The Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), and EDUCAUSE have released their final report on Mapping the Current Landscape of Research Library Engagement with Emerging Technologies in Research and Learning.
Part of the ARL, CNI, and EDUCAUSE joint initiative to advance research libraries’ impact in a world shaped by emerging technologies, this report identifies strategic opportunities for research libraries to adopt and engage with emerging technologies, with a roughly five-year time horizon. This report by Sarah Lippincott considers the ways in which research library values and professional expertise inform and shape this engagement, the ways library and library worker roles will be reconceptualized, and the implication of a range of technologies on how the library fulfills its mission. Conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, this study is projected as an excellent resource for research libraries as they identify strategic opportunities to adopt and engage with emerging technologies.
The report concludes that emerging technologies have prompted libraries to adapt their historical roles as trusted stewards, educators, and curators to suit an academic environment and a society driven by digital data, marked by distributed collaboration, and contending with the challenges of misinformation, white supremacy culture, and a global pandemic. Research libraries can bring values-based decision-making to bear as they find the right balance in their approach to adopting and experimenting with emerging technologies—the balance between agility and sustainability, convenience and privacy, transformation and persistence.
The report was originally published in installments between March and November 2020. The final publication includes a concluding section on the implications of COVID-19, as well as a glossary of terms related to the context and use of emerging technologies in libraries.
Click here to read the original press release.
