1. Transforming Libraries: Be the Change
Dr. M. Sai Baba
Associate Director, Resources Management Group
Professor, Homi Bhabha National Institute
Official Spokesperson
Adjunct Professor, PSG College of Technology
“ From Building Collections to Making Connections:
Transforming Libraries in the Knowledge Era”
NACLIN 2014 DELNET & French Institute of Pondicherry December 9-11, 2014 1

2. Transforming Libraries: Be the Change
Our Knowledge
is the amassed thought and experiences of innumerable minds
-R.W.Emerson

3. Transforming Libraries: Be the Change
Information Explosion
Today we live in a competitive world, which is rapidly evolving, where everyday life is dependent on Information and Knowledge Libraries play a vital role for serving the people with the necessary information
Scholarly literature: growing gradually New facets are being added progressively
Inter-disciplinary approach
Information Tsunami

4. Transforming Libraries: Be the Change
The problem ?
Trying to control the content in :
Information explosion
exponential growth of information
Communication explosion
exponential growth of means and ways by which information is: communicated, transmitted, accesses, and used

5. Transforming Libraries: Be the Change
in Transition
Information
Print > Electronic
Strong emphasis on digitizing local collections
Users
New generations of users:
Millennial generation
Web savvy

6. Transforming Libraries: Be the Change
library and information science no longer confined to four walls of classification and cataloguing
Automation
To embrace new concepts
digitization,
wikis, blogging,
podcasts other web related technologies
Traditional Libraries

7. Towards the Digital Library Three Key Transformations

8. Omnipresent (it will be wherever the users are) From
Database/Repository to
Seamless (fully integrated with digital learning and research; beyond?)
Managed Digital Space Environment
Community (resources, people, interaction, process, activities, services)
- digital silos are still possible; it is possible to not leverage the technology
- dynamic documents and dynamic spaces
- community: Virtual Lucy Maud Montgomery Museum (NLC, UPEI, UG)
Dynamic & Organic (the users will construct it as much as we will)

9. Information Management to
From
Information Management to
Coherence & Sense Making (value added outcomes and benefits)
Knowledge Management
People Centric (a focus on understanding not just data)
Explicit & Tacit Knowledge (beyond recorded information)
Trusted Information Systems (status, reputation, influence, impact)

10. Control (users not systems)
Intelligent Agents Personal Information Systems (discovery, assistance, utility)
Control (users not systems)
Managing People’s Interests (trusted information systems)
Wireless Communication (whenever, wherever, right now)
From
People Finding Information to
Smart Information (telemetry, propagation)
Information Finding People

11. Challenges in Digital Libraries
Transforming Libraries: Be the Change
Challenges in Digital Libraries
representing, storing and retrieving of library objects
particularly if originally designed to be printed
operationally managing large collections - issues of scale
dealing with diverse and distributed collections
interoperability; federated searching
assuring preservation and persistence
incorporating rights management

12. Problem with Current Digital Libraries
Transforming Libraries: Be the Change
Problem with Current Digital Libraries
Digital Libraries consist of a huge collection of data which cannot be retrieved in contexts other than the one it was published for
The problem is – Computers do not understand the semantics of the stored information
Inability to integrate and process the available data automatically.
This results in inefficient information retrieval system and poor data integration
Semantic Digital Libraries: Adding contextual meaning to the search

13. Acquisitions Traditionally
Transforming Libraries: Be the Change
Acquisitions Traditionally
Book placed in
Stacks
Request
placed by
patron
Book invoiced,
processed
Book sent to
Acquisitions
Order placed
with vendor
Patron uses
book, finds
references

14. Acquisitions Advancement
Transforming Libraries: Be the Change
Acquisitions Advancement
Patron Driven Acquisitions
Innovative acquisitions model
Seamless acquisition or lending of e-books
Purchase triggered by threshold

15. Crowded Landscape of Information Providers on the Web
Workforce Challenges
Crowded Landscape of Information Providers on the Web
Lots of non-library Web destinations Delivering content to patrons
Google Scholar
Amazon.com
Wikipedia
Ask.com
Do Library Web sites and catalogs meet the information needs of our users?
Do they attract their interest?

16. Google Scholar
: Google uses retrieval algorithms based on ranking and relevance to the search term
users likely to feel that it’s a more useful tool for research than a library catalog that often ranks relevant items in chronological order
The ease of use has made Google Scholar popular amongst the users who were in the past drawn to more traditional resources
The challenge: users bypassing the library

17. Use of Blogs in Libraries
Blogs Can Help to Communicate with Library Users
Librarians have long used a variety of means for getting information about the library out to our communities – newsletters, alerts, s, posters and flyers and more
Using a blog offers the opportunity to innovate your communications. Blogging gives you a way to push information out, but also to gather feedback and build a community without having very much technical know-how

18. Workforce Challenges
Library and Information Service personnel to be on their toes
Advancements in the Information Technology
Technological innovations

19. Workforce Challenges
Importance of Traditional Skills still Relevant Working within continued hybrid environment with new skills sets to achieve
Need for new model for facilitating acquisition and exposition of different skills sets
Encouragement and appreciation of the need for relevant portfolio skills development 19

20. Building the Libraries of Future
Workforce Challenges
Building the Libraries of Future
Managing the Knowledge/Information/Data Revolution
Dealing with Digitisation
Leading Transformation
Realising New Platforms
Building a Community of Practice
Unlocking the Staff Potential
Ensuring Sustainability 20

21. How to Get There: Building a Transformed Library
Move from cooperation to collaboration ( Cloud)
Focus on the needs of users & Build the e-collection
Provide all services to the user desktops
Redesign Library spaces as people space, not storage areas
Integration of the latest technology and value added services in library
Librarians to turn as technocrats in this Google generation

22. Making Information available: The future
Traditionally: build - Just in case collections
Standardisation of e-books / e-readers
Offer printing on demand services
delivering books in digitized form on request
from ‘just in case’ collections to ‘just in time’ collections?
digital collections with focus on computational use
Collections housed in national/regional warehouses
TREND: DIGITAL, JUST IN TIME

24. Thank you for your attention