To be or not to be

This post discusses Fred Heath's 'Documenting the Global Conversation: Relevancy of Libraries in a Digital World' (Heath, 2009), obviously the written version of a conference talk, as published in the Journal of Library Administration. It takes a realistic approach, with concrete examples, of how libraries, like many media, are affected by the rise of the web, which Heath denotes as 'culprit'. I am sympathetic with his viewpoint, as it is well-informed by his role within university libraries, and he details measures already being undertaken to increase the relevance of libraries to today's students and researchers within the changing world of information.

The issues raised are stark. Many consider libraries already obsolete; the web is changing people's relationships with media (newspapers, music, books, higher education) faster than those media can adapt to survive, and even the future of universities themselves could be in doubt as information is increasingly freely available. Libraries no longer have a monopoly as disseminators of credible information. Media such as newspapers and publishers are either shutting down, merging, or drastically cutting costs in an effort to stay afloat, and old business models no longer function in the unstable economic climate.

Heath, having outlined the doomsday scenario of the web obliterating all alternative routes of information dissemination, then goes on to show how libraries can continue to do what they have always done – supporting academic research and critical inquiry – though how they do this will change.

He details changes already taking place at The University of Texas, such as downscaling and merging physical collections in favour of digital resources, leaving more money for other services. This overlooks the problem of the extremely rapid change of digital data formats; I can pick up a 100-year-old book and open it without difficulty, but if a data CD is even five years old, I could have trouble. Copying vast amounts of data over into a new format every few years would be daunting, not to mention costly! Manuscripts and earlier editions of books also have great academic value in certain contexts, but are overlooked in Heath's new world order.

He neglects to discuss that what librarians can do is to support academic study with personal contact, guiding scholars through the vast and increasingly difficult-to-navigate amounts of information available. Librarians need to be proficient in this digital environment in order to help others. In failing to mention this factor, Heath seems to have either assumed that they are all already proficient in this (unlikely given the ageing librarian population and the speed of information development), or overlooked that this is a valuable service. The University of New South Wales library provides research consultations which assist students to access Web 2.0 resources. This skills gap would go some way towards explaining why 'The Digital Environment' (this very subject) is compulsory in CSU's Master of Information Studies.

Heath at least shows that efforts to keep libraries relevant are going in the right direction.

References

Heath, F. (2009). Documenting the Global Conversation: Relevancy
          of Libraries in a Digital World. Journal of Library Administration,
          49(5), 519-532. doi:10.1080/01930820903090896

INF405 The Digital Environment (8). In Handbook 2010 Charles Sturt
          University. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.csu.edu.au
          /handbook/handbook10/subjects/INF405.html

Master of Information Studies. In Handbook 2010 Charles Sturt
          University. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.csu.edu.au
          /handbook/handbook10/postgraduate
          /MInfoStud.htm#course

Research consultations. In Research & teaching support UNSW
          Library. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.library.unsw.edu.au
          /servicesfor/academic/rescon.html