There seems to be a plethora of events on the future of libraries and education as a result of Covid-19 so I was tempted into attending two webinars based on panel discussions one on the Future of Education on 2 February sponsored by Statista looking at academic libraries (with panelists from Old Dominion University, the University Arkansas the University of Miami) in the United States of America (USA) and the Aspen Institute Future of Libraries on 26 February looking at public libraries.
What was predictable from both was the fact that all libraries had risen to the challenge of the unexpected in providing services for their customers/users during the Covid-19 pandemic. Universities in the USA similar to those in the UK had already been providing online courses and for both more time was now spent in delivering these online and the thirst for students to return to face-to-face last autumn was also the same. Public libraries in the UK established click and collect services, offered help with digital skills support by phone and also acted as meet and greeters at vaccination centres.
Post Covid-19 the Aspen panel foresees libraries being key to equipping the unemployed with job seeking skills and digital skills, helping children with literacy, getting new businesses off the ground (with the British Library having a key role with their regional business centres network), providing health, welfare and wellbeing information and support and supporting local arts organisations recover from the lockdowns. The panel discussed establishing the public library as a centre for bereavement and the librarians playing a key role in the dispersal of fake news and misinformation by equipping library users with the skills to recognise it.
The Future Education panel sees forthcoming challenges like:
- the next inflow of students and how ready they will be for Higher Education given their schooling/education experiences during the pandemic.
- thinking and working in a interdisciplinary way given the answers post-pandemic demand this type of response and networking.
What I found particularly interesting in this discussion was that Covid-19 teaching delivery had now placed the onus on the student to manage the content of their learning and so time online was about interaction together.
You might be interested to the Aspen Institute are running a number of online webinars on the future. You can sign up for these on their Online Events page. Future ones include Cinema and Tourism. Past ones include Justice and Journalism which you can listen to these on the Podcasts page alongside the Future of Libraries.
University of Sunderland Library and Study Skills Professional Sharing 