In this paper, we refer to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2016, where the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) was coined by Klaus Schwab, with the reference that it would be building on “the Third, the digital revolution” and would be “characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres”. While acknowledging that the 4IR will impact on everything, everywhere, including research and libraries, we conceptualize 4IR, and we compare current academic library services/trends in South Africa with 4IR requirements, through the analysis of 26 public university library websites.,Besides conceptualization of 4IR, a content analysis of websites of 26 public universities’ libraries in South Africa was achieved followed up with verification of the data by respective libraries through a preliminary research report circulated to them by email. 23 areas were identified as the trends in academic libraries, which included free Wi-Fi in the libraries; 24/7 study areas and access to library resources on and off campus; research commons; makerspace; borrowing ICTs (e.g. laptops); e-resources; e-catalogues; research data services (RDS; RDM, IR); open scholarship; information literacy and reference/bibliographic tools, library as a publisher, among others. Data obtained were captured in Excel and analyzed by the research questions.,The 4IR concept does not occur often in literature, in relation to academic libraries, but it is implied. The findings show that the libraries are responding well to the revolution through their services, with remarkable innovation and creativity on display. There was a 64% presence of the analyzed trends/services in the libraries, with emerging trends/services such as library as a publisher (4%), robotics/AI (4%), makerspace (8%), RDS (27%), borrowing of ICTs/devices (19%) and user experience (19%) scoring low, while information literacy and digital scholarship (e.g. IR) (88%), e-catalogue and e-resources (92%), group study area (85%) and off campus access (77%) scoring above 75%. The scatter of the trends/services among the university libraries is noted for knowledge sharing of best practice.,In order to improve accordance with trends, academic libraries have to be better resourced, accessed and used, as well as improve web visibility. The study expects library services to be responsive, resourced and accessible anytime and anywhere, and it provides a conceptual framework and a benchmark for further research and exploration in the country, region and perhaps elsewhere.,The study can be used for benchmarking current and future academic library services in Africa. The conceptual framework provides an agenda for theoretical discussions and deliberations.,The trends, framework and 4IR representations in the study can inform theory and practice in LIS, particularly in Africa.,Linking 4IR to current and future library services provides a tool for academic libraries services benchmarking and development and provides a conceptual framework for theoretical and practical debates and implementation. The study is quite current and appropriate for the ongoing discussions of 4IR implications to academic libraries.

中文翻译：

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南非学术图书馆在第四次工业革命中为研究、教学和学习支持做好准备

在本文中，我们参考了 2016 年在瑞士达沃斯举行的世界经济论坛，第四次工业革命 (4IR) 的概念是由克劳斯·施瓦布 (Klaus Schwab) 提出的，并提到它将建立在“第三次、数字革命”，并将“以技术融合为特征，模糊了物理、数字和生物领域之间的界限”。在承认 4IR 将影响所有地方，包括研究和图书馆的同时，我们将 4IR 概念化，并通过对 26 个公立大学图书馆网站的分析，将南非当前的学术图书馆服务/趋势与 4IR 要求进行比较。,除了概念化4IR，对南非 26 所公立大学图书馆的网站进行了内容分析，随后各图书馆通过电子邮件分发初步研究报告对数据进行了核实。23个领域被确定为学术图书馆的趋势，其中包括图书馆的免费Wi-Fi；24/7 全天候学习区域和访问校园内外的图书馆资源；研究共享；创客空间；借用信息通信技术（例如笔记本电脑）；电子资源；电子目录；研究数据服务（RDS；RDM、IR）；开放奖学金；信息素养和参考/书目工具、图书馆作为出版商等。获得的数据在 Excel 中捕获并通过研究问题进行分析。4IR 概念在文献中并不经常出现，与学术图书馆有关，但它是隐含的。调查结果表明，图书馆通过他们的服务很好地响应了这场革命，展示了非凡的创新和创造力。图书馆中有 64% 的分析趋势/服务存在，其中包括图书馆作为出版商 (4%)、机器人/人工智能 (4%)、创客空间 (8%)、RDS (27%) 等新兴趋势/服务)、ICT/设备的借用 (19%) 和用户体验 (19%) 得分较低，而信息素养和数字奖学金（例如 IR）（88%）、电子目录和电子资源（92%）、小组学习区域 (85%) 和校外访问 (77%) 得分超过 75%。大学图书馆中趋势/服务的分散以最佳实践的知识共享而著称。为了更好地顺应趋势，必须更好地为学术图书馆提供资源、访问和使用，并提高网络可见性。该研究期望图书馆服务能够随时随地响应、资源丰富和可访问，并为该国家、地区甚至其他地方的进一步研究和探索提供了一个概念框架和基准。该研究可用于对当前和未来进行基准测试非洲的学术图书馆服务。概念框架为理论讨论和审议提供了议程。,研究中的趋势、框架和 4IR 表示可以为 LIS 的理论和实践提供信息，特别是在非洲。,将 4IR 与当前和未来的图书馆服务联系起来为学术图书馆提供了一个工具服务基准和开发，并为理论和实践辩论和实施提供概念框架。