This foresight workshop will devise a strategy for digitising marine information to meet the needs of library users in the 21st Century. Designing new services of interest to the Marine research community could facilitate the information flow in blue growth.
The 40 participants will explore current facilities to make historical information available and searchable online, identify important historical literature collections to be digitised and work towards an understanding of how relevant information could be extracted and submitted to overarching initiatives. The foresight workshop will explore the potential for collaboration and pooling of resources with invited speakers from international projects and world-renown institutions such as the Biodiversity Heritage Library, EURASLIC, EMODnet Biology, WoRMS/WiRMS, Plazi and EMBRC.
The aim is to highlight where the marine knowledge component fits into the existing network of projects on knowledge management, leading to the production of a synthesis paper outlining a new forward thinking role for marine libraries in the 21st century. The paper will form the basis for creating an EMBRC information portal and allow digitisation of selected unique records. This adds value by providing new insight and access to valuable archives, records and information of real benefit to the international marine scientific research community and the wider public.
Bringing together the marine biological libraries in Europe will foster collaborative relationships leading to new long term services for the marine scientific community. It will continue libraries’ role in securing and providing long term access to information and data. With the possibility of linking new services in EMBRC, the group will have further opportunities to identify suitable H2020 funding to make the project a reality.