From here to the clouds: eResearch and the research library

Abstract

Current efforts supporting eResearch environments have focused on large scale data capture and preservation challenges. Equally significant challenges, however, are presented by new paradigms in research methods and research communications. Simultaneously IT services are moving to the cloud, driving questions centered on the role of the institution and its library in a world where individuals can obtain solutions anywhere in the cloud. As these challenges are larger than any single institution can meet, the research library is called to consider reconceiving its role along lines that depart from our past. How will these shifts impact our models for organizing, operating and staffing research libraries? The presentation will touch on this rapid evolution and suggest some approaches to reframing our mental models of the research library in the context of the university.