A skills refocus for digital
libraries?
Linda Ashcroft
Liverpool John Moores University
UK
‘Is the education of digital libraries
adequate?’
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Yan Quan Liu
survey analysed course syllibi relating to
education for digital libraries in North
America, Europe, Asia
drastic increase in such courses over past 4
years
balance of theory and technology
‘the Technocrats’
‘the Librarians-as Guides’
E-learning
• not only course syllibi for digital libraries,
but new ways of delivery – e-learning
• students becoming used to working in the
electronic environment
• student perceptions (Gregory)
• staff attitudes (Newton)
• which will influence delivery and student
assimilation
E-access
• even on-campus students access learning tools and
info electronically
– eg WebCT, Blackboard, remote access to library
collections
• public libraries also delivering material
electronically, eg
– North Lanarkshire
– community learning hub
• eg e-books
– Park Ridge Public Library Chicago, US
– London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, UK
Users and e-materials?
e-journals
• now full text databases appreciated by many users
• but after initial problems resolved, requiring skills
for addressing
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relevance of bundles
ease of access
licences
archives
Users and e-materials?
e-books
• some initial difficulties similar to e-journal
situation
• relevance of bundles
• ease of access
• licences
E-book use
• Manatee County library
– 20,000 titles via netLibrary, but only 70 titles
used in first 3 months
• Texas A & M University
– about 70% of netLibrary titles used
• NoWAL consortium
– about 80% use of 25% of netLibrary titles
E-resources - Take up?
• Google v quality resources
• how many clicks?
• Athens?
– (JMU change)
• skills to make it easy for users to access
quality resources
Digital reference
24 hour reference and partnerships
• 24 hour reference services increasing
– partnerships between countries increasing to provide
these services
• University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
– expansion as part of a global network of digital
reference partners
• Answers Now
– UK, USA & Australia
• Global Librarian
– UK & Canada
Digital reference
the question point model (www.questionpoint.org)
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web-based communication
collaboration at heart of system
network for global participation
digital skills required
but communication and collaboration skills
vital
LIS education
• library educators increasing focus on digital
environment (Liu)
• concentration on technology
• dismissal of areas that don’t fit with technology
(Gorman)
• important skills being neglected
– eg cataloguing & classification
– but demanded in context of semantic Web?
Professional bodies
• ALA
• accredits courses based on schools own vision &
mission rather than national standards
• CILIP
• does not stipulate precise requirement for course
content
• considers the wide range of skills now needed
Professional associations
• requirements will vary from country to
country
• very different if variation within country
• if professional associations do not have
specify the same core skills or are ‘flexible’
in their approach, how can quality curricula
design be developed on international basis?
Curricula and library practice
• changing curricula re diversity of
information work
• education programmes becoming
increasingly generalised
• variation between countries and within
countries
• mismatch between curricula and employers’
expectations?
Traditional core skills
• analysing, evaluating, cataloguing
information
• enquiry work
• user education
• training and facilitating
• customer service
All applicable in the digital environment
Collaboration skills
Consortia purchase
• e-journals
• now e-books and other e-resources
• increases purchasing power
• expertise sharing
• but increases the number of different parties to
work with
• requires good collaboration skills
Collaboration skills
Working with faculty
• Kingston University VLE
• Sesl initiative
• librarians working with faculty to develop
e-collection across a range of disciplines
• group work to construct e-learning activity
to embed in a course
Negotiation skills
• provision suitable for users of all consortia
members?
• finance groups
• IT personnnel
• faculty
• professionals from other libraries
• e-resource suppliers
Communication
the skill you can’t download
• yes, have to communicate online
• but also have to communicate with more
and more players involved in the digital
library scenario
• full range of communication skills need to
be built into the curriculum
Communication skills requirements
challenges
• staff training (CPD)
– at different levels – different requirements
• users – some remote
– different groups will have different needs
• all other collaborators in library provision
– each with different interests and concerns
• so wide range of communication skills
required
Conclusions
• technology skills needed by digital
librarians
• traditional core skills also required
• skills requirements for accreditation
purposes?
• communications skills are vital