Background
The 'Public Libraries in the Information Society' project was initiated by the European Commission DG XIII/E-4 in order to support the development of public libraries across the European Union through the European Commission's telematics for libraries programme. It was felt that such a study was needed which would examine the challenges that public libraries would have to face in order to establish their role in the Information Society. The purpose of the study is described by DG XIII as
to accelerate the process of change on different levels by analysing the needs, the types of possible services, the barriers and the opportunities in different types of European communities. It will develop a well argued visionary strategy for the public library community on how to deal with the challenges of the Information Society. It will define models and scenarios that offer public libraries practical guidance, coupled with recommendations to the European Commission for actions in support of the modernisation of public libraries in Europe.
(Segbert, 1996)
The study was undertaken on behalf of the European Commission DG XIII/E-4 Electronic Publishing and Library Networks unit by a consortium consisting of the Royal Danish Library School, the Danish Library Authority and the Deutsches Bibliotheksinstitut and was begun December 1995. A background paper of their findings and recommendations was circulated at the end of June 1996 and a workshop took place on the 8th of July at the EC in Luxembourg to discuss these findings. The workshop was attended by over 40 librarians from 15 European countries. Outside of conferences it was probably one of the largest meetings of such a geographically diverse collection of European public librarians to have taken place.
The Workshop
Ariane Iljon of the Commission's DG XIII introduced the workshop by highlighting the importance of public libraries being prepared for the Information Society. Society is rapidly changing from one based on industry to one based on services, knowledge and learning. Information is therefore becoming an ever more valuable and essential resource and the public library's role as the citizen's gateway to information (in whatever form) will become more crucial. However, the Commission had identified that many public libraries are currently not able to effectively provide this access. The aim of the study was therefore to provoke more action and interest in these developments by public librarians. The aim of the workshop was to analyse the study's interim results, validate its recommendations suggest local and national and European actions.
The workshop was divided into three main sessions: 'Analysing the Vision and State of the Art', 'Strategies to Realise the Visions' and 'Recommendations'.
Analysing the Vision and State of the Art
The first session was a presentation of a number of papers by the study group of their findings and recommendations.
Jens Thorhauge, President of the Danish Library Association, started the session by providing an overview of the study's findings and identifying the roles, tasks and functions of the public library in the Information Society.
The vision, the multi media library and the barriers
Jens outlined the study's vision of the effective public library in the information society. This vision was fairly detailed but in essence it is 'that every public library in any European community should offer access to the human record in whatever form it is stored, that the local library is part of the world-wide library net and supports all kind of education and that the service provided is of a high professional standard'. In the final report this vision will be given in much greater detail.
In order to meet this vision libraries need to attain the status of a multi media library. The multi media library has its own Internet server, provides ordering facilities, electronic document delivery, full scale in-house services and also acts as an IT training centre. It is a learning organisation where the staff are motivated and have the opportunity for personal creativity. Importantly it has also recognised that different users have different IT needs and consequently offers different services to different people.
To become a multi media library most libraries need to go through four stages of development. They start off as a manual paper based library which is the traditional collections building with an introverted bureaucratic culture. The second stage is the automated library where IT has been introduced and is used for housekeeping functions. The third stage of development is the electronic library which has access to online databases, the Internet and operates in a 'project' rather than 'duty' culture with professional roles constantly in a state of change. Each step from paper based library to multi media library represents a step in staff development and services but problematically it also represents the investment of more time and money.
Jens Thorhauge went on to identify the barriers that have been preventing public libraries from moving though these four stages. These barriers are a mixture of internal and external ones. The external barriers consist mainly of a lack of a political focus/policy, lack of funding and a lack of technical support. Internal barriers were the librarians' lack of IT skills, insufficient availability of training, uncertainty about strategy and a general resistance to change. The benefits of change are generally not seen as great enough to be worth the effort of changing.
The study's main recommendation for overcoming these barriers is the institution of a national policy for networking. Where such policies had been instituted libraries had made the greatest move towards becoming multi media libraries. Instructional strategies for local implementation of networking, technical support, training opportunities, closer cooperation, new services and changes in organisational structure were also highlighted as ways of overcoming these barriers. Jens continually emphasised that the results of the study should be widely discussed and disseminated in order to push and pull libraries into the Information Society.
He finished by stating that the most important finding of the study was the link between IT developments and the psychological mindset of the staff. If staff are not enthusiastic or committed to this development the libraries will not develop. A change in professional roles and attitudes was badly needed. One great step towards this was felt to be the move from a 'I have duties' to a 'I have responsibilities' culture. The combination of policy and personnel were therefore the important issues that public libraries need to be concerned with.
The remaining papers in this session then addressed in more detail some of the problems and issues that had been identified by Jens Thorhauge.
Technological Issues
Gitte Larsen explored the technological developments in Europe and the new services in public libraries. She highlighted that online catalogues are still a relatively new development and that most machine readable bibliographical records were not available ten years ago. There is increasing interest in Inter Library Loans but these cannot take place until libraries establish a national/regional policy for ILL's and establish a union catalogue. At present in Europe machine readable union catalogues tend to be rare. Those that do exist tend to be in one of three stages of development - in the form of a CD-ROM, online accessible and finally online and supporting document delivery.
The study had revealed that each country's conversion to library management systems was heavily related to external grants. At present 100% of Danish libraries use a library management system compared to only 20% in Italy. However, until the libraries in Denmark were pushed to automate by the Government there was little move to do so. The same pattern can been seen in France, Spain and Italy.
The study also revealed that those libraries that had library management systems tended to only use the basic housekeeping modules of cataloguing, OPACs and circulation. Those OPACs which existed tended to have been written by librarians for librarians with little consideration of the reader's needs. Librarians appeared to want to give readers as little control as possible and services such as do-it-yourself reservations and do-it-yourself issuing were not provided except in some of the inspiring case studies.
The study also found that some libraries are maintaining their card catalogues along side of their computer catalogues. This unnecessary dependence on manual processing was also apparent in the lack of use of the acquisition, periodical control, ILLs, statistics and report generators modules. Many libraries still prefer to do these tasks manually although this is an area where staff time can be saved and redirected to the new services.
The systems generally had the following characteristics; they were not fully integrated, dumb terminals were still in use, advanced networking protocols were not supported, image and sound were not possible, CD-ROM's were not integrated into OPACs and EDI was not possible. Current systems are not at all ready for the demands that the Information Society will be placing on them. This can also be attributed to there being too many suppliers in the market. Many library management systems companies were too small and local to be able to support research and development. The manufacturers are therefore unable to keep up with new developments leaving libraries with outdated, inflexible and dead end systems.
Gitte then discussed what type of new services public libraries will be offering. She pointed out that things like online access, CD-ROM's and the Internet may at first glance seem to be a new service but are actually a continuation of traditional services. The service aim is still to offer information but the delivery method that has changed. To quote Gitte it is 'old vine on new bottles'. This can be an important distinction to make as it may effect whether government funding is provided or not. In Denmark it was necessary to decide this in order to see whether libraries should provide Internet services for free or not. If Internet was a new service then the library would have to charge if it was an old services in a new form then it would have to be government supported. In Denmark they were identified as old services and are now being provided for free.
The type of new services that the study felt that libraries should be providing are
Libraries that had already started to develop such services already tended to be involved with European projects and other innovative developments. Once a library begins to develop new services they are likely to be more willing to experiment, become more involved in research and gain a higher standing in the library community. Libraries therefore need to be encouraged to take the first step to develop a new service as this is likely to become a habit forming pattern.
Barriers
The workshop was then presented with two papers on the barriers to development and new opportunities for cooperation. Gabriele Overbeck's paper on barriers re-emphasised many of the findings mentioned by Jens Thorhauge.
The biggest barrier for many library services to overcome was a lack of a national policy or framework document. Most national library services do not have an opportunity to contribute to networking policy and central initiatives are rare. The study recommended that this lack of awareness is overcome through EC hosted workshops for administrators and politicians on the importance of modern and IT aware public libraires in society. Again the problems of low level funding and the lack of training available for staff were identified as barriers. Another study suggestion was perhaps it would be more effective if the EC gave financial support to libraries instead of funding projects. The paper concluded by impressing upon the workshop that libraries need to overcome these barriers now. Information brokers are rapidly offering more professional, more effective and more specialised services which are attracting customers that would normally use their public library. If libraries are not to lose out financial and government support is needed now.
Cooperation
Hans Peter Thun from the Deutches Bibliotheksinstitut then explored new opportunities for cooperation. His paper emphasised that libraries will need to cooperate in the telematics environment. Only through cooperation could the ever increasing demand for new IT services be met and staff be continually retrained. Without cooperation the problems of limited funds and inexperienced staff will not be overcome.
Already some opportunities for cooperation have been taken up and some public libraries in Europe share catalogues, cataloguing and offer OPAC access. But the potential for cooperation is much greater with other possible services being identified as the cooperative selection of IT equipment, studies in user behaviour, shared CD-ROM networks and integrated IT services offered to users, groups, individuals and training projects. However, at the moment this is still all in the future and current cooperation is at a low level.
Hans then identified examples of cooperation in Europe. EARL was mentioned as an excellent example of public libraries working together to provide themselves and each other with Internet services. Anglia Connect was also highlighted. But generally the study had found that there was little activity of this type. This, it was felt, was due to the following barriers
The major step which was identified which would do more than anything else to aid cooperation would be the ability to connect library management systems. A higher standard of library management system is therefore needed and this could be achieved through the development of a national networking policy. The study felt that projects should be initiated which would foster greater cooperation on a European, national and regional level. Equally important will be the requirement that funding is maintained in order to continue this cooperation once these projects end.
Barbara Lison Ziessow of Bremen City Libraries continued this theme and looked at library cooperation with other memory institutes. Cooperation was already taking place to some degree with schools, independent adult learners, teaching institutions. However this cooperation was still reasonably low level and could be greatly expanded. Libraries cannot close the information rich/poor gap on their own but need to work with other partners to ensures this happens.
Professional Development
The final paper of the morning was presented by Hanne Albrechtsen of the Royal Danish Library School. Her paper concentrated on the issues involved with professional development. The study had revealed how uneven the emphasis on continual professional development is from country to country.
In many countries, such as Germany, librarians saw themselves fixed in the role of cultural workers but the study has identified that if public libraries are to be effective in the information society librarians must be willing to take on many new roles, for example WWW manager. Libraries that had been already been involved with IT related project work were likely to have identified and instituted these new roles. This pattern can be expected to be repeated on a larger scale as libraries move into the information society.
Staff will need to be information literate, they will need to be at ease with networking technology and they will need to be able to keep up with the changing pace and character of knowledge production. Library Schools should therefore be providing staff with these skills. There is a danger that there is now too much concentration on information management and getting research published than on producing students with practical, badly needed IT skills. The study therefore suggests that students are encouraged to undertake practical project work based in libraries - this would be mutually beneficial to both parties. Library schools have to remember that knowledge production is changing towards problem orientated and action orientated research and this should be reflected in their syllabuses.
If libraries are going to enter into the information society soon then the library managers need to be educated and encouraged to develop their services. A concerted effort should be made to further the education and professional development of those who have the power to make a difference to their library.
Discussion
These papers were then discussed by the workshop attendees. There was concern about Information Brokers and the fact that public libraries would be unable to compete with them. Brian Thackeray (ASLIB) stated that as the Internet is changing every six months and so anyone who hasn't started offering Internet services yet is only six months behind. It was agreed that when public libraries do start to offer access the service will need to be the same quality as that from professional bodies in order to be credible. It was hoped that the study would help libraries achieve this high standard by showing required activities and strategies.
The discussion session revealed the slightly different concerns between public librarians in the North and South of Europe. In Italy the librarians wish to put more emphasis on their role of information provider as they are currently seen as cultural institutions only. But in the North it was generally agreed that the new role of public libraries would have to encompass both the role of information provider and 'proactive cultural institute'. It was felt to be important that the study convinced libraries that they do not have a unique task in providing access to information but need to work with other cultural/memory institutions. The workshop wanted the study to emphasis how the new technology could allow public libraries to (in partnership) provide access to world cultural heritage.
Strategies to Realise the Visions
The afternoon session looked at individual country studies and also individual exemplary case studies. By looking at individual examples in more detail it placed the study's findings in a more explicit service orientated context. The emphasis was on opportunities for new services and barriers that needed to be overcome.
Italy Case Study
Susanna Giaccai started the session with a paper on the situation in Italy. Libraries in Italy are generally not automated, don't use ILL's and are poorly funded. They are seen as 'museums for documents' rather than as information providers. Cooperative services are beginning to develop through the use of electronic resources. Libraries are very slowly moving towards centralised cataloguing which is beginning to cause a slight change in library culture. Libraries which had previously spent most of their effort cataloguing no longer need to do so and so have been freed to act more in the role of information provider. So through cooperation public libraries are becoming able to develop new services and alter their role in society.
Cooperation also offers a great opportunity for librarians in the realm of training. There are very few professional training courses and most training is undertaken on the job. The Internet is a resource that could help people keep up to date. A global Internet cooperative training programme could be of great use to library staff especially in countries like Italy where training is low scale and low priority. The Italy case study showed that this was an area where cooperation between European partners could have great potential impact.
Cologne Case Study
Frank Daniel then provided details of one of the service case studies. This was based on Cologne public library which is a large city library.
Cologne library holds 1.2 million items in various formats and consists of a central library, 13 branches, 5 mobiles and a school library service. It is fully automated and the service's aim is to 'offer information to anyone at any time in any type of media'. In order to free staff to be able to offer as much user assistance as possible the library has a strategy to relieve the staff of as many routine tasks as possible and get the reader to do them themselves. This transformation to a 'self service' library was achieved through the implementation of a 100 OPACs, a self service circulation system, a CD-ROM network available over the OPACs, 3 publicly accessible Internet terminals, an electronic community information system and library cash cards which readers use to automatically pay fines. The introduction of these services has meant that the library staff are have more time to develop new services or provide more assistance with information requests.
The library is now planning to expand its Internet services and soon the Internet will be freely available at every information desk in the library. The library's server will also make the OPAC available on the WWW although many users already use e-mail to do book renewals.
The library is also developing a dedicated 'computer library' which will provide PCs for use, a room for library staff to undertake research, books and magazines on computer topics, both loanable and network accessible CD-ROM's, business information resources, scanner and wordprocessing and also the Internet. The library will also be running user-based Internet training classes. Some of this training will be targeted at specific user groups such as teachers, older people and librarians from smaller, less well resourced libraries.
The service is also planning a new library in a recently developed Media Park. Media Parks are the 1990's equivalent of Business Parks and will consist of companies producing radio. tv, multi media resources, software companies and so. The library in the Media Park will provide public access to a number of computers. It will have a fully equipped conference room available for hire and will have an emphasis not on books but on IT.
From his experience at Cologne Frank Daniel felt that it was not enough to be a just a librarians, you also now had to be teachers, trainers, information brokers, managers, technicians and so on. The role of the librarian was under going rapid change and it was important that staff be flexible. He pointed out that as the future progressed libraries will come to resemble reasonably sized enterprises more and more and the profession must be ready for this change.
Silkeborg Case Study
Søren Hansen presented a paper on how a small/medium sized public library at Silkeborg, Denmark had become the local IT centre. This library had been involved with a number of IT projects and was currently involved with one called the 'Virtual Library' which aims to give the public access to the Internet. The project also aims to use the Internet to provide information on Silkeborg to Internet users and allow the library staff to use the Internet as an information tool. The library has been involved with making WWW accessible information available on Silkeborg in the form of tourist information, local industry and trade companies have been given homepages as have other cultural institutions. The library is also involved in the development of an Electronic Town Hall for the town. This will be an electronic representation of the Town Hall which will provide information on local and state authorities. It will be possible to fill in council forms here, e-mail the town hall and also city counsellors.
All these new services have again meant that the librarians have had to develop new roles. The most effective way to manage this change has been to delegate more responsibility to each department and create a responsibility not duty environment. There has also been an emphasis on the 'playing organisation' with staff being actively encouraged to play with the new technology. In this way staff become more comfortable, familiar and knowledgeable with the technology and generally more enthusiastic. The devolvement of responsibility and freedom to experiment has led to much greater job satisfaction and made the staff more willing to take on the challenges that the information society offers public libraries.
Spanish Case Study
Victoriano Colodrón presented a country study on Spain concentrating on how Spanish libraries old fashioned image is proving to be a barrier stopping the library service developing.
Libraries in Spain suffer from a lack of funding and a complex organisational structure. There is also a lack of available statistics on the library service which makes it hard for librarians to draw conclusions about the service. There are few ILLs, not many OPACs and few CD-ROM's. No national networking policy exists. The library service is seen as book lenders only and not as information providers. They are cultural institutes rather than information resources. The public seems happy with this role and does not demand that libraries provide them with information services.
This lack of a demand for information is partly due to the image of the libraries as solely book lenders. In addition to this libraries are seen as old fashioned and are often housed in antiquated buildings with outmoded or no technological equipment. It is this lack of IT that mainly makes them seem old fashioned. However, libraries are not likely to receive funding to buy IT as they are perceived as old fashioned and with no need for IT. It is a vicious circle that some Spanish librarians are trying hard to break.
These problems are exacerbated by difficulties in funding with librarians finding it difficult to justify funding on IT when they are unable to afford books. The solutions to these problems are greater training and also awareness. Not only will librarians need to be trained to use IT they (and also the public and the Government) firstly need to be made aware that they need the IT. Spanish libraries, Victoriano felt, needed to undertake marketing to change their image, make the Government aware of their potential and drag the library service into the information society before it is too late.
Recommendations
This was the final session of the day and allowed the workshop to discuss the recommendations of the study, the points raised in the case study and suggestions for additions to the final report.
The discussion began with the study group briefly discussing what they thought was the best way of implementing the recommendations of the study. Jan van Vaerenbergh (Belgium) identified PUBLICA as the most suitable method of trying to get the recommendations taken on board by libraries. PUBLICA is the EU's Concerted Action for public libraries which 'aims to support the development and enhancement of the role of European public libraries in the Information Society by creating a network of public libraries and by identifying possible new service strategies' (Batt, 1996). Public libraries need to be pushed and pulled into accelerating their development of IT services and PUBLICA will raise awareness and spread the importance of this mission to library managers. Managers will then spread it to their staff and staff will spread it to the public and then finally the public will spread it to politicians. This idea was agreed by the workshop.
Gaëlle Bequet (France) emphasised the importance of cooperation. She felt that the EC should organise programmes on IT skills and encourage staff exchanges to take place. She also suggested the creation of a discussion list for European public libraries which would allow public librarians all over Europe to exchange opinions and ideas. This suggestion came up again later and will be incorporated into the study's final suggestions and recommendations for action.
Kerstin Rosenqvist (Finland) wanted a European and National plan which would aim to assist and provide special subsidies for public libraries to get access to the Internet and also access to expert advice and training.
The discussion was then opened up to the floor. Hrafn Hardarson (Iceland) suggested that the study produce a manifesto for public libraries which showed their importance in terms that local politicians would understand. This would be a very glossy brochure that would emphasis links with favourite political topics like sport and tourism. The workshop as a whole was enthusiastic about this idea. A general consensus was reached on circulating such a document to decision makers and politicians across the European Union.
John Saunders (UK) felt that effort should not be spent on raising the awareness of politicians but the awareness of the public. If libraries could get the public on their side then the politicians would follow. He felt that at present public support was being hampered by the fact that many people did not see libraries as relevant to them. More younger, energetic front of house library staff were needed to whom younger members of society could relate too.
Richard Tucker ()felt that the study should target library managers as all the visionary case studies had been headed by visionary and dynamic library managers. Without an enthusiastic manager the library would do nothing - the study therefore needed to make sure that these people are reached.
Bill McNaught (UK)suggested that the European Parliament should make a statement on the role of public libraries in acting as a gateway to information for the citizen. This was supported by the study group and will be incorporated into the final recommendations of the report.
Barbara Thomas (Eire) felt that there was a need for consensus about what exactly public libraries are. This lack of consensus was making it difficult to decide exactly what libraries should be achieving. She encouraged the study group to arrange national and international meetings to discuss their recommendations and encourage a wider definition of what public libraries should aim to achieve.
Jens Thorhauge then closed the discussion and confirmed that the study would encourage the European Parliament to make a statement on public libraries, would suggest the creation of a European mailing list and would produce a public library manifesto. It was then left to Chris Batt to summarise the days events and recommendations.
Summary
Chris Batt (UK, Publica) highlighted the study's and workshop's recognised need for the national information policies. The study and the workshop had made clear how important it was that the role of the library must be recognised by politicians in national, regional, local and international contexts. He noted that technically things were changing at a rapid rate and that new management systems were needed. The workshop had made clear that
He felt that the most important thing that now needed doing was for libraries to start telling everyone that they are the most important social institutes that exist. If public librarians do not do this no one else will. Marketing must become more important and must be astutely targetted to politicians. Libraries need to learn how to manage their local political agenda properly. He closed the workshop with three words: action, action, action.
The first action to get on with research and share the results with other libraries.
The second action to lobby politicians at a local, national and international level.
The final action to get the EC to get PUBLICA going.
Material on this page is copyright Ariadne/original authors. This page last updated on July 15th 1996