Track 1 – Part 1What can we do to prepare the library of the future for

researchers ?

The Europeana Library Conference

Madrid, December 2012

Background

Traditional purpose of library under pressure Expectations and possibilities shaped by digital

changes Changing patterns of work and information

consumption – students, researchers, teacher, public, publishers, new media companies

Current economic austerity reducing budgets

Background

Researchers visiting libraries less often, particularly in science subjects

What can national and research libraries do to remain relevant to those undertaking research ?

Managing research data sets

Library takes more control of managing research data sets

Focus could be on researcher at institution or a particular subject field

Long-term digital preservation of data sets also important

Creating relationships between journal articles and datasets

Improving Licensing Capabilities

Work more closely with consortia or directly with publishers

Find better ways to lower costs Find ways to improve accuracy of data supplied

by publishers on collections; sharing that information with other libraries

Improving negotiations with publishers to allow for more sophisticated use of licenced content (esp., text and data mining)

Greater focus on sharing collections

Improve metadata via automated processes

Sharing metadata (and content) with different aggregators

More time and money spent on Search Engine Optimisation

Changing Physical Space

Remove many of physical collections from direct access within library

Provide more space for research, teaching, group learning, individual learning

Create library as a more of a social space

Helping Research Teams

Librarians becoming part of research teams

Providing guidance on such issues as Open Access and publication, dataset creation, preservation,

Subject librarian replaces by research librarian

Enhancing Discovery

Working with providers to improve search experience for users

Building new tools for searching and analysing digital content, concentrating on particular collections or subject areas

(Alternatively, … letting Google do much more searching)

Developing Mobile Technologies

Providing end-user services via mobile phones

Improving resource discovery and resource delivery via phones (e.g. QR codes for scanning in the library, location centric)

Expand reminder services for users via mobiles

More public engagement

Greater exposure of unique collections to external researchers

Find new ways for students to interact with unique collections

Greater focus on physical exhibition space – interaction with general public

More crowdsourcing type projects to interact with public

Focus on the Digital Library

Provide smaller physical library Go digital for as much of the library

collection as possible Follow public / private deals to digitise

special collections Place most of physical collection in other

locations outside main library

Other possibilities …

You may have other ideas …. ? You may have undertaken ideas that you can

share with others Discuss in groups of x?? Write headline ideas on post it notes (as many as

you want There are no limits and very few bad ideas ! Big ideas (broader strategies) AND small ideas

(short-term goals) Put them all on sheet on the wall

What can we do to prepare the library of the future for

researchers ?

Focus on the Digital Library / Students and Researchers ? / Science, Technology, Medicine / Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences / Focus on secondary resources / Aggregate digitised primary resources / Aggregate collections-level metadata / Maintain focus on bibliographic data

And now …

Select top 10 ideas on post it notes Place them on second sheets on wall,

according to cost and impact Select one person to speak for two minutes

on your choices