I have put together this list of the characteristics of a virtual library service. Is there anything missing? What would your top three be?
Matt, I don't understand whether you are turning to users (and what your audience is) or only librarians; and whether you speak of a niche IS (e.g. medical) or generic digital library/IS; public/private.
As a user and patient who always tries to stay informed and find new ideas, I would like to see a model of digital library which is a hybrid between Free Pint - http://web.freepint.com/ (ideally open access or mixed but myself being able to afford the subscription) and Springshare LibGuides (Content Management Platform) - http://libguides.com/community.php?m=i&ref=libguides.com but which is trying to form a bond with its users/clients and keep the conversation going. Springshare offers a community forum but it is restricted to librarians.
What I like about Free Pint is that they offer a range of services - reports, news, reviews, niche and more general coverage. I would like to see such or similar features on the website of a digital library. If the library is covering medical or any specialised content, I think that updates from the industry incl. interviews with experts from both academia and professional milieus will increase the value of the service - it shows that you are committed.
Second, as you pointed out, communication is very important. If you can begin or continue any conversation with your users/clients on social media, rather than just post something somewhere, this would be good. Also, take into serious consideration feedback, rather than just requesting it politely just to say you did. Good ideas can come from anywhere, when you least expect them.
Third, educate, entertain, surprise. Upload tutorials, guides; clarify terminology and methodology; give search tips and search strategies; refer to other similar information providers on and off- line; inform about events related with the target of your services; propose some events/places/ideas which might be stimulating but not necessarily pertaining to the specific niche (e.g. BBC Future content - http://www.bbc.com/future).
Hi Hristina, Just to clarify I am talking really to Library and Information Professionals. It could be generic but I come form the perspective of working in the NHS (UK National Health Service} and with no print library. I put the list together because I found that, having made a reasonable success of it people are being referred to me as for good practice advice. It is actually part of an article in CILIP (UK library professional body) Update Magazine to be published next month.
Like your idea of Freepint, having an information rich site. A real challenge for a One Person Band like me but something that could be delivered in partnership with others. Networking and Partnering with fellow professionals to make good use of scarce resources is something that should be there I think. BW Matt
Matt, very, appealing, very interesting your ten points - and also the comments of Hristina.
Working since almost 15 years in the domain of digital audiovisual archives dedicated to research in social and human sciences (to-day, we would use the term "digital humanities" ...), I am highly sensitized (is this the right expression ?) to these questions. And I agree completely with on the importance of the "communication turn" for digital archive/library services.
But I also think that there are two other, highly important turns: the first which is indeed everywhere in your ten "commandments" is the "content-cgeneration-by-user" turn (therefore to offer, for instance, the user the possibility to analyse/index, annotate, enrich, ... given resources and even to produce new ones ?); the second is the "linguistic (or, as I prefer, semiotic) turn" in digital archives /libraries; this means to consider thhe semantic (semiotic) and discursive nature of digital resources in order to provide "better" appropriation bridges to interested users.
In any case, thank you for having launched this very interesting topic. Peter
One Person Band will definitely be challenging for any type of library service. Anyway, librarian - librarians and librarian - users/clients forums are both important. I guess you should be most careful about (internet) organization - there is hardly any website which is properly indexed.
I was thinking today what is the thing I still like about the real offline library that sets it apart from digital ones and two things came on my mind. The first one is the conversation with a person experienced in his field/s and knowledgeable about his workplace b/se if I can't find the info/books I am looking for or they are not what I was thinking they should be, there is the chance that he/she will help me find something similar once he/she gets what I want and why I want it and/or refer me to a more appropriate place (humans are still better at semantics than technology, provided you come across a good librarian/expert). The second thing is that I like to be surprised. I want to find books/ideas I am not necessarily looking for. And it often happens, even when the library has a good website, namely because websites are not perfectly well indexed.
Hi Arjun, Peter, I think you need to see a virtual library "service" as networks of users, with users as verticeis and transactions and communications as the edges. Embedded in our network will be highly connected/influential individuals, the long tail. Networks may be connected or exist in comparative isolation from each other. The aim of the virtual library "service" is to adopt strategies that build connections to our networks. Key tasks are to understand the extent of our networks, our user communities, and who are the highly connected individuals. To build through the quality and quantity of our communications and transactions with users edges or links between them. Though the implementation of our services more connections exist and a more robust the service emerges. Word of mouth and recommendation to colleagues are the most effective tools to build the virtual library services and messages travel easily through dense highly connected networks. I stress the service aspects here. BW Matt
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Physiology
- Physiological Processes
- Stress