The Digital Transformation of Information, Education, and Scholarship

Digital technology has profoundly altered nearly every aspect of our lives. The little iPhone we carry in our pocket or purse connects us with those we know and love, while also connecting us to news channels, daily newspapers, music, television, movies, this afternoon's weather, and much more. We should expect that same digital technology that is now nearly ubiquitous to have similarly dramatic effects on information, education,and scholarship. This paper explores the changes in expectations that faculty and students have for gaining access to digital information, and how librarians are responding to those expectations. The online learning landscape is changing rapidly, and and institutions of higher education are responding to a system that was designed to be delivered directly to students. Although online learning systems are regularly discussed in the media, there continues to be a dearth of hard evidence about the efficacy of these sytems. Finally, the paper takes a look at the scholarly enterprise, ietsef. After a century or more of the ‘sage on stage’ teaching model and the lone scholar alone in his office or laboratory doing research, these methods have been dramatically influenced by digital technology. These changes wrought by digital technology compel libraries, faculty, and universities to consider collaborative and consortial approaches to providing services and improving the scholarly enterprise.