Jisc is working with academic libraries in higher education to develop a library centric view on its digital transformation framework. Here Peter Findlay, Subject Matter Expert Digital Scholarship (Content & Discovery), Jisc, looks at why a library-specific focus for digital transformation is needed, and what comes next.

MANY organisations are undergoing dramatic change in their digital working.Taking control of the processes which drive these changes has become known as digital transformation. EDUCAUSE defines digital transformation (DT) as “a series of deep and coordinated culture, workforce and technology shifts that enable new educational and operating models and transform an institution’s operations, strategic directions, and value proposition.”

We have been building on this definition, specifically in the context of higher education (HE) institutional digital change through our work with partner institutions by co-designing the approach to DT.

Why libraries?

In 2023 Jisc published its Framework for digital transformation (DT) in higher education. More recently we have brought 45 organisations, including CILIP, together to co-design a library view, or lens, on our framework.

We wanted to address the role of libraries in DT because, when we conducted a survey, with members of the group, we found that only seven libraries (30 per cent of 24 respondents) felt the library was sufficiently involved in institution-wide digital transformation activities whilst libraries tend to be active in many functions of the institution.

University libraries have already undergone huge changes in technology over the last 40 years or more and in many instances were early adopters of digital technologies because they had to be.

The ever-growing digital information market, where hard copy books form only a small part of the publisher offer and in which digital products have come to dominate during the early part of the 21st century, has driven this change. We know that libraries have been the purchasers of databases, finding aids and electronic catalogue records, all of which are essential to running a library.

Books too are now often electronic, and journals are entirely, making procurement systems completely digital. Libraries also often lead on staff development and students’ digital capabilities work. This all means that libraries play, or can play, a pivotal role in digital transformation, but their contribution is not always recognised, understood or solicited within their institution.

The Digital Transformation Library Lens seeks to develop specific insights into library digital development approaches and relate these to the original framework. We want to see how these insights can be relevant to entire organisational change but before focusing on libraries, it is useful to look at the original framework as it has all the core components to support digital change.

The DT framework

The framework is a digitally focused change support mechanism and relates to other global business change methodologies, however it maps directly to HE business processes and activities.

Successful digital transformation requires effective digital leadership, appropriate investment, robust secure infrastructure, stakeholder engagement, and digitally capable staff and students. To ensure comprehensive coverage of these categories of activity the framework is broken down into six elements:

Download the 2023 Jisc publication Framework for digital transformation (DT) in higher education here.

• Organisational digital culture;
• knowledge creation and innovation;
• Knowledge development;
• knowledge management and use;
• knowledge exchange and partnerships;
• digital physical infrastructure.

Each element is then broken down further. For example, the organisational digital culture element is made up of:

• Digital culture and mindset;
• organisational identity;
• organisational wellbeing;
• organisational change.

Essential to making digital transformation work across an organisation is the establishment of a shared language around digital change, fostering data-driven decision-making and cultivating dynamic organisational cultures where individuals are equipped with the skills and enthusiasm to embrace digital evolution.

It is important to note that some aspects of, and critical success factors for, digital transformation cut across the whole framework. These include leadership, strategic vision, appropriate investment, equity, diversity and inclusion, sustainability, stakeholder engagement, security and safety, international activities, staff training and development, and digital wellbeing.

Piloting the framework

Earlier in 2025 we published the results of our research pilot with 24 higher education providers to validate the success factors for effective digital transformation.

During the pilot, HE providers used the toolkit in different ways to suit their ongoing work, including:

• To assist with the redevelopment of an organisational digital strategy (for example, Royal Northern College of Music and University of Worcester);
• to benchmark whole-organisation digital maturity (Bath Spa University);
• to consider how organisational digital culture might impact the successful integration of new digital infrastructure (for example, University of Chester, University of Hull and University of Manchester);
• to reflect and support the development of new learning and teaching programmes (for example, University of St Andrews);
• to explore ways to achieve organisational strategic goals for educational excellence (for example the development of an AI strategy at Queen’s University Belfast and the Digital Learning Transformation Project at Sheffield Hallam University);
• to support international partnership development (for example, Université Côte d’Azur, France);
• to provide evidence to inform decision making and identify priorities (for example, University of Westminster);
• to benchmark current digital maturity in specific areas as a baseline against which to measure future improvement (for example, City St George’s, University of London).

In all these cases, the HE providers that used the toolkit are in the process of transforming the ways they use digital technologies – and are doing so because they expect their change initiatives to support wider organisational strategic aims.

Professor Georgina Andrews, Vice chancellor, Bath Spa University said of the pilot: “It’s about being authentic, it’s about showing that not only is a strategy something that we’ve committed to in paper, but that we actually commit to in practice. So that’s why it’s important that this isn’t a project that is simply left to the IT department. It needs to be across the whole of the University, and it needs senior level buy-in and support across all parts of the university.”

Focusing on libraries, the DTLL

The DTLL will support libraries in contributing to cross-institutional digital transformation conversations and influence decision making. The document will offer a focused view of the framework through the lens of university library and archive services.

Some libraries include broader functions that may not be traditionally seen as library operations or services (such as student services or scholarly communications) so the lens offers a broad perspective and includes example activities which can be undertaken by libraries to support DT in the wider organisation of the university.

The lens was produced with input from the DTLL working group and representatives from the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL), Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and CILIP but we believe it could be adapted to many types of organisations active in the information management space, not only libraries.

We will be publishing the lens in September 2025 and are already in the process of establishing another set of research pilots, with some of our partners from the working group, to test the lens in their own context. We very much look forward to sharing the results of the pilots, which will run until July 2026, in the form of reports and case studies.

In the meantime, look out for the library lens document and related introductory guides to it. It is a complex document, but it is designed to be adaptable to many institutional situations and to be used to support processes in relation to broader digital and organisational strategies. We welcome feedback on the lens so please feel free to get in touch with Peter Findlay (peter.findlay@jisc.ac.uk) if you have questions or feedback. Peter will be writing a follow up article to provide an update on the DTLL pilots in the next issue of Information Professional.