Rhetoric of Digitalization: the Reform of Romanian Academic Libraries between Reality and Weak Utopianism
Rhetoric of Digitalization: the Reform of Romanian Academic Libraries between Reality and Weak Utopianism

Summary/Abstract: Since 1989, the issue of adapting to the new mode of apparition, circulation and consumption of information has become of major interest for librarian's theoretical concerns. Under different appearances, from the programmatic document to the enthusiastic description of software solutions, passing through various shapes of vague or semi-articulate imperative, the digitalization of the libraries has progressively imposed itself as a central theme, widely debated in publications form within the field or on the colloquies' or specialized conferences' agenda. Our intervention aims to investigate in depth this discursive universe, following two main aspects. Firstly, we will try to determine to what extent this discourse is mirroring the general pattern of adapting to the new technological requirements, as it is shown in the western libraries' examples of success and good practices. Secondly, we aim to analyze if and in what way the digitalization process determines changes at other levels, e.g. to what extent the digitalization mantra determines a change in the librarian profession or in the organizational environment. Our approach will proceed in three successive steps. Firstly, following the experience of libraries of the same profile from Europe and the United States of America, we will try to identify a pattern of transition from the traditional to the digitalized library. The second step is dedicated to the analysis of the Romanian serial publications in library science, employing both qualitative (discourse analysis) and quantitative (term frequency analysis) methods in order to determine the semantic structure of the digitization phenomenon. Finally, we will try to establish a connection between theory and reality, which means identifying whether the discourses' normative nature towards digitalization has become or not a common practice in the university libraries.

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