On Friday 29th January 1999 at 12:30-2:30pm MCB University Press and Library Link hosted the above titled workshop at the ALA Midwinter conference in Philadelphia, USA. If you wish to discover more about the workshop and the discussions surrounding it and would like to comment on the issues raised please click here.

Links to the workshop slides:

Publisher Challenges: An overview
Librarian Challenges: An Overview
Partnership Challenges
1. Resourcing the role of the Librarian
2. Archiving: who should do it and how?
3. Access vs Ownership
4. Subject Gateways
What Next?

Publisher Challenges: An overview

• Embracing new technologies
• Transition from print to electronic
• Maintaining existing revenue streams
• Changing relationships with librarians and their institutions:
  want partnerships, relationship marketing, more interaction

Librarian Challenges: An Overview

• Pricing � number of economic models, purchase or licence? Access restrictions what are they?
• Resources and skills � what new resources are required of both staff and library users?
• New technologies � how does the modern librarian keep abreast of them?
• Usage � how is one sure that customers make the most use of library resources?

Partnership Challenges

• 1. Resourcing the role of the Librarian
• 2. Archiving: Who should do it and how?
• 3. Access vs ownership
• 4. Subject gateways: creating shop-windows to the hybrid library
• 5. Reference linking

1. Resourcing the role of the Librarian

• What is considered to be 'added value'? What do Librarians and researchers want in the future?
• Will publishers and the Internet eliminate libraries, Librarians or both?
• What is new role of the Librarian? Coach, mentor, knowledge manager?
• How can publishers/vendors help Librarians in their new role?

2. Archiving: who should do it and how?

• Who is responsible?
• Can publishers provide temporary solutions? e.g. tagged data to be held on individual library systems?
• What is the position of National Libraries?
• What is actually archived? The information, the searching technology or both? - and how does it deal with linking?

3. Access vs Ownership

• Who owns the information?
• The decision to purchase is based on vendor's ability to provide archive
• How does one deal with online links relating to the article? Validated year on year? Footnote entry, or stripped?
• New law on databases to copyright public domain material

4. Subject Gateways

• What is a subject gateway? What are its characteristics - content, aesthetics, users
• How do users find them?
• Who is in the ideal position to build and manage them? Librarians, publishers - or could they be built through partnership?

What Next?

• 1. Resourcing the role of the Librarian
• 2. Archiving: who should do it and how?
• 3. Access vs ownership
• 4. Subject gateways