Trends and Emerging Technologies in Library Industry

Library industry and technological changes

Library industry is one industry that has been affected by the current technological changes. The Current technologies have eased information transfer by making the world a “global village.” Information can be shared over long distances within a short period. Therefore, this paper discusses the current trends that have emerged in a library as an industry and the emerging issues that are also witnessed in the library industry. The emerging issues in a library are linked to the changes in information transfer and improved technology.

The introduction of the online library

The first emerging issue in the library is the introduction of the online library. The digital or online library refers to the store of information on online databases. Information can be obtained from what has been known as the e-books (Kawalec 2017, p. 11). It is where the information has been converted into a digital format and put in the website where it can be accessed on request. This has eased information transfer. One of the most common online libraries is known as the Google scholar. In the online library, the scholars can also upload their work for scrutiny by using the current technology. There are also other emerging issues in library industry which include the early literacy in children, where other children get to know more information during their early years compared to other children (Johnson 2015, p. 39). This contributes to a huge learning gap. Other issues in the industry are connected to digital literacy among children where people prefer soft information to hard information in the form of books (Sefton-Green et al. 2016, p. 10). Societal issues also affect the trends among children.

Online learning programs

Library industry has also been affected by the online learning programs that are being advanced by several schools in the process of managing the education systems (Bryson 2017, p. 11). Schools and university offer online learning programs and specifications that are developed and tailored to meet online demand. However, library industry continues to adapt to various changes that have been witnessed in the industry recently. The library industry is also adjusting by introducing the mobile library services (Barton 2016, p. 14). Other libraries also make their online catalogs for their students and consumers of their products while some libraries have also designed their websites where specific information on specific books can be obtained. The epic in library industry is the technology development to secure access to information by introducing log in access to their library services. These changes are either intentionally designed to adapt to changes or are in response to the changes.

Summary

Library industry is currently affected by industrial changes that include the technological changes in the world. The current technology promotes a fast transfer of information from one place to another. Therefore, the changes have led to changes in industry with libraries striving to change the system. Many changes have been witnessed that include the digitization of the books to improve access to the books by the subscribers (Johnson 2015, p. 39). It also comprises promoting online library services to be in line with the world changes in online library resources. Serialization of the parts of the books in the library and securing access to the library resources through such measures as enhanced log-ins into the developed websites is also one of the issues that have emerged in recent times.

Mobile library and early digital literacy

The Mobile library is a concept that has also been applied by the library to enhance access to the information from the libraries. Library services have also been affected by the gap that exists when there is early digital literacy among children. Other current industry trends in the mobile library comprise the introduction of tools that check plagiarism and grammar for the users. Such tools enable the digital library to uphold academic integrity within the library industry.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the current industry trends and emerging technologies in the library industry help in boosting the library business. Such services tend to provide easier access to various information. The emergence of digital technologies also enables subscribers to access library information through their mobile phones even without traveling to the physical library. Therefore, the current industry trends and emerging technologies should be well utilized to improve the provision of library services.

References

Barton, L., 2016. Disability and society: Emerging issues and insights. Routledge.

Bryson, J., 2017. Effective library and information centre management. Routledge.

Johnson, L., Becker, S.A., Estrada, V. and Freeman, A., 2015. NMC horizon report: 2015 library edition (pp. 1-54). The New Media Consortium.

Kawalec, A., 2017. Research trends in library and information science based on Spanish scientific publication 2000 to 2010. Malaysian journal of library & information science, 18(2), pp.1-13.

Sefton-Green, J., Marsh, J., Erstad, O. and Flewitt, R., 2016. Establishing a research agenda for digital literacy practices of young children: a white paper for COST Action IS1410.