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Published: 31 August 2006
The modern librarian embraces digital developments
 Libraries are changing fast these days. They are no longer places filled with long rows of stuffy books and a librarian insisting on silence. Nowadays, libraries have to modernise and take part in new digital developments such as blogs and digital paper.
By Ruud van Hirtum
What this means for the role of librarians was one of the issues discussed at the international summer school 'Digital Libraries à la Carte: New Choices for the Future', organised by the Tilburg Innovation Centre for Electronic Resources (Ticer) at Tilburg University last week. Librarians from around the globe came to Tilburg to discuss the new developments in the world of digital libraries.
Eleven years ago, when Ticer first organised the summer school, digital libraries were relatively new. At that time, Tilburg University was a leader in the field. Jola Prinsen of Ticer notes that that is no longer true. "The university is still in the forefront, but the technologies move very fast." Tilburg did provide a model for digital libraries, which other universities still follow.
The summer school consists of four one-day modules, which can be taken separately. This year they dealt with new technologies such as Web 2.0 and open access, and with the role libraries play in research and learning. Prinsen: "We aim to have a completely different program every year, so we invite a different course director for every edition of the summer school."
This year, Michael Breaks, who has been university librarian at Heriot-Watt University in the UK for over 20 years, served as the course director. His expertise in digital libraries made him a perfect candidate for the job.  According to Breaks, libraries need to get out into the world more. While in the traditional web environment people initiate a search, nowadays it is the other way around: technologies such as RSS feeds bring the information to you. This development is called Web 2.0. "This has a fundamental effect on libraries. They can no longer lock themselves up inside a building. They have to find their place in the world," according to Breaks.
Another important development is open access. Like all libraries in the Netherlands, Tilburg University is making more academic work available online. Until recently, most research was published in academic journals. Subscriptions to these journals formed a major expense for university libraries. What do publishers think of the new developments? And how can the quality of the open-access publications be guaranteed? Prinsen: "I think that both libraries and publishers have a reason to exist. Open access has proven to be a mechanism to put pressure on the publishers." Breaks: "It entices them to work more closely with institutions. Publishers are still needed to uphold the quality of the work published. The Netherlands has developed a national strategy to create open access. Not many countries have done this."
The summer course only lasted four days and there was a lot of information to take in. "It's hard work, but very exciting," says Janet Copsey, university librarian at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.  She came to Tilburg to compare views on the subject with her international colleagues. "The social aspect, the networking, is a very important part of the summer course." The new technologies did not worry her much, and she did not think many of the other participants were worried either: "I believe that the people at this summer school are the 'early doctors', the ones most thrilled by these new prospects."
Alice Keller, head of collection management at Oxford University library services, was also excited, but much more reserved. Hers is a traditional university, set in its ways. "Oxford is a big library, and therefore slow to move. I believe it will be cautious to adopt some of these new technologies. Take blogs, for example: the statement that typing errors are allowable in blogs would not go down well with Oxford standards. That doesn't mean that we will stick to the old ways. It's an evolutionary process: it will not move in huge jumps, but we'll get there eventually."
Librarians and libraries have their work cut out for them. There are new skills to be learned and old strategies to be adapted, but according to Prinsen and Breaks the role of the librarian will not change much at all. "The task of the academic librarian is and has always been to support research and teaching," says Prinsen. Breaks adds, "Maybe librarians will get involved at an earlier stage in the research process, teaching researchers structures to better preserve their data."
Digital libraries are the future, but Breaks is not worried about the disappearance of libraries as physical spaces: "Libraries will increasingly become places where interaction and learning take places. All of the research will be online."
[RvH]
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