Jason Vaughan, “Lied Library @ Four Years: Technology Never
Stands Still.”
- Introduction
- When Lied Library opened in January 2001, it stood at the summit of technologically advanced academic libraries
- Four years later, it still remains a cutting edge library
- It continually evolves to meet new technological challenges
- New and Existing Systems
- Many new systems have been installed since 2001
- The number possibly exceeds the number introduced at the opening of the building
- Many existing systems have grown
- The 2003 Computer Replacement Project
- One of the largest projects since the opening of the building was the complete replacement of every desktop PC in the main and branch libraries
- This was tricky since computers had to remain in use while the replacements were being made
- Feeding the Beast
- Initial equipment and software purchases are huge expenses for a new library
- Subsequent installations require additional funding
- Ongoing maintenance and licensing requirements are essential
- Extensive documentation is regularly provided to the Library Administration to help predict budget costs necessary to maintain the library’s technology
- The library relies on vendor support and maintenance
- The library intentionally built in redundancies for many important systems
- Particular Challenges – Balancing Computer Use
- A central challenge has been maintaining access to the libraries’ personal computers (student use vs. community use)
- Particular Challenges – Space Management
- Another challenge faced by the library is space management and utilization
- Particular Challenges – Security
- The physical security of the building is an additional challenge
- Security of networked PCs
- Particular Challenges – Equipment and Software Glitches
- The library has had some major system hardware failures
- Software glitches have occurred
- On the Horizon, Challenges and Opportunities
- All library staff have and will continue to embrace technology as it increasingly finds its way into everything associated with librarianship
- Continue to enhance major systems, introduce new systems, and retire old systems
- Continuing to maintain aging systems will be a challenge
Doreen Carvajal. “European Libraries Face Problems in
Digitizing.” New York Times. October 28, 2007.
- The institutions involved in the European Digital Library project faced limited government funding for the digitization of material
- They developed alliances with private companies (Google, Microsoft, etc.)
- “We’re aware that there are some downsides to it because the commercial companies are obviously in it either for shareholder profit or doing it to get a public feel-good factor.
- The European Commission contributed over $85 million to finance a digital library system, but would not finance the basic digitization
Charles Edward Smith. “A Few Thoughts on the Google Books
Library Project.” Educause Review Online. February 13, 2008.
- There was a great amount of unease surrounding the Google Books project
- The Google Books project and other digitization projects will preserve and perpetuate the ideas of authors by transferring them to today’s technology
- The project is making books that were only accessible in major research libraries accessible to people across the country and world
- The successful transfer of knowledge via technology is the task that lies before us
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