Mastering Digital Librarianship: Strategy, Networking and Discovery in Academic Libraries

Citation

Behrooz Bayat (2015), "Mastering Digital Librarianship: Strategy, Networking and Discovery in Academic Libraries", The Electronic Library, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 155-156. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-08-2014-0145

In the smart world in which we live, everybody can share everything through digital devices and digital-age services, but the question is how digital librarians, as professionals in knowledge sharing, can do their best using digital librarianship. To answer the question, countless titles have been introduced; however, the book Mastering Digital Librarianship: Strategy, Networking and Discovery in Academic Libraries seems different in that it is a research-based collection by expert professional academic librarians. The book has been compiled to address the questions of what is current digital librarianship and how it would be possible to change the traditional roles of digital librarians.

The book is divided into three thematic strands: marketing and communication, support for academic practice and resource delivery, with three relevant essays under each. Chapter 1 provides an overview of digital marketing and outreach in the Library and Information Science (LIS) context, looking, in particular, at the experiences of academic libraries. Chapter 2 takes up the history of virtual or digital reference services, social media and the mechanisms used for the evaluation of such tools. Chapter 3 describes how an academic library has sought to redirect attention to the user through strategy and service planning. Chapter 4 demonstrates the ways in which the open movement has impacted librarians’ roles in a learning and teaching context. Chapter 5 provides the context for examining the role of the library as part of institutional infrastructure and considers how academic librarians might support early career researchers. Chapter 6 describes the Digital Tattoo Project and the emphasis it puts on helping learners to make informed choices and extend their digital capabilities around online practices, safety and identity. Chapter 7 considers the role of strategy in the digital environment, using the development and implementation of a mobile strategy for mobilizing libraries. Chapter 8 examines how institutions are now exploiting their activity data to enhance discoverability and enable a wider use of resources by increasing the visibility of and recommending library resources that users might not have easy access to. Finally, chapter 9 illustrates some of the benefits and challenges of engaging in international activities, particularly in a digital environment. The book has also an index and useful guiding figures to help librarians make better decisions in practice.

This is a good collection based on the knowledge and experience of digital librarians from universities around the world that may help readers working within a rich digital environment. The book can be considered as a comprehensive roadmap for rookies and implementers in digital librarianship in their path to professionalism. As a digital library professional, I believe that the book must be on the shelf of all librarians and students of LIS all around the world.