INTERVIEW
Fluid landscape as digital meets the physical
Digital access to collections has been a key theme in Kirsty Lingstadt’s career, helping users to engage with resources in new ways. She recently moved from Edinburgh University to become Director of Library, Archives and Learning Services at University of York, and here she talks to Rob Green about how to make the most of collections in a digital world.
COLLECTIONS are changing and libraries and archives are having to change with them. Digital develop- ments are leading to new ways of discovering and accessing resources; technology is delivering new ways of working with collections; and users are increasingly demanding digital access to sit alongside the physical. This shift presents both problems and opportunities for libraries, but the key is maximising the gain while minimising the diffi culties. For Kirsty Lingstadt, acces- sibility of collections has always been a key theme of her professional life and she has seen how digital solutions can bring rewards. Prior to taking up her current role at the University of York she was at Edinburgh University as Head of Digital Library and Deputy Director of Library and University Collections, a job title that neatly encompasses her views on the “fl uidity” between the digital and the physical.
Fluidity
She says: “The digital has always been something that is diff erent to the physical – it is not a replacement for the physical experience, you are doing something dif- ferent. They are complimentary and I work between them, rather than doing one or the other. We see the same in our daily life, and I can defi nitely see it in how my children in- teract with technology. There is a fl uidity of movement that I want to bring to it. That’s what I’m trying to bring into libraries.”
40 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Rob Green (
rob.green@
cilip.org.uk) is Editor, Information Professional.
That fl uidity is also evident among library users, with students regularly accessing content on digital devices while simul- taneously reading from print outs or making physical notes. Kirsty adds that the introduction of makerspaces in libraries is extending this physical and digital fl uidity, saying: “Makerspaces have really taken off massively and it is interesting to see how they are used. What I am seeing is students designing digitally, then 3D printing, then scanning there’s that fl uidity in how they use that content.”
Users are intuitive in how they access and interact with collections, but only to a certain extent. As technology advances, so too do the possibilities – and here, intuition may not be enough. Kirsty says: “Libraries
March 2023
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