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CLIR Press Release

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: August 22, 2002

Contact: Deanna Marcum 202-939-4750

Report Examines New Roles for the Research Library

Washington, D.C.—Research libraries are taking on a range of new roles in the digital age as they become more deeply engaged in the creation and dissemination of knowledge. While some of these roles are extensions of traditional library activity, others are largely new. Wendy Lougee, university librarian at the University of Minnesota, explores some of these emerging functions in a report entitled Diffuse Libraries: Emergent Roles for the Research Library in the Digital Age, published by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).

Lougee includes several examples of how some libraries and library organizations are forging new services in areas of collection development, information access, and user services; she also touches briefly on the continued importance of library as place. In addition, she suggests where new roles might emerge. In the section on information access, for example, she notes the potential for libraries to contribute to the development of the Semantic Web, which aims to develop languages for expressing information in a form that machines can process, and which therefore can be searched more accurately and efficiently. She writes, "Designing the Semantic Web will require a mix of skills, and librarians have the potential to contribute significantly to this effort." She also notes that there is a potential role for the library in certifying the authenticity and provenance of content on the Semantic Web.

In developing new services, libraries are working more collaboratively with other campus departments and becoming "more deeply engaged in the fundamental mission of the academic institutioni.e., the creation and dissemination of knowledgein ways that . . . intertwine the library with the other stakeholders in these activities. The library becomes a collaborator within the academy, yet retains its distinct identity."

Diffuse Libraries is available on CLIR's Web site at http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub108/pub108.pdf. Print copies will soon be available for ordering through the Web site.

The Council on Library and Information Resources is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the management of information for research, teaching, and learning. CLIR works to expand access to information, however recorded and preserved, as a public good.

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