Digital-first approaches and the library brand in a post-pandemic world

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the move toward an Education 4.0 vision where learning, teaching, and research are primarily delivered online, fully exploiting the potential of the latest digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain. In this chapter, it is argued that while the library provides core essential services that support this movement, the library brand is not visible and therefore may not be seen as relevant today to end users. By looking back at some of the core affordances of information technologies and changing social and economic structures through the ages up to the present time, it is demonstrated that the library function is now more important than ever. Many of the structures we have in place are still largely those created to support the printing press. The library is uniquely positioned to provide many of the supporting structures that are critical to the success of more hybrid models of teaching, learning, and research online. © 2021 David Baker and Lucy Ellis Published by Elsevier Ltd.