"Always on: libraries in a world of permanent connectivity" by Lorcan Dempsey

One subject that Dempsey brings up in his article is collection management as it pertains to libraries; now that we live in a "permanently-connected" world, the idea of collecting and storing print material is becoming less and less of a priority. After all, physical space has always been an issue with libraries (I know that my library has trouble finding room in the stacks for all those books!), and now that mass digitization initiatives are becoming more and more feasible - getting to a point where patrons can simply access anything in the library's collection via their computer or mobile device - we are looking at a major shift in what the term "library collection" even means.

This brings up the point of partnering with "outside" sources within the digital realm to collect and store these new online "personal and instituational collections"; for example, Dempsey brings up scenarios like using Flickr to manage digital images, or uploading a collection of university podcasts on iTunes. Now, unlike the usual methods of housing a physical collection (i.e. it's in the library building so therefore the library owns it!), these new methods are taking materials out of the librarians' hands - so to speak - and placing them in the "care" of third parties. Of course, the individual institutions still retain the rights to their intellectual property, but (as we've seen in the case of licensing issues brought up against database and online-journal vendors) a "virtual" collection is not as easily claimed as a physical one.

For example, if Flickr suddenly closes up shop (unlikely but not impossible) and your library did not think to save backups, then that virtual collection is gone forever ... Or, if iTunes is down for maintenance (or some other technical issue), and your patrons want to gain access to the university's collection of podcasts, then the librarians' hands are tied; unlike an in-house technical issue (the library website is down, etc.), libraries can do nothing in this situation because they have - in effect - "outsourced" their collection to a separate third party.

We can even look at social-media site in the same way ... Let us say that a public library has really put a lot of effort into its Facebook page, uploading pictures and maintaining a robust calendar of events taking place at the library and so forth; while not a "collection" in the traditional sense, status updates and the like are still information sources that libraries are sharing with their patrons.

Now, let us say that Facebook decides to take down that library's page for some unknown reason (it's been known to happen); since the library handed over the reigns of their social-media presence to an outside company (rather than keeping such information on the library website or an in-house social networking system), then they are really at the mercy of every whim or technical snafu of said company, with no true recourse. In this case, "your" page is actually Facebook's page, and - truthfully - then can do anything they want with it (including deleting it) without explanation.

This is the danger of libraries ceding control of their collections to third parties, and is something that they must consider before proceeding on that course.