As parts of the collections are digitised, they will be used in reading rooms as surrogates by some readers. To the extent that this occurs, some factors will tend to increase demand for space (eg reading on-screen is slower, access to documents is easier) while other factors will tend to decrease demand (eg in some cases readers can search for and locate specific information much faster with digital documents than with their paper counterparts).
The Library has publicly declared an intent to digitise parts of its holdings:
"The selective conversion of parts of the collection to digital form will be a key activity" [16]
Specific plans have not yet been developed, so it is not possible to base any forecasts on predictions of how much will be digitised. However, it is worth pointing out that we can be certain that the entire collection will not be digitised in the near future, due to its sheer size. Two separate brief exercises have estimated the scale of a digitisation programme intended to encompass all holdings:
The important feature of these estimates is not the precise numbers - they are almost certainly inaccurate, as the development of accurate estimates would require a large effort. Their significance is rather that they indicate that such a prospect is entirely impractical in the predictable future, due to the amount of work involved. It follows that only carefully-chosen collections or parts of collections will be digitised.
Assuming that some materials are available in digital form, then they will be used by some readers, for some purposes. For some type of research, access to the originals will remain essential (eg studies of the paper or binding); though for other types of research digital copies are greatly preferable (eg lexicometric studies). There is no firm data available on the proportion of readers which require access to originals; the only data available for this study is estimates made by reading room managers.
This is shown in Figure 6:
| Reading Room | Estimated Proportion of Readers Requiring Access to Originals |
| Manuscript Students’ | 95% |
| Music | 50% |
| SRIS | Negligible |
Figure 6: Readers Requiring Access to Original Items
Research shows that reading text from a screen is slower than reading the same text from a paper original, typically by some 30% (results differ according to the research [17]). Another effect is that it will be easier (ie faster) to obtain digital copies rather than paper, so at the margin we may expect that readers may request more items and/or conduct more research on them. Prior experience with surrogates (notably microfilms) suggests that the availability of surrogates tends to increase demand for access to the originals, and hence for space. All of these factors will increase the demand for reading room space.
Other features of digital resources will decrease demand. Specifically, readers will not occupy reading room space while awaiting delivery of requested items; and the digital medium facilitates searching, counting, extracting, cross-referencing, and other functions related to some forms of research.
The relative magnitudes of these effects will vary according to the materials involved. Accordingly, the net effect cannot be quantified without knowledge of the materials to be digitised and further study.
Access to the Library’s resources within reading rooms introduces several conflicting effects. There is no quantitative basis for estimating any change in demand for reading room space, but given the conflicting trends, the most reasonable guess is that the effect will be roughly neutral.
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