Introduction

This more speculative and reflective chapter explores issues and key challenges for the future. We should not fix our gaze only on what is to come, but nor should we exist only in the present nor again nostalgically yearn for the past. By developing some sense of what may happen in the future, and what we would like that future to be, we can shape both the present and our direction in the years to come.

At the time of writing this chapter, the Research Information Network and the Consortium of Research Libraries (CURL) were conducting a survey designed to provide a clearer understanding of UK researchers’ current use of library services and their thoughts on the future of research libraries. In parallel, they developed a similar survey to ascertain the views of library and information professionals and the differences between those two groups. Unfortunately, we do not have the benefits of these research findings for our discussion of key issues for the future, so the contents of this chapter are based principally on themes already discussed within the literature, interviews with researchers and our own opinions.

Some theories of strategic management suggest that the key to effective planning is for organizations to draw together their internal resources to meet the challenges of the external environment. Through maximizing internal capabilities to meet the challenges of the external environment, such organizations thrive. This is the rationale behind the structuring of this chapter. We will consider three key areas where the research environment is changing:

• ■ the research information environment (from e-science to physical spaces)

• ■ competition and collaboration in universities

• ■ future trends in scholarly communication.

This discussion will then move on to our analysis of what the research library of the near future should comprise, and therefore what the key capabilities should be. This will include the need to develop a distinctive identity within our institutions, what skills we need, who among our staff should work with the researchers and some key issues ranging from Library 2.0 to research spaces.

We need always to be conscious of our past when thinking about the present and the future.