21st Century Library Services
Posted: October 25, 2011 Filed under: Libraries, People, Services 1 Comment »Take a close look. Have you seen this librarian?
The answer is probably not. But, if you have, you may not see that type of librarian for much longer. The reason is because the role of librarians and libraries will increasingly change over the next few years as a result of technological innovation. Many of the services historically connected with libraries, including the stereotypical image of the librarian sitting behind a desk, will look dramatically different (and in some cases may not even exist). While, this will present challenges it will also open new doors for librarians to provide discovery-based and specialized services for faculty and student learning. The same is true here at UofL where many librarians are already transitioning toward a 21st century service model.
Here are just a few things our librarians do:
1. Library instruction. Professor’s can bring their students over to the library to get comfortable using the library to complete research assignments. In many cases, librarians encourage active student participation through group work and acknowledging the student voice instead of continuous lecture.
2. EndNote and EndNote Web workshops. Learn more about an alternative way to create and organize your bibliographies on the Beginning EndNote guide.
3. Digital Collections. Whereas before, conducting research on primary sources required you to always go to a Special Collections department, now several of these works are available online. Since 2006, UofL librarians, curators, and technical experts, have digitized images, yearbooks, baseball trade cards, and other historical documents. Click here to see for yourself—it’s very cool!
4. Virtual Reference Services. So, we may not see you in person, but we can still answer your questions through such things as,
- Ask-A-Librarian. Chat your questions about the library Monday-Friday, between 10am-5pm.
- Email. Submit a reference question or citation completion request and receive a reply by email
- Text us at (502) 509-3178
- Instant Message us at uoflref@yahoo.com
The list can go on. We have not even scratched the surface of how different the UofL Libraries services will look like 10 years from now. But, just know that some things will be different.
For more information about any of the UofL Libraries services call (502) 852-6747 or visit us online.
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