Management of library and archive in digital era

MANAGEMENT OF LIBRARY AND
ARCHIVE IN DIGITAL ERA:
New Skills for Information Professionals

Being a paper presented at

RFK-Network Quarterly Training of
RIMA (Records & Information Management Awareness)
Foundation
-Promoting the awareness for proper management and security of
records and information...

By

Ayodele Alonge
Librarian, KPMG Professional Services,
Victoria Island, Lagos

Introduction
 The work of librarians, archivists, and records
managers is changing at a fundamental level.

 The very materials with which these professions
work are undergoing a drastic transformation.

 Information professionals have handled a
combination of physical documents composed of
 text formed with ink on paper,
 photographs made of silver or dye on papers and
plastics,
 or other familiar formats.

Machine-readable Materials:
 audio recordings (records, wire recordings, tapes,
and compact discs)
 moving images (film, videotape, and DVDs),

Peripheral
• these formats were a small portion of the collections
and often considered a specialty. Many information
professionals put these odd materials in a separate
box at the end of the collection, treating them as
peripheral to the “real” records.
• The approach of concentrating on traditional formats
and isolating the non-textual ones as supplementary
is no longer valid.

The Genesis Digital Era .

 The development of ENIAC (Electronic
Numerical Integrator And Computer) in the
1940s was a influential moment.
 The introduction of the personal computer in the
1980s made computing accessible to many
people.
 The web, made public in 1991, has made digital
information apparently ubiquitous (everywhere)

 For any Information professional to stand out, he
must be well equipped with new skills: Information
Communication Technology (ICT) related skills.

MANAGING ELECTRONIC
RECORDS
 The Internet,
especially the web, and the diminishing costs of
technology has made it possible to digitize collections of
“born-analog” materials.

 “BORN-DIGITAL Records professionals are now working
with “born-digital” materials, records and publications that
may never be printed or cannot be represented in print.

 ICT: as technology has become more all-encompassing,
so have the opportunities to continue improving how
information professionals work.

Function of Information Professionals
in Non Digital and Digital Era
 What information professionals do in the digital era
remains the same. They must still work with
 record creators and
 publishers to build the collection;
 manage the organization of the materials,
 their preparation for use, and
 their preservation; and
 they must work with the public and other users to
provide access to the collections.

None of that changes in the digital era.

 However, How information professionals do their jobs changes in
digital era.
 Many techniques used for paper records will not apply to digital
works.
 Boxes make sense for transferring paper records organized in
folders,
 but file transfer programs are more appropriate for digital records.
 Paper records can be stored on shelves in a room of stacks, but
 Digital files will be kept on servers.

 Face-to-face reference service in secure reading rooms may
change to online assistance for patrons accessing collections
from around the world.

 Every activity in the physical world has a parallel in the virtual
environment.

CHALLENGES

 Despite the fact that most information professionals
now recognize the importance f working with digital
materials, many are unsure
 what to do;
 how to it and
 lack required skills to do it.

 The absence of rigorous standards and best practices
for electronic records reflects the diverse missions of
library and archival organizations and the use of
proprietary technologies by most information creators.

 Not knowing what they need to know, and

 The knowledge and skill sets required by information
professionals depend a great deal upon the availability
of other technical expertise in the organization and
willingness to collaborate across professions on their
work.

 Do information professionals need to be able to write
programs, design databases, or administer networks?
Do they need to know HTML or XML, or any of a host
of related acronyms (CSS, XSLT, and DTD to name a
few)?

Skills Required of Information
Professionals in Electronic
Environment
 Closer look at the existing skills of Information
professionals reveals that for facing the
challenges of today and tomorrow, they not only
need to acquire wider range of skills but also
need to keep themselves up-to-date.

 In this electronic/digital age for Information
professionals: Librarians, Archivist, Record
managers to excel and remain relevant, they
must have
 Generic Skills;
 Managerial Skills
 Professional Skills

Generic skills

 Communication skill
 Flexibility
 Adaptability
 Assertiveness
 Self-confidence
 Creativity
 Innovation
 Analytical skills
 Problem solving

…Generic skills
 Decision making
 Service attitude
 Customer relationship
 Improving one’s learning and experience
 Presentation skills
 Stress management
 Time management
 Interpersonal Group skills
 Working with difficult People

Managerial skills

 Local and global thinking
 Planning and organizational skills
 Finance management skills
 Fund raising
 Skillful use of financial resources
 Accounting and auditing skills
 Managing change
 Team building

…Managerial skills
 Decision making
 Leadership
 Negotiation skills
 Consumer management skills
 User need analysis
 Information seekingBehavior analysis
 Project management
 People management
 Stress management
 Time management
 Resource management

Professional skills

 Information technology skills
 Hardware/ software and networking Skills
 MS-Office suite
 Presentation software’s e.g. power point etc.
 Library automation
 Database creation
 Internet e.g. E- Mail management, Intricacies of internet
 search tools
 Intranet skill
 Scanning techniques
 Networking skills
 On-line searchengines
 On-line databases search
 Desktop publishing
 Content development

Professional skills
 Digitization
 Web based services
 Virtual learning
 Information literacy
 Technical professional skills
 Information resource management
 E- serial management
 Metadata standards e.g. Dublin core,
 MARC, TEI2, XML etc.
 Standards e.g. Z39.504
 System development
 Knowledge management5
 Traditional skills


Conclusion
 It has become imperative to have generic skills in
addition to acquisition of traditional and ICT
competence, which must be continuously
updated so as to meet the need of changing
service
 Managing and working, both in a modern library
and information centers has become a highly
specialized job, which requires proactive attitude
towards change and continuous reinvention of the
competence among professionals

Profile of
Ayodele John ALONGE

Management of library and archive in digital era

Profile of Ayodele John ALONGE
 Ayo Alonge hails from Orokere-Amuro in Mopamuro LGA,
Kogi State, Nigeria.
 He holds a Bachelor Degree in Library Archive and
Information Studies (B.LIS) and Masters in Publishing and
Copyright Studies (MPCS) from the Department of Library
Archive and Information Studies, University of Ibadan. He
is a Doctoral student in the University of Ibadan; working
on Social media and Media Literacy.
 He is a member of Nigerian Library Association (NLA);
Public Relation Officer (PRO) of Lagos state chapter; and
an Associate of Chartered Institute of Library and
Information Professionals (CILIP), United Kingdom.
 His research interests are: Information and Media Literacy
(IML), Electronic Publishing, Open Access, Social-
networking Librarianship.

 He is the winner of Dr. James O. Daniel Award for the most Innovative
Library–Based. ICT Project of the Year 2009 for his explore on
application Social Networking in Librarianship.
 He teaches “Information Science” and “Book Publishing” on part-time in
Library School, University of Ibadan.
 He is a co-moderator of Nigerian Library Association online Forum since
2009: NLA online Forum http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nla-online-
forum/ (1,275 members)
 He works as a Librarian with KPMG Professional Services, Nigerian
(member firm of KPMG International) since 2008. He lives in Lagos with
his wife and two children

CONTACT:
Tel: 234-8023594427 ,
BB Pin: 26E59F80
Twitter: @optimisticBooks|| Facebook: Ayo Alonge
ayoalonge@gmail.com
http://optimisticinfo.blogspot.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ayoalonge
http://ibadan.academia.edu/AyodeleAlonge

Management of library and archive in digital era

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