Novel approaches to enhancing
quality library services
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Prof. Nigel Healey
Moderator: Ms. Sandhya Deo
STRATEGIC LIBRARY PLANNING WORKSHOP
23 September 2017

Overview
§ University libraries: what has changed?
§ Digital devices
§ Digital connectivity
§ Digitization of content
§ Digital organization of content
§ Knowledge workers
§ Pedagogy
§ Social learning
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University libraries as an institution:
‘the cathedral where I worship
knowledge’
3Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

What has changed: digital devices (1)
- processing power, memory, cost
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What has changed: digital devices (2)
- portability
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What has changed: digital connectivity
– everyone is connected to everyone
and (increasingly) everything
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University libraries no longer have a
monopoly on knowledge / information
— Google
— Wikipedia
— YouTube
— Twitter
— Facebook
— But…
— Fake news
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What has changed: digitization of
content
— eBooks
— eJournals
— Online databases of journals, data sets
(Datastream), reports, theses
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Digitization of content: 3,155
downloaded papers = 5.18GB
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What has changed: digital
organization of content
— Literature search: old
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What has changed: digital
organization of content
— Literature search: new
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What has changed: manual work vs
knowledge work
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What has changed: tertiary education
(Gross Enrolment Ratio)
13Source: UNESCO

What has changed: pedagogy
— Knowledge workers need to be:
— Innovative, creative, risk-taking
— Independent, critical thinkers
— Adaptable, willing and able to learn and relearn
— Cross-culturally competent
— Literate, numerate
— …not worker bees trained to do only and exactly
what they are told
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Knowledge workers redefine the
purpose of university education
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The end of the ’Sage on the Stage’
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The shift to student-centred, group
learning
— Going from ‘The Sage on the Stage’ to ‘The
Guide on the Side’ (Alison King, 1993)
— Flipped classroom
— Student-centred or problem-based learning
— Social learning
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The open learning commons
— This new pedagogy creates the need for social
learning spaces
— These must be digitally connected to library-
curated resources
— Supported by access to high-use reference
books (eg, key text books)
— Libraries as ‘open learning commons’
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Conclusions
§ Traditionally university libraries have been book
/ journal repositories, where students read
reference material between the book stacks
§ In a digital world of knowledge workers,
university libraries need to be open learning
commons – social learning spaces
§ Limit book stocks to high-use reference
collections of textbooks
§ ‘University libraries should be a gymnasium for
the mind’
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My favourite learning space:
Brackenhurst Library @ NTU
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Brackenhurst Library
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