“Libraries motors of change” and the social role of (digital) libraries for their communities (original) (raw)
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Digital Library Perspectives, 2019
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Digital Libraries: Their Role in Building Communities
Innovative Instruments for Community Development in Communication and Education, 2021
The dynamics of libraries called to reinvent themselves can only be weighed by the success recorded by the institutions in the strict area of their professionals and, broadly, by their popularity in the community whose members appreciate the quality of the services they provide. The examples of innovative library activities and services going to be presented speak about a change of mentality and responsibility in such institutions becoming more and more visible in the life of the community they serve. Innovation is accomplished through various solutions: 1) either integrative, by the “democratization” of the librarians’ contribution to specific activities, deeply influencing information access, or 2) collaborative or relational, aiming at getting various user target groups involved in their activities through careful study of their needs, or 3) by direct participation in all possible ways in building communities, with general, educational or research purposes directed towards all the categories of users. David Lankes’ much used citation, “Bad libraries only build collections. Good libraries build services (and a collection is only one of many). Great libraries build communities” was never more actual than today. This is because libraries can no longer afford being static and stick to their traditional services. On the contrary, in order not to lose their users, they have to strive for them by getting involved in the life of the community to which they belong by means of innovation and creativity.
Experiences of the Library in the Digital Age
2006
Abstract Libraries as physical structures embody the cultures within which they are situated and provide access to archive materials that represent the evolution of culture over time. Digital libraries serve similar roles to traditional ones in capturing and making available the written cultural heritage. However, the experience of interacting with materials in the digital library is very different to that in the traditional one. Access is democratised, but may be impoverished in other ways.
This article discusses digital library development at the Library of Congress focusing on institutional processes associated with technological innovation in the library context and key transformative event, the completion of the National Digital Library Program (NDLP) (1995-2000). Interviews with seven key participants of the program conducted in 2002 at the Library of Congress (from policy-makers to digital library developers) are interpreted here in terms of loci of control (external/internal) shaping the process of innovation and its institutionalization — the coercive and normative pressures of society, and the professional field of librarianship. The perceptions of individuals are synthesized into a realist narrative in which their voices are still recognizable. Their tales of development show that organizational change driven by external forces and involving individuals who crossed boundaries of organizational fields can be very successful in forcing organizational isomorphism and integration of digitization in the library processes. The accompanying article, Part I, presents theories of social change and organizational rationality, and the social construction of technology (SCOT) as well as the methodological framework for this phenomenological study.
Library and society: Contemporary challenges
2021
This collection presents current themes in the field of modern libraries and their users, united under a common title: “Library and Society: Contemporary Challenges.” The texts have already been published in different Bulgarian sources. They are now published in English in this edition with minor changes. The included publications present the author’s interest in contemporary problems and challeng- es facing the library community. The lecture format is intentional, as it gives the opportunity for the edition to be used for work with an audience of students. The lectures are accompanied by presentations in English that are not part of this collection. The topics of the lectures are as follows: • Technology and the human factor in the formula for effective- ness of the modern library • The role of users in the preservation of cultural heritage • The attitude of libraries towards users determines the present and the future of the institution • The value of the library in the modern dim...
Library as a social and knowledge Institution: An overview
IP innovative publication pvt. ltd, 2019
The article describes the library as a social and knowledge institution in the changing society where the interaction between humans as an important social need. In modern societies, all people's activities are organized through institutions. Thus, the social institution is a product of society. The educational institutions promote the processes of knowledge, competence and socialization of society. Therefore, the society needs the institution in the broadest and most practical sense for social betterment. Information allows us to change and improve the society. Library professionals are trained with various skills to acquire in digital environments. Keywords: Social Institution, Digital Libraries, Knowledge Delivery.
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Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 2012
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that libraries do not inevitably arise from the aggregation of information, and to apply this result to critique the meaningfulness of the idea of a “digital library.”Design/methodology/approachThree independent arguments demonstrate that libraries are more than the sum of the books that they contain: first, the logical argument, which analyses the internal consistency of claims for the superiority of electronic formats; second, the semantic argument, which examines ordinary language to isolate the core requirements of what it means to be a “library”; and third, the ethical argument, which identifies the source of the unique phenomenological experience of encounter with the library.FindingsIt is found that the three arguments each refute the view that “library” is the collective noun for “book,” and argue instead that it is an emergent concept that offers to its community a reflection of the local cultural knowledge through the ordi...
The Library: Changing Role and services in 21st century's information societies
Conference: ICT and Library in Higher Education : An Indian Perspective, 2020
Libraries have existed for many years however in today’s digital world, wherever we've at our fingertips access to associate endless assortment of knowledge, a brand new customary of knowledge accomplishment has emerged. The libraries of the twenty first century offer a hospitable common area that encourages exploration, creation, and collaboration in societies between students, teachers, and a broader community. The study focuses on role of library and library professional in changing landscape of information societies and role of libraries in this changing moment. Also a short discussion about 21st century’s advanced library services with few challenges faced by libraries in this changing scenario.
Key themes and challenges in digital libraries
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This chapter provides a high-level view of the key themes, current position and challenges of digital libraries and their technologies, social aspects, collections and communities. It begins by identifying the key themes of the second decade (2002-2012) of progress in the diverse, multidisciplinary, international field of digital libraries. A concept map visualizes the results of an analysis of second-decade digital library literature. The map provides new insights into this complex field by exposing thematic connections between technologies, collections, social forces and online community building. The chapter concludes with a consideration of key challenges facing digital libraries: interoperability, community engagement, intellectual property rights, and sustainability. The key themes of digital library work Existing research to identify core topics Jeffrey Pomerantz and colleagues (2006) produced a curriculum for digital library education that was aligned with the "5S framework" for digital libraries discussed in chapter 1 (see also Yang et al. 2009). They validated their selection of curriculum module topics by manually classifying papers from 1996 to 2005 from two sources: (1) 543 papers in the proceedings of two renowned digital library conferences; and (2) 502 articles published in D-Lib Magazine. Their analysis revealed concentrations from both sources in digital library services; architecture and