URN_NBN_SI_DOC-EMFDWJB5

58 Abstract Since the very birth of universities academic libraries have been one of key success factors for the universities to realize their mission. Academic environment recognized an academic library as a social and intellectual centre, as the »heart« of the university since it is located in the centre of its parent institution as the heart is in the body. The emergence of the internet and the ad- vances in information and communication technology have brought unprecedented changes to higher learning and research which reinforced the need for rethinking their future as well as their response to changes of the academic environment. The article aims to present some challenges of academic libraries in today's world and their efforts to retain the key role in the academic environment. Slovenian academic libraries may reshape their development plan and vision following the lessons learned from foreign academic libraries and their response to changes of their environment. However, their future depends on the development of educational and research process at their parent institutions and the recog- nition of academic libraries as an important factor to affect educational and research outcomes of higher education. Keywords: academic libraries, future development, digital environment, technological changes, library services 1 Uvod Temeljni namen in poslanstvo knjižnic ostajata skozi zgodovino enaka, tj. zbiranje in organiziranje informacij, zapisanih na različnih nosilcih zapisa, zagotavljanje dostopa do znanja in ohranjanje zapisov narodove duhovne ustvarjalnosti za prihodnje rodo- ve. Knjižnice predstavljajo mesta za uresničevanje pravice prebivalstva do neovirane- ga dostopa do informacij, ki jih potrebujejo za uresničevanje svojih kulturnih, izobra- ževalnih in raziskovalnih potreb, pa tudi potreb po druženju in skupnem ustvarjanju novih znanj. S pojavom interneta, razvojem svetovnega spleta ter prehajanjem izo- braževalne in znanstvenoraziskovalne dejavnosti v virtualni prostor se obseg ustvar- jenih podatkov in informacij skokovito povečujeta, spremenile pa so se tudi potrebe in pričakovanja njihovih uporabnikov. Do podatkov in informacij želijo dostopati ob kateremkoli času in od koderkoli, na hiter in preprost način, brez tehnoloških in drugih omejitev. Knjižnice, tudi visokošolske, so se tako znašle v okolju številnih sprememb in izzivov, ki terjajo od njih nove načine uresničevanja poslanstev in temeljit razmislek o njihovi vlogi v prihodnosti. Nekateri so prepričani, da se okolje, v katerem živimo, spre- minja tako hitro, da bi bilo treba poslanstvo knjižnic opredeliti na novo. Drugi menijo, da o tem ni treba razmišljati, kajti med ustvarjalci informacij in njihovimi uporabni- ki posredniki, kot so knjižnice, kmalu ne bodo več potrebni. Za odgovor bodo služile M. Ambrožič: Transformation of Academic Libraries , 57-93 Library, 56 (2012) 4