The impact of e-lib: the emerging paradoxes

An earlier edition of LIRN outlined the aims and progress to date of the IMPEL Project (IMPEL1) based at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle (UNN). The study which ran from 1993 to 1995 focused on the impact of the electronic environment on qualified Library and Information Services (LIS) staff in the Higher Education (HE) sector. Successful completion of case studies in six UK university LIS for the IMPEL Project was followed by an expanded study funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) as a Supporting Study under the e-lib programme. This project, IMPEL2 : Monitoring Organisational and Cultural Change, adopts a similar qualitative case study approach, retaining at its core the human aspects of electronic library development in a rapidly changing educational and technological environment.