Libraries, Digital Information, and COVID Practical Applications and Approaches to Challenge and Change

".different sectors responded to the challenges of COVID; their views are presented in Chapters 1 and 31. These two chapters also report the results of a Delphi exercise involving 23 panellists from the Asia-Pacific region. The 11 questions they answered (Appendix A) covered the main themes of the book. Thus the 31 chapters give a multinational perspective on the constraints and challenges of COVID responses. Chapters 2 to 30 consist of case studies and thought pieces presented in three parts: immediate challenges of the pandemic; analysis and opportunities for new behaviours; and re-shaping society and the future. These chapters are a rich resource of information and for reflection. The detailed Contents list is helpful to the reader. this is a valuable collection of essays which documents how our profession responded to the pandemic, analyses what was learned, and considers change and future opportunities. This book is recommended for readers interested in crisis management and who wish to investigate what we learned from the pandemic and how it might affect our future practices and services.” --Sherrey Quin, Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association

David Baker has published widely in the field of Library and Information Studies, with 19 monographs and over 100 articles to his credit. He has spoken worldwide at numerous conferences and led workshops and seminars. His other key professional interest and expertise has been in the field of human resources, where he has also been active in major national projects. He has held senior positions at several institutions, including as Principal and Chief Executive of Plymouth Marjon University, and Emeritus Professor of Strategic Information Management. He has also been Deputy Chair of the Joint Information Systems Committee (Jisc). Until recently he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Universities of Northampton and South Wales. He is Chair of the Board of the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance. He is a leader in the field of library and information science.

Dr Lucy Ellis is Senior Associate of David Baker Consulting and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, UK. She is currently working as a consultant with a number of HE and FE institutions to transform their governance, research and scholarly activity. Along with David Baker she is Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier Major Reference Work Encyclopedia of Libraries, Librarianship and Information Science (Elseiver, 2025) and Series Editor for two Elsevier book series dealing with information structures in HE titled Digital Information Reviews and Advances in Information. Her background is as a lecturer, research scientist and project development consultant