International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL) 2007 Meeting

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a report of the 2007 annual meeting of the International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL) held at the KTH, Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.Design/methodology/approachProvides a brief review of the main themes of the conference: Public access; New tools and services, Metrics; and Economics, Bridging the gap.FindingsScientific publishing directions are changing the environmental landscapes of science and academic research libraries as well as in how scientists are conducting their work in all disciplines and communicating and collaborating with each other. The increasingly more complex and global environments indicate that access to the scientific literature and information sharing are paramount interests of scientists, national governments, the scientific community at‐large, professional societies and commercial publishing interests.Originality/valueLibraries are evolving into far more than repositories of bound volumes as eScience and eCollections mature. The changing role of librarians and of the physical library to handle and treat much more than books and journals is demonstrated by many addresses at this conference.