Article Review # 1
This review is on an article from the December 2013 issue of
the journal, Campus Technology. The
article is entitled The Library Has Left The Building But…
In the article, the author discusses the subject of digital
resources in higher education. The main
topic of the article is the integration of the digital library with educational
institutions Learning Management Systems (LMS). Today’s educational institution
libraries are not just the brick and mortar buildings of yesterday. In today’s digital age, a large amount of the
library resources are accessed by patrons who do their library research online. However, there still exist an issue with
integrating digital library resource access from with the LMSes that student
and instructor use for course materials.
The author explored the efforts some institutions are making
to resolve this issue. These efforts
include writing customs programs and workarounds to integrate the digital
library resources into the LMS at their institutions. In some cases, the LMS is making an effort to
work with the institution by building this functionality into their
product. One of the major vendors,
Blackboard is already working with institutions to make this possibly.
This article is particularly relevant to me because one of
the systems my team manages in the Library support system for my institution. I found this article very thought provoking.
Norbury (2013). The Library Has Left The Building, BUT…
Campus Technology December 2013 Volume 27 No 4 26-30
As library resources become increasingly digital and online, finding the most efficient way of cataloging these resources is a major concern. A resource (digital or print) that cannot be found and retrieved is of no use to the library's patrons. I know more about k-12 libraries, but I can understand this being an even larger concern in higher education when classes are often 100% online.
ReplyDeleteI imagine this is a very challenging problem today in larger libraries. Perhaps more larger universities have the resources in order to set up easier access for their on-line learners. Most intriguing to me is the ability for high schools and smaller community colleges that don't have as much capital expenditure. There are a lot more on-line GED courses and basic on-line courses these days. How do these smaller institutions afford the personnel and equipment to expand their libraries in the digital age?
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