Joan M. Day

Higher education, teaching, learning and the electronic library : a review of the literature for the IMPEL2 project : monitoring organisational and cultural change

This paper updates and extends an earlier review of the literature by the IMPLEL Project (IMpact on People of Electronic Libraries) at the University of Norhthumbria at Newcastle. That project investigated the social, cultural and organisational impacts on the increasingly electronic environment in UK higher education with a focus of qualified library and information staff. The IMPEL2 Project, a JISC-funded Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) project, broadens the view of the current educational and information situation, to include academic staff and student users of electronic information, new emphases in teaching and learning along with implications for libraries, librarians and library related personnel. Much of the literature covered is recent, a high percentage having been published since 1990. It illustrates how the far-reaching cultural impacts of the current turbulent climate within higher education, along with those of rapid technological developments, involve stakeholders at all levels in the educational process

eLib's IMPEL2 Project: Organisational structures and responses to change in academic libraries

eLibs IMPEL2 Supporting Study carried out extensive fieldwork in Higher Education Library and Information Services between 1996 and 1998 in order to monitor the organisational and cultural changes associated with a rapidly changing and increasingly electronic environment. This paper uses outcomes of IMPEL2 participative workshops to suggest a range of organisational scenarios for Higher Education Institutions: Business Model, User‐Centred Model, Information and Communications Technology Model and Integrated Model. The role of Library and Information Services within these models is considered with implications for information users and service staff illustrated by findings from the study. Issues of structure and strategy are discussed, as are skills, training, role changes, impacts of resource based learning, convergence, team‐working and the management of change. IMPEL2s human‐centred approach is carried forward into the HyLiFe Project, an eLib Phase 3 hybrid library project.

Impact on People of Electronic Libraries (IMPEL) Project: its Implications for Health Sciences Librarianship

The paper outlines current developments in both the health service and higher education electronic networks in the United Kingdom. It examines issues in linking the networks together. The relevance of the IMPEL project is identified for health sciences librarianship as well as the outomes.