Conference addresses role of libraries in the digital world
05 March 2019, Bengaluru: The Future of Libraries Conference was held at IIM Bangalore from February 26 (Tuesday) to February 28 (Thursday), 2019. “Technology, an abundance of information, and ubiquity of the internet have a substantial impact on contemporary libraries everywhere in the world. Response to these challenges is critical for the survival of libraries and to the profession of librarianship. The theme of the conference was crafted to collapse these narratives on extinction, rebranding, and repositioning of the libraries holistically and highlight their contribution to the journey of learning, research and improving human lives,” said Rama Patnaik, Conference Chair and Librarian, IIM Bangalore.
Swati Bhattacharyya’s lecture on the ecosystem of Scholarly communication opens up a new role for librarians as agents in open access movement, open science and the power of the web as a publishing medium. The open access movement is exacerbated by a societal philosophy that considers information as a public good and should have equitable access to all, while open science advocates for transparency in the research process and replicability of research through adhering to protocols and methodologies and the data from the beginning of the research. She also foresees an open peer review systems that advocate for opening the identity of the reviewers as well as authors and the review reports. There is no structured course on these new roles; nevertheless, librarians are acquiring knowledge through collaboration and learning on the job. According to her, the area of scholarly communication is still evolving, and future library services will demand diverse skills sets, specific job descriptions and new positions
Marshall Breeding, an independent consultant, a great authority in tracking the trends believes that libraries of future will co-exist with print for another decade, however these unable to keep pace with the state of art technologies in comparison with techniques that enhance consumer experience in the Business realm. The content is its digital format continues to influence digital rich spaces like makerspace and personalized learning in libraries. However, the ubiquity of access is not the challenge, but its impact is, as summed up Gurdish Sandhu, another speaker from the University of East London. There is a perception of that searching and evaluating relevant information as a skill for any use is technology aided and inherent amongst the youth. Library associations in the UK and USA have crafted frameworks for formal learning of information resources including evaluation of authentic information that is freely available on the Internet. Ella Mitchell from the University of East London highlighted on the seven frameworks of Digital literacy namely scholarship, career and identity management, learning skills, ICT, communication and collaboration, learning skills which are credit-based in some educational institutions in Europe and USA.
Libraries are investing in acquiring more digital content than print and turning back volumes of periodicals in digital format. As a result of which, the shelving space is significantly reduced. But are libraries reclaiming these spaces to facilitate collaborative learning? Librarian of IIM Ahmedabad, Anil Kumar’s tryst to modernize their library is a long-standing response demand for the collaborative nature of learning and technology-enabled spaces for students and engage in group activity and complies with the global trend of reclamation of library space.
Researchers need support from librarians to support the publication life cycle including managing research data sets and updating the institutional repositories which archive the research output of the faculty and scholars. Sharing research data sets exemplifies transparency and improves the impact of the research paper. A three-hour workshop on research data management by Robin Rice of the University of Edinburgh imparted a formal awareness on the need to preserve, share and curate the data that is significant for transparency and authenticity of research. This advocacy has carved new titles in roles for librarianship such as Scholarly communication librarian and data librarian, but in India, institutes of higher learning need to push at the highest level for mandating a culture of sharing the datasets and curating them for long term use.
As the gap of skills required and the curriculum and education in Library and information science are an all-time high, libraries in India are unable to meet the new challenges in the management of libraries. Computer science, psychology, data science, mass communication, and other related disciplines have significant influence and may warrant credits amongst these disciplines. Educationists in India have a lot more to answer on how these new skills are going to be met in the current scenario. Pravakar Rath in his lecture presented the current scenario along with the suggestions.
The digital content is growing exponentially, bringing its own issues on access, copyright, and intellectual property rights. Librarians in India are unaware of the consequences of signing the contracts for licensing the access to digital content of journals and books. Dr. Anil B Suraj, visiting faculty at IIM Bangalore, highlighted the provisions of Section( 52) of the Indian copyright law to enlighten on the regulations under the fair use. Anil Suraj of IIM Bangalore has emphasized that enforceability of contract and copyright laws is strictly jurisdictional.
A panel discussion on future of academic and research libraries highlighted some of the critical developments such as open access, repositioning and rebranding the nature of activities that appeal to the stakeholders and other opportunities that are going to define the role of librarians in future. N V Sathyanarayana moderated the discussion.
Preservation of culture is core to public libraries, but Academic Libraries are also engaging in the preservation of culture. The case study at Business Museum by M G Sreekumar presents a chronological narration on the evolution of trade in India from ancient to modern times., offers a pictorial journey of trade coupled with texts and students from Commerce, history and other disciplines will find the tour to get a glimpse of milestones in the Business history of India. Is history is simple, and the narration and interpretations are localized and unable to accommodate global perspectives? The extended presentation of Crosscult project sponsored by HORIZON 2020 by the Faculty from the Department of Archives, Library and information science, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece led by Daphne Kyriaki-Manessi, I. Triantafyllou, and Dimitrios Kouis showcased the technology-enabled platform for presenting cultural heritage content and managing user interactions. New interactive apps for museums & cities with customized profiling, recommendations, location-aware, user-generated materials, social media analysis and other generated a great curiosity among the delegates. Kishor Satpathy stressed the role of future libraries in capturing and archiving the traditional knowledge and invited institutions which are interested in partner with ISI Kolkata on this project.
Public libraries are a lifeline for literacy, citizenry, public services, preservation of culture and equitable access to general information services. P.Jayarajan, Ex-Director of British council libraries illustrated the anomalies in the number of libraries per population and disinterest among the ruling establishments in renewing their roles and responsibilities. The purpose of RRRLF in extending support to the state libraries was highlighted by Arun Chakraborty who was Director General until December 2018. In his lecture and as a panelist, he lamented on the lack of proposals from the state libraries to upgrade the infrastructure and amenities in public libraries. As Public library is a state system, it limits the role of central agencies like Raja Ram Mohan Roy Foundation under the Ministry of Culture. The transformation of the public libraries is dependent on the drive of everyday citizens who should engage more proactively in demanding their revival as it happened in the case of Anna Centenary Library at Chennai. A panel discussion moderated by Akhtar Parvez deliberated on the need for enlightened citizens demanding a change in the state of public libraries in India.
The highlight of the conference was the celebrity author talk. Vivek Shannbag and Dr. M S Sriram engaged in a conversation on the about books and storytelling. The delegates were too elated to enliven the ‘fan’ movement to interact and ask questions on the art of storytelling, and the influence of reading at a very early age. Both the authors contended that digital is suitable for its reach and distribution, Book in print format is a continued interaction that is cherished, as compared to the digital ones, sighed off the two promising authors of literature in Kannada.
Delegates presented some interesting case studies on the role of data-driven decisions for collection management, IPR, and digital rights management, the impact of research among NIRF ranked management schools, challenges of RDM services, using technology to reposition library services, state of public libraries in Kerala, use of electronic resources among the scholarly community of management schools, innovation, overhauling the curriculum of LIS in Greece to name a few.
The organizing Secretary and Conference chair Rama Patnaik thanked the Director, the Deans and other officials of IIMB, SPEAKERS, PANELLISTS and the delegates for their contribution to make this conference a grand success.
Conference addresses role of libraries in the digital world
05 March 2019, Bengaluru: The Future of Libraries Conference was held at IIM Bangalore from February 26 (Tuesday) to February 28 (Thursday), 2019. “Technology, an abundance of information, and ubiquity of the internet have a substantial impact on contemporary libraries everywhere in the world. Response to these challenges is critical for the survival of libraries and to the profession of librarianship. The theme of the conference was crafted to collapse these narratives on extinction, rebranding, and repositioning of the libraries holistically and highlight their contribution to the journey of learning, research and improving human lives,” said Rama Patnaik, Conference Chair and Librarian, IIM Bangalore.
Swati Bhattacharyya’s lecture on the ecosystem of Scholarly communication opens up a new role for librarians as agents in open access movement, open science and the power of the web as a publishing medium. The open access movement is exacerbated by a societal philosophy that considers information as a public good and should have equitable access to all, while open science advocates for transparency in the research process and replicability of research through adhering to protocols and methodologies and the data from the beginning of the research. She also foresees an open peer review systems that advocate for opening the identity of the reviewers as well as authors and the review reports. There is no structured course on these new roles; nevertheless, librarians are acquiring knowledge through collaboration and learning on the job. According to her, the area of scholarly communication is still evolving, and future library services will demand diverse skills sets, specific job descriptions and new positions
Marshall Breeding, an independent consultant, a great authority in tracking the trends believes that libraries of future will co-exist with print for another decade, however these unable to keep pace with the state of art technologies in comparison with techniques that enhance consumer experience in the Business realm. The content is its digital format continues to influence digital rich spaces like makerspace and personalized learning in libraries. However, the ubiquity of access is not the challenge, but its impact is, as summed up Gurdish Sandhu, another speaker from the University of East London. There is a perception of that searching and evaluating relevant information as a skill for any use is technology aided and inherent amongst the youth. Library associations in the UK and USA have crafted frameworks for formal learning of information resources including evaluation of authentic information that is freely available on the Internet. Ella Mitchell from the University of East London highlighted on the seven frameworks of Digital literacy namely scholarship, career and identity management, learning skills, ICT, communication and collaboration, learning skills which are credit-based in some educational institutions in Europe and USA.
Libraries are investing in acquiring more digital content than print and turning back volumes of periodicals in digital format. As a result of which, the shelving space is significantly reduced. But are libraries reclaiming these spaces to facilitate collaborative learning? Librarian of IIM Ahmedabad, Anil Kumar’s tryst to modernize their library is a long-standing response demand for the collaborative nature of learning and technology-enabled spaces for students and engage in group activity and complies with the global trend of reclamation of library space.
Researchers need support from librarians to support the publication life cycle including managing research data sets and updating the institutional repositories which archive the research output of the faculty and scholars. Sharing research data sets exemplifies transparency and improves the impact of the research paper. A three-hour workshop on research data management by Robin Rice of the University of Edinburgh imparted a formal awareness on the need to preserve, share and curate the data that is significant for transparency and authenticity of research. This advocacy has carved new titles in roles for librarianship such as Scholarly communication librarian and data librarian, but in India, institutes of higher learning need to push at the highest level for mandating a culture of sharing the datasets and curating them for long term use.
As the gap of skills required and the curriculum and education in Library and information science are an all-time high, libraries in India are unable to meet the new challenges in the management of libraries. Computer science, psychology, data science, mass communication, and other related disciplines have significant influence and may warrant credits amongst these disciplines. Educationists in India have a lot more to answer on how these new skills are going to be met in the current scenario. Pravakar Rath in his lecture presented the current scenario along with the suggestions.
The digital content is growing exponentially, bringing its own issues on access, copyright, and intellectual property rights. Librarians in India are unaware of the consequences of signing the contracts for licensing the access to digital content of journals and books. Dr. Anil B Suraj, visiting faculty at IIM Bangalore, highlighted the provisions of Section( 52) of the Indian copyright law to enlighten on the regulations under the fair use. Anil Suraj of IIM Bangalore has emphasized that enforceability of contract and copyright laws is strictly jurisdictional.
A panel discussion on future of academic and research libraries highlighted some of the critical developments such as open access, repositioning and rebranding the nature of activities that appeal to the stakeholders and other opportunities that are going to define the role of librarians in future. N V Sathyanarayana moderated the discussion.
Preservation of culture is core to public libraries, but Academic Libraries are also engaging in the preservation of culture. The case study at Business Museum by M G Sreekumar presents a chronological narration on the evolution of trade in India from ancient to modern times., offers a pictorial journey of trade coupled with texts and students from Commerce, history and other disciplines will find the tour to get a glimpse of milestones in the Business history of India. Is history is simple, and the narration and interpretations are localized and unable to accommodate global perspectives? The extended presentation of Crosscult project sponsored by HORIZON 2020 by the Faculty from the Department of Archives, Library and information science, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece led by Daphne Kyriaki-Manessi, I. Triantafyllou, and Dimitrios Kouis showcased the technology-enabled platform for presenting cultural heritage content and managing user interactions. New interactive apps for museums & cities with customized profiling, recommendations, location-aware, user-generated materials, social media analysis and other generated a great curiosity among the delegates. Kishor Satpathy stressed the role of future libraries in capturing and archiving the traditional knowledge and invited institutions which are interested in partner with ISI Kolkata on this project.
Public libraries are a lifeline for literacy, citizenry, public services, preservation of culture and equitable access to general information services. P.Jayarajan, Ex-Director of British council libraries illustrated the anomalies in the number of libraries per population and disinterest among the ruling establishments in renewing their roles and responsibilities. The purpose of RRRLF in extending support to the state libraries was highlighted by Arun Chakraborty who was Director General until December 2018. In his lecture and as a panelist, he lamented on the lack of proposals from the state libraries to upgrade the infrastructure and amenities in public libraries. As Public library is a state system, it limits the role of central agencies like Raja Ram Mohan Roy Foundation under the Ministry of Culture. The transformation of the public libraries is dependent on the drive of everyday citizens who should engage more proactively in demanding their revival as it happened in the case of Anna Centenary Library at Chennai. A panel discussion moderated by Akhtar Parvez deliberated on the need for enlightened citizens demanding a change in the state of public libraries in India.
The highlight of the conference was the celebrity author talk. Vivek Shannbag and Dr. M S Sriram engaged in a conversation on the about books and storytelling. The delegates were too elated to enliven the ‘fan’ movement to interact and ask questions on the art of storytelling, and the influence of reading at a very early age. Both the authors contended that digital is suitable for its reach and distribution, Book in print format is a continued interaction that is cherished, as compared to the digital ones, sighed off the two promising authors of literature in Kannada.
Delegates presented some interesting case studies on the role of data-driven decisions for collection management, IPR, and digital rights management, the impact of research among NIRF ranked management schools, challenges of RDM services, using technology to reposition library services, state of public libraries in Kerala, use of electronic resources among the scholarly community of management schools, innovation, overhauling the curriculum of LIS in Greece to name a few.
The organizing Secretary and Conference chair Rama Patnaik thanked the Director, the Deans and other officials of IIMB, SPEAKERS, PANELLISTS and the delegates for their contribution to make this conference a grand success.