Choose one of the resources above and write a 400 words analysis that addresses the following issues: What is the potential for the future of an organisation you are familiar with? What impact might the future have on us as information professionals?

What we can forecast about future is “change”. Everything is changing rapidly. Al-Ali et al. (2017) articulate that “the rate of change in modern times is greater than ever” (p.724). All organisations should recognise their own situation and potentials in this changing world, so that they could implement proper management. Christopher Cox (2020) mentions some key points in terms of “collections, services, spaces and operations”, that an academic library needs to consider as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on his predictions, I would like to present some of my insights.

• Collections

Cox (2020) highlights that everything is turning electronic. That means, the method of collection management should also be changed accordingly. For example, librarians need to arrange their budget wisely because the subscriptions for digital resources are expensive. They have to consider those physical books which do not have a e-version. What they can do to digitise those materials and make them accessible without offending the copyright rules? There are much more for them to think and deal with in the e-environment.

• Services

When there are more and more digital resources, the academic librarians are also required to change their service mode accordingly. It can be seen from Cox’s blog (2020), that academic librarians will do more interacting and teaching activities than ever before. They need to educate their patrons with information literacy skills, especially in finding the resources with searching techniques. Thus, academic librarians will not only manage the collections, but also provide direct support to their patrons.

• Spaces

When talking about the library spaces, Cox (2020) discusses the usage of the physical site. However, due the Covid-19 influences, users are using more online facilities rather than the physical library. They explore social platforms to watch news and discuss with their friends in social network sites, such as Facebooks and WeChat. Thus, can the academic library also move their “location” to an online space? The librarians should also think of using social media applications to communicate with their users and between themselves.

• Operation

I totally agree with Cox’s (2020) idea of the “librarian activism”. There are many social platforms which provide forums and fellowships that librarians could attend and share their opinions and experiences. Even though we may be isolated by the quarantine rules, we are not alone. Social media is functioned as a significant communicating tool for now and the future.

Information professionals must always have an attitude of accepting “change”, and keep studying and developing their professional skills. As many of the communicating activities are moving online, academic librarians are also expected to involve actively in the online networks with external users and internal workmates.

References:

Cox, C. (2020, June 5). Changed, changed utterly. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/06/05/academic-libraries-will- change-significant-ways-result-pandemic-opinion

Al-Ali, A. A., Singh, S. K., Al-Nahyan, M., & Amrik, S. S. (2017). Change management through leadership: the mediating role of organizational culture. International Journal of Organisational Analysis, 25(4), 723-739. DOI: 10.1108/IJOA-01-2017-1117