Data-driven library infrastructure: Towards a new information ecology

Abstract

Data usually lies hidden beneath the myriad systems which it powers; like electricity it is only visible through the things it makes possible. Yet, data has the potential to transform the services and systems that institutions rely on to deliver world-class teaching, learning and research. In this article, the opportunities of adopting what might be termed a data-driven approach to library systems and services are explored. What this approach means for libraries and how it can help transform and improve the services and support libraries provide to their users are also considered. In exploring the potential of a data-driven approach to library infrastructure and the benefits it has for libraries (as well as publishers, system vendors and third parties), it is clear a new information ecosystem begins to emerge. The library finds itself transformed, effort is redistributed and the library's services and systems become more agile and take on an entrepreneurial flair. This emerging information ecology is, arguably, the study of the future of the academic library. © Ben Showers.