Recombinant Role For Library Information Portals

Lorcan Dempsey, VP for research at the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), examines how libraries can be expected to reconfigure their digital portal architecture to support research and learning in an increasingly networked information environment. Dempsey says that at the moment the major portal issue facing libraries is developing "a web environment which: enriches learning and research by providing timely, convenient access to relevant and appropriate resources; surfaces potentially valuable resources which otherwise might be overlooked; and enables users and the library to focus on fruitful use of collections rather than on the messy mechanics of interaction."

(OCLC 2 Sep 2003)

"Such environments need to interact with other environments such as the learning management system, institutional portal frameworks, and the other 'hubs' of network presence." In Dempey's opinion, this means that the portal issue to be addressed is not the current concern with integrating library resources with each other, but bringing library services in line with the learning and research behaviors of users. Up to this point in the short history of network information systems, library portals have focused on becoming a single hub in network space, but now it is likely that they will move to an architecture that enables them to function in a recombinant role, linking users seamlessly to whatever other hubs will serve their specific information needs.

Posted by Tom on October 16, 2003