Preparing for the future : academic libraries in the beginning of the 21st Century

• Main Author: Choy, Fatt Cheong.
• Other Authors: International Conference on Libraries : Towards a Knowledge Society (2005 : Penang, Malaysia)
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Library and information science::Libraries::Academic libraries
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90703; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/6134
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

One of the key components in any university or academic institution is its library. Since the early history of universities, particularly after the German model became well established, academic libraries were considered to be central to the mission of universities. Today, globalization, the Internet and rapid technological changes have a profound impact on the future roles of academic libraries and their centrality. This paper discusses some of the major developments that are likely to affect the future of libraries, such as the trend towards constructivist learning approaches, changes in scholarly communication, easy and greater access to bewildering variety of information sources, etc.