Library as Place: Learn from Retailers

libraries to watch entertainment technologies, because those techs will be mainstays for all of us very soon...ways to engage clients – markets – communities.  Like retail, we don’t see ‘non-users’, we see ‘potential users’.

     Amsterdam Central Library

OLA's Institute on Library as Place: Christopher Hume

 transforming library spaces “From Reading Room to Living Room”

 

The Mendeley Dilemma

I just came across this very interesting article commenting on the sale of Mendeley to Elsevier - oh dear!

Canada: University Libraries in Nova Scotia Test eBook Sharing

A group of Nova Scotia university libraries is testing a new approach to ebook lending that offers unprecedented levels of access to students and faculty. Novanet – a consortium of 10 academic libraries founded in 1988 – has negotiated a new deal with publishers to allow the sharing of electronic books among libraries as freely as the sharing of print books. In a pilot project that began in November 2012, the member libraries deposited a total of $100,000 to access a shared collection of about 16,000 ebooks through vendor EBL.

Redefining the Academic Library

Just published, the USA’s University Leadership Council’s report:
Redefining the Academic Library: Managing the Migration to Digital Information Services


Full report in pdf
 
Content:
Transformational Change in the Information Landscape:

    Unsustainable Costs
    Viable Alternatives
    Declining Usage
    New Patron Demands

Managing the Migration to Digital Information Services

I. Leveraging Digital Collections

    The Promise and Perils of Ebooks
    Patron-Driven Acquisition
    Print-on-Demand

II. Rethinking the Scholarly Publishing Model

    Centralized Licensing Structure
    On-Demand Article Access
    Open-Access Publishing

III. Repurposing Library Space

    Data-Driven Deselection
    Collaborative Collection Management
    Building the 21st Century Library

IV. Redeploying Library Staff

    Externalizing Low-Impact Activity
    Roles in Teaching and Learning
    Roles in Research and Scholarship