AIB. Commissione nazionale biblioteche delle università e della ricerca

AIB-WEB | Le Commissioni | Commissione università ricerca

Nadia Zilper
Contemporary Librarianship Issues

Today's Topics

• General trends in library management
• Changes in composition of the collections - hybrid collections
• Incorporation of new technologies
• New role of the libraries
• Challenges in managing hybrid collection
• Planning
• Collections
• Organization
• Staffing
• Reference Services
• User Education
• Public outreach
• Evaluation of library services
• Challenges in Slavic Division
• Collection development
• Acquisitions
• Access to information
• Instructions

Changes in Composition

• Collections
• Blend of electronic and printed resources
• Both resources continue to grow
• In the foreseeable future materials in digital form will not displace traditional sources
• Paper and digital resources will coexist in a "hybrid library"
• New Role of Libraries
• Libraries are no longer warehouses
• Now libraries are service centers linking users to information in whatever medium or format is most appropriate

Management of Hybrid Libraries

• Re-examination of traditional management practices
• Planning is an essential management function
• Deciding what, how and when to do it and who is going to do it
• Bridges the gap from where we are to where we go
• Changes in how planning is done:
• Staff involvement
• Abandonment of long-term "Master Plans"
• Planning is a process that never ceases – short-term planning

Planning

• New Methods of Planning
• Strategic planning (self-analyses, self-study) identifies:
• Strengths – internal positive characteristics
• Weaknesses – internal characteristics that will inhibit the organization's performance
• Opportunities – characteristics of the external environment that have the potential to help the organization meet its goals
• Threats – external competition, changes in society, pressure groups

Collection Development

• New trends:
• Increase in rate of scholarly materials being published
• Parallel increase in cost
• Consequence:
• Libraries no longer can own all material
• Able only to provide access to some of scholarly material
• Current solutions:
• Reliance on electronic publications
• Inter-institutional cooperation
• Changing from "just-in-case" model to "just-in-time" model
• Composition of collections
• Varying mixtures of electronic and paper collections
• Discipline is the factor that affects the mixture

Organization

• Forces that affect library organization
• Increased automation
• Reduction in budgets
• Changing information needs
• Expectations of users
• Need for staff to have more autonomy and control over their work
• Changes in organizational structures of the libraries
• Downsizing of workforce
• Flattening of hierarchies (shrinking the number of middle managers)
• Creation of flatter, more flexible structures

Staffing

• Libraries need well trained and Highly motivated people:
• Qualities of librarians in hybrid libraries:
• Able to cope with a high degree of ambiguity
• Welcome change
• Risk takers
• Intelligent and well educated
• Wide variety of competencies, especially technological
• Commitment to service
• Staff development:
• Continuing education
• Life-long learners

Reference

• Reference services: Impact of computer network
• Information store is dispersed, more and more resources are beyond the library
• Clientele is also dispersed: users want to use resources from wherever they are
• Increases in complexity of information resources
• Need for specialized knowledge
• Require new system for providing reference
• Increased user education

User Education

• US universities: models of teaching
• Old Model: "Transmission Model"
• New Model: "Research Model" of teaching (problem-based teaching and resource-based learning)
• Students need
• "Students today need a conceptual map of information space" - David W. Carr
• Knowledge: how to find information, evaluate and utilize it in research
• Library function – user education
• To create information literate learners require instruction

Public Outreach

• Marketing
• Why? Implementation of computerization questions library existence
• Primary goal of marketing is to establish relationships with customers
• Discovering and understanding customer wishes
• Customer surveys, market audits and focus groups are used to determine:
• User satisfaction with the current services and resources
• User judgments on the relative importance of these services
• Public relations
• Goals
• Gaining public understanding and acceptance
• Presenting uniformed and business like appearance
• Methods
• PR focuses on defining key messages
• Helps target audiences understand and differentiate the organization
• Placing messages in the appropriate media
• Development
• Goals
• Creating a strong base of support
• Methods
• Informing constituents about the library's goals and what it will take to achieve them
• Assure funders and users that services are top quality
• Library is working to continually improve quality

Evaluation of Library Services

• Principals of performance measurement
• If you don't measure results, you can't tell success from failure
• If you can demonstrate results, you can win public support
• What gets measured gets done

Collection Development (Slavic division)

• Major influences:
• Political instability
• Economic instability
• Wars
• Frequent changes in laws and regulations
• Lack of law enforcement
• Corruption
• Racket
• Three pillars of collection development:
• Bibliographic control
• Publishing industry
• Distribution systems
• Before
• Tight control over published matter
• Comprehensive national bibliographies
• After
• Control is gone so is comprehensiveness of the bibliographies
• Publishing industry
• Went through great transformations
• From government to private
• Expanded to regions
• Instability
• Publishing houses frequently emerge and vanish
• Irregularities in production of periodicals
• Periodicals appear, cease publication, appear again under slightly different title
• Inconsistent numbering of issues
• Poor knowledge of publishing
• Incoherent and inconsistent bibliographic information
• Often of poor quality
• Distribution Systems
• Internal systems practically do not exist
• Difficulties in obtaining regional publications
• Absence of effective system for distribution of materials abroad

Acquisitions

• Current methods
• Materials from local in-country vendors
• Close proximity to the sources is a necessity
• Most libraries discontinued exchanges
• Problems
• Vendors
• Cannot supply everything
• Have to be taught how to prepare lists of offers & invoices
• No concept of license agreements and access based on IP recognition
• Acquisition of materials from ex-USSR republics and regional publications
• Different pricing for internal and external markets
• Shipping
• Erratic and inconsistent customs regulations
• Rising cost
• Increase in cost of publications exceeds library fund allocations
• Prior to demise of USSR
• Materials through western dealers and
• Exchange partnership

Access to Information

• Cataloging
• Inconsistent and sometimes inadequate bibliographic information makes cataloging difficult
• Frequent change of titles of periodicals requires creation of new records
• Frequent changes in geographic subject headings
• Access to electronic resources in vernacular
• Requires installation of vernacular keyboard drivers on all public terminals
• Creation of multiple access points (website, online catalog)

Instructions

• In house specialized reference
• Website
• Guides
• Manuals
• Tutorials
• Collection Descriptions
• Access to electronic resources
• Class instructions
• Tailored to a specific course
• Hands on practical learning

Inferred Assumptions

• Assumption
• Slavic Division is an integral part of the library system and as such
• Peculiarities of Slavic Librarianship
• Frequent changes and instability
• Result
• Goes through the same transformations as the rest of US libraries
• Require in-depth knowledge of bibliographic control, publishing, distribution and on-site mechanisms
• Demand greater ability of staff to adapt to and except change
• Today Change is a way of life!

Today's Topics

• General trends in library management
• Changes in composition of the collections, hybrid collections
• Incorporation of new technologies
• New role of the libraries
• Challenges in managing hybrid collection
• Planning
• Collections
• Organization
• Staffing
• Reference Services
• User Education
• Public outreach
• Evaluation of library services
• Process of change
• Challenges in Slavic Division
• Collection development
• Acquisitions
• Access to information
• Instructions

N.B.: è disponibile anche la versione italiana.

Copyright AIB 2005-06-15, ultimo aggiornamento 2024-02-09 a cura di Serafina Spinelli
URL: http://www.aib.it/aib/commiss/cnur/boezilpe.htm3

AIB-WEB | Le Commissioni | Commissione università ricerca