The Network Library Boundaries and Systemwide Organization Lorcan
The Network, Library Boundaries, and Systemwide Organization Lorcan Dempsey OCLC Keynote at Seek, Explore, Discover. The Midwest Chapter MLA Conference 2009 Columbus, OH, 5 October
overview
what I know about medical libraries
prelude
our libraries are a product of an earlier network era
Institution scale
speculations about the future
The network has reconfigured whole industries … Travel News Book retail We have yet to work through what systemwide reconfiguration means for libraries …
transaction costs: why are things changing? boundaries: where will libraries focus? scalar emphasis and sourcing: who does what?
Ronald Coase Firms exist because of …. transaction costs
Transaction costs help determine the boundaries of the firm: • Delineation between activities that are conducted internally and those that are transacted for externally • Higher the transaction costs, more likely an activity will be internalized within the firm Firm: Manufacturing R&D Human Resources Finance Call center Supply chain Plants/grounds
Universities find it useful and economical to internalize a bundle of library-related activities As the pattern of transaction costs change, so too will the boundaries of the library. a Coasian view of the academic library
Bangor University, Wales “searching has been deskilled”
Boundaries Google Bangor Cataloging University: Library Teaching Research Administration Laboratories Sports facilities Instititutional support for research and learning Resource sharing A&I/E-journals JSTOR/Portico
boundaries and focus
Unbundling the corporation Harvard Business Review (1999)
Attracting and building relationships with customers “Service-oriented”, customization Economies of scope important Customer Relationship Management Develop new products and services and bring them to market Speed/flexibility important Product Innovation Infrastructure Core components of a firm Back office capacities that support day-to-day operations “Routinized” workflows Economies of scale important
Provision of study & social spaces Interpret learning and research needs Personalized research assistance Marketing and assessment Customization/personalization Customer Relationship Management Acquire/develop new information resources and services to support evolving research and learning workflows Product Innovation Infrastructure Libraries Physical space, Physical inventory, Repository Systems infrastructure Online services, etc.
Space: Infrastructure Customer relationship Print collections: Print shared infrastructure? Licensed Systems: Local cloud The library network? infrastructure
Valuable Opportunity costs Social lives and learning Micro-coordination and ad hoc rendezvous Colocation with cognate units Added value activity space a flashpoint
… what are the appropriate intersection points between library staff and systems, and the research and learning behaviors of students, faculty, and clinicians and how do those need to change … customer relationship management
Information abundant; attention scarce discovery happens elsewhere community is the new content … library must build around workflow: can’t expect workflows to be built around library ‘people are entry points’ d chudnov some environmental issues
1. Demonstrating Value 2. Perception and Aesthetics 3. Collaboration 4. Innovation Bangor. John Wright. http: //www. library. nuigalway. ie/assets/inuls 2007/johnwright-fri 0945. ppt customer relationship management
a multiscalar library
copyright mobilization repository data curation social networking escholarship unified discovery digitization SEO
“We librarians are so willing to stretch ourselves thin trying to do more with less that eventually, the less really does become too little. ” Quote from unattrib comment on blog Anne Kenney http: //www. oclc. org/programsandresearch/dss/ppt/dss_kenney. pdf
Anne Kenney http: //www. oclc. org/programsandresearch/dss/ppt/dss_kenney. pdf
Anne Kenney http: //www. oclc. org/programsandresearch/dss/ppt/dss_kenney. pdf
Individual Departmental Disciplinary. . Collaboratively sourced Hathi trust Orbis Cascade Alliance Public support … Ohio. Link JISC Commercial Web-scale Google Amazon
Institutional intellectual assets … Institutional repository? Supra-Institutional repository? Disciplinary repository? Webscale repository? multiscalar confusion?
Distinctive scope of the institutional? Rescaling the uniform? Developing the unique?
From institution to multiscalar Institutional no longer the appropriate scale for many things But … Suprainstitutional institutions: legacy and immature
Understand what should be done locally Be more strongly instrumental with affiliations Don’t spread too thinly Innovate around institutional configurations Pool uncertainty!
Thank you Lorcan Dempsey OCLC http: //orweblog. oclc. org http: //www. twitter. com/lorcan. D
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