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.

1. Libraries, digital information, and COVID: Practical applications and approaches to challenge and change
Part One: Immediate challenges

2. Working towards a “new normal”: HKUST’s innovations and adaptations in response to COVID-19

3. Back to the future? Practical consequences and strategic implications of a UK academic library’s COVID response

4. Teaching librarians’ experiences in the first months of system change

5. How the Corona pandemic has influenced public libraries in Denmark

6. Digital information services provided by libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic: Case studies from the viewpoint of supply chain management

7. COVID-19: Libraries’ responses to the global health emergency

8. The role of research libraries in promoting open-access resources and maintaining online community

9. Project and programme delivery in a pandemic setting
Part Two: Analysis and opportunities for new behaviours
Section A: How we learn?

10. Acceleration of digital learning and what it means for libraries

11. Libraries, learning, and porous boundaries: Reimagining the library landscape and its inhabitants

12. Digital-first approaches and the library brand in a post-pandemic world

13. During COVID-19: Emerging themes in higher education

14. Student satisfaction with library resources in the COVID-19 era: A case study of Portuguese academic libraries

15. No one left behind

16. COVID-19 and the digital divide in higher education: A Commonwealth perspective
Section B: Supply of information

17. The use of data in publishing and acquisition strategies

18. Trustworthy or not? Research data on COVID-19 in data repositories

19. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientific production
Section C: Psychological effects—Adjustment or radical alteration?

20. Something old, something new

21. Library space and COVID-19: Re-thinking of place and re-designing of digital space

22. Online misinformation, its influence on the student body, and institutional responsibilities

23. Crowdsourcing COVID-19: A brief analysis of librarian posts on Reddit

24. No child ignored
Part Three: Re-shaping society and the future

25. “Normalizing” the online/blended delivery method into a lasting cultural shift

26. The battered library—Navigating the future in a new reality

27. Look to the future now, it’s only just begun. The changing role of libraries during and after COVID-19

28. After COVID? Classical mechanics

29. The times they are a-changin': But how fundamentally and how rapidly? Academic library services post-pandemic

30. Envisioning opportunities and movement for the future of academic libraries

31. A framework for sustainable success
Appendix A: Delphi questions

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