Remote services of national libraries

Abstract

Many modern national libraries implement the model of a library open to any member of society. In conditions of rapid and pervasive development of digital technologies and the formation of the Internet information space, a website is an indispensable tool for ensuring the availability of the library, its information resources and services in the virtual space. The creation and use of websites to organize remote (virtual) services is one of the most significant activities of libraries. The article objective is to present and summarize the results of studying national library websites as a platform for remote user services. The Russian State Library researchers study websites of 24 national libraries in 22 countries as a part of investigating current state and prospects for development of the digitalization processes of public libraries. The researchers have identified main directions of remote services  (informing users about the library, its resources and services; ensuring the availability of library information resources; improving the comfort of using the library), and the range of remote services, which includes above dozen remote library and information services, as well as nearly the same number of additional digital services that increase the comfort of users. They proposed promising directions to develop remote services (information about library resources and services, consulting and training on using library resources, personalization of services), and the introduction of digital technologies (multimedia and augmented reality technologies).