LAR5001

Managing virtual libraries

E Lim and H Groenewegen

8 points
* 8-10 hours per week working through course material (on campus this may involve 2 hours per week in seminar), 3 hours per week in private study and directed reading and 3 hours per week in project/assignment work
* First or second semester
* Clayton
* Distance

Objectives At the completion of this subject students should be able to understand the principles for implementing and managing a virtual university library service that will meet the requirements of a flexible learning environment and remain relevant in the twenty-first century; understand the infrastructure that is required to make information resources accessible and be aware of the economic and legal implications; develop innovative user training programs; and design gateways and the common interface with the virtual library that are user friendly and ergonomically sound.

Synopsis In this subject the student is presented with a model of the virtual library and its components, in which the issues associated with its development and management in a pervasive networked environment are explored. The model takes advantage of the increasing use of information technology to deal with the explosive growth in the cost and volume of publishing in all formats and to deliver library and information services to local and remote users. It incorporates new methods of managing and organising information resources for the primary clientele and examines some of the economic and legal implications. The technologies underpinning the model are also examined. Topics explored in this subject are the virtual library services model, which embraces a number of building blocks including local and remote analogue resources and infrastructure, local and remote digital resources and infrastructure, the common interface, management and organisational structures and mediated services; information management and organisation, covering building subject or information gateways, extending the library catalogue (the virtual shelf), storage and retrieval of full text and multimedia documents, automated indexing, intelligent agents and access architectures (eg Z39.50, metadata, Dublin Core etc); information resources and access infrastructure, including e-reserve, electronic journals, networked databases, video and audio on demand, document delivery services and preprint servers; communication with and training of users, including mediated services, computer mediated instruction and communication technologies (eg email, listservs, internet chat relay, bulletin boards, computer conferencing and MOOs); economic and legal perspectives, incorporating considerations of changing economics of libraries, charging for services and rights management in intellectual property; and preservation and archiving.

Assessment Project report: 60%
* Practical assignments: 40%

Reading lists A considerable number of information resources can be found on the World Wide Web. Only the printed materials are listed here.

Prescribed texts

Crawford W and Gorman M Future libraries: Dreams, madness and reality American Library Association, 1995
Negroponte N Being digital Hodder and Stoughton, 1995
VALA Electronic dreams? Virtual nightmare, the reality for libraries: Conference proceedings VALA National Conference on Library Automation, Melbourne, 1996

Recommended texts

Block R H and Hesse C (eds) Future libraries U California P, 1995
Brown D J Electronic publishing and libraries: Planning for the impact and growth to 2003 Bowker-Saur, 1996
Electronic Library: The International Journal for Minicomputer, Microcomputer, and Software Applications in Libraries Learned Information, 1983-
Filling the pipeline and paying the piper: Proceedings of the fourth [electronic publishing] symposium Association of Research Libraries, 1995
Libraries Unlimited Information for a new age: Redefining the librarian Libraries Unlimited, 1995
Networking and the future of libraries 2: Managing the intellectual record. An international conference held at the University of Bath, 19-21 April, 1995 Library Association Publishing, 1995
Okerson A S and O'Donnell J J Scholarly journals at the crossroads: A subversive proposal for electronic publishing. An internet discussion about scientific and scholarly journals and their future Association of Research Libraries, 1995
Pitkin G M (ed.) The National electronic library: A guide to the future for library managers Greenwood Press, 1996
Reed S G (ed.) Creating the future: Essays on librarianship in an age of great change McFarland, 1996
Schiller H I Information inequality:The deepening social crisis in America Routledge, 1996