This is Our Challenge:

It is the human capacity of libraries that is critical: staff who are knowledge intermediaries, teacher-librarians, and information and data scientists. Such people work at the junction between development, information science and governance (Gregson, Brownlee, Playforth, & Bimbe, 2015, p. 6).

In today’s paradigm, libraries are responsible for the provision of the invisible infrastructure which enables access to information and inform research (Gregson, Brownlee, Playforth, & Bimbe, 2015, p. 22).

This is the challenge we face for Information Services at  my workplace and it’s probably common to others. We have been working through a period of transition for some time, and with the addition of 1:1 devices from 6 – 12 in 2016 this will accelerate.

(Gregson, Brownlee, Playforth, & Bimbe, 2015, p.22)

This situation requires a change of focus, from the resources and their appropriate care and display, to the people so that what we provide suits individual needs, is accessible anytime and anywhere, and enables publishing as well as reading. We have been slowly working on this aspect as well.

 References:

Gregson, J., Brownlee, J. M., Playforth, R., & Bimbe, N. (2015). Evidence Report No. 125: Policy Anticipation, Response and Evaluation: The Future of Knowledge Sharing in a Digital Age: Exploring Impacts and Policy Implications for Development. London: Institute of Development Studies.