ICT and institutional change at the British Library

Author: Harris, Martin

Source: Information, Communication and Society, Volume 8, Number 2, June 2005 , pp. 217-233(17)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

The new information and communications technologies (ICTs) have stimulated a wide-ranging debate on the future of learning institutions in the age of the ‘network society'. Recent academic commentary has tended to equate globalized information networks with commodification, the delocalization of learning, and threats to the public service traditions of higher education. This paper investigates the extensive programme of digitisation now under way at the British Library (BL), one of the world's largest knowledge providers and a key player in the UK research libraries network. The findings presented in the paper do not reflect the belief that the spread of global information networks will undermine the public service remit of large knowledge providers such as the BL – but the evidence does show that these providers are becoming more connected to other players in the digital environment, with inherently complex, and potentially far-reaching implications for the production of knowledge in the emergent ‘network society'.

Keywords: ICTs; learning institutions; knowledge infrastructures; electronic legal deposit digital preservation

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691180500146342

Affiliations: 1: Department of Accounting, Finance and Management, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK

Publication date: 2005-06-01

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