Bas Savenije

Libraries without resources: towards personal collections

The main function of the library of the future is to provide access to electronic sources stored elsewhere. In order to comply with the users’ needs, therefore, flexible license scenarios are necessary. Another future function of the library will be to set up and maintain a personal alerting system and to assist users in organising their own information, which should be integrated as much as possible in specific work processes of individual users. This means that the library of the future no longer provides a collection of information in the traditional sense of the term, but an access to that collection. The library’s tools, facilities, and infrastructure enable users to create their own information systems: collections consisting of links to information sources relevant for their personal use.

Utrecht electronic library: Planning an ambitious innovation

Abstract In a 1994 visit to the University of Utrecht Library, I was introduced to treasures which are the grist of classical studies— such as the Utrecht Psalter and the Nuremberg Chronicle, rich collections of manuscripts and incunabula. It is the same sort of experience one may have at the Bodleian in Oxford or the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. These irreplaceable antiquities serve to highlight the transition through which we are passing. At Utrecht they receive the care one would expect, and while they are treasured, they are part of a long tradition of providing information needed by scholars which goes back to the beginning of the 16th century in the Utrecht Library. To that extent they are taken for granted as part of a continuous accretion of information which collectively supports current scholarly activity. In a library which is at the same time digitizing 17th century masters and current scientific technical reports, there is a longer perspective on the management of information than those of us working in libraries with principally modern collections may have. What is striking, however, is that at Utrecht staff are grappling with precisely those problems we all are—how to maintain the information “legacy” of the past, build the infrastructure to support electronic information in the future, and serve current needs at the same time. The answers are not immediately obvious, but Natalia Grygierczyk presents the case for international dialog and benchmarking that may help find those answers, and the current thinking at Utrecht on the plan for a digital library—CBL, Carnegie Mellon University.

The roquade project. The library as a catalyst of change in scholarly publishing

International Conference on Scholarly Communication and Academic Presses. Florence, 22 March 2001

Utrecht University Repository: the evolution of the Igitur archive – a case‐study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline the development of the institutional repository of Utrecht University, the Igitur Archive. The Utrecht repository is unique for several reasons: it was started several years before the international repository movement began; the repository is combined with an e‐publishing service, Igitur, Utrecht Publishing and Archiving Services; and because the repository is firmly embedded in the structural tasks of the university library. This case‐study highlights the advantages and disadvantages of this particular situation.Design/methodology/approach – In order to give an outline of the evolution of the Igitur Archive, the paper uses information from policy papers and annual reports of the Utrecht University Library and Utrecht University, from the business plan of Igitur and from the Proceedings of the Dutch DARE project. The findings are sorted in four sections: the start of e‐publishing in Utrecht; a section about Igitur; a section detailing the lessons learned;...

The reenchantment of the library

Libraries have introduced a great many rules and procedures you need to familiarise yourself with, if you want to make use of the services. These rules are needed because of the manner in which libraries have solved the problems related to the explosion of information: the access to information has been rationalised in a onesided way.