This article states that the digital repository is too narrow for the needs of the University Library and social networks need to be employed in order to facilitate research. There are two powerful sentences at the end of the article that I have quoted here:
There is a problem in perception of libraries that comes from the fact that the university thinks of the library as a “thing” or a “place” rather than a set of services run by skilled and learned individuals. Libraries are, in fact, less important than the librarians and information technologists who through their learning and skills bring collected and organized and even chaotic information into play. The abilities that enable these specialists to “enhance serendipity” (my definition of librarianship) are what make these professionals true academics worthy of academic standing. To make it possible for faculty and researchers to discover useful information that they do not initially seek is the miracle work of librarians (and now information technologists). This has always been true.
The challenge, as I see it, is to keep librarians from undermining themselves. Libraries cannot afford to hide behind technology by creating passive services that emphasize access over real contact with real researchers. Technology permits the kind of contacts that create and enhance social networks of which the librarian and information technologist must be a part. However, creative contacts must include working with real people in clever ways. For example, in order to attract and retain top faculty some librarians and/or information technologists could be assigned to these targeted individuals and even written into their employment contracts as their “personal information trainers.” Rather than being viewed as part of the infrastructure, librarians and IT personnel could become an employee benefit.
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