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ANALYSIS


CARVING NEW ROLES IN THE LIBRARY


Many discussions at the Online Information 2013 conference focused on the changes and opportunities for information professionals, writes Siân Harris


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ow important are libraries, and how important will they be in the future? These were key questions asked at the Online Information conference held in London in November. Those worried by these questions may be somewhat reassured by some of the answers. Ellyssa Kroski, director of information technology at The New York Law Institute, for example, noted that in the USA there are more public libraries than McDonalds or Starbucks. And Heini Oikkonen of Helsinki City Library reported that a survey recently put her library as one of most well-known brands in Finland. However, there are plenty of changes and


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challenges, according to Kroski. ‘Much of the perception that libraries are not needed so much these days comes from changes in information consumption. Libraries are not the only players.’ She pointed out that the costs to consumers are about the same to buy from things like Netflix and Amazon as to support their local library. ‘Competition is fierce,’ she observed.


So how can libraries compete? By innovating, according to Kroski. Her response is to urge libraries to take risks. Drawing on the example of the risks taken to launch the Hubble telescope and the resulting insight this gave into space that this provided, she urged libraries to ‘look for your own deep fields.


‘We can’t afford to just wait and see with things like social media,’ she explained. ‘Libraries are looking at other revenue models such as renting air space above their building and new trends in things like access versus ownership, shared ownership and patron- driven acquisition.’


There are technology trends that can help too, such as using the cloud with applications like Dropbox, Amazon web services and library- specific cloud tools. She also noted that library users want ‘recommendations that get smarter with feedback’. She added that responsive web design enables libraries to just maintain one website and, for example, to include a library card within mobile wallet technology.


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