Quick insight into information-investment issues for presidents, CAOs, and other campus leaders from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Number 12, September/October 2002
The Issue for Presidents and CAOs:New Possibilities From The Campus Library |
A new report identifies ways that digital-era libraries have begun to transform themselves to produce new benefits for the universities and colleges they serve. In the report, Diffuse Libraries: Emergent Roles for the Research Library in the Digital Age, Wendy Pradt Lougee explains how these benefits go beyond simply expanding the information resources libraries provide their campus communities by leasing digital content from many other sources. Additionally, libraries can or are
|
Significant Shifts in Library Services |
As campus librarians develop electronic services, Ms. Lougee explains, the collections they draw on become “distributed”; the boundaries of “the library” become “diffuse,” and librarians themselves become “more deeply engaged in the creation and dissemination of knowledge.” Library roles are shifting
|
Implications for Top Administrators |
Administrators who see these shifts as beneficial to their institutions will not limit their attention to building technological infrastructures to support digital collections and services, but will also invest in what Ms. Lougee calls “intangible elements such as leadership and organizational development.” Support will be needed for experimentation, for development of staff who can create and manage new information services, and for collaboration across the boundaries of library units, institutional divisions, and individual colleges and universities. Not all institutions will be able to afford all desirable capabilities for new information services, nor should they, in Ms. Lougee’s view: “Collaborative development of tools, services, and capabilities will be far more common in the future.” |
Additional Information |
Ms. Lougee’s report, Diffuse Libraries: Emergent Roles for the Research Library in the Digital Age, is available at www.clir.org, where, also, printed copies may be ordered. |
