I don't normally write posts that just repost stuff from elsewhere, but I thought this was interesting... a message I received via a blog feed from the MCT (Maths, Computing and Technology) "link librarian' in the OU Library:
Withdrawal of British Standards print stock.Access to print journal collections has also changed over the last few years - where once it was possibly to roam the dusty aisles lined by all manner of obscure journals, serendipitously discovering all sorts of wonderful things on the way, now the aisles are light and airy and tend to be dominated by the (increasingly dated) book collection...
The Library has decided to withdraw its collection of print standards (mainly British Standards). Thanks to recent improvements to the British Standards Online database, withdrawn and superceded versions of standards are now available in PDF format to OU users online alongside current editions.
...
The rise of electronic journal subscriptions means we now have access to far more journals, and can far more easily search them, of course. But for me, visits to the library used to be filled with a sense of joyful anticipation about what I might come across by flicking through journals randomly picked from the shelves of the journal collection, whereas now a visit to the library is more about meeting someone for coffee (which is pleasurable in another way, including but not limited to, serendipitous discovery through conversation!).
I love books, always have, but increasingly I find that old academic books - such as the ones that line the shelves of the library - don't really do it for me. But old journal articles and conference proceedings still do, to a certain extent. Maybe it's because the journals and conferences represented the conversational channel of academia of the 20th century? Whereas now, in our connected world, the conversation is elsewhere, and far closer to a real time conversation...
Books can be conversational too, of course. But with each turn in the conversation lasting upwards of 100, 000 words, they can take a long time to follow. 10,000 words of book chapter, or 5,000 words of journal article also take time to work through - reading through 4 or 5 connected journal papers is hardly a rapid fire cocktail conversation. 1,000-3,000 words of conference paper are quicker to digest, and reference chasing and citation seeking give you a glimpse of the conversation that was happening at the time. Blog posts represent the conversation in progress - brief reports of work in progress, half-formed ideas still be properly thought through or worked out. And tweets? Well, maybe that's where the 'eureka' slogan gets shouted next, with a link to a blog post capturing the essence of the idea, that post promising a conference paper, and the journal paper to make it matter of record appearing as a special issue to mark the conference, with the book to follow a year or so further down the line...
The question is - where does the library sit in all of this?
Tags: library
Posted by ajh59 at July 4, 2008 10:04 AMThanks for another interesting (and provocative) post about the Library, Tony!
Interested that you see me as a 'link librarian' (whatever that is?) - perhaps that answers your own question at the end about our role - we are the enablers behind the scenes joining users to content (especially licensed content), or as one of my staff put it when I showed them your post, our role is '...one of host, facilitator, guardian, guide… the one that we have always had, the one that we will probably always have... be it virtual or physical.' Perhaps we should be e-archivers too.
I am also duty bound to encourage you to vist the light and airy journals floor of the Library (2nd floor) where you can still browse thousands of print journals serendipitously for now...Not forgetting the current journal display on the ground floor with face-out displays to aid browsing. However, we will be reviewing the Libarry's collections strategy in the next 6 months and what to do with these little-used print journals now that we are running out of shelving space is a pressing concern. Welcome your thoughts on that one too as an active cyberlecturer - should we move totally to e-journals?
As for the out-of-date book stock, you are welcome to suggest new titles. And we did complete a thorough review of little-used Technology book stock last year, keeping and updating classics whilst disposing of seldom used, seldom cited books. The Computing books still need to be looked at though with the cooperation of the new Faculty.
Cheers,
Tim Wales
(Learning & Teaching Librarian Team Leader, Maths, Computing & Technology)