SCONUL vision 2010

Introduction

SCONUL is an organisation with membership from 174 library and information services in the UK and Ireland. Its members include libraries in higher education institutions (universities and colleges); the British Library and the National Libraries of Ireland, Scotland and Wales; and libraries in national museums and other specialist institutions.

SCONUL published vision statements in 1998 and 2001, which aimed to capture and highlight key themes of relevance to the membership. These statements have proved their value and have been widely used to inform strategy and planning at both national and institutional levels.

In summer 2004 a decision was taken to revisit and renew the latest vision statement in order to reflect the changes that had already taken place and to consider the key issues facing our services up to the year 2010. As in previous years a small group was formed, broadly representative of the membership, to develop a statement as the basis for further dialogue with stakeholders. The statement produced here is the result of that work.

Planning assumptions

As work began on developing this vision it became apparent that the functional headings used in the two previous statements had become less relevant. The main reason for this appears to be the increasing complexity of the sector, with overlaps occurring between previously discrete areas. It also became apparent to the group that it is no longer helpful to distinguish between the use of digital information inside library buildings and from a location outside the library. The model required should be more holistic and based on the development of infrastructures for the access, discovery and delivery of resources that are applicable to a community of users. The move to personalised service delivery which recognises different user communities, brings with it a complexity of possible models and solutions, facilitated by a diverse range of technical possibilities. Predicting the type of technology or the look and feel of the institutions making up the sector is becoming much more difficult, involved as institutions are in rapid development and in responding proactively to governmental initiatives.

The group therefore offers a small number of major themes which emerged from its discussions, and with them a recognition that library and information professionals will continue to offer their institutions a lead in the areas identified in this report and in doing so will continue to be flexible in their adoption of new ways of working. The major themes identified by the working group are:

• Personalisation of services
• Collaboration
• Flexible use of space
• Management and skills

Personalisation

Trends

There will be a continuing trend towards the personalisation of systems and services (to the individual and to communities of users). This trend will be influenced and assisted by better customer relationship management and by the facilities offered by ICT. Individuals will have better access to electronic content, with access centred on communities of interest based on work, leisure, formal and informal e-learning and lifestyle. People will move seamlessly from one community to another.

Complex blended systems will continue to grow. Single formats, service types, etc. will no longer exist. Rather, individuals will seek technology or services that are fit for different purposes. Publishing will mirror this complexity, with differences between disciplines becoming more apparent in terms of published format.

LIS developments

Library and information services will move from a ‘one-size-fits all’ approach to the personalisation of the delivery and support of space, services and content provision. For example, library buildings will be designed with very different user needs in mind, providing discrete areas for social learning, research-based learning, group activity, etc.

A pro-active approach to service delivery will seek to meet individual profiles and to push services out to users. For example, portal technology will be used to alert users to new materials or services which fit in with their existing profile. Users will have access to intelligent agents that filter information. Improvements to authentication and access will be made possible using systems such as Shibboleth.

Relationship management techniques will be used more actively in order to understand individual user profiles and work seamlessly with other communities within the parent organisation to ensure that services are delivered in a converged fashion (in terms of service culture, rather than organisational structure). A converged service culture will be central to the successful delivery of e-based services, with active partnerships between LIS, learning development and IT ensuring seamless access for service users.

Depending on local context, LIS may take on responsibility for the provision of access to learning objects and information objects independently of ownership: for example, by creating metadata for a range of objects held within an institutional repository and providing access to hese objects.

As the complexity and sophistication of IT devices increases LIS will provide a broader range of support services. In addition, self-service systems will be offered 24 x 7 in order to enable users to personalise and control their own service use.

Collaboration

Trends

There will be greater collaboration across sectors and domains and between global communities. Resources for lifelong learners will be in increasing demand and will be facilitated by this collaboration. Increased emphasis will be placed on providing support for those who have difficulty accessing digital resources, and smaller organisations will collaborate with each other and with larger organisations in order to ensure that they have the capacity to develop ICT services and infrastructures.

LIS developments

In addressing this trend LIS will increase collaboration with other library services through joint provision of facilities and merged delivery of infrastructure support. Examples include shared library facilities, joint high capacity storage, joint conservation and digitisation.

LIS will develop enhanced support for research groups who operate across institutional boundaries as communities or even ‘virtual organisations’. These groups will seek access to both ‘community’ and institutionally based resources Researchers at all levels will require access to original data as well as published articles, often wishing to move from article to processed then original data. Provenance will become increasingly important. Developments in e-research will continue to require professional input from information professionals to ensure that appropriate approaches to data storage and retrieval are adopted. Services to researchers will be repositioned by developing services such as digital curation and links to teaching and publication, the development and management of institutional repositories. Increased rationalisation of collection building will take place, facilitated by the Research Libraries Network.

Lifelong learners will move between institutions seeking access to resources from multiple institutional communities. They will need to move seamlessly and be supported by resource discovery tools that provide access to community specific resources. Learning communities will increasingly involve collaboration between institutions.

Space

Trends

Physical and virtual space will be equally important and the main challenge will be in providing a blended service where the virtual and the actual space are complementary, influenced by the number and diversity of new technologies. Library buildings will continue to play an important role although visitor numbers for traditional use of content will decrease as more material is made available over the web. Increased cross institutional alliances, driven by changes in the market, will lead to more shared space across the sector, impacting on library services.

LIS developments

Library and information services will incorporate a range of non-traditional activities into their building, such as student support services, learning cafés and social learning space.

Building design will acknowledge the needs of diversified communities and accommodate and exploit activities associated with available technologies. For example, different space will be provided for social learning, research and group activity. A genuinely flexible IT support infrastructure will be provided, with a blend of wireless, hard wired and portable devices. Bandwidth for wireless provision will be enhanced but the increased capabilities of hard-wired facilities will mean that the existing discrepancy between the two will continue.

More off-site storage will be developed for less used or ‘copy of last resort’, using collaborative ventures.

Management and Skills

Trends

The main trend will be towards the full economic costing of activities, with a requirement for evidence of return on investment. There will be a growing concentration on process-based management. Developments in technology and the shift from the provision of physical items will result in the redirection of staff time and the development or importing of alternative skills. The focus will be on the delivery of personal help, either face-to-face or via web-based services.

LIS developments

LIS will increase recruitment of staff with skills in areas such as finance and marketing.

Greater emphasis will be placed on impact measurement. Impact measures will be developed for the sector and e-measures will be embedded.

Information fluency will become more important as staff become actively involved in curriculum development and assessment.

Fund raising will become more central to our activities. The ability to market services and provide a vision will be central to this activity.

The following people developed the Vision:

Toby Bainton, Secretary of SCONUL

Suzanne Enright, University of Westminster

Maxine Melling, Liverpool John Moores University

Julie Parry, Bath Spa University College

Sean Philips, University College, Dublin

Bob Sharpe, University of Plymouth

Michelle Shoebridge, University of Birmingham

Karen Stanton, Sheffield Hallam University

Phil Sykes, University of Liverpool

John Tuck, British Library

Les Watson, Glasgow Caledonian University