increases noise – previously controlled by libraries

26. FACILITATING LEARNING Meta learning skills Burden is on users to discern useful info More important today - to have meta-learning skills – i.e. learning how to learn Why librarians are good at this? Fundamental principle of libraries USER BEHAVIOR CONTENT Non-prescriptive learning Librarian

27. FACILITATING LEARNING Involvement in classroom learning Teaching information literacy An accepted part of academic librarians’ work – content continuously evolving Often conducted as supporting activity & not integrated in learning Active partnership in classroom learning More direct contact with learners Using course blogs in NTU Libraries

28. Student assignments in blog format • Psychology librarian set up blogs • Teach student • Provide advice (reference services) on content – greater interaction – more embedded Example 1 : COURSE BLOGS – Conservation Psychology

29. Example 2 : COURSE BLOGS – Contemporary Social Theory – one semester course Course management tools to discuss readings Librarian set up blog, with links to reading materials Blog is openly accessible • All postings are archived

30. 80 students – 888 comments to postings – of substantial length Students enjoy sharing ideas & opinions with classmates – able to convey better than face to face Strong class participation Archived materials used for revision All the while monitored by the Sociology Librarian !!

31. FACILITATING LEARNING Platforms for research & teaching support With history professor : An international, multilingual resource for teachers and scholars to share resources on scientific & technical issues related to disasters in Japan

32. FACILITATING LEARNING Strategies for classroom involvement Each institution has different situation that requires different approaches in enagaging in classroom learning NTU Libraries - Building platforms (e.g. blogs) with teaching staff Greater & better direct contact with learners Provide librarians with experience & contacts Develop new approaches & services to in the future

33. PATHS TO CONTINUE, IMPROVE & BUILD Facilitating learning 1 Continue to develop new programmes in information literacy work 2 • focus on meta learning skills to deal with global information environment Help teaching staff build cooperative platforms for learning 3 4 Find opportunities to be directly engaged with student learning

34. CONCLUSION Continuing value of libraries Resource provision, discovery & learning Libraries has seen through many “end of” predictions Librarians will decide through their action on the survival of libraries

35. THANK YOU fcchoy@ntu.edu.sg