1. 1
Developing the next-generation
medical library
Karen Johanne Buset
NTNU Library, Medical Library
The 30th Anniversary Seminar of BMF - Helsinki, 12.11.2010

2. 2
This session will be about
• Trends
• Paradigm shift in academic libraries
• How to make the library relevant
• Library 2.0 and Organisation 2.0
• NTNU Medical library in 2013

3. 3
Trends
• Can we predict the future?
• Gartner and New Media Consortium
– What can they tell us about technology trends in
higher education?
• Trendsetting librarians, find them on
– Blogs
– Twitter
– EAHIL

4. 4
Hype cycle - Gartner
• Education technology leaders are facing increasingly new
options for delivering established services, while they are
being challenged by completely new technology-based
demands and behaviors from their core end users
• Students are leading the change in many ways through the
adoption of Internet-related phenomena, such as social
software, user-generated media and the continued use of
consumer IT devices
• Professors, too, are beginning to discover the benefits of this
technology in teaching and learning
• Shift of power from the institution to the individual

5. 5
Gartner Hype Cycle for Education, 2009

6. 6
Horizon report - New Media Consortium
Key trends:
• Resources and relationships made easily accessible via
the Internet
• People expect to be able to work, learn, and study
whenever and wherever they want
• The technologies we use are increasingly cloud-based
• The work of students is increasingly seen as collaborative
by nature, and there is more crosscampus collaboration
between departments

7. 7
Horizon report - New Media Consortium
Technologies to watch:
Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less
• Mobile Computing
• Open Content
Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years
• Electronic Books
• Simple Augmented Reality

8. 8
Paradigm shift
"Think of a paradigm shift as a change from
one way of thinking to another. ... It just does
not happen, but rather it is driven by agents of
change."
(Kuhn, Thomas, S., "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions")
• From paper to digital ?
• From provider-driven to user-driven ?
• The role of new technology

9. 9

10. 10
Next-generation library = Library 2.0?
The heart of Library 2.0 is user-centered
change. It is a model for library service that
encourages constant and purposeful change,
inviting user participation in the creation of
both the physical and the virtual services they
want, supported by consistently evaluating
services.

11. 11
Components

12. 12
Content – more than literature
• 90% of NTNU Library’s budget used on electronic resources
• Library collections available on the Internet, the library
catalog in Google
• Vendors are uncertain of the market and their own roles,
troublesome routines and proprietary interfaces
• How can we assess the quality of applications and e-
resources from a wide range of sources - not books and
journals and papers from high-quality, reliable sources ?
• Students want to use our content in new ways and in
different contexts - to build their own curriculum

13. 13
Services
• The same services and the same programs to all groups?
• Part of the users' workflow
– researchers (systematic searching, quality check of
references)
– students (information literacy)
– clinical librarian
• Connect the user with correct and relevant information
(librarian as contractor - or pimp? )
• Be available on different platforms and in social networks
• Support work processes, eg publishing process by offering
courses and advice
• Facilitate sharing and collaboration
• Technological expertise?

14. 14
Technology
• Mobile technology
• E-books and readers
• iPad
• Cloud computing
• Social software
• Augmented reality
– blending data with what you see in the real world
• RFID
• on mobile phones
• use the mobile phone as library card

15. 15

16. 16
Mobile technology
• Handheld computing devic
• Smartphone = mobile phone that also has computing
functionality
• Ultra-mobile PCs, netbooks, smartbooks, etc, very
small PCs with full keyboards
• Apps = programs for smartphones
• Library Services for Mobile Users
– Library website
– PubMed for Handhelds
– UpToDate
– BMJ Best Practice

17. 17

18. 18
Tools to improve library sevices
• Increase in available technologies give libraries the
ability to offer improved, customer-driven services
• Library website
– don't keep the content locked up on the library website -
give it to the users
• Call for open standards
– ILS vendors use proprietary interfaces to link library catalog
data to e-resources
• Use 2.0 tools to complement the official library
website - often in a rigorous CMS environment
– blogs, Twitter, RSS
– mashup to create a friendly web 2.0–access

19. 19
What digital natives want from their library

20. 20
Users and user behavior
• Google-generation and “The digital natives”
• Super-student (Ida Aalen)
– feeding on their network
– how to become part of students' academic network?
• User as collaborater
– tailor library services to best meet their own needs
• Researchers stay in their offices, accessing
electronic journals and open archives, and never
have to visit the library
• User surveys. Ask the user about...
– satisfaction, utility, relevance
– what do they need/want from the library
– what technologies they use

21. 21
Library as a place
• Provide library users with dynamic equipment,
facilities, resources and services to support their
learning activities
• Flexibile use
– through the day and through the year
• Use the physical library to market the electronic
resources
• Merge physical and digital library

22. 22
Library staff
• How and where are we working?
– specialization / generalization
– independently or as a team
– inside or outside the library
• Create a digital culture in the library
– Web 2.0 activities relevant for the job ?
– focus on attitudes towards new technology
• Competence, skills, qualifications

23. 23
Competences for the next-gen library
• Use web 2.0 ! (KB 2.0, Trondheim 2009/2010)
– adopt new and emerging technologies and transform them
into something useful and relevant
– become familiar with Web 2.0 concepts
– see the end user's needs and find solutions
– develope technological curiosity
– collaborate and share
– keep up to date on new technologies
• The participants developed new ways to work and cooperate
• Focus on attitudes on learning; everyone has to take
responsibility for their own learning

24. 24
Organisation
• Rapid change and innovation are the rule, not the
exception
• Continuous improvement based on a culture of
assessment
• Agile - drop services that no longer provide value
• Learning culture - and time to learn, think and be
creative
• Don’t be limited by current staff skills
• Fearless, user-focused culture - take risks
• Technology can solve problems
• Library in beta! - call it a pilot
(Source: Meredith Farkas, Norwich University)

25. 25
NTNU Medical library in 2013...
The building of a new
university hospital and
medical library in
Trondheim, Norway, will
be completed in 2013. The
planning process gave us
ideas on how to develop
the library services.

26. 26
We found out ...
• Librarians expertise are less requested in the
physical library
• Medical staff and researchers
– do not visit the physical library
– request new services
– ask for library support at their workplaces
• Most users prefer search engines instead of the
library catalog
• Increased demand for library courses and
classes

27. 27
We found out ...
• Demand for library support in the publishing
process
• Students use the physical library for group and
individual study, and they are self-reliant
• User surveys are necessary to increase
knowledge about user behaviour and needs
• Team work is an effective and flexible working
method

28. 28
The next-generation medical library
• is an organization that
– will accept, adapt and continuously evaluate new ideas
and changes
– is flexible and consciously improves its capacity to learn
and develop
• has staff that
– has a focus on attitudes and relations
– is involved and takes responsibility
– has communication skills
– is innovative and takes risks

29. 29
To conclude
• The next generation library is an organisation that
continuously builds competencies and adapts to
user’s demands
• User behaviour and demands change. The library
must be prepared and able to develop services to
support their users’ workflow. Library services must
be evaluated frequently, with input from users

30. 30
Thank you for listening!
karen.buset@ub.ntnu.no

31. 31
1. What is a paradigm shift? http://www.taketheleap.com/define.html
2. Kuhn TS.,"The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" 1970
3. Kumar M. Academic Libraries in Electronic Environment: Paradigm Shift
ICAL2009 – vision and roles of the future academic libraries
4. Michael E. Casey ME, Savastinuk LC. Library 2.0: service for the next-generation library
Library Journal, 9/1/2006 http://ujhealthscienceslibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/
Posted by Mlungisi Dlamini on May 8, 2009
5. Buset KJ. Use Web 2.0 to learn Web 2.0 - develop competences for the next generation
library. EAHIL, 2010, Lisboa
6. The New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. The 2010 Horizon
Report
7. Gartners Hype cycle for higher education 2009
http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?id=1095713
8. Presentations from Meredith Farkas, Norwich University. Find her on SlideShare :-)
9. Booth A. Future of Libraries Black, Future of Librarians Bright EAHIL 2010
Sources