INVESTING IN R&D AND THE FUTURE OF LIBRARIES

Abstract

It is hard to recall a recent library conference or an issue of library literature that hasn't in one fashion or another alluded to changes in publishing technologies, innovations in research tools for business and scholarships, the evolution of scholarly communications, or the ongoing introduction of computer‐based technologies to the library. For those of us in the academic environment, these changes and innovations are manifested in the growing use of personal computers on campus, the expanding number of Internet linkages, the developing design of scholar workstations, the increasing presence of online bibliographic resources and library catalogs, and the small but expanding number of electronic journals. All of these technological innovations are influencing the ways scholars and students work and exchange information. Accordingly, these developments are challenging the ways librarians think about and provide services and information/knowledge resources to meet the needs of their user populations. In response to these challenges, libraries are investing a disproportionately small part of their budgets for research focusing on the future, and a disproportionately small amount of time to the development of strategies for innovation. Efforts to position libraries in a leadership role in this rapidly changing environment require a stronger investment in such research and development.

Citation

Dow, R.F. (1993), "INVESTING IN R&D AND THE FUTURE OF LIBRARIES", The Bottom Line, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 37-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025364