From the Editors: Resource Centers for Learning and Research (RCLR), and strategic librarian’s services for an Europe based on knowledge

Abstract

The development processes of the European Space for Higher Education (ESHE) and the European Research Area (ERA) are two big challenges that European Union must face, if it has to evolve from an industry-based society to a knowledge-based
one. The goals fixed by ESHE and ESR fully affect the main activities of higher education: learning, teaching and research. Being a supporting facility for these activities, university libraries are affected by these processes too. To face that challenge, the Spanish university libraries network (REBIUN) advocates a new model of university library, conceived as an active and essential part of a resource center for learning and research (RCLR). In the library service of the RCLR can be found the traditional services of a library, together with others developed recently
and of strategic importance for the academic community. The most important of these are: access to quality scientific information, support for the creation of teaching and research materials and the development of repositories to increase the visibility of the knowledge generated in the institution. These services are tailored to the needs of the academic community and usually are designed and developed by a new professional profile: the subject librarian.