HELibTech briefing papers
HELibTech briefing papers offer insights into key topics across the landscape of the library technology used in Higher Education. All papers are available on a fully open CC0 licence so please feel free to share.
Library management system to library services platform. Resource management for libraries: a new perspective
Ken Chad HELibTech Briefing Paper No.1, August 2015.
This briefing paper contrasts the library resource management landscape now with the situation in 2008 when the Jisc/Sconul LMS study recommended that the time was not right for libraries to purchase a new library system. In the intervening period a new generation of ‘library services platforms’ (LSPs) has emerged and the pace of procurement has quickened. Ken analyses the current landscape and looks at the strategic issues around the changing nature of library collections, shared services, workflows and analytics. The paper is made available under a CC-0 license to enable easy re-use.
Rethinking the Library Services Platform
Ken Chad HELibTech Briefing Paper No. 2, January 2016.
The second in the series of HELibTech briefing papers challenges the current definition of a library services platform (LSP) and suggests ways in which library systems might develop. While a new generation of library systems has emerged there remains a very significant lack of interoperability between the various components that make up the wider library technology ‘ecosystem’. So, although we talk of library services platforms, libraries and library system vendors have not yet fully realised a platform-based, interoperable library ecosystem. Cloud computing could help break this paradigm as it is doing with enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. Gartner, an information technology market research and advisory firm, suggests that the ERP suite is being deconstructed into what they characterise as a ‘postmodern ERP.’ Gartner suggests that the result will be a more loosely coupled environment with much of the functionality sourced as Cloud services or via business process outsourcers. Will we see the same trend in library technology?
A more open library technology ecosystem, possibly making better use of open source components, would eliminate the restrictions of a closed and monolithic suite of services from a single vendor. Solutions are moving to the Cloud but aren’t yet really platforms. It is possible that such a platform-based ecosystem model will be the “next generation” in library automation. The promise for libraries is a more flexible and cost effective solution and for users a much improved user experience.
The new role of the library in teaching and learning outcomes
Ken Chad & Helen Anderson. HELibTech Briefing Paper No. 3, June 2017.
Students in many countries, especially the US and UK are concerned that the growing cost of higher education is not delivering good value. Excellence in teaching and a focus on measurement and assessment of learning outcomes have become entrenched in higher education policy and the strategies of academic institutions. In the UK this trend has crystallised in a new Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) introduced by government in 2017.
As a result library leaders around the world will need to become more strategic in articulating value propositions based around a more holistic view of library/learning resources.The value of data analytics will be a key driving force. Data from reading list systems and digital textbook platforms combined with information from other institutional systems will allow powerful insights to emerge. Such analytics will be invaluable to institutions, publishers and intermediaries as they look at new ways to deliver content.
All this suggests a trend for library technology and educational technology to merge. There looks to be the beginning of shift away from a narrow conception of *library* systems, the *library* supply chain and *library data*. Conventional integrated library systems (ILS) and even the new generation of library services platforms (LSPs) remain wedded to an outdated view of library learning resources and will have to change significantly or be integrated or subsumed into a new generation of learning services platforms.
The student consumer and the rise of e-textbook platforms
Ken Chad. HELibTech Briefing Paper No. 4, March 2018.
A recent report for the Society of College, National & University Libraries (SCONUL) listed ‘students as customers’ as one of the five top ‘transformational’ trends that will impact libraries over the next ten years. These student consumers are not all happy and one reason is the rising cost of textbooks and the lack of availability from libraries. The briefing paper looks at the textbook market and moves to digital and more interactive learning. It analyses new approaches to textbook publication and the new ways libraries are delivering e-textbooks to students including the rise of e-textbook platforms, Open Textbooks and institutional initiatives to combat rising textbook costs. It concludes with an analysis of the potential disruptive impact of new user focused e-textbook platforms
The rise of library centric reading list systems
Ken Chad. HELibTech Briefing Paper No. 5, July 2018.
The last five years have seen a sizable increase in the number of universities in the UK, Australia and New Zealand deploying library centric reading lists solutions. A notable change in the last year or so is that library resource list solutions are beginning to be adopted in the US. The paper suggests that reading/resource list systems will have a major impact on the global library technology market just as library ‘discovery services’ did over a decade ago.
The paper analyses the impact of reading list solutions on students, academics/faculty, the library and the library supply chain. It looks to future developments including the more extensive use of analytics and the increasing role of reading lists in pedagogical ‘scaffolding’.
Aggregate and amplify -enhancing the value and use of theses and dissertations
Ken Chad. HELibTech Briefing Paper No. 6, July 2020.
Theses and dissertations (TDs) form a core part of the research outputs of an academic institution. However, they do not usually get the same attention as journal published research. Universities are doing more to make this category of research outputs more easily discoverable to a growing global community of scholars. In this way they increase visibility for the institution and individual by amplifying the reach to the wider scholarly community. The paper looks at the value to the author, the institution and the global research community. It analyses the particular value that TD specific aggregations offer in terms of enhancing discovery, text and data mining, making historical works more discoverable through digitisation and preservation. It addresses the contentious issue of embargoes and open access. The paper presents the case for an aggregated, amplified, global and digitised approach to TDs.
Open library systems – a new perspective
Ken Chad. HELibTech Briefing Paper No. 7, May 2022.
In the last decade or so open source software became a defining factor in how librarians perceived ‘open’ library systems. Open source library systems such as Koha gained market share were often seen in terms of a ‘battle’ with the more common proprietary solutions. With the rise of cloud computing, software ‘platforms’ have come to dominate. Because the solution is hosted in the cloud, rather than implemented on local servers, the underlying technology becomes of less concern. These platforms, including Library Services Platforms (LSPs) typically embrace open source components and combine them with proprietary solutions. The value of a ‘platform’, as opposed to a software ‘product’ comes not only from its own features, but from its ability to connect to external solutions, data, and processes. To do this it needs to be ‘open’ in terms of data and the ability to integrate, via (typically open) application programming Interfaces (APIs), with other products which may be developed by customers or provided by other independent software vendors (ISVs).This, open interoperability, perspective is now a more fruitful way to consider open library systems.
New approaches to resource sharing: transforming library collections and the user experience
Ken Chad. HELibTech Briefing Paper No. 8, December 2022.
InterLibrary loan (ILL) is an essential library service. Even the largest, most well-funded library cannot meet, from its own collections, all the resource needs of all its users. However, InterLibrary loan (ILL) and document delivery (DD) workflows and software solutions can be complex with staff intensive workflows. A new generation of library resource sharing solutions is helping libraries transform legacy ILL practices and systems and challenge past assumptions. In the past, key factors limiting efficient ILL/DD were the complex nature and poor interoperability of ILL systems and the resultant staff intensive workflows and costs. As we move into the second quarter of the 21st century, technology has transformed ILL/resource sharing.
While Open Access is widely acknowledged as having challenged conventional subscription publication models, a full solution to enabling the free flow of research is still to be found. OA combined with persistent work by librarians collaborating regionally, nationally and internationally to break down barriers to sharing resources, creates potential for a dramatically new approach. New approaches to resource sharing will encourage a reassessment of library collections and drive forward a more open research agenda.