The Four Areas of Focus for the Library

Choy Fatt Cheong :: librarian@ntu.edu.sg
University Librarian

Like many other academic libraries worldwide, we have witnessed rapid and disruptive changes in the information industry and learning environment in the last few years. We need to continuously respond to these often unpredictable changes, while at the same time gradually build up our infrastructure to support the expansion of NTU.

When in the midst of sweeping changes, it is easy to get lost or become rudderless. To ensure that the library is responsive and yet remains focused, we have laid down a framework to guide our work and direction. This framework consists of 4 areas of strategic focus which was first articulated in late 2005. I would like to highlight this framework briefly in this issue of the bulletin so that our users have a better understanding of our current as well as future programmes and services.

1. Preparing students for the knowledge economy

It is widely accepted that rapid obsolescence of knowledge and skills in the modern global economy requires continuous lifetime effort in learning and re-learning. Acquisition of content-based knowledge, while forming the foundation and basis for professional practice in various disciplines, is no longer sufficient for life-long employability. More importantly, process oriented skills such as independent learning and information literacy will provide our graduates with the keys to success in the new economy and also in achieving personal fulfillment in life.

Libraries have always been the tool and vehicle of life-long and independent learning. They do not prescribe what one should learn, but instead allow each to fashion their own learning paths and goals. People use libraries to learn at any point in their life and when it is needed. Therefore, libraries organize themselves to provide tools and services to facilitate and encourage independent and life-long learning. Countless individuals throughout history have benefited from this non-intrusive but highly individual-oriented approach.

Today, the abundance of information in the Internet world has created new concerns in learning and education as well as a new paradigm in communication. Having access to an abundance of information does not necessarily lead to effective use of information and learning. The role of libraries now focuses on helping people become more discerning and effective users of information.

Our Library aims to reinforce and strengthen this role, by inculcating independent and life-long learning habits in our students. We do this by direct and indirect means. Direct means include our librarians providing instructional courses on information literacy to beginning and advanced students. These courses show students how to be effective and responsible users of information in general and also in their areas of study.

Our goal is to have every NTU student attend at least 2 library instructional classes before they graduate. We achieve this goal indirectly as well. Through exposure to the myriad of quality information resources, services and awareness activities, our students will gain a deeper understanding on the nature and use of information and thus grow into strong and effective independent learners by the time they graduate.

2. Creating a vibrant learning community on campus

Libraries will continue to be important physical fixtures in the future campus for the simple reason that they are important social and community space in addition to being depositories of books and other information objects. In a hybrid library where many media co-exist, space is essential to mediate between users, collection and services. Even when everything has gone completely electronic, we will still have to invent new spaces to cater to other aspects of learning. Learning is a social and multi-dimensional activity that relies on human interaction, multiple senses, chance encounters and serendipity for it to be effectively carried out.

The increasing adoption of collaborative approach in learning demands a different approach to designing our library space. Seats and space would most likely be designed and built to facilitate discussion and collaborative work between learners. This will lead to a different ambience in the library from what we are used to today. It will probably be much noisier, with more activity and equipped with more gadgets and service points (manned or unmanned).

At the same time, libraries will also need to cater to traditional needs for a conducive environment for study and reflection. It will be an interesting architectural and planning challenge to cater to such competing requirements. The academic library of the future will be designed with a focus on creating useful, innovative and attractive space for users rather than solely for physical collections.

3. Supporting scholarly communication and research

Research activities occur within the framework of scholarly communication. This framework, traditionally based on journal publications and books, serves many functions in academe – such as providing quality control, lending legitimacy, establishing priority and dissemination of research work. In recent years, the scholarly communication system has been widely discussed as a result of serious challenges on the economic and technological fronts. The so called “scholarly communication crisis” (the continued escalating costs of journal subscriptions) takes center stage, as it seriously undermines libraries’ financial ability to sustain their services. The development of open access journals and other similar initiatives and movements are gathering steam to meet these challenges.

At the same time, technology has also transformed the way in which the scholarly communication system works. Most of these changes center on the transformation of the scholarly publication from print based to electronic formats and structure.

Information and communication technology has also enabled scholars and others to collaborate in very effective ways regardless of the physical and temporal distance that separates them. Instant access to common virtual workspace, resources and even equipment has given scholars the facility to work with their global partners thousands of miles away as though they are beside each other in a laboratory.

Our Library will monitor these developments and will prepare itself to meet the practical challenges arising from them. Libraries are essential components of the scholarly communication system and it is important for us to anticipate the impact of these changes in scholarly communication.

The Library also recognizes that the work of our academic staff and scholars in the scholarly communication network contribute critically to the reputation of the University and will find ways and means to provide support. Besides building rich and relevant collections, we have started work on an institutional repository (IR) that will archive and provide access to the intellectual work of our academic staff. This is also in line with developments in other universities where eventually all IRs will form a significant international network of scholarly information resources.

4. Focusing all activities on the user

The University’s goal of creating a student and professor centric approach and culture fit in very well with the user-oriented philosophy of libraries. Our Library recognizes that it is primarily a service organization and we exist to meet the information and learning needs of all users, whatever their level of attainment or status. The Library aims to inculcate in all staff member the strong satisfaction of a service oriented approach in our work and also filter all our work flow and policies through the lenses of our users. All our policies will be reviewed and combed through to identify areas that are lacking in user-oriented approach.

A drastic reform in our organization structure has been the Library’s transformation into a subject-librarian system in late 2004. All professional librarians, including some Heads of Divisions have been assigned subject responsibilities which focus on identifying and meeting the information needs of specific target groups of users according to subject discipline. This has effectively brought all librarians to the front-end of service work and emphasizes the importance of serving our users directly. Over time, this will also help the library staff develop better and stronger rapport with our users. Our users will also develop a strong sense of ownership and identity with the respective libraries and our services.

The strategic focus described above will guide us in responding effectively to a rapidly changing information environment. It will help us to clarify, prioritize, plan and develop our services and programmes so that we will always remain relevant and valuable to all our users.