HELibTech Viewpoints offer thought pieces on issues pertinent to the use of technology within Higher Education libraries. These are not intended to be authoritative sources of information or academic papers. Rather these opinion pieces are there to encourage debate and discussion from within and across the community - both librarians / information professionals and suppliers.
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Librarians in the AI Age: Established Skills, New Technologies
Published September 2025
In the third of our HELibTech Viewpoints, Matthew Weldon, Library Patron Consultant at Technology from Sage, reflects on the findings of their latest Librarian Futures report which surveyed over 300 librarians and 1000 students on their views of AI. Matthew argues that librarians have a key role to play in educating students about acceptable use of AI in their academic studies but many do not currently feel confident in doing so. By building their skills in this area there is an opportunity for academic librarians to be the trusted go to resource for students on AI.
Beyond the British Library: How Crisis Reshaped UK Resource Sharing
Published August 2025
In the second of our HELibTech Viewpoints Kip Darling from Birmingham City University and Helen Hall from the University of Liverpool reflect on the transformation of resource sharing and interlending in the UK post-Covid. Kip and Helen take us through the rapid expansion of RapidILL, commercial document delivery solutions, the transformation of the British Library following the cyber attack and the growth of the WHELF+ consortium.
Open library platforms - a pragmatic approach. Can a proprietary library system/platform be more open that an open source one?
Published March 2025
In the first of our HELibTech Viewpoints, library technology consultant Ken Chad argues that when it comes to choices about library systems, notions about open source versus proprietary software are outdated and unhelpful. Libraries increasingly deploy cloud-based Library Services Platforms (LSPs)s, which are a mix of open source and proprietary elements. Therefore the key considerations for pragmatic librarians will be sustainability and development, interoperability and community.