Is the Digital Economy a Threat to Libraries?

By Nnachetam Calista Chinonye

Many have argued that the digital economy is more threatening than beneficial to Libraries. I believe this to not be the case as the digital space is a tool that can prove immensely beneficial when deployed by libraries. The primary function of a library is to provide students with the essential materials needed for study and research, and the digital economy is useful in achieving just that. 

Digital Economy refers to the activities that result from billions of everyday online connections among people. It includes online educational courses, social media, e-health, streaming platforms, and many others. These activities are carried out on the internet, one of the most profound innovations ever.
One advantage of the digital economy is the convenience and ease of access to information — people can gain access to any information of their choice any time if there is an internet connection.

As useful as physical libraries are, accessing them comes with time and place constraint. Most libraries have opening hours which are not always convenient for everyone. Access to the internet creates a flexibility that physical spaces often cannot offer.

Libraries have limited resources, which of course, cannot get to everybody at the same time. With advancement in tech and internet connectivity, many educational institutions now have digital libraries to allow countless students have access to the same book, simultaneously.

During the 2020 lockdown, most countries established a ‘No-movement’ policy: ordering both businesses and academic institutions to close. Physical libraries were not exempted. During this time, scholars still had to do research and study, and the internet proved a most useful ally allowing researchers and scientists access and share resources across time zones at a time when physical movement was difficult. Since libraries were not open, they did so by making good use of their smartphones, laptops or any gadget that could be used. This alone helped libraries to share resources.
Another way the digital economy supports libraries is through Preservation and Conservation of materials. Due to repeated use of a material, degradation can occur. The digital economy provides long-term preservation as innovations help libraries to effectively preserve their collections online, thereby redefining access for researchers.

Traditional libraries, due to space constraints, have limited amount of content they can save. The existence of digital libraries has made the storage of a wide variety of content possible using eBooks, blogs, magazines, articles, and so on. They even go as far as storing resources in the cloud so users can at any time, and place, gain access to them.

Digital economy helps to save time and make research for resources easier. In a physical library, looking for materials related to a topic may be time consuming since objects are not directly linked with each other. A digital library, on the other hand, makes researching for a topic easier since objects are linked and can be navigated within the document. Traditional libraries also do not have to stress by carrying out interlibrary lending. They can easily send files online using a PDF or any other format to users’ computers. 
 
As digital interconnectedness across the world improves, the digital economy assists libraries in providing better services to users. It is not a threat to libraries as it cannot wipe out the existence of physical documents, rather it compliments efforts of libraries everywhere in providing much needed learning resources to users thus boosting students’ confidence in the face of academic challenges.