Download Transforming Knowledge Services for the Digital Age

Transforming Knowledge Services
for the Digital Age
Redefining the Research Library
Peter R. Young
Director
National Agricultural Library
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Wageningen, Netherlands
21 February 2008
…advancing access to global information for agriculture…
Redefining the Research Library
Outline
• Introduction
• Transformative Trends
– E-Science & Agriculture
• Global Challenges
– Knowledge Services
• Transition Challenges
• Digital Research
Library Vision
Introduction
• Thanks to Joke Webbink for
inviting me
• It is a pleasure to visit the
Wageningen Library
• National Agricultural Library:
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Serves both USDA and USA
3.8M item collections
265 staff
7 Information Centers
90M annual transactions
Digital transition
Access links to Non-commercial
Content
Transformative Trends
• E-Science and Agriculture
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Inter-related global challenges
Team-based research
Inter/multi/trans-disciplinary
Data intensive
Multi-source channels
• Knowledge Services
• Custom personalized
• Comprehensive
• Integrated
• Research Libraries
• Integrated services
• Cyberinfrastructure
• Digital archival, preservation, & curatorial services
Global Challenges
• Global climate change research
• Renewable energy alternatives
• Access to clean water & sanitation
• Water resource management
• Animal & human infectious
diseases
• Treatment & prevention
• Human nutrition
• Food quality, availability,
& safety
Renewable Energy & Food
• Food, fiber, feed, and fuel
– FAO Food Price Index +37% in 2007
• Demand for biofuels - tension
– Developing nations demand more protein
– Widening gap between
rich and poor nations
• Competition & demand
for edible & cooking
oils increasing
Renewable Energy & Food
• Global meat demand increase
• Assembly-line meat factories
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High energy consumption
Water pollution problems
Greenhouse gases generated
Corn and grain for feed
• Total world meat supply
– 71 million tons in 1961
– 284 million tons in 2007
• Demand to double by 2050
Scientific Research - Trends
• Inter-disciplinary & team-based
– Multi-sector partnerships
• Technology intensive (E-Science)
– Modeling & visualization
– Application & method driven
– Instrumentation intensive
– Large-scale data accumulation
• Accelerating discovery cycles
• Focus on capturing processes, not just
outputs and outcomes
• Shared use of resources and results
Knowledge Services
Transition Challenges
•Search & Discovery Tools
•Knowledge Content Resources
•Knowledge Services
•Transformational
Opportunities
Search & Discovery Tools
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Print
Standard indexabstracts
Local resource
collection
Catalog and indices
General-use generic
tools
Libraries as gatekeepers
Standard authorities
Format-specific
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Digital
Portals & crawlers
Linked content
Integrated formats
Object clusters
Discipline specific tools
Cross-domain search
– browse-able
taxonomies
– federated search
Format agnostic
Content Resources
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Print
Publisher acquired
Tangible collections
Bibliographic control
Fixed editions/titles
Collection centric
Preservation
Facility infrastructure
Well-established usage
patterns
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Digital
Intangible born-digital
Complex objects
Non-place specific
Fluid and transitory
– Dynamic objects
Content is king
Multi-media formats
Metadata registry
– Persistent metadata
Article-level publishing
Knowledge Services
Print
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Standard text-based
Reactive
Custodial
Generic services
– Reference service
– Lending service
• Subscription-based
services
• Private readers
Digital
• Multi/mixed-format
• Custom services
– Consultation
– Alerts (Push)
– Email & chat reference
• Unmediated services
– User tracking & monitoring
• Licensed access
– Pay-per-use pricing
– Subscription licenses
– Digital rights management and
protection
• Multi-source providers
– Open source
– Competitive offerings
Transformational Opportunities
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Visible
Inspiring
Innovative
Dynamic
Self-Initiating
Integrated
Convergent
Globally accessible
Virtual
Customer-Centric (CRM)
Highly respected &
recognized leader
• Transformational
• Evolutionary
• Diverse
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Awakening
Fulfilling
Well organized/coordinated
Cooperative
Premier
Enterprising
Comprehensive
Authoritative, trusted,
reliable
Openly communicating
Culturally significant
Diverse support sources
Research intensive
Responsible costs
Interoperative & Connected
Digital Research Library Vision
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Personal Learning Landscape (Elgg)
Web 2.0 Meme Map
Web Trends
Digital Community Development tools
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You Tube
Face Book
Library Thing
Twine It
Digital Age Context
Web Trends
• Increasing use: fastest growth = non-US
– Increased vulnerabilities
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Broadband increase
Improving search functionality
Web 2.0 application adoption
Software as service
Web-enabled portable devices
Cloud computing
– Microsoft, Amazon Simple DB, Google
• Computers as customers
Digital Community Development Tools
• Customized link services & references
– “If you liked this…”
– Niche community development
– 69 million visitors Facebook visitors
• 29 million uses per day
• 392 million installations
– 206 million unique You Tube visitors
• 21 billion minutes
• Implications of social networking Web 2.0
for Research Libraries
Transformational Changes?
• Why do libraries need to catalog and create
metadata records?
– Why not use social networking tools to
provide tags?
• Why worry about access and demand when
Google Scholar and Books are so popular?
– Why should we be concerned about
preservation and stewardship of archival
digital content?
• Will research libraries be marginalized, or is
a new paradigm emerging?
Digital Research Library
Cyber-Infrastructure Challenges
• Supercomputer simulations of complex
systems require multidisciplinary
expertise, computational models &
data
• Enormous data streams from smart
sensor arrays
• Increased power of data mining
• Data validation and metadata quality
enhancement over time
• Digital archiving and preservation
Global Cyber-Infrastructure
Digital Research Library Roles
• Global cyberinfrastructure (CI) can become a
platform for routine, effective distance-independent
activities of knowledge communities
• World-scale collaborative teams can be common
place
• Cyberinfrastructure offers new options for what is
done, how it is done, and who participates
• The digital library community has made large
contributions to creating this vision
• We now have the opportunity (and responsibility) to
help make it real
Digital Research Library Vision
• Online access to complete credentialled, archival
literature
• Stewardship and curation services for enormous
collections of scientific data
• Digital repositories for diverse digital objects as
instructional material and works in progress
• Digitized special collections
• More continuous (vs. batch) & open
forms of scholarly communication
• Individual and community customization
information services