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Challenges for future libraries
Dr Cynthia C. S. Liem MMus
Multimedia Computing Group, dpt. Intelligent Systems Faculty of EEMCS
Delft University of Technology
How my interest in
libraries and archives
started
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Pianist looking for inspiration…
foto: Marco Borggreve
The music of Frédéric Chopin
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How did music sound in Chopin’s time?
Revue Musicale, 1832 Eigeldinger, 1987
How did music sound in Chopin’s time?
Caswell, 1975
after Cinti-Damoreau (1801-1863)
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How did music sound in Chopin’s time?
Lablache, 1840
Many of these resources are publicly
and digitally accessible
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...but ‘finds you are unlikely to find’
… … … … …
• We may not index the right information
• Few people know of the resources’ existence
• Historical data ≠ contemporary data
• Engagement will not come naturally
…but ‘finds you are unlikely to find’
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The library connection
Forgotten resources, unexpected entrances
• 400 years of digitized newspapers
(delpher.nl):
> 12 billion pages
• All music ever released in The Netherlands:
> 500,000 CDs delpher.nl/nl/kranten
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‘New releases’
[Liem, 2018]Amsterdamse courant, 11 maart 1815
Concert programs
Java-bode, 18 augustus 1866
[Liem, 2018]
Dagblad van Zuidholland en ’s Gravenhage, 18 juli 1869
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Living musicians
Algemeen Handelsblad, 5 september 1900
Le Tribut de Zamora
[Liem, 2018]
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Le Tribut de Zamora
[Liem, 2018]
• KB Labs n-gram viewer
Trends over time
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Le Tribut de Zamora
Haagsche Courant, September 25, 1883
[Liem, 2018]
• KB Labs n-gram viewer
Trends over time
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Challenges
[Liem, 2018]Amsterdamse courant, 11 maart 1815
Connecting students
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Educational opportunities
Towards the future
libraries lab
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The role of the (public) library
• Seemed to diminish…until ‘Wet stelsel openbare bibliotheekvoorzieningen’ law in 2015
• Emphasis on societal roles
• One network in three layers (national, province, local)
• National Library of The Netherlands as overall coordinator
– Also responsible for national digital library
The role of the (public) library
Offer access to knowledge and
Offer
opportunities for development &
education
Stimulate reading &
introduce literature
Organize encounters &
debate
Introduce arts
& culture
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Knowledge agenda
• Role in public space
– How is the public role of the library changing, influenced by social developments and digitization?
– dialogue stimulation, physical requirements
https://www.bibliotheeknetwerk.nl/onderzoek/
bibliotheek-voor-de-toekomst
Knowledge agenda
• Information role in a digital society
– What are the consequences of digitization and datafication of society for the library’s information role?
– pluriformity, platformization
https://www.bibliotheeknetwerk.nl/onderzoek/
bibliotheek-voor-de-toekomst
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Knowledge agenda
• Open centre for learning and development
– How do the role and positioning of libraries in the educational domain change, and how can libraries contribute to personal development and meaning-finding?
– creativity, makerspaces, thinking towards wicked problems
https://www.bibliotheeknetwerk.nl/onderzoek/
bibliotheek-voor-de-toekomst
Sustainable collaboration
with technologists?
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Future Libraries Lab
• Delft Design Lab, Faculties of Industrial Design Engineering and Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, & Computer
Science
• https://delftdesignlabs.org/future-libraries-lab
• Apply for project funding to do collaborative research
• Student projects (for designers & computer scientists)
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Main themes
• Knowledge Access and Discovery: How can future libraries facilitate more serendipitous and adventurous exploration of physical and digital collections?
• Libraries for Individuals and Communities: How can future libraries better serve the needs of their users, and of society at large?
• Diversity and Inclusion in Future Libraries: How can future libraries support and facilitate a just and inclusive society?
Pluriform and inclusive
library collections
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• National Science Agenda call, Oct 2020 – Sep 2021
• ‘Pluriformity’, ‘polyvocality’, ‘bias’…how to operationalize this in technical frameworks?
• Qualitative: workshops with stakeholders
• Quantitative: first large-scale analysis into loan patterns across the country
• Inclusive: expo in local libraries as discussion starter
Recommender requirements for pluriform
perspectives in local public libraries
Experience so far
• Workshops are very much needed
– Diversity and inclusion initially perceived as ‘too grand challenges’
– Policy tends not to be set by those ‘at the desks’
– Communication to & involvement needed of these parties – Better understanding of ‘unseen’ users needed
Gosford Library circulation desk, December 1951
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Experience so far
• Quantitative perspective: on its way, but tricky
– Who owns the transaction data in the warehouse?
– What is an acceptable level of anonymization?
Finally…some (personal)
thoughts about academic
libraries
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From publish/consume to read/write digital libraries
• Music collections are not static objects; they are interacted with.
• These interactions are of scholarly value.
• User-controlled personal online datastores (Solid pods)
• Decentralized file storage
• Publication and aggregation into digital library collections
[Weigl et al. 2020] https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3424911.3425519
Open access and accessible science
• I see some great efforts happening.
• Strongly championed by the next generations of researchers (e.g. PhDs), ‘established’ parties still somewhat hesitant.
• Taverne pilot: https://www.openaccess.nl/en/in-the- netherlands/you-share-we-take-care
• Recognition & Rewards:
https://vsnu.nl/recognitionandrewards/recognition-and- rewards/index.html
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At my own institute
• TU Delft Strategic Plan Open Science 2020-2024
• The Evolving Scholar: https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/thes
• Open Science community: https://osc-delft.github.io/
• Again, mostly carried by young researchers, sometimes
‘underground’. Encourage tenured staff to visibly champion.