Ateneo de Manila University – Rizal Library Conference on Library Management in the 21 st Century 29 – 30 March 2004 by Sharon E. Henry, Chief Librarian Asian Development Bank Electronic Library Development: Challenges and Opportunities

“If I were founding a university, I would begin with a smoking room, next a dormitory; and then a decent reading room and a library. After that, if I still had more money that I couldn’t use, I would hire a professor and get some textbooks.” Stephen Leacock, Canadian humorist Thanksgiving dinner pill – technological advancement or avalanche Libraries in Digital Age?

Wonderful technological advancement Potential, bringing promise a day when a user can find an article with the information he or she wants and go straight to a full-text copy Avalanche, burying users under loads of information, and leaving them without the tools they need to dig themselves out (Shaver and Enright, 2002) The Digital Transformation

International Conference on Spanning the Digital Divide: Development of Digital Libraries, 6 –7 November 2003 Used terms digital, electronic and virtual library interchangeability Hybrid library (Derek Whitebread) a library which includes both digital and non-digital information Recent Conferences

New era of enormous potential – the Information Society and expanded human communication Information and knowledge can be produced, exchanged, shared and communicated through all networks of the world. Shared knowledge, global solidarity and a better mutual understanding World Summit on the Information Society, 10 – 12 December 3003

Deliver the best information to your clients in a timely, efficient and effective manner Still the Same Goal

What is your responsibility? -As an organization -As a library Cooperation Key!

Ensure information about your organization is available electronically Ensure that your products are available electronically External Responsibilities

Managing the knowledge of the organization -Inventory -Standards and taxonomy -Metadata -Personal knowledge and influence Internal Responsibilities

Using Digital Resources to Provide Service Budget Staff Skills New Services

Budget Need a clear business case Strong statistical usage base Additional funds required

Staff Skills Ability to evaluate electronic sources Ability to determine mix of electronic and printed sources Ability to train clients

New Services Reach expanded audience ( Improved content or same content in electronic form Iportal Virtual reference and training …and what about the stacks?

Enterprise-wide access Goal for all our electronic services Need to publicize them Need to train users Continual evaluation

Challenges Finding the correct combination of electronic and printed material to meet the needs of your clients Determining your level of participation in cooperative efforts Developing solutions that contribute to removing digital divide – e.g. open access and open source

Open Source Software Underlying source code freely available General Public License governing use, defining restrictions Copyrighted; Original developers retain rights to license future use Defined community of developers driving development Modified version must be made available without charge to community

Conclusion Shift towards electronic library development will be rapid but there will always be a place for printed materials! Challenge is finding the best mix!