Winds of change
Abstract
The article takes its starting point in new trends and paradigm shifts in scholarly research methods and
discusses how research libraries must act in relation to this. Various innovative initiatives at LASB are
described, especially within the areas of electronic dissemination and presentation. A line of projects on
development of a software for the sharing of knowledge are in focus, a “metro map” used for navigating the
electronic information resources made available in the Learning Resource Centre at ASB. This software is
the result of exchange of knowledge between professional departments at ASB and a software company.
LASB is positive towards and will continue working with this method. Finally the investment in future
library services is discussed and a tangible offer is put into perspective: electronic reference services.
Keywords
Knowledge Production, Knowledge Sharing; Metro Map metaphor; Library portal; Learning Resource
Centre; E-Reference Service
Creation, dissemination and sharing of knowledge in the modern research and learning environment
Libraries in general, and research libraries in particular have always been a support to and a part of the
existing academic research environments where new knowledge is produced. Ideally, this knowledge trickles
down and is disseminated to society by the research environment and the educational system, thus preparing
the ground for insight and awareness. Societal development requires good research results, which is why
research must be ensured favourable conditions and support in the best possible way. Research libraries not
only form the pool of high-quality information resources constituting the basis of research, they also
disseminate the information in it. As soon as knowledge is produced and published it is registered and
presented here. Research libraries are vital players in the research food chain.
Research traditions have changed at different rates down through the ages; either gradually or abruptly
through a paradigm shift. The book was superseded by the printed periodical as the publishing media,
resulting in faster spread of research results. Today printed periodicals have been superseded by electronic
periodicals. Research is still approved through peer review, however, it also finds its own ways, and today, to
a considerable extent, research results are spread in more informal networks via the world wide web:
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Academic networks which can well be thought to select their own quality marks, and thus bending the
accepted rules of internal quality assessment within the well-established scholarly disciplines. These days
new scholarly disciplines getting at cross-purposes with well-established ones are emerging. These may need
a different form of peer review and consequently find their own paths to publication.
Well-established research environments are being challenged by new ways of doing things. The individual
researcher in his ivory tower solitarily producing knowledge is a thing of the past. Over the years,
researchers have worked in and taken inspiration from national and international research networks and have
exchanged knowledge at conferences and symposiums. These networks have served as supplements to
research libraries, as it is possible to search for specific information and knowledge here. The World Wide
Web has provided these research networks with unsuspected possibilities of swift exchange of knowledge.
The Internet’s possibilities of interactive communication and knowledge sharing have the effect of adding
dynamics to the research, so that new perspectives can swiftly be added to results, resulting in increased
value. A powerful organ for exposure and dissemination of results has been given, reaching the environments
which are to benefit and which could also extensively be involved as partners. Thus, focus can be directed at
recipients during the entire research process. And today knowledge is also being produced in these
environments, close to the processes in need of research and progress. Academic environments can no longer
maintain the right to production of knowledge.
The knowledge society of yesterday, today – and tomorrow
The knowledge society of today and tomorrow calls for research methods differing from those of yesterday’s
industrial society. In the knowledge society, spreading of knowledge plays an ever more decisive role –
especially in relation to the development of IT and networks. Recent developments of IT-infrastructure and
network services have given rise to completely new research methods, fields of analysis, and results; here the
Internet has become the most important catalyst for co-operation, communication, and information across
research environments, as well as a link to the rest of the public.
In the same way new demands are made on research libraries. Research libraries attached to the universities
are developing parallel to electronic network these years. One of the most outstanding examples is
Denmark’s Electronic Research Library www.deff.dk. “Deff” was created as a virtual co-operation between
Danish research libraries with the purpose of offering the primary users – i.e. research and education – a
shared electronic access to information and knowledge available in Danish research libraries irrespective of
their geographic location. In the same way, access to electronic professional journals and books offers
researchers the possibility of quick updating of the latest results and theories within their subject areas.
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Research libraries must service and facilitate students, teachers and researchers, and at the same time they
must utilize the modern IT-based tools provided to disseminate and share the knowledge widely. In this way,
as content managers they aim at increasing value and exposing the core qualifications of the universities and
research institutions. The Library of the Aarhus School of Business is extensively working with electronic
presentation and dissemination of research results. A collected presentation of Aarhus School of Business
research is in the making. Besides this the Library is working with targeted interfaces within special subject
areas. By means of new technology the large quantities of information can be exposed and utilized far better
than earlier.
The knowledge society also makes new demands on educational institutions for new approaches to learning
and teaching. Processes which research libraries must also be prepared to support.
In recent years the study and learning environments at the institutions of higher education in Denmark have
changed character. The students still follow the conventional courses of lecture, but the responsibility for
own learning is constantly increasing, and to a large extent they work problem-based and project-orientated.
They primarily work in groups or teams. New forms of study make heavy demands on teachers and students
to organize and co-operate to solve the proposed tasks. For example, today the need for students to meet
between lectures is greater than earlier. They need to be able to get information and source material for
preparing their seminars and projects. In this serious working process, they need to be able to contact
teachers as well as information specialists to get advice and guidance. New and different physical and
intellectual demands on facilitation of the study and working process thus arise; a quite natural consequence
of modern teaching methods.
To a higher degree, the new rooms of the research library are to be formed as modern learning workshops.
Facilities for library services, education, and breaks are to melt into a whole. It is time to admit that students
of today have changed profiles and study behaviours. Therefore, new demands and changed behaviour have
to be taken into account when establishing the learning environments of tomorrow.
Learning Resource Centre – what is it?
The demands made by users on modern study and learning facilities cross not only the organization of the
individual library, they challenge the organization of the entire institution of higher education – across
professional areas. A close co-operation to solve the total facilitation task is therefore not only an
opportunity, but also a mere necessity, if it is to succeed. The centre of rotation of such a co-operation can
physically be a Learning Resource Centre, which is just now being realized in various disguises.
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In September 2000, the Library of the Aarhus School of Business opened a LRC. As already mentioned, the
centre was established in close co-operation between the Faculty of Modern Languages and the Library of
the School. In the centre the goal is to meet a plurality of new demands on learning facilitation.
All tools and information resources are accessible via the METRO – a user interface developed in cooperation between teachers and researchers at the Faculty of Modern Languages, a research environment
emerged from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Aarhus – Hypergenic A/S – and the
Library of the Aarhus School of Business. The METRO allows a graphically oriented user an easy
navigation round the information and learning resources displayed in the show window of the electronic
study of the LRC.
Knowledge sharing in a Learning Resource Centre
The foundation for the establishment of the LRC is the concept of knowledge sharing. For years, knowledge
and experience were being shared in the co-operation on projects on the establishment of net-based courses
and their link to electronic library resources. These efforts produced a physical unit which was to frame the
further development of the potential that sprang from the former co-operation: a learning exploratorium.
LRC is more than a matter of the library. The LRC calls for fundamental changes of the pedagogical
rationale of the Aarhus School of Business, and the establishment of the learning exploratorium will
therefore bear enormous professional, organizational and educational implications for the learning
environment of the Faculty of Modern Languages and the School as a whole.
A new three-year project involving the Faculty of Modern Languages and the Library has been launched to
work on these exact problems. The project is subsidized by The Danish Ministry of Education and receives
the utmost attention from the Aarhus School of Business.
Knowledge is shared and Intelligent Knowledge Solutions created. As mentioned earlier the LASB utilizes
modern information technology. The LASB is working intensely to disseminate and present the library pool
of information resources in electronic interfaces targeted at students, teachers, researchers or external
audiences. These knowledge platforms or learning portals come into existence by knowledge sharing
between the professional experts of the learning environment and the information specialists of the library.
The library delivers IT-solutions, often inspired by co-operation with software companies, and functions as
content manager as regards information. Subject input comes from the professional teaching and research
environment of the Aarhus School of Business.
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A strategy for Knowledge Sharing
The strategy used for Knowledge Sharing in designing the learning platforms builds upon a set of quite
simple principles and agreements set up by the development team.

Why will we share knowledge in the portal and benefit from it?

What kind of knowledge will we share in the portal? How is it selected?

With whom will we share knowledge in the portal? At whom are the knowledge resources to be
targeted?

How will we share knowledge? Guidelines and rules are to be followed

How will we integrate knowledge sharing and learning? And which learning methods will we
support

How will we facilitate learning? And which software and hardware will we use to support?
The Metro concept
In the LRC of the Aarhus School of Business we chose to disseminate our common knowledge within the
frames of a Metro metaphor. This idea came from colleagues at Chalmars Technological University in
Sweden performing similar work. The problem was that the software could not automatically form new
routes on the index map. The process to change this was graphically heavy. The technology in request
however turned out to exist. It was developed by Hypergenic a/s, for which reason we engaged in cooperation on the Webnize 1000.
The IT-development behind the concept to a high degree owes to Hypergenic a/s. The Library and
professionals within business language have provided the input from the users’ side, something that has
given Hypergenic knowledge of how users think and behave.
The interdisciplinary co-operation between philologists, the Library, and IT-developers has been a great and
exciting challenge. The entire concept of the LRC is based on a strategy for KNOWLEDGE SHARING
across professional competence and development environments.
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The technology behind the Webnize 1000 is based on the principle of guided tours on the Internet. This is
why it was only natural for Hypergenic to co-operate on the Metro concept. The user is introduced to a route
network of various predefined routes. This provides a facility to structure material and guide the user through
well-considered sequences. The user never loses track as he is always reminded exactly where on the route
he is situated, just like in the “real” metro. The user is free to jump from one station to the next and does not
need to ride the entire route. The Metro concept turned out to add to the website a “transparency” which can
otherwise be hard to obtain when disseminating information via the electronic medium. The user is provided
with an intuitive understanding of site structure and of the information placed deeper in the hierarchy.
Therefore the concept turned out to be a powerful tool for presentation of electronic information and as such
very valuable in a world where information is increasingly exchanged in and with the electronic media.
The Library of the Aarhus School of Business will continue working with Hypergenic a/s as the Metro
concept has proved to be suitable for and has been used in several different contexts involving the Library in
the presentation of electronic information. (See bibliography for examples)
It is of utmost importance to the Library to continue the work on development within the areas of
presentation and dissemination of electronic information. New tools have made it possible to service users in
a more up-to-date and modern fashion and have been contributory in creating new and better access to
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information resources which have never been more visible. Accordingly, the Library can now sustain its part
as a partner in the creation and dissemination of research, teaching and learning in the 21st century.
The investments in information technology made by the ASB have paid off. Investing in IT often means
investing in innovation, in making things better or different. A certain result is not guaranteed. However, if a
modern institution does not invest in tools enabling the ability to change, it will risk being left behind.
Wherever we move, we move at high speed to keep up with development. We must be able to manoeuvre at
the same speed if we want to play the part as a research library and set the agenda for the future within our
line of business. At LASB we want to take part in setting this agenda. In recent years at LASB we have given
priority to visibility on the Internet. We are working seriously at adding a dynamics to our electronic
interfaces in order to improve communication with our users.
Dissemination and customized presentation are keywords in modern research library service, that is, in
virtual contexts on the web. Future generations of students will remain faithful to libraries, if libraries will
adjust to and prepare facilities in the shape of electronic communication channels.
The educational market place is changing, not least due to the influence from a growing number of
educational offers, e.g. e-education. Studies detach from the former physical frames around one distinct
educational institution. New offers are often offered in co-operation between more institutions. Co-operation
is made possible when a large part of the education is carried out via the web. Educations will attract
students from everywhere. This development offers a challenge on research libraries. The market widens and
potential users are no longer solely made up of own students.
The ever-growing quantity of information resources on the web is the first step “on the outside”. The
establishment of actual electronic reference services is next. Services that are created in partnership between
several research libraries and in strategic alliances with other market players. Services offered at distance and
thus adding to the traditional reference service the touch of flexibility which can currently be said to be
absent. Services maintaining the human dimension at the same time.
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References
1. Aarhus School of Business, The Library. Learning Resource Centre – METRO
http://www.hba.dk/metro/English/start/default.html
2. Bang, T. and D. Nielsen (1992) Hypertext for Information Retrieval. A Master’s Thesis. The Royal
School of Librarianship, Aalborg.
3. Bang, T. From Mission Statement to practical everyday Issues – Leading Change in Research
Libraries. (DRAFT version submitted for publication in “Global issues in the 21st Century Research
Librarianship”. Nordinfo 2001/02)
4. Gibbons,M, “Innovation and the Developing System of Knowledge Production”. University of
Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BNI 9RF,U
http://edie.cprost.sfu.ca/summer/papers/Michael.Gibbons.html
5. Jensen, Lone and Karen Harbo (2000) “Wiring the Ivory Tower Contribution at the EADTU
(European Association of Distance teaching Universities”. Paris Millenium Conference September
2000. http://www.eadtu.nl
6. Jensen, L. and Harbo, K. (2001) “The Library as Facilitator in the e-learning environment” (DRAFT
version of Conference Paper submitted for publication at EDEN June 2001. Stockholm)
7. Opasia portal. http://www.opasia.dk/guidede ture/
8. Sandvad, E.S., Grønbæk, K. and Sloth L. (2001) A Metro Map Metaphor for Guided Tours on the
Web: the Webvise Guided Tour System. Draft version submitted for publication. May 2001.
9. Hypergenic a/s. Please find more information, articles and demos at the home page
www.hypergenic.com
Links to websites, created in cooperation with LASB
www.medsprog.dk Center for Medical LSP (CMS)
http://www.hba.dk/webnize100server/tours/e_business/index.htm E-business Research Forum,
EBRF
http://www.bizigate.dk/ Gateway to electronic information on Business Economics
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Tove Bang is the Library Director at the Library of the Aarhus School of Business and is
member of the management group of the Aarhus School of Business. toba@asb.dk
She has a BA librarianship from 1970 and a M.Li.Sc. degree from The Royal Danish
School of Librarianship in Aalborg from 1992. In December 1999, Tove Bang was
internationally awarded as ”Business Librarian of the Year 1999” by The Gale Group,
at the Online ´99 in London, for initiatives to the reorganization and development of the
electronic research library.
Karen Harbo is working as development consultant at the Library of the Aarhus School
of Business (LASB). She is attached to the head librarian in a staff function/support
function. har@asb.dk. She has a BA librarianship from 1985 and a degree in library science:
Research librarians and documentalists from The Royal Danish School of Librarianship in
Copenhagen from 1997 Here preparatory casework, as well as analytical and developmentoriented duties are performed with special reference to project organisation and project
implementation.
The Library of the Aarhus School of Business is one of the twelve large research libraries of Denmark that is a main
actor in the establishment of Denmark’s Electronic Research Library (DEF). The Library has a staff of approximately
35 full-time equivalent, is experimental and, in recent years, has taken the initiative in carrying through a series of
important development projects together with the professional environment of the ASB and with the electronic research
library as the hub of the development. www.lib.hha.dk
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