Raitt, David (ed)
Libraries for the new millennium: implications for managers
Library Association 1997 1997
c224pp hardback 185604257 X c£35.00
Reviewed on 14 November 1997
Review by Lyndon Pugh
In focussing on how and why "libraries and information centres are finding it necessary to change direction and diversify in order to adapt to the threats and challenges posed by the Internet, consumer online, interactive television services and the like - in other words how they will face up to the Information Society" this book sets itself a daunting task and runs huge risks. It succeeds admirably and is a valuable contribution to a complex, worrying and mesmerising debate.
Nevertheless, it falls into some of the inevitable traps that lie in wait when the task of forecasting a volatile and unpredictable future is undertaken. There are occasions when information overload is a major problem: acronym plods remorselessly after acronym and fact is heaped on fact; complex ideas are hurled tirelessly into the sometimes equally tireless prose. In attempting to survey such a wide area there are some descents into platitudes and occasional whimsical musing. Jargon makes its usual appearance, and more infrequently, long passages are given over to statements of current practice, with a cursory final listing of the vital questions for the future. There is a query against the statistics for the number of converged information services managed by librarians as opposed to IT or media specialists, although a lot depends on the definition of convergence and the age of the information. Even worst in this case, the complicated matters of managerial roles and leadership styles in diverse organisations are reduced to head counts.
Grygierczyk and Griffin in their contributions use practical examples of the digital library as case studies to answer questions about method, policy and guidelines, and could profitably be read alongside some of the discussions of theory and principle to be found in other contributions. Barker sets out an analysis of the way in which electronic documents have grown in importance. This amounts to a survey of technical developments which provides a valuable context for the rest of the book. Klobas's paper on knowledge management anticipates many of the concerns of other contributors, and is almost an overview of what is to come: the possible demise of libraries, challenges by other organisations and professions with a claim to the deployment of information management skills, changes in skills and roles and the ability to contribute as knowledge managers to various team based organisations. To quote Griffin:
The technological issues may well prove to be the most tractable.
(p119)
So it is the human and organisational issues that provide the biggest challenge, and it is these areas that this review will concentrate on.
Some of the issues raised in the papers are not new. There have been periods of change marked by mergers, federated systems, closures, changes in the nature of the parent institutions and the bringing together of libraries and media services. Issues to do with "putting the librarian where the user is...offering new and extended services and resources..." have been a part of all change. The volume nevertheless makes an elevated, balanced and sometimes elegant contribution to the debate. There is a good mix of practical projects, conceptual papers and some admirable but risky crystal ball gazing:
It seems to me highly likely that within a timescale of, say, 20 years, most public libraries will not look greatly different from today. There are many public libraries in the UK today which do not look significantly different from the 1960's or earlier!
(Batt, p204)
I hope I will be around in about 20 years to gently remind him of the first part of this sentence. The point, implicit in much of what Chris Batt himself says, is that we are in one of Handy's periods of "discontinuous change", where the past is no guide to the future. Walton and Edwards refer to this in their report of the meticulous and seminal IMPEL project, and also offer some indication of possible managerial responses to the human, organisational and environmental issues they see as the potential limiting factors for electronic LIS. They also make a very important point to do with intuition, citing the argument that in times of rapid and dislocating change strategic thinking and decision making are not only assisted by the use of various models but also by the less tangible talent of
...intuition...invaluable to decision making in times of rapid change...[based] on having a deep understanding of the subject...facts and experiences gained over a period of years.
(p194)
Lancaster, in an informative and even-handed treatment of artificial intelligence and expert systems, alludes to the same thing:
A large component of `expertise' is informal and experiential in character....People do not become experts merely by having an expert knowledge base available to them....the library community should not be overly optimistic concerning the immediate potential value of these technologies.
(p35)
If Walton and Edwards point to models and roles as important ways of managing the development of the various manifestations of electronic and digital libraries, Lancaster takes up and adds to their affirmation of the continued importance of the human skills of management. He also offers another pointer to something which has dogged if not doomed many of our attempts at managing change in information services until now. That is our poorly developed sensitivity to what is happening in other sectors. "There were no models for what we wanted to do" has been a common refrain, but sometimes we have simply not been looking in the right directions. The willingness to take ideas from other spheres will be more and more critical as we try to manage situations where technological change is breaking down barriers and creating common ground:
Many of these relevant developments may occur in environments that are quite distant from the field we think of as 'library and information science' and they will be described in other literatures....it is extremely important for librarians to keep themselves well informed concerning new products and new developments...not only for the betterment of library services but also because the librarian may be in a good position to bring relevant new technologies to the attention of other parts of the organisation....
(p32)
Making connections with other organisational forms and other approaches to the management of modern organisations is a strand in the management strategy for libraries in the millennium. Out of Chris Batt's paper it is possible to draw other aspects of connectivity within the profession. The conventional resources of the public libraries are widely used by students; one of the core ideas in this paper is about how the public library can lock itself into the distance learning and lifelong learning processes that will be a part of educational change. The information society is undoubtedly going to need this sort of networking. Having swallowed the breakdown of the old divisions in higher education, this ought not to be too difficult a prospect to contemplate. For information professionals the realisation of a comprehensive information service should be attractive. Griffin, writing on the Digital Libraries Initiative in the USA, sees "Connect and Communicate" as a key phrase:
Active participation in local , national and international professional events can reduce the risks associated with moving into the digital age. Professional library associations provide valuable leadership in establishing forums for assessing new technologies in the context of existing work practices. Conferences and workshops are important venues for learning and sharing.
(p143)
Martin White of TFPL concentrates on the potential impact of the mass market online services in North America and Europe. He makes a persuasive case for regarding these services as complementary to the Internet and other electronic reference services. Although his analysis is mainly directed at the public library sector, there appears to be no reason why they should not have an impact on the academic sector. If present day students make use of existing public library resources, why should they not also use relevant mass market online services?
In the last paper in the book, Pieter van Brakel considers the impact of technology on the education and training of information professionals. He highlights the danger of information service workers losing their monopoly role as the gatekeepers of information sources, and works through the factors that are bringing about this possibility. Again these concerns are not new, and have been in the literature for some years. His solution depends on information studies teaching mirroring what is happening in practice:
IS education needs to (finally) decouple itself from the 'library' concept.
(p247)
This is fine if 'finally' does not mean 'now'. Parallel provision and parallel development are going to be with us for some time. The rate of take up of electronic sources is going to vary from institution to institution and will depend on a complex mix of academic portfolios, teaching staff predilections, leadership, availability of resources and user and information practitioner attitudes. This means that many of the conventional skills are still going to be needed, and there is an argument that they will always be needed even in the electronic library. van Brakel's detailed exposition is enticing, and his consideration of the implications of technological change for information science teaching is thorough. He also goes a long way towards setting out a new role for the information worker and identifying the new skills and knowledge base that will underpin this role. His final prognosis of the possible demise of the information professional is to be taken with deadly seriousness. Even the Dearing Report [1] draws attention to the fact that on the ground the student use of IT does not match the high expectations attached to it in theory. The profession needs teachers and trainers to keep pace with change: the speed of that change will in the end be dictated by users as much as anything else. Information service educators have traditionally faced the charge, among others, that they do not equip new professionals with the right skills for the new organisations they will work in. There is value in being a little way ahead of users, and in giving practitioners a lead. There might be dangers in being too far ahead.
There are many debating points in this book. In essence, it sets out models and procedures for managing the change to the electronic or digital library while retaining a focus on the retention and development of the human skills, it offers some valid examples, it stresses the value of sharing across sectors and it offers a new view of the future roles and skills of the information professional. I commend it.
Reviewed by: Lyndon Pugh
Email: 106304.3653@compuserve.com
[1] The National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education. Main report:
Higher Education in the Learning Society, HMSO 1997.
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