One of the main themes of the libraries@cambridge training day for Cambridge librarians on 7th January was the need for libraries to adapt to the digital era. While users will continue to use the library as a physical space there is a sharply rising demand for services to be provided digitally so that they can be instantly accessed at home or in the workplace. This is not only true in the information industry: most industries face the same issues. Libraries can provide new online content by digitising collections, providing data repositories and subscribing to online journals and ebooks. However we need to ensure that our services are provided with quality metadata that is appropriate to that used by online applications designers, and on platforms that help the users to navigate the maze.
This will involve adapting the task force: the need for staff to acquire and catalogue journals will diminish but the need for metadata experts may rise. Funding and structures will need to be diverted accordingly. Many libraries no longer take hard copies of science journals and it was estimated that within five years this would be the norm.
Anne Poulson spoke about the need to market our services. Hugh Taylor spoke about the advent of RDA and Huw Jones spoke about the remarkable work being done by libraries@cambridge to enrich poor quality records.
This photo of Squire Law Library, where the conference took place, is taken from Flickr
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