The field of library intelligence has seen significant attention in academic circles, with various perspectives offered on its future trajectory. However, there remains a dearth of research on the crucial role of intelligent librarians as a defining component of library intelligence, which is emerging as a novel profession. The advent of metaverse technology has not only sparked new opportunities for library intelligence, but also amplified the demands for the professional capabilities of intelligent librarians. This chapter endeavors to provide a comprehensive examination of the evolution, applications, and benefits of metaverse technology within the library context and delves into the concept of intelligent librarians in relation to metaverse, as well as identifying the necessary skills and training pathways for this emerging profession. Furthermore, this chapter highlights the importance of collaboration between library professionals, technology experts, and other stakeholders in the development and implementation of library intelligence and metaverse technology.
TopIntroduction
At the beginning of the 21st century, university libraries proposed the concept of intelligent libraries, and initial practical experiments were carried out worldwide. Since then, with the development of smart cities and social informatization, countries have gradually carried out theoretical research and practical exploration of intelligent library construction (Awasthi, Ahuja, & Sharma, 2022). Since 2019, academic terms related to library development transformation and intelligent library construction have been selected as the top ten academic hotspots in the fiction archives for three consecutive years (Asemi, Ko, & Nowkarizi, 2021; Kwanya, Stilwell, & Underwood, 2012). In March 2021, the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and Vision 2035 first proposed to develop intelligent libraries and provide intelligent and consmartlic services (Sanji, Behzadi, & Gomroki, 2022). Therefore, some scholars have called 2021 the year of intelligent libraries (Harisanty, Anna, Putri, Firdaus, & Noor Azizi, 2022). Over the years, librarianship researchers have given in-depth consideration to the key issues surrounding the growth of intelligence. An overview of the existing studies has different focuses, but it is generally agr. Still, intelligent librarians are the driving force of library development and the central element of intelligent libraries (Duncan, 2021).
The year 2021 is also known as the year of the metaverse. In March 2021, the first metaverse share, Roblox, was listed on the New York Stock Exch. After that, the metaverse concept quickly became the focus of public attention (Noh, 2022), and librarianship’s related fields began to study service transformation and technology applications in the metaverse era (Njoku, Nwakanma, Amaizu, & Kim, 2022). As an emerging concept, metaverse was built and formed by technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, cloud computing, blockchain, 5G, and digital twin (Kesselman & Esquivel, 2022); it is a comprehensive application scenario formed by a new generation of information technology through different permutations and combinations, ultimately pointing to a virtual platform highly correlated and interoperable with reality (Tait & Pierson, 2022).
The Purpose of This Chapter
This chapter explores the new concept, needs, and cultivation paths of the new profession of intelligent librarians, who are the core of library intelligence and perform the duties of reference librarians and subject librarians. Furthermore, it injects new power into the cultural theory research of intelligent libraries.
Background
The metaverse is an emerging scientific concept, and no clear definition can clearly explain what the metaverse means. The current mainstream definition considers metaverse as a collection of virtual space-time, consisting of a series of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), fused reality (MR), extended reality (XR), and the Internet. Through AR, VR, MR, XR, 5G, artificial intelligence, and wearable hardware facilities, people can break dimensional walls and create new universes and civilizations in the metaverse. The current public perception of the metaverse is to use various existing technological means to interconnect and create a new living space with a high degree of interoperability between reality and virtual and to establish a sound social system. Strictly speaking, the metaverse is an artificial interactive space beyond the universe, which integrates XR, 3D, 5G, artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, cloud computing, digital twin, and other technologies to fuse reality with reality and integrate all resources platforms. The Internet 3.0 era belongs to the age of the metaverse, where users can be in the space they need anytime and anywhere and feel the interaction between reality and the virtual.