Libraries In The Digital Age

Before the digital age, if you wanted to use the resources of a library, you had to go to a building somewhere.  Now, in the age of digital communications and the internet, extensive library resources are available to library patrons anywhere they can get internet access.  In fact, not only can library resources be accessed online, but entire university degree programs have been offered strictly on the internet.  On the webpage, “Guide to Online Schools,” (https://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/online-schools), in 2018 there are 593 online university programs, and every single one of them would be impossible without access to a robust digital library.

As an example of the kinds of resources that are available in university libraries online, I interviewed my parent about her library at Grand Canyon University, where she completed her MBA program a few years ago.  She said that all her text books were offered on-line and she was able to access books, periodicals, and research journals through the university’s online library.  In addition, she now has free access, as an alumnus, to alumni databases, such as Academic Search, Business Book Summaries, 1300 full-text business magazines and journals, and 650 peer-reviewed journals on business topics.  There are also 3,000 journals in nursing and allied health topics through CINAHL, 650 international peer-reviewed titles through Sage Premier; SAGE research Methods offers 100,000 pages of book, journal and reference content; and there are research methods cases also available on SAGE.  Other databases that are freely available to alumni are BioMed Central, DOAJ, ERIC (Government site), GreenFILE (with abstracts for more than 612,000 records), LexisWeb (the free legal search engine), and PubMed (with more than 20 million citations for biomedical literature.

My parent went to school for her bachelor’s degree before the digital age.  She had to live on campus and walk to the library to access its resources.  She had to take notes on 3x5 cards and make photocopies in order to do research.  Now, she has been able to study at home, Starbucks, or even in the quiet of a library, all because libraries have entered the digital age and their resources are available online nearly as much as they are by visiting a library building.