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Культура Документы
LIS 9005
September 20, 2018
Report: Change & Information Organizations
Instructor: Alissa Centivany
TA: Ramona Kyabaggu
1
Wilkin, John P. “Meanings of the Library Today,” in The Meaning of the Library: A Cultural
History, ed. Alice Crawford, Princeton University Press, 2015.
In this chapter John P. Wilkin, current Dean of Libraries and University Librarian at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,1 assesses the purpose of research libraries in the
twenty-first century. According to Wilkin there are four “pillars” of research libraries: curation,
“engagement with research and learning", publishing, and “creating and managing spaces
devoted to users and collections” (237). Wilkin views these four pillars as continuing to be
integral to the twenty-first century research library. Recently, research libraries have experienced
a stagnation in funding along with increased costs and demand for electronic and print resources.
Throughout the chapter, Wilkin argues that research libraries need to adapt and start “doing
things differently” in response to these changes (239). Wilkin does not see the shift towards
digitization or digital technologies as negative. Instead, Wilkin views these changes as an
opportunity to conduct the four pillars of research libraries in a new, more efficient manner.
Wilkin focuses on the need for research libraries to be more collaborative and increase
the use of networking between institutions. As a result, this increased networking would allow
research libraries to be more efficient in their practices. Wilkin views technology as the key to
this increased networking between institutions. In terms of networking, Wilkin suggests that
research libraries need to begin to work collaboratively using the concept of “work at scale”
which he defines as a “consolidation of efforts in a sphere that cuts across institutions.” (244)
Wilkin focuses his analysis on the example of HathiTrust. As a result of collaboration among
institutions, HathiTrust has been able to provide more material to research libraries at a lower
cost to the institution. This is in contrast to other forms of publishing which have seen their costs
rise. Overall, Wilkin sees the future of research libraries as one of “doing things differently”
without sacrificing any one of the four pillars by taking advantage of digital technologies.
Wilkin’s overall argument is compelling. Wilkin successfully argues that the changes to
research libraries in the twentieth-century should be viewed as an opportunity to do things
differently. In other words, technological change and economic change should both be viewed as
positive opportunities make libraries more relevant and sustainable. As Wilkin states, libraries
have the privilege of taking on more aspects of in terms of academic publishing and “creating”
content not just information curation (237). Wilkin’s discussion of academic publishing’s a good
example of making libraries more relevant. Wilkin demonstrates that academic publishing is
becoming a larger part of research libraries. By taking on publishing research libraries are not
fundamentally changing any of their four pillars.
Additionally, Wilkin’s distinction between what work could be done through a network
and what should remain local is a nuanced way to look at the advancement in digital records. I
agree that the future of research libraries, and possibly most information institutions, will be
combining both the local and network. Wilkin relies on the HathiTrust which was a compelling
example of when networking can be used to lower costs and increase access to a diverse set of
information.
Although Wilkin provides a good argument shown through his example of HathiTrust,
there are some parts of the argument that could have been fleshed out more thoroughly. As a past
1
“John Wilkin, Dean of Libraries and University Librarian,” University Library: University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign. Accessed September 17, 2018. https://www.library.illinois.edu/geninfo/librarydean/
2
Executive-Director of HathiTrust,2 Wilkin could have pointed out some of the problems or
obstacles that HathiTrust had to overcome. Moreover, Wilkin could have discussed more
concrete future steps that research libraries should take to replicate the success of HathiTrust in
other collaborative efforts.
I would have appreciated more discussion on the existing literature on the future of
research libraries. What have other librarians or scholars suggested is the future of research
libraries? This would have allowed the reader to fully understand how his opinion may differ
from other scholars. As this is part of an edited collection, the introduction and subsequent
chapters may address this concept directly, but the article could have included a few sentences on
the arguments of others.
One more critique of this chapter is the focus on the networking part of his argument. I
would have liked a more comprehensive discussion of how the change in research libraries can
be handled more efficiently on the local level. Wilkin discusses the idea of space and the need
for this to be decided and controlled on a local level. However, Wilkins does not provide any
concrete, specific examples of this. By not fully discussing the local element, Wilkin left a small
part of his argument unfinished.
Overall, the most important element that was missing in Wilkin’s paper was the lack of
discussion surrounding the issues and problems that could arise through more collaboration and
networking among research libraries. For example, how would the digital networking impact
management of libraries? I was also reminded of the concept of “big librarianship” and “small
librarianship” that is discussed in other scholarly work.3 How could this move towards digital
technologies and networking alter the service orientation of small librarianship? Although
Wilkin articulates a strong argument about technological change and research libraries in the
twenty-first century, there were slight changes that could have been made to strengthen the
overall chapter.
This article did influence the way I view change in information organizations and the role
which I would like to play in that change. The two major changes that Wilkin is discussing are
technological and economic change. These changes can be presented as problematic, negative,
and as threats to the fundamental idea of libraries. Wilkin presents a very different picture of
these changes to research libraries. Wilkin even argues that economic change is “a vote of
confidence” in research libraries (242). After reading this article, I agree that these changes are
an opportunity for research libraries to keep their core values intact while also expanding the
responsibilities of libraries. Wilkin is discussing research libraries, but his ideas can be applied to
public and special libraries as well. For example, the shift of public libraries to maker spaces and
new technologies. Libraries are going to be tasked with constantly modernizing their practices
with the advancements in digital resources, and this should be seen as a chance to make libraries
more relevant.
One of these opportunities is for greater collaboration and networking among libraries
and information institutions. As Wilkin shows, collaboration, such as HathiTrust, can be
beneficial to many institutions through combining resources. As Wilkin argues, this
collaboration among research libraries can benefit individual institutions while also benefiting
2
"John Wilkin, Dean of Libraries and University Librarian,” University Library: University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign. Accessed September 17, 2018. https://www.library.illinois.edu/geninfo/librarydean/
3
Roma M. Harris, Librarianship: The Erosion of a Woman’s Profession. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, 1992 as cited in
Juris Dilevko and Lisa Gottlieb"The Portrayal of Librarians in Obituaries at the End of the Twentieth Century,” The
Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, 74, no. 2 (April 2004), 176-177.
3
them as a whole. This collaboration does not have to mean that libraries are giving up their
values or their place within communities. Instead, libraries can do “things differently” and
become better and more efficient at those goals.
In conclusion, Wilkin’s chapter discusses how the research libraries should adapt to
technological and economic change in the twenty-first century. Through an analysis of statistics,
published work, and a case study of HathiTrust, Wilkin concludes that if research libraries
network and collaborate with each other using new technology, the research library will excel in
the twenty-first century while still maintaining its core values.
Bibliography
Harris, Roma M. Librarianship: The Erosion of a Woman’s Profession. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex,
1992, as cited in Juris Dilevko and Lisa Gottlieb "The Portrayal of Librarians in
Obituaries at the End of the Twentieth Century,” The Library Quarterly:
Information, Community, Policy, 74, no. 2 (April 2004), 176-177.
"John Wilkin, Dean of Libraries and University Librarian,” University Library: University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Accessed September 17, 2018.
https://www.library.illinois.edu/geninfo/librarydean/
Wilkin, John P. “Meanings of the Library Today,” in The Meaning of the Library: A Cultural
History. Edited by Alice Crawford. Princeton University Press, 2015.