A Bold Future for Research Libraries: Vision, Changes and Enablers

LIBER, the Association of Research European Libraries, is offering a bold vision for the future of research libraries in its new strategy for the period 2018-2022. It foresees that by 2022 Open Access will be predominant form of scientific publishing. It also argues that research data will be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). To meet the needs of FAIR data and Open Access, librarians will extend their digital skills into supporting open and transparent research life cycles. The research infrastructures across Europe will be participatory by facilitating the use of research outcomes by all citizens, in addition to contributions of non-academics to the digital body of knowledge. These outcomes and contributions will further be tailored and scaled to the needs of connecting better the digital content available for diverse disciplines and fields Is this future universal for all research libraries? What is the importance of Open Access and FAIR data within the research libraries’ context? What are the implications of the new forms of communicating knowledge on the skills of library professionals and what are the implications on library managers? What could library associations do to enable the change? This talk will present the main pillars of LIBER’s vision and will provide examples illustrating the transformation of research libraries. It will provide an international reference point in the weeks before the Third Forum of the Library and Information Association of Qatar (LIA-Q) under the theme “Libraries in Qatar: Working together towards the Country National Vision 2030”