Today is my last day in the University of Bath. In the morning, I met with Claire Tylee, Bibliographic Services Librarian, who explained to me the structure of its Service (Acquisitions -books and e-books-, Cataloguing, and Copy & Print). One of the data that called my attention was that over 35% of purchased books are e-books. This is a percentage much higher than in Spain. Although here they have the same problem that us with the electronic format: limit of users and downloads, different formats, several models of access depending on the publishers, etc. But the trend is clear: the e-books are the future like the ejournals are the present. By one hand, we have to encourage our faculty and students to use books in electronic format, on the other hand, the Library have the challenge to manage the e-books effectively.
During the rest of the day, I have walked down the Campus, taken some photos, and I gathered data and figures about the Library. To sum up, I have enjoyed a very productive week in Bath. I have met a lot of colleagues that look after the Library tasks and management. And I have had the opportunity to compare two models of Academic Library which fit into two many different models of Universities.
I would like to keep in touch with the Library of University of Bath, and doing of this experience the beginning of a future collaboration.
Have a nice weekend!
Biblioteca 2.0 y más allá... 