Leiden University. The university to discover. Transition of the Library Kurt De Belder University Librarian Director Leiden University Libraries & Leiden University Press Aarhus University, 31 August 2011

Leiden University. The university to discover. Leiden University  founded in 1575 by Prince William of Orange  Praesidium Libertatis (“bastion of freedom”)  oldest university in the Netherlands  broad research intensive university (Archeology, Humanities, Law, Medicine, Sciences, Social & Behavioral Sciences, Campus The Hague)  belongs to top 20 European universities (Ranking worldwide: 65 [ARWU 2011]; 71 [HEEACT 2010]; 82 [QS World UR 2010]; 83 [THES 2011] )  founding member of League of European Research Universities

Leiden University. The university to discover. Leiden University (2010/2011)  budget: € 494 mln.  students:  staff: FTE (excl. Leiden University Medical Centre)  50 BA and 100 MA programmes  PhD promotions: 331  Scholary publications: 5.111

Leiden University. The university to discover. Leiden University Libraries  University Library ° basis was gift of Prince William of Orange: “fundamentum locans futurae aliquando bibliothecae”  1595: Nomenclator, first printed catalogue of an institutional library  3.5 million volumes, e-journals, e- books, 500 databases  maintains one of the top oriental (Middle East & Asian) special collections in the world  holds largest photography collection in the Netherlands  holds university and scientific archives  catalogues in 99 languages

Leiden University. The university to discover. Leiden University Library Its significance for European culture cannot be overestimated: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the development and spread of knowledge during the Enlightenment. The importance of these centres lies in the simultaneous presence of a unique collection of exceptional sources and scholars. Christiane Berkvens-Stevelinck: Magna Commoditas, 2001

Leiden University. The university to discover. Leiden University Libraries (2010)  1 library organisation, 5 locations (University Library, East Asian, Law, Social Sciences, Sciences) and an organisationally separate Medical Library  expenditure: M€ 15.7  expenditure information: M€ 4.8 (of which M€ 3.7 digital information)  personnel: 132 FTE  library infrastructure: Primo, Aleph500, MetaLib, SFX, Digitool, Dspace  use of paper collections: 3.7M catalogue searches 233K loans (excl. renewals, holds, etc.) (2009: +3.4% ; 2010: +8.6%)

Leiden University. The university to discover. Leiden University Libraries (2010)  use of digital library: 1.8M SFX requests 1.5M database searches > 2.2M article downloads  scientific repository: > publications > downloads  288 courses, students

Leiden University. The university to discover. Leiden University Library An essential benchmark [...] not only for the teeming collection of extraordinary materials it has scrupulously gathered and maintained over a sustained period of time, but most of all for being the world's first scholarly library in a truly modern sense. The litany of 'firsts' recorded at Leiden is dazzling - the first printed catalogue to be prepared by an institution of its holdings, the first attempt to identify and maintain what today are known as 'special collections,' the first systematic attempt to develop a corps of influential friends, patrons, and benefactors throughout the world, the first 'universal' library, the list goes on and on - and underpinning it all is a humanistic approach to education and discovery that has figured prominently throughout its history, along with an unbending belief in the limitless potential of human inquiry. Nicholas A. Basbanes

Leiden University. The university to discover. You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. Things that we had postponed for too long, that were long-term, are now immediate and must be dealt with. This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before. Rahm Emanuel Chief of Staff, Barack Obama Wall Street Journal, November 21 st 2008

Leiden University. The university to discover. Urgency for university libraries Disruptive elements:  Google search  Google books, e-books & e-readers  Information = digital  Mobile technology (iPhone, iPad)  Printing on demand & Espresso book machine  Changes in science and scholarship: collaborative, programmatic, more data focussed, use resources from outside institution, e-science/e-humanities/e-research

Leiden University. The university to discover. Science paradigms (Jim Gray) The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery, 2009, p. xx

Leiden University. The university to discover. Urgency for university libraries Disruptive elements:  Google search  Google books, e-books & e-readers  Information = digital  Mobile technology (iPhone, iPad)  Printing on demand & Espresso book machine  Changes in science and scholarship: collaborative, programmatic, more data focussed, use resources from outside institution, e-science/e-humanities/e-research  Changes in scholarly publishing  Changes at universities: focus on added value, making choices  Technological advancement takes place in consumer market

Leiden University. The university to discover. Technological progress Ray Kurzweil: The singularity is near: when humans transcend biology p. 50 Intuitive linear vs historical exponential view

Leiden University. The university to discover. Technological progress Ray Kurzweil: The singularity is near: when humans transcend biology p. 25 Intuitive linear vs historical exponential view

Leiden University. The university to discover. Urgency for university libraries Disruptive elements:  Google search  Google books, e-books & e-readers  Information = digital  Mobile technology (iPhone, iPad)  Printing on demand & Espresso book machine  Changes in science and scholarship: collaborative, programmatic, more data focussed, use resources from outside institution, e-science/e-humanities/e-research  Changes in scholarly publishing  Changes at universities: focus on added value, making choices  Technological advancement takes place in consumer market  Major budget cuts  Increase of cost of information keeps outpacing inflation

Leiden University. The university to discover. How do libraries deal with change?  Libraries have changed tremendously, have innovated, have added digital services, have generated more research/teaching time at the faculty level  But to a great extent have not ended services and have kept within the existing library paradigm  Major driver for decisions about libaries within university administrations: budgetary considerations  Change is outpacing us.

Leiden University. The university to discover. Some traditional functions  Selection/Acquisition  Cataloging  Archiving  Reference desk  Outreach  Making available  “Find it” business  Special Collections  Technology management

Leiden University. The university to discover. Selection and acquistion Journals: NOW: licensing, big deals (consortial) <5 YRS: + flexible big deals based on usage and research profiles <5 YRS: + backfiles from digital period will be OA?

Leiden University. The university to discover. Selection and acquistion Books: NOW:title by title selection  approval plans <10 YRS: big deals based on licensing? <10 YRS: ordered directly by user at moment of need? <10 YRS: ordered (in)directly for user by smart personalized software agents?

Leiden University. The university to discover. Selection and acquistion Institutional repository: NOW:variety of formal and grey literature <5 YRS:grey literature <5 YRS: ‘small’ datasets <5 YRS: teaching related (e.g. course on video)

Leiden University. The university to discover. Cataloging NOW:record sharing and ‘item by item’ cat NOW:real efficiency in and outsourcing of the back office processes are at the top of our agendas. <5 YRS:towards managing record/data flow <5 YRS:3 rd party created records with added enrichment & user created information <5 YRS:focus on special collections & local information <10 YRS:data flow is mainly managed at a national or international level, with some local enrichment

Leiden University. The university to discover. Archiving Paper collections: NOW:in stacks locally, curated and managed NOW:shift from open to closed stacks <15 YRS:paper has been digitized (= mode of delivery) <15 YRS:paper collections warehoused on a national/regional level <15 YRS:only special collections are locally curated and managed

Leiden University. The university to discover. Archiving Electronic collections: NOW:relatively vague agreements between libraries and publishers about permanent access <5 YRS:clear agreements and collaboration between publishers and national libraries and/or transnational digital archives <10 YRS:national digital archiving strategy

Leiden University. The university to discover. Archiving Digital collections: NOW:ad hoc local <10 YRS:agreements and facilities at national and/or transnational level

Leiden University. The university to discover. Reference desk NOW:plenty of libraries still have reference desk staffed with highly qualified staff in conjunction with virtual desk <5 YRS:replaced by virtual desk ( , chat, telephone) <5 YRS:and/or replaced by physical who/what/where <5 YRS:and/or replaced by multi-organisation service desk

Leiden University. The university to discover. Outreach NOW:away from collection specialists to faculty liaison and development of ‘typical’ library services <5 YRS:faculty liaison, services specialists & partners in research & teaching odata curation ocopyright otext and datamining oe-publishing & dissemination oGIS odatasets o...

Leiden University. The university to discover. Making available NOW:we build traditional ‘just in case’ collections <5 YRS: e-books / e-readers will become standard <5 YRS:libraries offer printing on demand services (e.g. Espresso book machine) <5 YRS:paper books are delivered in digitized form upon request <10 YRS: from ‘just in case’ collections to ‘just in time’ collections? <15 YRS:general paper collections are housed in national/regional warehouses

Leiden University. The university to discover. ‘Find it’ business NOW:libraries are still in the ‘find it’ business <7 YRS: libraries have left to a great extent the ‘find it’ business as a local service and have moved into the ‘get it’ business and are providing another array of services

Leiden University. The university to discover. Special collections NOW:many libraries have special collections, but often as a traditional prestige object and role in research and teaching is not always substantial <5 YRS: special collections at a university library need to have an active role in research and teaching (more than just the study of the book) and are focal point for fundraising and therefore also for societal outreach <15 YRS: special collections that have a purely museum or cultural heritage function will be moved to specialized institutions (museums)

Leiden University. The university to discover. Technology management NOW:local management of a large number of library & information systems NOW:more systems / investments for our traditional processes will increasingly become a hard sell. <5 YRS: present library information systems are moved to the cloud (discovery layer, catalog, acq/cat, circ, digital library, linking server, repository) <7 YRS: technology efforts focussed on connection between information systems in the cloud and local application and tools? How do we act in a context of exponential change?

Leiden University. The university to discover.  Fullfilling information needs of faculty, researchers, students, university  Information manager for the university (CRIS, research data, research output, e-learning objects, …)  Supporting knowledge creation & dissemination  Focus on digital information incl. services and expertise connected with digital information  Supporting teaching faculty on information literacy  Bring information and tools in the environments our users are utilizing  Learning environments  Research environments  Focus on specific needs The function of libraries?

Leiden University. The university to discover. Learning environment Physical:  Libraries are becoming well equipped, attractive learning centers for students  Social & educational role of libraries becomes more important  Books as stored paper objects will disappear from libraries  Quality of the learning center is an important selling point for the university

Leiden University. The university to discover. Learning environment Digital:  Use of VLE has not delivered what we had expected [notwithstanding major investments].  Involved faculty are elsewhere (YouTube, Flickr, Connotea,...)  Weblectures  Will Open Course Ware take off?

Leiden University. The university to discover. Research environment Physical:  Invest in those areas where researchers still look at the library as a research and social space  Special collections reading room and services  Support for prolonged visits of international researchers  Support for conferences, lectures, meetings, exhibitions

Leiden University. The university to discover. Research environment Digital:  Implementation of Virtual Research Environment (based on Microsoft’s SharePoint extended with the Research Information Centre Framework).  As a pilot, Leiden University Libraries works together with 4 research groups creating VRE’s tailored to their needs.  Investigate library services within such an environment.

Leiden University. The university to discover. Specific needs Stop doing generic work that can easily be outsourced. Focus on specific needs for futhering education and research at your own institution.

Leiden University. The university to discover.  Fullfilling information needs of faculty, researchers, students, university  Information manager for the university (CRIS, research data, research output, e-learning objects, …)  Supporting knowledge creation & dissemination  Focus on digital information incl. services and expertise connected with digital information  Supporting teaching faculty on information literacy  Bring information and tools in the environments our users are utilizing  Learning environments  Research environments  Focus on specific needs  Support e-research Function of libraries?

Leiden University. The university to discover. E-research E-research will require infrastructure on a national and (European) international scale. Play a role in these initiatives (examples The Netherlands):  Early Dutch Books Online  Libratory  CLARIAH (Common Labs Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities) The library is needed at the local institutional level to provide services/support/know how

Leiden University. The university to discover.  Fullfilling information needs of faculty, researchers, students, university  Information manager for the university (CRIS, research data, research output, e-learning objects, …)  Supporting knowledge creation & dissemination  Focus on digital information incl. services and expertise connected with digital information  Supporting teaching faculty on information literacy  Bring information and tools in the environments our users are utilizing  Learning environments  Research environments  Focus on specific needs  Support e-research  Larger organisational units Function of libraries?

Leiden University. The university to discover. But... what holds us back?  Transition is difficult to manage and takes years  Some of our users

Leiden University. The university to discover. Pushing the paradigm’s envelope  Monitor quiet study area  Creating variety of study areas (quiet, noise, collaborative, lounge)  More material in open stacks  Reduced size open stacks: creating learning environment  Limited need for group spaces  Creating variety group spaces  Don’t close institute libraries  Closed down small libraries and transferring collections to main library/closed stacks 2009 survey among humanities students & faculty with regard to library facilities in Leiden. High on wish list:

Leiden University. The university to discover. But... what holds us back?  Transition is difficult to manage and takes years  Some of our users  Some of our librarians  Our framework, our tradition  Institutional territory  It’s risky  But also plenty of uncertainties: oAre we indeed moving towards the end of the hybrid library? oWill Google continue to invest in becoming the “world library” oWill e-books become the norm? oWill open access become a viable model? oWill faculty support the transformation of the library into the university’s information manager? oMajor publishers seem to pursue competitive strategies. oWill libraries play a role in e-research and which ones?

Leiden University. The university to discover. Moving forward  Start this discussion with the university administrators and faculty.

Leiden University. The university to discover. Lets put the fundamental transformation of the library on the agenda & create the roadmap. Thank you for your attention! E: W: kbelder.home.xs4all.nl/english.htm W: