ent to a researcher that is going through 5,000 digitised illuminated manuscripts. As a profession, we need to be more aware of that distinction and the different ways our collections are going to be used. One is not going to replace the other.” And while institutions and publishers are grappling with how users are inter- acting with collections, libraries have yet more considerations. People are again central to this, but here it is not about adapting to changing technology or user needs. Instead, libraries need to be thinking about how they can develop their users’ skills in order to maximise the benefits of digital resources.
Kirsty says that there are a whole host of literacies that sit parallel to new technol- ogies, and that libraries should be looking at these holistically. She says: “We should be equipping our students with data lit- eracy but we are still working out exactly what skills that encompasses and how to convey them. Students need to be able to understand how coding and algorithms work so that they understand what they are getting back from their results. “We have all heard about algorithmic bias, and I think ethics about data and how we behave in a digital world is going to be important. As data becomes more prevalent and more widely used, we need to think about how we are using it. This again is something libraries are well placed to support”
download a copy or share a copy of a digital text. People want the ‘digital’ to behave differently to the physical, but because of the licensing agreements we are having to make it behave in the same way. But that publishing model doesn’t work for users.”
Part of the problem is around educa- tion, and ensuring users are aware of the limitations of digital. Their experi- ence of commercial platforms such as Netflix and Amazon sets an expectation of what “digital” means. But the reality in libraries does not meet that expec- tation – with licensing agreements and high costs affecting the user experience. When millions of people can watch the same film whenever they want and wherever they are, it can be hard to understand why a library can only loan out a set number of digital copies. There are “difficult messages to get across about licensing and why we can only afford to get 30 concurrent licenc- es. We are not paying £30 for a physical copy, but each licence costs £1,000. We need to do more to explain that. People don’t understand why a digital product in a library doesn’t behave ‘digitally’.”
Digital and physical And while it is easy to think of a gen- 42 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
eration of digital natives, Kirsty does not believe we are there just yet. She says: “There is not a generation of born-digital users yet. When you walk about a library you see people using their devices, but they also have printouts and are making physical notes on paper. There is some- thing about interacting with a physical copy that makes it easier to take in infor- mation for some people. We can’t yet do that with electronic devices, and I think we need to find a way to get that haptic experience you get from a physical copy. “We also talk about ‘digital natives’, but I think what we are actually seeing is people who are much more fluid moving between the digital and the physical. What they want from the experience is something that supports that fluidity and lets you move though those different environments of the physical and digital. There are some really exciting things that are going to come out of that.” That fluidity also marks out alterna- tive ways that users interact with items, whether digital or physical and libraries need to better understand those distinc- tions. Kirsty points out: “The digital side of things is about doing something different with our collections. Someone sitting down with an illuminated manuscript is going to be doing something very differ-
These literacies go hand-in-hand with other traditional literacies. Kirsty adds: “We have leapt from not enough informa- tion to not just information abundance, but sprawling networks of information. In this new scenario we must ensure our users understand the provenance of that information, the validity of the source. They need information literacy as well as digital and data literacy.”
Public good
Kirsty joined the University of York as Director of Library, Archives and Learning Services in October 2021. The appointment came as the university was embarking on its latest strategy, which pitches it as a “university for public good”. She says: “The University has some really great aspirations within the strategy, the idea of a university for the public good and digital features very strongly. “I am looking at the role of the Library and how it fits in – particularly through our resources and archival collections. It’s all about how we get our students to engage with that and contribute back to the community”
The University’s learning services is also in Kirsty’s remit, which gives her the opportunity to look more closely at how students are given broader skills to navi- gate digital change. She says: “We want t o look at those digital skills. How do we give them digital confidence and digital
March 2023
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