IN DEPTH
The future of digital transformation is now
Join CILIP’s Embrace it, Design It, Build it: Information Professionals at the Heart of Digital Transformation event (3 and 4 November) to find how your service can benefit from new technologies and ensure digital services meet the needs of you users now and into the future. Rob Green looks at what’s on offer and why it matters. Book now at
www.cilip.org.uk/DigitalTransformationEvent.
GETTING to grips with Digital Transforma- tion within library and information services can feel like a haphazard affair – especial- ly considering the last 18 months. While digital has become a central tenet of many services, it has often been implanted as a reaction to the events and changes of living through a pandemic. However, as we now look to embed those changes and build a digital future that is fit for purpose beyond lockdowns and emergency legislation, there is a need to re-focus on what technology can do for services and where information professionals sit within that continued service development. There is no doubt that technology can be hugely transformative – a large number of people switched overnight from office based working to home working when the first lockdown struck. Changing how we interact with colleagues, service users and bring both benefits and challenges to the workplace. Existing tech- nologies have shouldered most of that change – Zoom and Teams both existed, but how many organisations really utilised them well? For libraries and information services, differ- ent challenges have had to be overcome – how do you get information and resources into the hands of people when they need it? Simple enough when collections are digitised, but hard- er when organisation rely on physical resources. How do users access services or make requests if they are not in the same building? It’s clear that these problems existed before the pandemic, but there has been a shift in the numbers of staff and users that are primarily digital.
The next step
The implementation of AI systems, machine learning and automation is a current issue – many services have already adopted them in one form or another. However for those who haven’t yet
18 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Rob Green (
rob.green@
cilip.org.uk) is Editor, Information Professional.
looked at the possibilities, these technologies are on unquestionably on the horizon. It is crucial, therefore, that information professionals are part of the process for bringing these new technologies and services to users and customers.
As the world moves to a post-pandemic landscape there is a need to plan how digital transformation will be implemented, moving away from an IT problem and toward a solution for service users – with information professionals at the heart of developing digital strategies. To make things clearer, CILIP is hosting an online workshop to give library and information profes- sionals an insight into successful digital transfor- mation projects. Embrace it, Design It, Build it: Information Professionals at the Heart of Digital Transformation takes place online on the mornings of 3 and 4 November. It features a range of library and information professionals who have led and de- veloped digital strategies and projects within their organisations. They will share experiences, lessons learned and best practice helping to guide delegates on their own digital transformation journeys.
Opportunity
The event is designed to help practitioners navigate digital and technological transformation, with the event’s webpage pointing out: “Technology is trans-
October-November 2021
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