Digital library futures: a UK HE and FE perspective

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this article is to review the future of digital library development over the next three to five years. The article is written from a UK viewpoint, and with special reference to higher and further education. Unattributed quotations in the text of this article are taken directly from respondents to the survey or contributors to the Blue Skies event. The article aims to build on two previous articles in Interlending & Document Supply.Design/methodology/approachThe research was undertaken for the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) as part of a route‐mapping exercise relating to digital library resources and services in higher and further education (referred to jointly as tertiary education (TE)). The route map was formulated on the basis of: a survey, using the “Delphi” approach, of higher and further education libraries in the UK; a major “blue skies” event held in May 2005 at the University of Essex and attended by senior stakeholders from the academic library community; iteration with JISC committees and officers.FindingsThe key aspects of current and future environments are analysed and a possible future state‐of‐the‐art in library provision given. A number of areas are considered: key strategic drivers; scholarly communication: the need for quality assurance; users and their requirements; systems and services; “the library” and its future in an e‐world; economics; technology and the likely impact of the latest technological developments and fashions.Practical implicationsThe Routemap will be used to help JISC and the UK TE library community to plan the next three to five years of development in the field of digital libraries.Originality/valueThis article provides a summary of both digital library work to date and the views of key stakeholders in the field; it presents a coherent vision of a future state‐of‐the‐art in the field and a practical set of steps as to how this can be achieved.