The arrival and the consequent widespread use of the web has started to threaten the future of libraries just like it had the industries of newspaper, music and book publishing, and higher education.
Fred Heath, the Vice Provost and Director of the University of Texas libraries wrote the article ‘Documenting the Global Conversation: Relevancy of Libraries in a Digital World’ to explain what libraries, especially research libraries, need to do to survive and even thrive in the digital age where people are even questioning the future existence of libraries (Waller, 2008). Heath argues that the libraries don’t have to disappear; they just have to rethink and find their place in the digital age.
Heath begins by analysing various fields of the information sector and their subsequent demise in the digital age. He paints a grim picture for the industries. Newspapers are stopping daily publication, laying off employees, and some declaring bankruptcy. In the music industry CD sales are dwindling and even paid downloads, once considered the saviour of the industry, are down. Book publishers are scrambling to deal with ever diminishing book sales and reducing the number of new manuscripts they accept to publish. And the higher education sector is struggling to retain their status as the knowledge providers. In each one of these cases the author points the finger to the web as the cause of the problems. He asks and answers the question “what are the survival strategies” for these industries. The answers differ slightly for each sector but the message is the same: stop resisting the inevitability of change and look for ways to deliver your products the way people wish to obtain it. And the way people wish to obtain is through the web.
Heath then moves onto future of libraries and argues that libraries are just as susceptible to changes brought on by the web as other information society sectors, if not more. Research libraries, the information they hold and their services are being made obsolete with increasing self-reliance of the students and online publishing services. The author, however, argues that the libraries can survive in the digital age “by doing the things they do best.” He gives examples of what they are doing at University of Texas libraries that have been working well for them.
The author answers the question of what libraries must do to stay relevant in an increasingly digital world. He contributes to our knowledge of techniques libraries utilise to provide the services their clients are needing in the current times. University of Texas (UT) is the United States’ fifth largest research library therefore the strategies they use are very relevant and important to the work of other libraries that are trying to stay relevant in the digital world (Texas, 2010).
The author provides a valuable analysis of what is happening in other information sectors and why are doing so badly. He is correct in his observation that the culprit in each case is the web. It is also helpful that he shows what the other industries are doing or should do to keep functioning. It is important to look at what is happening with the sectors in the same field as libraries are in, in order to learn from their experiences and their mistakes. It is just as important for Heath that he explains what his library has been doing that has been working well for them.
The article would have been improved by him offering ideas to other libraries on how they can apply these ideas to their libraries. After all not all libraries have the same amount of staff and budget to implement changes in the scale UT has, nor do they have the same amount of tech savvy users.
One glaring omission in the article was the use of e-books in the libraries. Heath briefly mentions e-books as the silver lining of the book publishing sector. He writes that the sales for e-books have increased by 64 % while other forms of book sales have been going down. It would have been helpful for him to describe how they are using e-book technology in the UT libraries. They are actually piloting a “pay-per-view” model of e-books in UT libraries (Macicak & Schell, 2009).
Heath concludes on a hopeful note that the information sector will not only survive but get better in the digital age. And the role of the libraries will change but their task of “facilitating critical inquiry on part of university community” will stay the same. They might have to use tools and techniques different to the ones traditionally used in the libraries to adapt to their new task, but the libraries are here to stay.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fred Heath, the Vice Provost and Director of the University of Texas Libraries.
His biography can be found here
REFERENCES
Macicak, S., & Schell, L. E. (2009). Patron-driven, librarian-approved: a pay-per-view model for e-books. Serials: The Journal for the Serials Community, 22(3 suppl.), S31-S38.
Texas, U. o. (2010). Arts & Attractions Retrieved 19 December, 2010, from http://www.utexas.edu/about-ut/arts-attractions
Waller, V. (2008). Legitimacy for large public libraries in the digital age. Library Review, 57(5), 372-385.
