Libraries, Digital Information, and COVID

Practical Applications and Approaches to Challenge and Change

1st Edition - June 25, 2021
Editors: David Baker, Lucy Ellis
Language: English
Paperback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 8 8 4 9 3 - 8
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 0 5 9 8 - 5

COVID-19 is profoundly affecting the ways in which we live, learn, plan, and develop. What does COVID-19 mean for the future of digital information use and delivery, and for mo… Read more

Libraries, Digital Information, and COVID

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COVID-19 is profoundly affecting the ways in which we live, learn, plan, and develop. What does COVID-19 mean for the future of digital information use and delivery, and for more traditional forms of library provision? Libraries, Digital Information, and COVID gives immediate and long-term solutions for librarians responding to the challenge of COVID-19. The book helps library leaders prepare for a post-COVID-19 world, giving guidance on developing sustainable solutions. The need for sustainable digital access has now become acute, and while offering a physical space will remain important, current events are likely to trigger a shift toward off-site working and study, making online access to information more crucial. Libraries have already been providing access to digital information as a premium service. New forms and use of materials all serve to eliminate the need for direct contact in a physical space. Such spaces will come to be predicated on evolving systems of digital information, as critical needs are met by remote delivery of goods and services. Intensified financial pressure will also shape the future, with a reassessment of information and its commercial value. In response, there will be a massification of provision through increased cooperation and collaboration. These significant transitions are driving professionals to rethink and question their identities, values, and purpose. This book responds to these issues by examining the practicalities of running a library during and after the pandemic, answering questions such as: What do we know so far? How are institutions coping? Where are providers placing themselves on the digital/print and the remote/face-to-face continuums? This edited volume gives analysis and examples from around the globe on how libraries are managing to deliver access and services during COVID-19. This practical and thoughtful book provides a framework within which library directors and their staff can plan sustainable services and collections for an uncertain future.

Cover image
Title page
Table of Contents
Copyright
List of figures and tables
List of figures
List of tables
Forewords
Perspective from North America
Perspective from Canada
Perspective from a UK University student
Preface—What is in this book
Contributors to this book
Sector interviews
Delphi exercise
Contributors
Author biographies
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1: Libraries, digital information, and COVID: Practical applications and approaches to challenge and change
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Immediate operational responses
3: New operating models
4: Digital developments: From place to space
5: Acceleration
6: The human dimension
7: Conclusion
Part One: Immediate challenges
2: Working towards a “new normal”: HKUST’s innovations and adaptations in response to COVID-19
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Local context
3: The Library’s immediate response
4: Physical protection and hygiene for users and staff
5: Social distancing for users and staff
6: Virtual access
7: New and special services for users
8: User education and library events go online
9: Innovations become the “new normal”: What we expect in the future
3: Back to the future? Practical consequences and strategic implications of a UK academic library’s COVID response
Abstract
Acknowledgment
1: Introduction
2: Exit the hybrid library, enter the lockdown library
3: A new library operating model
4: New library policies
5: Conclusion
4: Teaching librarians’ experiences in the first months of system change
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: The Gothenburg University Social Sciences Libraries teaching team
3: Moving library teaching online: Three cases
4: Reasoning
5: Our concluding thoughts
5: How the Corona pandemic influenced public libraries in Denmark
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Reports by the Danish Library Association
3: Economic challenges
4: Moos Bjerre’s 2020 survey for the Danish Library Association
5: The sociologists’ survey: COVID-19 has magnified existing inequalities
6: Libraries compared with other cultural institutions
7: Perspectives and lessons learned
6: Digital information services provided by libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic: Case studies from the viewpoint of supply chain management
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Definitions
3: Lessons from the past—Digital information services for mitigating supply chain emergency
4: Case studies: Reflections upon current practices
5: Conclusions
7: COVID-19: Libraries’ responses to the global health emergency
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Libraries’ responses to the pandemic
3: Challenges for information organizations
4: Conclusion
8: The role of research libraries in promoting open-access resources and maintaining online community
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: The central importance of books in the Humanities
3: The challenge of maintaining business as usual
4: British History Online (BHO) and the removal of paywalls
5: Discoverability
6: Maximizing awareness
7: Specialist libraries
8: Community building
9: Virtual communities
10: Conclusion
9: Project and programme delivery in a pandemic setting
Abstract
1: Childhood chapters
2: COVID challenge
3: Opportunities on offer
4: Leveraging learnings
Part Two: Analysis and opportunities for new behaviours
Section A: How we learn?
10: Acceleration of digital learning and what it means for libraries
Abstract
1: The times they are a-changin’
2: COVID and a paradigm shift in library services
3: What is a digital library?
4: The successful digital library
5: Digital infrastructure
6: Collection development
7: Supporting library users (e-reference service)
8: Information literacy
9: Conclusion
11: Libraries, learning, and porous boundaries: Reimagining the library landscape and its inhabitants
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Learning through the pandemic: Creating the porous learning environment at the University of Suffolk
3: Recreating the university library as space and place in the blended HE environment
4: The role and professional identity of the librarian as gatekeeper to information
5: Conclusion
12: Digital-first approaches and the library brand in a post-pandemic world
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Mediating frameworks and a digital information environment
3: Frameworks
4: Key issues
5: Digital-first approaches, increasing visibility, and developing a global brand
6: Conclusion
13: During COVID-19: Emerging themes in higher education
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Educational disparity
3: Social and emotional needs
4: Students with special needs
5: Digital learning platforms
6: Effective remote teaching
7: Professional development strategies
8: Conclusion
14: Student satisfaction with library resources in the COVID-19 era: A case study of Portuguese academic libraries
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Methods
3: Results
4: Discussion
5: Conclusion
A: Appendix
15: No one left behind
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: The scale of the learning losses
3: Disparity in the adoption of online teaching and learning
4: The impact of school closures on developing countries
5: Conclusion
16: COVID-19 and the digital divide in higher education: A Commonwealth perspective
Abstract
1: The Association of Commonwealth Universities
2: Context
3: Survey design and methodology
4: The “great pivot online”
5: Opportunities and challenges
6: A lasting legacy for the pandemic?
7: Recommendations
Section B: Supply of information
17: The use of data in publishing and library acquisition strategies
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Data and its role in publishing strategy
3: Data and its role in library acquisition strategy
4: Value chain implications of going digital
Disclosure statement
18: Trustworthy or not? Research data on COVID-19 in data repositories
Abstract
1: Acceleration, quality, and trust
2: Control and assessment of data deposits
3: What makes data trustworthy?
4: How to improve data quality
5: Conclusion
19: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientific production
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: The challenges of scientific production during the pandemic
3: Conclusion
Section C: Psychological effects-Adjustment or radical alteration?
20: Something old, something new
Abstract
21: Library space and COVID-19: Re-thinking of place and re-designing of digital space
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: From space to place: An evolution
3: Library space and COVID-19: Place versus digital space
4: Conclusion
22: Online misinformation, its influence on the student body, and institutional responsibilities
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Higher education and misinformation
3: Misinformation and the academy
4: Conclusion
23: Crowdsourcing COVID-19: A brief analysis of librarian posts on Reddit
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Literature review
3: Problem statement
4: Data collection
5: Findings
6: Discussion
7: Conclusion
24: No child ignored
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Public libraries and community engagement
3: Continuation of digital services
4: Poverty and digital exclusion
5: The impact of COVID on children
6: A refocus on learning
7: The role of public libraries in children’s lives
Part Three: Re-shaping society and the future
25: “Normalizing” the online/blended delivery method into a lasting cultural shift
Abstract
1: Introduction: About ICMP
2: Change management and risk evaluation
3: Governments and epidemics
4: COVID and higher education: ICMP’s approach
5: Opportunities and developments arising from crises
6: Lessons for the future
7: Conclusion
26: The battered library—Navigating the future in a new reality
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Theoretical perspective
3: Methodology
4: Results
5: Discussion
6: Practical approaches to challenge and change
7: Strategic approaches to challenge and change
8: Conclusion
27: Look to the future now, it’s only just begun. The changing role of libraries during and after COVID-19
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: COVID-19: What comes after?
3: Public libraries after COVID-19—The great reset?
4: All universities are the Open University
5: Conclusion
28: After COVID? Classical mechanics
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Accelerative change
3: De-massification
4: The library context
5: Initial response to the lockdown
6: Acceleration in online output
7: Defining the COVID-19 collection
8: More generates more
9: Agreed facts and shared experiences
10: Collection development and digital publishing
11: Accelerative language
12: The binary bind
13: Interpreting accelerative change
14: Conclusions
29: The times they are a-changin’: But how fundamentally and how rapidly? Academic library services post-pandemic
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Questionnaire responses
3: Discussions and conclusions
30: Envisioning opportunities and movement for the future of academic libraries
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Opportunities and movement
3: Conclusion
31: A framework for sustainable success
Abstract
1: Introduction
2: Moving toward a “new normal” and digital shift
3: Place versus space
4: Redefining libraries and librarians
5: Conclusion
Appendix A: Delphi questions
Index

David Baker

David Baker has published widely in the field of Library and Information Studies, with 19 monographs and over 100 articles to his credit. He has spoken worldwide at numerous conferences and led workshops and seminars. His other key professional interest and expertise has been in the field of human resources, where he has also been active in major national projects. He has held senior positions at several institutions, including as Principal and Chief Executive of Plymouth Marjon University, and Emeritus Professor of Strategic Information Management. He has also been Deputy Chair of the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc). Until recently he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Universities of Northampton and South Wales. He is Chair of the Board of the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance. He is a leader in the field of library and information science.

Affiliations and expertise

Independent Consultant, Mytholmroyd, UK

Lucy Ellis

Lucy Ellis is a consultant and research associate within higher education. Her background is as a lecturer, research scientist and project development consultant. With Professor David Baker she is Editor-in-Chief for the Elsevier Major Reference Work ‘Encyclopaedia of Libraries, Librarianship, and Information Science’ and Chandos-Elsevier Series Editor for ‘Digital Information Review’ and the ‘Advances in Information’ series. Recent books in this series include Libraries, Digital Information and COVID: Practical Applications and Approaches to Challenge and Change and Future Directions in Digital Information: Predictions, Practice and Participation. She is a reviewer for Information and Learning Sciences (Wiley), Journal of British Institute of Organ Studies, British Academy grants scheme and the publisher Palgrave. Following a PhD in Experimental Phonetics she worked as a Senior Lecturer and programme leader at Plymouth Marjon University and as a project development consultant. She holds an Honorary Research Fellowship with the College of Humanities at Exeter University.

Affiliations and expertise

Independent Consultant, UK

Life Sciences

Physical Sciences & Engineering

Social Sciences & Humanities

Health