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Meet the Authors Series: Libraries, Digital Information, and COVID: Practical Applications and Approaches to Challenge and Change

Some of our most critical needs are met by remote delivery of goods and services and this includes digital information. Intensified financial pressure will also shape the future, with a reassessment of information and its commercial value.  

This webinar presentation will outline the purpose of this book which is to focus on the immediate practicalities of service provision under COVID-19 and to consider longer-term planning and strategic responses to emerging challenges from around the world. 

The book is based on the following themes and a chapter from each will be highlighted as presenting exemplars of best practice. 

Immediate challenges 

  • How the Corona pandemic has influenced public libraries in Denmark, Carl Gustav Johannsen 

 Analysis and Opportunities for New Behaviours (How we learn; Supply of information; Psychological effects of change) 

  • Acceleration of digital learning and what it means for libraries, Sam Brenton and Sandra Tury
  • COVID-19 and the digital divide in higher education: a Commonwealth perspective, Lucy Shackleton and Rosanna Mann
  • Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientific production, Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo, Javier Tarango and José Refugio Romo-González
  • Library space and COVID-19: Re-thinking of place and re-designing of digital space, Evgenia Vasilakaki & Valentini Moniarou – Papakonstantinou

Trends for re-shaping society

  • Normalising’ the online/blended delivery method into a lasting cultural shift, Paul Kirkham 

 To conclude we offer practical model and a useful framework of sustainability for the future. 

Presenters

Professor David Baker has over 30 years’ experience in higher education, including as Principal and Chief Executive of Plymouth Marjon University, and as Deputy Chair of the UK’s Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc). 

He holds a Chair in Strategic Information Management from Plymouth Marjon University. His degrees include an MLS, a PhD and an MBA. He also holds fellowships from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, the Chartered Management Institute and the Royal Society of Arts. 

He is Editor-in-Chief for the Elsevier Major Reference Work Encyclopaedia of Libraries, Librarianship, and Information Science and is Chandos-Elsevier Series Editor for Digital Information Review and Advances in Information series. Recent books published include Libraries, Digital Information and COVID: Practical Applications and Approaches to Challenge and Change and Future Directions in Digital Information: Predictions, Practice and Participation. 

He has written widely in the field of library and information management with 20 monographs and over 100 articles to his credit. He has spoken at numerous conferences, led workshops and seminars and has undertaken consultancy work in most countries in the European Union, along with work in Ethiopia, Kuwait, Nigeria, South Africa and the Sudan, and has led a number of large technology-based projects in the LIS sector, both in relation to digital and hybrid library development and content creation for teaching and learning. He is Chair of the Board of Governors at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, UK. His other key professional interest and expertise has been in the field of human resources, where he has been active in major national projects. 

 

Dr Lucy Ellis is an Associate of David Baker Consulting and teaches in the College of Humanities, Exeter University. She is currently a consultant in higher education and with Professor David Baker is Editor-in-Chief for the Elsevier Major Reference Work Encyclopaedia of Libraries, Librarianship, and Information Science and Chandos-Elsevier Series Editor for Digital Information Review and Advances in Information series. Recent books published with Professor Baker include Libraries, Digital Information and COVID: Practical Applications and Approaches to Challenge and Change and Future Directions in Digital Information: Predictions, Practice and Participation. 

Her background is as a lecturer, research scientist and project development consultant. Following a PhD in Instrumental Phonetics she was a senior lecturer at Plymouth Marjon University. She is a reviewer for Information and Learning Sciences (Wiley), Journal of British Institute of Organ Studies, British Academy grants scheme, the publisher Palgrave and is a Panel Member for the South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership.