2009 Conference Archive

PRESENTATION C17

"IS THAT THE LIBRARY'S ROLE!?" - THE CULTURAL CHALLENGES OF INNOVATION

Ross Coleman
Director, Sydney eScholarship, University of Sydney Library, University of Sydney, NSW

We all know that the web has changed the way we work, communicate, relate and even think. Changes to scholarly communication, dependencies on digital content (be it data or information), the impact of social networking and the semantic web, and the emergence of eResearch and eLearning, are now part of the university research and study environment.

Librarians had predicted the fundamental changes happening in scholarly communication and publishing, and the advantages of networked access of digital content. We responded by establishing digital repositories and creating collections of digital content, and continue to lead the debate around issues of open access and digital preservation.

However the impact of web technologies, tools and services is changing more than just communication and publishing practices - it is changing the very way research and study is conceptualised, how new knowledge is created, and the kinds of relationships around research practice and innovation.

Academic librarianship is already - in many ways - undergoing transformation, but moving into these new kinds of partnerships and relationships, meeting these new expectations and opportunities, presents cultural challenges.

This paper will argue - from a practitioners point of view - that there is a need to address the cultural as well as organisational aspects of library services and roles in this 'innovative' environment. The paper will make the argument with examples of responses by libraries and other university services in Australia and overseas.