Digital transformation has become a global trend that affects all aspects of human life. Digital transformation offers various benefits, such as increased productivity, reduced costs, improved service quality, and enhanced customer experience. Libraries, as sources of information that originally provided print collections, must keep pace with digital technological changes so that their functions and benefits remain relevant to the evolving needs of today’s society. The development of library collections is no longer solely about the quantity of items held; rather, it requires ensuring that every collection is easily accessible to the public through the use of digital technology. Patrons no longer simply need physical access to information but require more complex and varied resources. The need for information access can no longer be constrained by service hours; whenever patrons require the information they need, the library must be able to provide a solution.
The Gadjah Mada University Faculty of Law Library has undergone a digital transformation with the launch of the Digital Law Libraryapp. The Digital Law Library app is a digital library accessible to the academic community with a broader reach, unrestricted by time or location as long as users are connected to the internet. This application is an innovation in the use of digital technology to meet increasingly complex user needs, as well as a solution for the UGM Faculty of Law academic community who have limited time or special needs for direct access to the UGM Faculty of Law Library. On October 2, 2024, the Digital Law Library application was launched and is now available for the academic community to use to meet their information needs. This application has a collection of more than four hundred book titles, predominantly in the field of law.
The launch of the Digital Law Library app was well-received by the academic community of the UGM Faculty of Law, as evidenced by the fact that within one month, 370 students had registered and the app had recorded a total of 2,223 visits. The ease of access provided by the Digital Law Library app has become a major draw for users. As this is a new app, the academic community naturally requires information and guidance on how to use it. On November 26, 2024, a training session titled “Utilizing the Digital Library through the Digital Law Library App to Enhance the Publication Productivity of the Faculty of Law, Gadjah Mada University Academic Community” was held, featuring guest speaker Astri Sakina, S.H. Administration – PT Enam Kubuku Indonesia, who provided information regarding the features of the Digital Law Library application and how to utilize it to facilitate the process of writing scientific papers. The Digital Law Library application is designed to better understand reading habits and needs. This application can be accessed via desktop and mobile devices and offers various features, including:
- Read and borrow functions
- Bookmarking feature, just like in a physical book
- Note-taking feature for reading materials.
- Citations: With this feature, readers can use the book as an academic reference source
- Bibliography: This feature automatically generates a bibliography in MLA, APA, Turabian, Chicago, IEEE, and Harvard styles
- News feature: In addition to information from the book, the latest news is also provided.
The wide range of features available in the Digital Law Library app is designed to provide services to the academic community of the UGM Faculty of Law that can be accessed from anywhere, at any time, and meet their information needs.
Writer: Afni Isnaini Aprilia, S.IP. (Librarian, Faculty of Law Library)
