On Formats, Function & Faith
Christine Madsen
Head of Digital Programmes, Bodleian Libraries
Director of Humanities, Sobota Foundation
1. Lessons from the Tibetan Diaspora
2. Building a library for pastoral nomads
3. What does any of this have to do with
Libraries?
Why do we adopt new technologies?
Q: Why do we adopt new technologies?
A: When they are actually of more use than
the previous technology
Each prayer wheel contains 128 DVDs, for a total of over 1.8 trillion prayers.
Sometimes the best technology is the
least technology
NumberofUsers
Amount of Innovation in Practice
Less disruption in practice = more users
Be useful
Communities of users
14 Sept. 2010
Brown University Library
Slide 56 of
• History pin
Sometimes the best technology is the
least technology
Sometimes the best technology is the
most technology
Format
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What do libraries do?
Libraries are about learning
Understanding the history of libraries
Libraries were about learning
January 31, 2005
Open Collections Program,
Harvard University Library
69
Why do people come to the library?
Oxford
Oxford
Oxford
c. 1320
c. 1320 1443
280
560
c. 1320 1443 1598
250
0
c. 1320 1443 1598 Library of Congress
per day
Sir Frances Bacon Thomas Bodley
“In regard
of your
great and
rare desert
of learning”
“…having
built an arc
to save
learning
from deluge”
Storehouse of information
Warehouse of knowledge
Learning?
Some rights reserved by bigoteetoe
What do libraries do now?
January 31, 2005
Open Collections Program,
Harvard University Library
92
Oxford
Storehouse of information
Libraries are about learning
Information
Knowledge
Set of Services
In support of knowledge creation
Generative
Participatory
Creation of something new
Collection
Discussion
Debate
Some rights reserved by jenny8lee
Google can bring you back 100,000 answers
a librarian can bring you back the right one
- Neil Gaiman
Lessons?
Communities
Innovation
Space for learning
Questions?
Thank you
Christine.madsen@bodleian.ox.ac.uk
Sometimes the best technology is the
least technology
Sometimes the best technology is the
most technology
Less disruption in practice = more users
Format
Library Futures & the Importance of Understanding Communities of Users
Library Futures & the Importance of Understanding Communities of Users

Library Futures & the Importance of Understanding Communities of Users