As the backbone of the UK’s information infrastructure, libraries have to work hard to keep pace with the rapid technology-driven changes in how users search for and use information. It is this tradition that has spawned the virtual libraries possessed by major institutions. But the virtual library can be more than just a wall-less, digital or even invisible entity.
Tracy Kent, digital assets librarian at the University of Birmingham, said: “It is a misnomer to call them invisible libraries, because libraries and their collections of data are more visible to info pros now than they have ever been. With the help of technology, hitherto hidden and dormant content has resurfaced. It raises the profile and rediscovers older material.”
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“Remember, libraries are well-established institutions for rare collections and so contain huge amounts of physical content that needs to be scanned, tagged and saved in virtual form to help increase their visibility and accessibility,” Kent added. “We are trying to change working practices and produce content in forms that can be repurposed and converted into preferable formats.” She believes information providers must adopt open access publishing methods and make their works Google-indexable to give users the easy and complete access to data they now demand.
But this goal is not without challenges. Kent said two of the biggest challenges for virtual libraries are copyright and ensuring they have resources in place that are compatible with user technologies and tools. Cost is also a huge deterrent to all libraries moving towards a virtual service. Kent said that digitising all the physical works the library had acquired over the past five years would cost around £13m. The question naturally arises whether digitisation and IT projects should be a library’s sole responsibility or whether the state should fund them.
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