The E-Brarian Revolution: The Collapse of the Traditional Librarian and the Dawn of the E-Empire
1. The E-Brarian Revolution:
The Collapse of the Traditional Librarian
and the Dawn of the E-Empire
2010 Charleston Conference
Charleston, South Carolina
November 5th, 2010
2. Panel Chair::
Dr. Mehdi Khosrow-Pour,
President and CEO
Panel Members:
Mirela Roncevic,
Director of Library Relations
Lynn Silipigni Connaway,
Senior Research Scientist
Rick Anderson,
Assoc. Dir. for Scholarly
Resources
& Collections Marriott Library
Kevin Sayar,
President
Marcus Woodburn,
Vice President, Digital Products
4. Will print collections be
replaced by e-resources
within the next 20 years?
Mirela Roncevic
mirela@igi-global.com
Director of Library Relations, IGI Global
Editor-in-Chief, “Advances in Library &
Information Science” Book Series
5. Librarians
No, smaller libraries still cannot afford databases
No, people are drawn to libraries, in part, for the experience
No, it’s impossible to replace serendipity made possible by
physical browsing
No, you cannot use an e-book to stabilize a wobbly table leg
6. NACS Survey
627 students surveyed at campuses across the U.S.
76% would pick a printed book if left up to them
13 percent purchased an ebook in the past three months
8 percent owned an e-reading device
Most popular device: iPhone
An increase of 10 to 15 percent expected by 2012
7. Why can’t it happen now?
We are still talking about standardizing the format
Content remains largely undiscoverable
Old business models still reinforce inefficient practices
Content is born digital but not global
8. CONTENT vs. FORMAT
Format is in the spotlight
Evolution of content is trailing behind
A-Z no longer applies
Reference has morphed into nonfiction (& vice versa)
The word “reference” has become irrelevant
Review media’s leadership role in the process is changing
9. Discoverability
Lake vs. river (Static vs. dynamic)
Re-purposing and re-organization of content
Finding your niche
True access: print availability
10. Born global
English-language research reigns in
non-English language territories
Globalization of perspectives is imperative
Publishers of fiction and creative nonfiction
remain “local” with global potential
Publishers of research materials serve the needs
of a global community from the onset
12. 20 years from now…
After the storm (the present)
Coming full circle
Format is no longer an issue
Content flows globally
Editor's Notes
This is just a sampling of the responses I received over the course of two weeks, all of which I’m sure you’ve heard many times before.
1. Databases too pricey; models still broken 2. which can only be had among printed tomes 3.
A recent survey conducted by the National Association of College Stores and reported on in The Chronicle of Higher Education last week also went again what I would have guessed at this time. In a nutshell, it reported that users still preferred printed textbooks.
While I am still not convinced that research materials will still be printed and bound the same way as today 20 years from now, I am now convinced that we have long ways to go.
Why do we have long ways to go? To best address the question of whether print textbook will be around 20 years from now, we need to ask Why hasn’t it happened already? Why Can’t it Happen now. There are many reasons for this. Today, I’d like to focus not so much on the user-experience but on the processes within our industry that are stiffling the process of change (i.e., our own shortcomings)
A recent survey conducted by the National Association of College Stores and reported on in The Chronicle of Higher Education last week also went again what I would have guessed at this time. In a nutshell, it reported that users still preferred printed textbooks.
While I am still not convinced that research materials will still be printed and bound the same way as today 20 years from now, I am now convinced that we have long ways to go.
Content can only be globalized if the perspectives it reflects come from all parts of the globe
This is a picture of The National & University Library of Sarajevo that shows a library and research materials in it as vulnerable physical objects. The library burned for three straight days, with most of its irreplacable contents reduced to ashes. Before the fire, the library held 1.5 million volumes, including over 155,000 rare books and manuscripts, the country’s national archives, deposit copies of newspapers, periodicals and the collections of the University of Sarajevo. 20 years ago it was possible to erase a country’s cultural memory and reduce it to ashes. We’ve come a long way since then, but...
Coming full circle: after weathering the storm that is the present, I foresee the industry coming full circle – to a place – a global place where the format is no longer an issue
