Libraries, Digital Information, and COVID : Practical Applications and Approaches to Challenge and Change

COVID-19 is profoundly affecting the ways in which we live, learn, plan, and develop. What does COVID-19 mean for the future of digital information use and delivery, and for more traditional forms of library provision? Libraries, Digital Information, and COVID gives immediate and long-term solutions for librarians responding to the challenge of COVID-19. The book helps library leaders prepare for a post-COVID-19 world, giving guidance on developing sustainable solutions. The need for sustainable digital access has now become acute, and while offering a physical space will remain important, current events are likely to trigger a shift toward off-site working and study, making online access to information more crucial. Libraries have already been providing access to digital information as a premium service. New forms and use of materials all serve to eliminate the need for direct contact in a physical space. Such spaces will come to be predicated on evolving systems of digital information, as critical needs are met by remote delivery of goods and services. Intensified financial pressure will also shape the future, with a reassessment of information and its commercial value. In response, there will be a massification of provision through increased cooperation and collaboration. These significant transitions are driving professionals to rethink and question their identities, values, and purpose. This book responds to these issues by examining the practicalities of running a library during and after the pandemic, answering questions such as: What do we know so far? How are institutions coping? Where are providers placing themselves on the digital/print and the remote/face-to-face continuums? This edited volume gives analysis and examples from around the globe on how libraries are managing to deliver access and services during COVID-19. This practical and thoughtful book provides a framework within which library directors and their staff can plan sustainable services and collections for an uncertain future.

• Focuses on the immediate practicalities of service provision under COVID-19
• Considers longer-term strategic responses to emerging challenges
• Identifies key concerns and problems for librarians and library leaders
• Analyzes approaches to COVID-19 planning
• Presents and examines exemplars of best practice from around the world
• Offers practical models and a useful framework for the future

David Baker has published widely in the field of Library and Information Studies, with 19 monographs and over 100 articles to his credit. He has spoken worldwide at numerous conferences and led workshops and seminars. His other key professional interest and expertise has been in the field of human resources, where he has also been active in major national projects. He has held senior positions at several institutions, including as Principal and Chief Executive of Plymouth Marjon University, and Emeritus Professor of Strategic Information Management. He has also been Deputy Chair of the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc). Until recently he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Universities of Northampton and South Wales. He is Chair of the Board of the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance. He is a leader in the field of library and information science.

Dr Lucy Ellis is Senior Associate of David Baker Consulting and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, UK. She is currently working as a consultant with a number of HE and FE institutions to transform their governance, research and scholarly activity. Along with David Baker she is Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier Major Reference Work Encyclopedia of Libraries, Librarianship and Information Science (Elseiver, 2025) and Series Editor for two Elsevier book series dealing with information structures in HE titled Digital Information Reviews and Advances in Information. Her background is as a lecturer, research scientist and project development consultant