Re-envisioning the role of academic librarians for the digital learning environment: The case of UniSA Online

Abstract

Academic librarians cannot escape the implications of the knowledge economy and the pervasion of technology which effects everything that we do. Similarly, we must be prepared to teach our students how to cope in this knowledge society and how to develop the necessary information and digital literacy skills to be productive members of society in a digital environment. This article explores the first eighteen months of our experience as digital curriculum librarians in a large project at the University of South Australia (UniSA), UniSA Online. We have taken this opportunity to critically reflect on being embedded librarians within such a strategic and unique project. We examine the key cultural, pedagogical and technological challenges we have faced in delivering resources, support and services to the project team. The solutions we have adopted to overcome these challenges within an intensive course development environment are also outlined. The importance of building good relationships both within the project team, academics and with other library staff to deliver positive outcomes is discussed. We examine the pedagogical imperatives we have followed and the technological challenges we have faced to provide an active learning experience for our students in a digital learning environment. Our role as digital curriculum librarians is still evolving, however, we can observe some emerging trends within academic librarianship and comment on them, as we believe that the imperatives of the knowledge society will only become more prevalent into the future. We conclude by outlining which professional skills we need as academic librarians to evolve our roles and be successful in the digital world.