Speaking about the future of scholarly publishing, Kate Wittenberg echoes what I’ve been saying for awhile:

The Chronicle: 6/16/2006: Beyond Google: What Next for Publishing?
Most students today arrive at college assuming that a Google search is the first choice for doing research, that MySpace is the model for creating online content and building peer communities, and — perhaps most important — that multitasking with various electronic devices, often from remote locations, is the traditional way to do class work. The implications of those changes must transform our publishing strategies.

If “digital natives” are the next audience for our scholarly resources, shouldn’t we be thinking about new ways to organize, store, and deliver our content? In fact, is content even what we should be focusing on for this next generation of users, or are the tools, functionality, and access built on top of the content what are of real value?

Hers is one of a growing number of voices suggesting the need for radical change in scholarly publishing. I really like her phrase: “Beyond Google.” It’s hard now to envision life beyond Google, but it may be better to think not about the demise of the company, but what happens as Google becomes a commodity. What will be the emerging trends, expectations, etc. that will shape the information discovery and seeking patterns of our users.

Frederick Nesta has a brief article entitled: “Google Your Library’s Mission,” in Library Journal’s June issue that suggests a few ways the Google corporate philosophy might help libraries plan for their future. Nesta pushes us to think beyond traditional collections and services. Perhaps what lies beyond Google is a different way of being libraries…

Tags: Digital Culture, Google, Libraries as Publishers, scholarly publishing