I F LA
Volume 39 Number 2
June 2013
IFLA
Contents
Editorial
All Change: From Helsinki to Singapore
101
Stephen Parker
Articles
Singapore libraries: From bricks and mortar to information anytime anywhere
103
Julie S. Sabaratnam and Esther Ong
Commonwealth of uncertainty: How British and American professional models of library
practice have shaped LIS Education in selected former British Colonies and Dominions
121
Mary Carroll, Paulette Kerr, Abdullahi I. Musa and Waseem Afzal
Leadership in libraries in times of change
134
Petra Düren
Welcoming, flexible, and state-of-the-art: Approaches to continuous facilities improvement
140
Charles Forrest and Sharon L. Bostick
UNIMARC – Understanding the past to envision the future
151
Rosa Maria Galvão and Maria Inês Cordeiro
Techniques to understand the changing needs of library users
162
Susan Gibbons
Measuring the public library’s societal value: A methodological research program
168
Frank Huysmans and Marjolein Oomes
News
178
Abstracts
185
IFLA Journal
Official Journal of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
ISSN 0340-0352 [print] 1745-2651 [online]
Published 4 times a year in March, June, October and December
Editor: Stephen Parker, Apt. 1C, Edifício Rosa dos Ventos, Rua Rosa Parracho 27,
Cascais 2750-778, Portugal. Email: zest@sapo.pt
Editorial Committee
Christine Wellems (Chair),
Buergerschaftskanzlei, Parlamentarische Informationsdienste, Hamburg, Germany. Email: christine.wellems@bk.hamburg.de
Sanjay Kumar Bihani,
High Commission of India, India House, Aldwych, London WC2B 4NA, UK. Email: sanjaykbihani@gmail.com
Ben Gu,
National Library of China, Beijing, People's Republic of China. Email: bgu@nlc.gov.cn
Jerry W. Mansfield,
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Email: JMANSFIELD@crs.loc.gov
Filiberto Felipe Martinez-Arellano,
University Center for Library Science Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico. Email: felipe@cuib.unam.mx
Ellen Ndeshi Namhila,
University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia. Email: enamhila@unam.na
Omnia M. Sadek,
Menufia University, Cairo, Egypt. Email: sadekomnia@gmail.com
Réjean Savard,
École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
Email: Rejean.Sa vard@umontreal.ca
Ludmila Tikhonova,
Russian State Library, Moscow, Russian Federation. Email: ltikh@r sl.ru
Christobal Pasadas Ureña,
Biblioteca Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain. Email: cpasadas@ugr .es
Anna Maria Tammaro (Governing Board Liaison)
Università di Parma, Parma, Italy. Email: annamaria.tammaro@unipr.it
Stephen Parker (Portugal) (Editor, ex officio)
Email: zest@sapo.pt
Publisher
SAGE, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC.
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I F LA
Editorial
All Change: From Helsinki to
Singapore
International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions
39(2) 101–102
ª The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0340035213487481
ifla.sagepub.com
Stephen Parker
As IFLA members and others prepare for the 2013
World Library and Information Congress in Singapore, we present in this issue a further selection of
papers from the Helsinki conference of 2012, together
with the usual key paper on libraries in this year’s host
country. A common theme to all the papers in this
issue is that of change.
In ‘Singapore libraries: from bricks and mortar to
information anytime anywhere’, editors Julie S Sabaratnam and Esther Ong, with contributions from many
colleagues in that country, present a comprehensive
look into the evolving landscape of libraries in Singapore. Since the first major libraries were founded in
Singapore some 190 years ago, the country has seen
a proliferation of libraries of all kinds that have
become increasingly important in the lives of Singaporeans. They achieve this by adapting to technological developments as well as changes in user demands
and behaviours with innovative digital products and
services that include library management systems,
e-resources, digital devices as well as the utilisation
of social media to engage users. The programme of
library visits during the Singapore conference promises to be an eye-opener for colleagues from other
parts of the world.
International influences are the subject of the next
paper, ‘Commonwealth of uncertainty: How British
and American professional models of library practice
have shaped LIS Education in selected former British
Colonies and Dominions’, by Mary Carroll, Paulette
Kerr, Abdullahi I. Musa and Waseem Afzal. This
paper from the Helsinki conference examines how the
convergence of the British and American influences
on LIS education have left a complex legacy which
has shaped the aspirations of the LIS profession
and influenced the delivery and the educational
model of librarianship in a number of Commonwealth
countries.
How to cope with changes in the library environment is an issue which increasingly exercises members
of the profession at all levels, and the next paper,
‘Leadership in libraries in times of change’, by Petra
Düren, aims to provide an overview of the leadership
competences needed to succeed with deliberate largescale changes in libraries. Most of these competences
can be imparted during undergraduate studies, and the
paper describes recent studies concerning leadership
in academic and public libraries, emphasizing the
importance of a number of success factors, especially
the communication competence of leaders in times of
change.
Another aspect of the question of change is discussed in the next paper, ‘Welcoming, flexible, and
state-of-the-art: Approaches to continuous facilities
improvement’, by Charles Forrest and Sharon L.
Bostick. As a generation of students enters university
having embraced online, mobile, anytime, anywhere
access to information, the 21st century academic
library must continually recreate itself as a place that
fosters curiosity, engagement, collaboration, and lifelong learning. This paper discusses efforts at two
major academic institutions in the United States to
develop innovative ways to evaluate library spaces,
functions, services, operations and maintenance with
the aim of continually refreshing and renewing library
spaces that enhance learning, inspire scholarship, and
foster community.
Major changes that are envisaged for the bibliographic standards environment provide the context for
the next paper, ‘UNIMARC – Understanding the past
to envision the future’, by Rosa Maria Galvão and
Maria Inês Cordeiro. With the aim of reflecting on the
nature and specification of MARC and its adequacy
for the integration of bibliographic discovery systems
into the larger world of networked information and
systems, this paper provides an overview of the
evolution of UNIMARC and the practices of its maintenance, collecting knowledge that may be useful as a
first contribution to inform future steps in redesigning
bibliographic data standards.
102
Change is again the theme of the next paper, ‘Techniques to understand the changing needs of library
users’, by Susan Gibbons. The paper demonstrates a set
of techniques developed at the University of Rochester
(USA) aimed at a greater understanding of the academic
work practices of a university or college community
can reveal unintentional misalignments between a
library’s services and user needs, as well as overlooked
opportunities for a library to provide new services. This
has been achieved through the adoption and adaptation
of methods from anthropological and ethnography,
which are then applied to the study of segments of a university community. While the findings of these studies
are unique to the academic community of the University
of Rochester, the methods of study can and have been
applied successfully to the study of library users on
other campuses.
IFLA Journal 39(2)
The final paper in this issue again focuses on the
theme of change. In ‘Measuring the public library’s
societal value: a methodological research program’,
Frank Huysmans and Marjolein Oomes note that public libraries in the Netherlands face growing scepticism about their value to communities and society
at large. There is thus a growing need for public
libraries to show their worth – not only in an economic, but also in a more sociological sense. This
paper describes a research project undertaken by the
Netherlands Institute of Public Libraries to develop
a measurement instrument geared at validly and
reliably demonstrating the societal value of public
libraries. The findings help to identify and five
domains of possible impact: cognitive, social, cultural, affective and economic, which will guide the
development of a measuring instrument.
I F LA
Article
Singapore libraries: From bricks
and mortar to information
anytime anywhere
International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions
39(2) 103–120
ª The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/0340035213488710
ifla.sagepub.com
Edited by
Julie S Sabaratnam
Singapore University of Technology and Design
Esther Ong
Temasek Polytechnic Library
Abstract
This article presents a comprehensive look into the evolving landscape of libraries in Singapore. Some 190
years ago, two institutions – the National Library of Singapore and the National University of Singapore
Library – were instrumental in laying the foundation for libraries in this Southeast Asian island state. Since
then, Singapore has seen a proliferation of libraries that include public, academic and special libraries.
Supported by government policies and strategies, libraries have remained important in the lives of
Singaporeans. In order to adapt to technological developments as well as changes in user demands and
behaviours, the nation’s libraries have had to come up with new ways to manage their collections as well as
serve the needs of their users. This paper examines the history of libraries in Singapore before throwing the
spotlight on library innovations, paying particular attention to digital products and services that include library
management systems, e-resources, digital devices as well as the utilization of social media to engage users.
Keywords
libraries, Singapore
Introduction
The little red dot, Singapore, is an island city state with
no natural resources. Our survival depends on our people, our only precious and critical resource. Thus, it is
important for our people to stay relevant, competent
and highly skilled. To minimize social disparity and
to nurture a talent pool that will contribute to economic
viability, our government has placed emphasis on
investing in education, training and lifelong learning
to create a highly skilled workforce for work in a
knowledge intensive industry. In addition, the city state
also places emphasis on research and development.
The Singapore government announced an investment
of SG$16.1 billion or 3.5 percent over the next 5 years
starting from 20111. The government has also invested
heavily in lifelong learning and skills upgrading.
It is against this backdrop that the libraries in Singapore were developed to support the national goals to
help our people stay abreast and attain a competitive
advantage. The libraries thus provided access to reading and research materials and embarked on training
each of their target communities to become information literate. Collectively, the libraries journeyed to
reach users of all walks of life from cradle to grave.
The authors and contributors will illustrate the evolution of libraries in Singapore as they persevered through
the years from providing bread and butter core services
and ‘business as usual’ to leapfrogging to play a more
responsive, value-added proactive role supporting the
societal, academic, research and business needs of our
communities in today’s digital era. The advent of
Corresponding author:
Julie S Sabaratnam, Singapore University of Technology and
Design, 20 Dover Drive Singapore 138682. Tel: þ65-63036691.
Email: juliesabaratnam@sutd.edu.sg
104
technology has also given libraries the opportunity to
offer a myriad of possibilities to support learning, discovery and research in this knowledge intensive society.
First seeds that spurred growth
Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819. We
gained independence in 1965. An analysis of the history of libraries in Singapore revealed twin pillars that
sprouted from the first seeds planted more than a century ago.
The seed was planted in 1823 when Raffles, our
founding father, mooted the idea of setting up a library
to support Singapore’s first educational institution,
which was named the Singapore Institution. However,
in 1844, a decision was made to expand the library at
the Singapore Institution and it was transformed into
a subscription-based library service for members. This
library evolved into the Singapore Library and its role
expanded to include even that of acting as the Curator
to the Museum Committee. Several changes took place
and progressed into the modern National Library in
1957. It was a long and uphill journey due to priorities
in nation building and limited resources.
The second seed was laid in 1905 when the Straits
and Federated Malay States Government Medical
School set up a small library. This first single library
in a medical school marked the beginning of the evolution of academic libraries in Singapore. It has evolved
over the years into Singapore’s largest university library
system comprising seven libraries at the National University of Singapore.
Hence, the twin pillars: the National Library of
Singapore (NLS) with a 190 year history played an
important role in developing a public library system
to serve the masses, while the National University of
Singapore Library (NUSL) with a 108 year history
strived as the main academic library for many years
until new academic institutions were set up. The twin
pillars played an important role in the early development of libraries and librarianship in Singapore. These
two stalwarts were joined by each major academic,
special and public library that sprouted throughout the
years. Through their passion, perseverance and commitment, the pioneer librarians contributed to the
development of our libraries, the library profession and
the Library Association, and introduced change.
A major turning point
In the early years, the public library system in Singapore
was managed by the then National Library (NL).
The NL would initiate setting up a public library
when a constituency reached a population of
250,000. When the government establishes a new
IFLA Journal 39(2)
academic institution, by default an academic library
will be set up to serve the institution’s needs.
However, in the 1990s, as we entered the Internet
era, Brigadier-General George Yeo, then Minister of
Information and the Arts, queried the legacy practices
and guidelines for public library development. He
challenged the norms and commissioned the landmark Library 2000 study to review library developments in Singapore in the light of technological
developments and birth of the World Wide Web in
1992. The Library 2000 Review Committee involved
top executives from the public and private sectors as
well as academia, communities and librarians.
The 2-year study resulted in major recommendations that set the pace for library transformation in
Singapore. Its report, Library 2000: Investing in a
Learning Nation2 was accepted by the government.
One of the first recommendations adopted was the
establishment of a new statutory board, the National
Library Board (NLB), in 1995 to spearhead the transformation of libraries in Singapore and turn the
Library 2000 vision to reality. This had a catalytic
impact in transforming the public library landscape.
A new organizational structure
When established in 1995, the NLB was chartered to
implement the key strategies proposed by the Library
2000 committee. These included: an adaptive public
library system comprising the national and public
libraries working in cohort with the academic and
special libraries, a national collection strategy and
knowledge arbitrage. The NLB would also establish
symbiotic linkages with business and community
groups and offer quality services through market orientation. To bring libraries forward and to be plugged
into the social and economic fabric, it was envisioned
that exploiting technology and development of a pool
of information professionals were critical as enablers.
The NLB today manages the National Library and
the public libraries and also operates most of the special libraries in various government agencies. The
NLB engages the communities in designing various
public libraries. Instead of standalone libraries,
libraries are located in shopping malls and housing
estates, among others.
The academic libraries report to their parent institutions and come under the purview of the Ministry
of Education, while the special libraries are managed
by the organizations they belong to.
The changing landscape
Typically, the library’s role is to acquire, organize,
preserve and provide access to information. To add
Sabaratnam and Ong: Singapore libraries: From bricks and mortar to information anytime anywhere
105
Figure 1. Map of libraries in Singapore and their locations to date.
value, libraries began to play the role of coach/mentor/guide/facilitator where they helped nurture reading, inculcate search skills, and assist in research
and so on. These are functions that any library can
perform and the scope and content varies depending
on the type of library and who its stakeholders and clientele are.
The National Library, as the custodian of the
nation’s literary heritage, has from time immemorial
collected, organized and provided access to this
unique and precious heritage. The National Archives
of Singapore (NAS), meanwhile, is the official custodian of the corporate memory of the government – it
manages public records and provides advice to government agencies on records management. In November 2012, the NLB Act was amended to facilitate the
transfer of the NAS from the National Heritage Board
to the NLB3.
Likewise, academic libraries have taken on the
additional critical role in preserving the academic
institution’s heritage and scholarly output while
acquiring, organizing and making accessible a rich
knowledge base.
The grouping of libraries by type, size and roles is
no longer practical in this digital era. The greying of
boundaries reinforces the need for greater collaboration amongst libraries on all fronts.
To a large extent, we can envision two major pillars
that influence growth and change: the public library
system being transformed and repositioned to serve
the demands of a more affluent population, and the
growth in the number of academic libraries as new
institutions of education are being set up. The third
pillar, comprising special libraries, is seen to be
undergoing consolidation due to rising costs, the
financial and economic challenges of the global economy as well as the ready access to free information.
Many organizations have scaled down on corporate
library services and adopted alternative approaches
such as outsourcing, relying on their main office or
buying services on an ondemand basis.
The library landscape remains vibrant as libraries
are constantly adapting and innovating to cater to the
needs of the Gen Y users. Emphasis is placed on redefining the roles and positioning librarians as an integral part of the organization, where many play
expanded roles.
Prototype Library of the Future
To demonstrate the infinite possibilities of the Library
of the Future, the Library 2000 Review Committee
sought additional resources from the government to set
up a prototype library. The community played an
106
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Figure 2. The Courtyard at the National Library at Stamford Road. The library eventually closed in 2004.
active role in the design and development of the first
regional library at Tampines, that was officially opened
in 1994, even before the final recommendations of the
Committee were presented to the government. Named
the Tampines Regional Library (TRL)4, new facilities
such as automated check-ins and check-out kiosks,
video-on demand terminals, satellite television, access
to electronic databases, and a commercially-run bookshop and an IT gallery were introduced. The community was amazed by the new look and suite of services.
Following the success of the TRL, the National
Library at Stamford Road was given a much needed
facelift5. The renovation transformed the almost 30
year-old library into a modern and spacious National
Reference Library and a Central Community Library.
New expanded services and facilities such as a Multimedia Centre and Student Reference Centre provided
students with the opportunity to use computers and
multimedia resources. NLB also launched Reference
Point, a call service to handle public enquiries, and set
up a Business Information Service. Several thematic
collections in the area of Arts, Business, Singapore
and Multicultural works were enhanced.
Post Library 2000 developments
Just as the retail and hospitality sector aligns to meet the
changing needs and demands of its clientele and ensure
it retains market share, libraries in Singapore have also
undergone a facelift and adopted consumer-centric
approaches in redesigning the spaces, services, and
programmes.
Following the vision of the future library as shared
through the TRL, the major academic libraries also
introduced changes by refreshing their spaces and
exploiting technology to offer enhanced services and
access. Lifestyle spaces were being created to cater to
the Gen Y users. Typically, these lifestyle spaces are
designed as creative corners with games, lifestyle collections and cafes. Cafés at the library have become a
norm, but it was Dr Tan Chin Nam, Chairman of the
Library 2000 Review Committee and founding Chairman of NLB, who first mooted the idea in 1994 of a
café at the prototype Tampines Regional Library
(TRL).
Library 2010 Report (2005 to 2010)
The Library 2010 (L2010) Report mapped out NLB’s
strategic framework to help Singaporeans meet new
information and knowledge demands arising from
an economy that was becoming more technologically
and knowledge driven. In fact, during the 10-year
period from 1994 to 2004, the share of professional,
managerial and technical jobs created in the labour
market had increased from 32 percent to 43 percent,
while the share of job holders with at least a postsecondary qualification had grown from 15 percent
to 31 percent (National Library Board 2005b). This
indicated that the Singapore workforce was not only
becoming better qualified, but also employed in
higher skilled jobs. To help libraries stay relevant in
this changing economic landscape, L2010 was to
guide NLB to build a round-the-clock library system
that provided seamless access to its physical and digital content so that the knowledge embedded could be
disseminated easily to library users (National Library
Sabaratnam and Ong: Singapore libraries: From bricks and mortar to information anytime anywhere
Board 2005b). The three guiding principles of the
L2010 Report were:
1. Create and change existing libraries into Libraries
for Life so that NLB’s network of libraries can provide Singaporeans with multiple avenues to
develop their personal knowledge and learning
skills.
2. Refine and deepen existing library services so
that NLB’s network of libraries can reach out further to the whole community.
3. Support the growth of Singapore’s knowledgebased economy by positioning NLB as a
coordinator to collect, preserve and disseminate
Singapore’s knowledge asset, as well as a creator
of content and services to support learning.
One of the first and most definitive initiatives
launched under L2010 was NLB’s Digital Library. Set
up in 2005, the digital library offered users extensive
online access to information and resources, including
digitized materials and subject databases, e-books and
e-magazines. The content was geared towards aligning
NLB to become a leading institution in information
provision and knowledge development (National
Library Board 2006). The digital library provided one
seamless interface with access to a wide selection of
library services, database services and general information on NLB. Library members could access over 100
online databases with a wide variety of subject content.
In addition, they could also perform online library
transactions such as applying for renewal of membership, payment of fines and fees, signing up for due date
reminder service, and item renewal. All in all, the digital library was to be an encompassing effort by NLB to
offer an efficient and convenient service to its users
around the clock, whilst expanding its reach to new and
untapped communities.
To broaden NLB’s digital reach and to deepen the
content of the digital library, NLB created a number
of information portals. These included Infopedia in
2008, NewspaperSG in 2009 and MusicSG in 2010.
These portals were significant additions to NLB’s
digital content. For instance, Infopedia is an online
encyclopedia that allows users to search for authoritative articles on Singapore. As these articles cover a
wide range of topics such as historical events, arts,
culture, economy, government and key personalities,
it is a useful reference portal for students and
researchers. As for NewspaperSG, it is an online platform that allows users to search, browse and retrieve
full text news content from digitized issues of Singapore newspapers dating from 1845 such as The Straits
Times and The Singapore Free Press.
107
While implementing the digital infrastructure as
envisioned by L2010, NLB continued to widen its
physical reach by opening more community libraries,
which by then were renamed Public Libraries. The
Public Libraries continued to organize a myriad of
information literacy programmes, and reading campaigns and activities to reach out to different segments
of the community (National Library Board 2008).
Some of the programmes included ‘READ! Singapore’
for those 15 years old and above, ‘10,000 Fathers
Reading!’ for father figures and their children, the
national ‘kidsREAD’ programme for children from
lower-income families, ‘Read and Reap’ for primaryto college-level students, and the ‘Share-A-Story’
Storytelling Club for seniors, adults and teenagers.
NLB also incorporated new technology and harnessed the connectivity power of social media to
enhance the services of public libraries and improve
their engagement with the public. For instance, in
2009, NLB introduced the Library in Your Pocket
mobile application to provide users easy and convenient
access to popular library services on their mobile phones
(National Library Board 2010). This was in addition to
the myLibrary application on Facebook. The Facebook
application enables users to access and share library services and resources through their Facebook page.
Besides online initiatives, NLB also introduced a new
search facility other than the existing OPAC system.
Known as NLB SearchPlus, it allows users to explore
both NLB’s physical and digital resources as well as
to personalize and save their search results.
The National Library shifted from Stamford Road to
a new location at Victoria Street. At the time of its opening in 2006, the new National Library had a start-up collection size of over 634,000 items across a floor area of
more than 58,000 square metres, which is five times
larger than its previous facility. It comprises the Lee
Kong Chian Reference Library, and the Central Public
Library. Taking advantage of its new central location,
the National Library began holding a series of largescale exhibitions to highlight the National Library’s
collections.
In 2010, NLB embarked on its next phase of strategic planning for the future of its libraries. NLB’s 2020
‘Libraries for Life’ vision is to foster ‘Readers for
Life, Learning Communities, and a Knowledgeable
Nation’. The new strategic plan acknowledges NLB’s
enduring role of providing not only information
resources but also equipping the nation’s citizens with
skills to harness information, and encouraging knowledge sharing. It has four strategic objectives:
1. Reading, Learning and Information Literacy:
to entrench the reading habit and strengthen
108
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Figure 3, 4 and 5. Singapore Polytechnic’s Library designed its spaces according to different zones to suit the various
needs of its users. These include zones such as the multimedia and discussion zones. Students are also able to enjoy nature
in the indoor Garden in the library.
the information literacy skills of Singapore’s
citizens.
2. Next-Generation Libraries: to strengthen the role
of libraries as well-loved community spaces,
where there is equal access to knowledge for all,
knowledge sharing, and community engagement.
3. Excellence in Singapore and Regional Content:
where the National Library will ensure an authoritative collection of Singapore content, and
engage Singaporeans in discovering, using, and
appreciating their Singapore published heritage.
4. Digital Library: to make a diverse range of digital
content and services easily accessible on users’
preferred devices and spaces.
a view and a garden in the library concept. SP Library
has since also renovated its spaces and adopted a zoning approach – Quiet Zones for quiet study, Project
Rooms and Discussion Zones, PC Zone on an entire
floor, a Media Viewing Zone and Colours Zone that
introduced materials for personal development and
lifestyle based education as part of the Polytechnic’s
new General Elective Module (GEMs) curriculum.
Others such as the Nanyang Technological University (NTU Library) and Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP
Library) have also introduced learning hubs where
students have access to interactive whiteboards,
screens and multimedia facilities to enhance discussion and learning.
New libraries, new approaches
Transformation at academic libraries
The Lien Ying Chow Library at Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP Library) was the first academic library to
introduce a lifestyle library in 2000. The hip and cool
design and décor were aimed at attracting the Gen Y
users. It integrates an Internet Café with iPad Services; Interactive Cube with multitouch gaming experience; Board Games Room to develop creativity,
sharpen minds and improve vocabulary skills; Music
Area; Video Zone; Cablevision programmes and
Smart TV and 3D TV experience. The Lifestyle
Library was designed to spur and inculcate reading
and to inspire students to explore, discover, read and
enjoy. Other libraries followed suit.
Temasek Polytechnic (TP Library) had, in 2003,
transformed the library’s image from an academic
resource provider to an enabler of lifelong learning.
One of its floors was renovated with a lifestyle concept to meet users’ expectation for a cosy, welcoming
social space. A podium with raised flooring provided
the ideal platform to support local arts groups such as
a cappella and beat boxing.
The Singapore Polytechnic (SP Library) introduced a creative close-to-nature Hilltop Library with
Whilst the established libraries had the challenge of
convincing stakeholders of the need to refresh and
reposition their services, the newer libraries were able
to jumpstart and offer new technologically-grounded
services. For instance, Singapore’s fourth University,
the Singapore University of Technology and Design
(SUTD), adopted an innovative approach by involving pioneer students to create a learning and discovery
space, one that is ‘designed to inspire’ and users will
walk away inspired to design.
The SUTD Library adopted new technologies such
as surface computing, writable tables and interactive
tools to promote collaborative research and learning
where groups can share the same surface to discuss,
search, save and go. It paid attention to creatively
entice the users to DISCOVER, LEARN, SHARE and
CONNECT in the physical and virtual space.
Hence, SUTD Library’s key spaces were organized
as The RANGE, offering access to a wide range of
resources that provides a sensory experience of reading, viewing, touch and feel. The unique touch and
feel experience is made possible by a materials hub
where users get to see, touch and feel what sustainable
materials are instead of imagining. The CANVAS
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Figure 6. SUTD’s pioneering students were involved in the design of their library, resulting in a library space that was
designed to inspire.
Figure 7 and 8. Singapore Polytechnic’s library has created spaces that aim to inspire and encourage innovation and
learning among its users. SP’s Da Vinci level is equipped with architecture and design resources and exhibition space.
offers the opportunity for teams to scribble notes as
they discuss and save the whole discussion for review
and sharing. The SPARK with its surface computer
technology helps ignite research and discover
amongst teams and the GREEN is a cool amphitheatre
with synthetic grass that allows students to relax, dabble in board games, create with Lego and other pieces
as well as enjoy a talk or programme. iPads, housed in
specially designed settings, replaced the traditional
OPAC terminals.
Likewise, SP Library has created interesting learning
spaces where users are inspired to ‘‘learn, discover and
co-create’’. For instance at the Da Vinci Level, it has
created a space for architecture and design with funky
furniture, pods with projectors, writable tables and
walls, Lego sets etc. and this was designed in collaboration with the School of Architecture and the Built Environment. A pilot space, RoBoPod, has been created to
inspire engineering students in robotics. It includes
Lego Minstorms NXT sets for a hands-on experience.
E-I Pod is the space for biomedical research and students are taught research using case-based learning.
Libraries such as the NUS and NYP Libraries have
created digital 3D library maps using visualization and
interactive tools with built-in intelligent path guidance’
features to help users locate spaces and resources at the
library.
TP Library has an Interactive Corner which houses a
digital panel that features rich media applications
developed in collaboration with TP staff and students.
One of its most popular applications is the Photo
Booth, commonly known as ‘newprint booth’. A photo
contest to garner the most ‘likes’ on the library’s Facebook page was a big hit with students. Also in the Interactive Corner, are an iPad and an Android tablet,
installed to showcase the iOS and Android library
mobile apps developed by TP students.
NTU Library’s facilities include learning pods with
smart boards, multiscreen work desks, a recording
room, digital newspaper stands and open viewing
area. The success led to the development of the second learning commons at the Business Library, which
has additional facilities including a mini-cinema, language learning rooms and a career resource corner.
One of the key ideas is to provide useful equipment
and facilities that students do not normally have at
home or elsewhere.
The new National Library
The much awaited National Library of Singapore
opened its doors in 2006 at a new location, Victoria
Street. The library’s startup collection of 635,000
items was spread over a floor area of 58,000 square
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Figure 9. Singapore Polytechnic students tinkering with their robots in the RoBoPod, a space created to inspire engineering students in robotics.
meters. It was five times larger than the grand old
lady, the National Library at Stamford Road, which
had to give way to urban redevelopment despite an
outcry to preserve the building.
The new National Library building was designed as a
haven for Knowledge, Imagination and Possibility and
houses the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library and the
Central Public Library under one roof. Due to its central
location, it has attracted many community groups and
organizations to work with the NLB to host thematic
exhibitions, talks and public events.
Exploiting technology
Singapore libraries have been fortunate to be in the
forefront of prototyping new library-based technology
applications with industry partners and academia.
The libraries served as test beds for innovative library
applications.
In the 1980s, when Singapore embarked on a
government-wide computerization programme, libraries, too, started to introduce library management systems, access to online catalogues and content from
automated microfiche readers to standalone computer
terminals to networked systems. We also evolved from
access at libraries and local area networks to seamless
anywhere-anytime access. NP and SP Libraries were
amongst the first to introduce a computerized library
system in the early 1980s. By 1999, TP Library had
implemented Insphere, a seamless, one-stop gateway
to electronic information sources such as networked,
multimedia CD-ROMs, Internet, and online research
databases as well as digitized past examination papers.
Students can also ask for online technical assistance,
send a reference enquiry and book a personal computer
through the system.
Users are spoiled for choice and have at their hands a
plethora of technologies to experience and learn – be it
touch screens, multiple screens, tablets, eReaders or
mobile devices. Amongst the libraries that have introduced these technologies are: the NTU Business
Library’s use of double and triple screens to allow users
to search, view and manipulate data, NIE Library’s
touch screen OPAC terminals and SUTD Library’s
iPads as OPAC and onsite computer. It was also in the
1980s that the government worked with the then
National Library to establish the Singapore Integrated
Library Automation Service (SILAS) which hosts the
national union catalogue. SILAS today conducts training on cataloguing, metadata, RDA and has sharing sessions. It also acts as a gateway to OCLC.
In 2005, NLB relaunched its digital library services
which provided the public with access to a wide range
of digital information at their fingertips. As Steve Jobs
once said, ‘‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’’6, so have our
libraries. The librarians have stayed abreast of developments, identified and adapted new and emerging technologies to enhance service delivery and improve on
business operations. From tagging books to barcodes
and security tags, libraries now exploit RFID technology with enhanced features and use QR codes to facilitate access, promote and track use. Loan systems have
evolved to RFID enable self-check machines and automated book drops and sorting systems.
The NUS Library won a patent in 2010 for designing a bookdrop that had two new features: it sends an
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Figure 10. Temasek Polytechnic Library’s interactive corner features a digital panel that showcases applications developed in tandem by teaching staff and students.
SMS to the staff member of Loans and Membership and
locks the system when the bin is full. Recently, to ease
the load of transporting books from the Closed Stacks
to the Loans Desk and vice versa, the library fabricated
a motorized transporter. It greatly helped our aging
workers and resulted in releasing librarians to focus
on library users in a value-added and timely manner.
Reaching out: from mobile libraries on
wheels to virtual space
On 6 September 1960, a cream coloured army bus
chugged its way to Nee Soon Naval Base School and
surprised students with its busload of reading materials.
At the end of that one short visit, 300 loans were
recorded. By end September 1960, the bus had visited
37 schools with 2,000 loans. The success spurred the
National Library to set up 12 mobile library service
points at various parts of tiny Singapore. The services
were phased out in the 1980s as permanent physical
library buildings were set up to reach out to residents
in various housing estates. However, in 2009, Molly,
a cosy wireless mobile service on wheels, was
introduced to reach out to the physically challenged,
elderly and very young who could not visit libraries.
Molly’s visitors enjoyed the activities such as storytelling, puppetry shows, and surfed on iPads or borrowed
books using RFID enabled self-check machines.
Fast forwarding to the 21st century, we now see a different kind of mobile media (i.e. social media) that has
taken the world by storm. Libraries in Singapore have
also jumped on to the bandwagon and began to exploit
Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and mobile applications to
reach out to their users and to stay plugged in. Hence,
instead of updates through newsletters, bulletins, accessions lists and bibliographies, which may still exist, a
myriad of technological options are exploited to provide
information to on-the-go users in bite sizes.
TP Library is tapping on the visual appeal of Pinterest to promote its print collections and to foster the
reading habit among its young readers. Its Pinterest
board introduces books from various genres so that
staff and students can visit the site regularly for recommended good reads.
The NUS Libraries, for instance, is extensively
exploiting the social media to offer an array of
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IFLA Journal 39(2)
Figure 11. Figures 11-1 to 11-4. Clockwise from top left-Learning pods in Lee Wee Nam Library (NTU), Early Textbook
Collection at Wang Gung Wu Library, Srt Media and Design Library and part of Learning Commons in Business Library.
services and more effectively connect with users.
Twitter is used to broadcast news of interests with
1000þ followers and this is complemented via
Memes that announce news.
In April 2012, the NUS Libraries launched a meme
contest that encouraged users to send in libraryrelated news. It was a huge success, drawing over
100 entries and thousands of likes. At its peak, there
was a 30,000 weekly reach during the period. As
noted by some students, the meme contest became a
feedback channel for users to express.
It has introduced an online chat service to work in
tandem with the FAQs system. Questions received
during the chat sessions helped enhance the FAQs.
The new FAQ system also has the ability to track what
users are searching for and what they are clicking on
or not. This allows the library to calculate the hit ratio
(success rate) of students searching the FAQ.
The NUS Library had also embraced instant messaging systems and evolved to web-based live chats with
librarians assisting users on research queries. It will
become the first library to add chat points into the
university’s learning portal, Integrated Virtual Learning
Environment (IVLE) and expects this mode of communication to rival, if not exceed, email transactions.
Most libraries have, like the NUS Library, experimented with the latest technologies like QR (Quick
Response) Codes to bridge real world marketing to
virtual content and Foursquare, a location-based service that allows users to check-in and share their location and tips with friends.
At the NTU Business Library, we also witness an
immersive library experience. The idea was to create
a hybrid of physical-cum-virtual environment by
exposing users to a range of new media access points
to facilitate learning and discovery of library
resources while they are in the physical library environment. For example, QR codes were placed in a
variety of information posters on book shelves and
walls to entice users to use their mobile devices to discover the rich variety of online resources and information on a particular topic.
One example was when, in 2012, the hot topic was
on business management gurus, 30 large sized panels
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113
Figure 12. The National Library of Singapore at Victoria Street. National Library of Singapore.
with QR codes and caricatures featuring contemporary business management thinkers were erected
throughout the library and users could scan the QR
codes using their smart phones or tablets which provide streamed audio biographies and bibliographies
of resources available in the library.
Anytime anywhere access
Mobile devices have become the main way in which
users connect, communicate and discover. Hence our
libraries have capitalized on this technology to connect with users.
TP Library’s mobile application includes a timesaving feature such as ISBN barcode scanner to check
for item availability and a fun game called ‘Spin Me’,
which recommends good reads when a user shakes
his/her mobile device.
NYP’s Library On-the-Go is a ‘one portal that runs
everywhere’ and NIE’s LibGO! mobile services allow
users to check out resources, manage their loans,
renewals and e-resources or stay updated on new arrivals or updates while on the move. It’s timely, it’s bite
sized, and helps user stay afloat rather than drown in a
deluge of information. The NIE Library has launched
an online streaming video service.
The right information at the right time
In accordance with Ranganathan’s age old tenet of
ensuring ‘‘the right information at the right time in the
right form’’, libraries are venturing into offering a
suite of tools and services that will empower the user
to extract the relevant information on a timely basis
and in a form they prefer. For example, many have
introduced powerful search and discovery tools to
facilitate one single federated search across a plethora
of sources and have these delivered to the user in
device-agnostic formats. Power search tools have
become the norm and each institute has coined interesting names . . . LibSearch, PowerSearch, LibDiscover, Pyxis, and so forth.
In 2002, TP Library launched its Digital Library
Portal, Spark which aimed to transform the library
into a borderless, state-of-the-art digital library with
the implementation of a federated search across a
range of diverse resources, link resolver, and a digital
media repository for local digitized content. In April
2013, it was replaced with LIBsearch, a search and
discovery system. Through a single search box, users
can search across the full breadth of content from the
library catalogue, local repository, subscribed and
open access databases.
Raising Info fluency
Keeping up with the times, most libraries have
adopted a multipronged approach to inculcating information literacy and skills in users. Innovative and
creative active learning approaches are adopted to
engage the public, students, professionals and management to master the effective research techniques
and knowledge of resources or learn to use new tools
and devices to stay informed. The training programmes often cover four main areas – awareness
of resources, research skills, subject information
resources and tools for learning and research.
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Figure 13. To ease the load of transporting books, the
NUS Library fabricated a motorized transporter.
NLB’s READ programme goes back in time and has
taken a multitude of approaches to inculcate good reading habits. Reading campaigns and activities including
storytelling, ASEAN Children’s Festival and a variety
of promotional materials were released to educate the
masses on the importance of reading. Popular READ
initiatives include ‘10,000 Fathers Reading!’, for father
figures and their children, ‘READ! Singapore’ for those
above 15 years, national ‘KidsREAD’ for children from
lower income families, ‘READ and Reap’ for students
and ‘Mobile READ’ which allows readers to read on
mobile devices like the iPhone. ‘Share-A-Story Club’
for seniors, adults and teenagers was launched and many
readers found the ‘Share-A-Story’ interesting and
enlightening as it was akin to discovering part of our history from each other. The Bookcross programme, which
encouraged readers to pick a book and share a book was
placed at libraries, cafés, and public spaces.
NLB has also started a National Information Literacy Programme, which aims to raise awareness and
public recognition of the importance of information
literacy skills, and to provide the resources necessary
for Singaporeans to become discerning consumers of
information. In 2012, NLB started generating publicity about info-literacy: over 6,000 parents, children
and teachers were trained at 29 workshops and eight
outreach drives across schools and shopping malls.
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Most of the academic libraries conduct training during the new cohort orientation period and/or structure
more serious classroom training to promote the value
of the content and how to exploit the best resources.
The librarians also work in partnership with
faculty to offer customized training to support specific research and teaching needs. One such example
is the ‘Academic Writing: Imparting Critical Thinking Skills’ that SMU Library conducts with faculty
involvement.
Innovative instructional approaches include
e-learning tools, quizzes, learning through games and
discovery. For instance, SMU Library has introduced
a scavenger hunt, while the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM Library) had an amazing race, to entice
students to discover nuggets of information and through
that understand the importance of finding and using
information in a fun way. In addition, a novel approach
that SMU Library has taken is to offer a Legal Internship
Prep Course (LIPC), which is customized with emphasis on real queries and research methodology. LIPC is
conducted at the Supreme Court as part of a compulsory
10-week internship that law students are required to
complete. It is designed with the intention of exposing
law students to real work situations where one may be
faced with limited resources and services compared to
an academic research library setting with a dearth of
resources and on-demand services.
NP Library has a Wealth Creation InfoCentre to
develop students’ financial literacy and investment
skills. It houses a wide range of titles on topics related
to wealth creation such as personal finance, portfolio
management, and guides to investing Students can
also practice on Bloomberg Financial Services and
simulated investment programs. Its information skills
training course is available via an ePlatform and provides scenario-based learning to stimulate students’
higher thinking skills, online games to engage students’ interests, integration of video on-demand to
meet the students’ just-in-time learning and an online
assessment to test learning outcomes.
Academic libraries also place emphasis on educating
the users on the importance of the copyright laws and
limitations, anti-plagiarism and citations. They are
also involved in campus-wide initiatives on academic
integrity education. For example, NTU Library held
an anti-plagiarism exhibition comprising student
videos, guidelines and tips last year and received positive feedback.
Outreach programmes
Most libraries in Singapore have an aggressive outreach programme. Each organizes various activities,
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Figure 14. NUS Libraries’ meme competition was a way through which user feedback could be garnered.
promotions, book launches, and road shows to share
with users and other libraries. NTU Library, for
instance, held more than 40 exhibitions in the last academic year and its events such as eFest, Academic Publishing Week and other talks are organized annually.
Collection strategy
Each library’s collection development policy is geared
towards developing a rich knowledge base to support
the needs of their user communities, but collectively
they serve the needs of the nation. The more established
academic libraries have built up a large base of core
print resources that are representative of the best titles
in each field. The current emphasis is on a ‘go-digital’
strategy and hence, each is placing emphasis on acquiring e-resources to augment and/or substitute the print
collections, thereby promoting anytime anywhere
access and freeing up space to create more areas for
discussion and interactive learning. Purchase models
range from annual licences to perpetual access and/or
demand/patron driven models. When TP Library introduced its patron-driven acquisitions model, the instantaneous and ease of access 24/7 via mobile devices proved
a hit with both students and staff.
Hence, Singaporeans should not have the need to
thirst for information. The three largest libraries
account for the wealth of information resources – the
National and Public Library system itself has a reservoir of 9 million books, journals and other materials,
and the Singapore public will have access to over 3
million e-books by the end of 2013. The NUS
boasts of 1.3 million unique titles of print materials and
400,000 e-resources including e-books as of June 2012,
while NTU has 820,000 print titles and almost 500,000
e-resources. These rich reservoirs of information
resources at our libraries can be tapped directly or via
interlibrary arrangements.
Given Singapore’s strategic position and role as a hub
for value-added services, libraries have also built up the
collection related to its regional ASEAN hinterland
extensively. The National Library, National University
of Singapore and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Library (ISEAS Library) can take pride in showcasing
their rich Singapore and Southeast Asian Collections
as their crown jewels. These are useful to researchers
in Singapore and the region. The ISEAS Library’s Private Papers collections include those that belonged to
our past leaders such as David Marshall, Lim Kim San
and S. Rajaratnam, among others. These libraries have
plans to enhance the regional collection in specific thematic areas and exploring possibilities of creating a
shared digital repository to promote access.
The academic libraries through the years have built
up specialized collections to support the teaching and
learning needs and are beginning to serve as de facto
‘national collections’. Examples of specialized collections include:
the Medical and Law Libraries at the National
University of Singapore
the Engineering collection and Business Libraries
at Nanyang Technological University
the Arts/Design and Hospitality/Tourism collections at Temasek Polytechnic
the educational resources that support teachers and
educators at the National Institute of Education.
These materials span the history, systems and policies of the Singapore education system as well as
the region and emphasis is placed on the genre covering teaching methods, pedagogy, and curriculum
development.
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new releases and popular titles, electronic forms to
request for services, email and SMS alerts. It is also
integrated to the learning management system where
library titles are displayed against subjects taught and
users can seamlessly access the library catalogue.
To broaden its reach, NLB has created a number of
information portals such as Infopedia, NewsPapersSG
and MusicSG. As part of the Singapore Memory project, a whole national movement has been orchestrated
to capture memories of Singapore. A large scale digitization of Singapore’s history is under way. This
includes collecting and digitizing postcards, pictures
and other artworks that are contributed by members
of the public. PictureSG provides access to photographs and artworks and BookSG provides e-access
to rare books and historical materials about Singapore.
Emerging roles
Figure 15. Libraries are utilizing social media, like Foursquare, to engage their users and boost library visibility.
the rich 600,000 Southeast Asian collection with
private collections of prominent persons at the
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Library serve
as a research hub supporting researchers from the
region and globally.
In addition, others are developing specializations in
other fields such as the law and business/management
collections at the Singapore Management University
Library. The Singapore University of Technology and
Design Library, which is only 2 years old is developing an interesting touch and feel experience with its
materials collection and will provide open access to
its design and technology collection.
Library portal, window to the world
The new façade that attracts the user is not the physical
library but the library web page that becomes the window to the wealth of information and portfolio of services. Singapore Polytechnic’s ELISER is an instance
of a portal that has been constantly refreshed and maintained to ensure user friendliness with features to
attract users. The key features include personalization
and participation, an electronic bookshelf displaying
With the proliferation of open access resources and
peer-to-peer sharing of information, libraries are constantly faced with the challenge of ensuring stakeholders appreciate and realize the value libraries
offer in the accumulation, organization and dissemination of information in cost-effective ways. Most
libraries are engaging users and repositioning libraries
to raise the visibility and proactively contributing in
various initiatives.
Examples include participation in work improvement teams, as resource persons in committees, observing classes and providing reading lists and/or training
in class on sourcing for research materials, organizing
book launches for faculty, etc. The SMU librarians
have taken on the role of supporting the faculty with
their research performance assessment and prepare
citation analysis reports which help the university’s
Office of Research Administration produce research
publications report to the stakeholders. The librarians
also prepare citation reports for faculty applying for
tenure and promotions.
As the National Library of Singapore begins to
play the dual role of preserving the literary heritage
and oral history of the nation, academic libraries are
playing a lead role in preserving the academic and
scholarly output of the academic institution. These
take the form of institutional repositories that capture,
index and archive theses, various academic papers
and the history of the institution. NUS Libraries have
launched ScholarBank@NUSL. NTU launched DRNTU and successfully obtained approval from the
university in 2011 for an Open Access Mandate
requiring faculty to submit their publications and students, their research theses for open access. For SMU,
INK has been set up.
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Figure 16. 16-1 to 16.4. An immersive library experience at the Nanyang Technological University Business Library.
The SMU Library also initiated an oral history project ‘Conceptualising SMU: The People and Ideas
behind the SMU Story’ to gather records that encapsulate the thinking behind the establishment of SMU,
Singapore’s third university.
NP Library has created a gallery which showcases
the rags to riches story of its donor, Dr Lien Ying
Chow, his legendary business acumen, services to the
country, commitment to education and passion for the
country. It also includes a rich array of resources on
Asian entrepreneurs, pioneers of Singapore, philanthropy and Chinese diaspora.
A Digital Media Repository system was developed
by the TP Library in 2004 to collect all things TP such
as images, audiovisual, and digitized publications.
This was subsequently replaced with ADAM, a digital
asset management system, in 2010. To underline the
role of the library as the institutional repository for the
institution, TP Library will be looking into an integrated archival management solution, which will promote access and presentation of its archive collection.
SP Library has also created the Singapore Polytechnic Memory Project that is aimed at capturing the
school’s history and linking the present community to
the past. Similarly, NIE has started to create an image
bank to capture its 60-year history and other libraries
are also embarking on preserving the history, literary
heritage and intellectual capital of their institutions.
Knowledge management and collaboration are probably the next big areas that Singapore libraries need to
address. Going beyond interlibrary loans coupled with
resource constraints and rising costs, it is timely for the
libraries to look into perhaps working on a national collection strategy with consortia rates for digital licences,
open access to libraries and shared training, knowledge,
experience, systems and applications rather than each
reinventing the wheel. The libraries under the Council
of Chief Librarians have started discussions and hopefully this will come to fruition.
Manpower development
In line with the proliferation of technology-based
services at the libraries and new expanded roles,
Figure 17. Many libraries, like Nanyang Polytechnic’s, offer
mobile applications that allow users to access library services from their portable devices.
librarians are renewing and upgrading themselves to
be information-savvy professionals. This is important
as we are serving a more demanding and affluent user
base. Subject specialization becomes important so
that librarians understand the domain knowledge and
can effectively connect with the users.
In Singapore, librarians have several avenues to
upgrade, stay relevant and be equipped with the new
skills needed. In addition to the Masters in Information Studies and short courses offered at the Nanyang
Technological University, the Library Association of
Singapore also organizes continuing education programmes. The Association has set in place a Professional Development Scheme to accredit librarians
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IFLA Journal 39(2)
Figure 18. 18-1 to 18.3. Temasek Polytechnic Library’s Insphere, a gateway to electronic resources introduced in 1999,
was replaced with the Digital Library Portal in 2002.
who participate in various training programmes and
demonstrate mastery.
Libraries invest in staff training and development.
They organize training with vendors, send staff to conferences and study trips. Some have arranged exchange
programmes by twinning with other organizations and
partners. E-learning and webinars are becoming a norm
as well as peer-to-peer learning through sharing knowledge and interacting via forums and blogs.
Library conferences help librarians keep abreast
of changes and trends in the industry. Libraries in
Singapore are connected to the wider global library
community by participating, organizing and hosting
various international and local conferences. For
instance, the NLB is organizing the second International
Summit of the Book in 2013, while the Library Association of Singapore has its annual conferences. NTU
Library organized the 2012 Annual International Association of Scientific and Technological University
Libraries (IATUL), which attracted 180 participants
from 25 countries. This is the first time IATUL has held
its conference in Asia. Singapore will be hosting this
year’s IFLA in August 2013.
Our librarians are also plugged into the local and international professional library community. They attend
various regional and international meetings and conferences. Libraries have joined as institutional members of
various organizations. Examples include membership
with the Library Association of Singapore (LAS), Congress of Southeast Asian Libraries, ASEAN University
Network Information and Libraries Online (AUNILO),
American Library Association (ALA), International
Association of Scientific and Technological University
Libraries (IATUL), International Federation of Library
Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Pacific Rim Digital
Library Alliance (PRDLA), Special Libraries Association (SLA), Libraries of the Australian Technology Network (LATN), and OCLC, among others.
These memberships vary from library to library.
The NTU Library, for instance, belongs to the Outstanding Academic Papers by Students (OAPS) group
of libraries from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and
USA, which aim to promote good scholarly writing
by students. NTU has close ties with Wuhan University Library in China, which involves two staff members from each institution spending between 2 weeks
to 2 months attachments in the respective libraries
annually for the past 4 years. It also provides regular
professional staff attachments for regional librarians
under their Professional Internship Programme for
International Librarians (PIPIL). More than 40
regional librarians have been through the NTU
Library since 2006.
Conclusion
Painting the century-old history on a canvas will highlight the meandering paths, the peaks and downs that
the libraries had to take in the light of socio-economic
development and priorities as the nation progressed.
Singapore libraries, we believe, have been fortunate.
Despite various challenges, the libraries in Singapore
have weathered hard times and good times to rise and
meet the information needs of the populace and target
communities through a plethora of information
resources supporting leisure, education and research.
Sabaratnam and Ong: Singapore libraries: From bricks and mortar to information anytime anywhere
Looking back, we can proudly say that each librarian has in some small way contributed to the library
renaissance in Singapore. This article, we believe,
will serve as a window to the world of libraries and
librarianship in Singapore.
Acknowledgements
Contributors to the Article
Zaleha Tamby (ISEAS Library), Leo-Lim Bee Ang (Ngee
Ann Polytechnic), Chia Wai Ying, Daniel Wee (Nanyang
Polytechnic), Choy Fatt Cheong (Nanyang Technological
University), Ho Oon Seng Hilary, Wan-Yeoh Seok Kwan
(National Institute of Education), Lim Tin Seng (National
Library Board), Hashimah Bte Johari (National University
of Singapore Libraries), Library staff members (Singapore
Institute of Management), Li Ka Shing, Library staff (Singapore Management University), Fang Sin Guek, Jennifer
Gan (Singapore Polytechnic), Fong Kok Seng (Singapore
University of Technology and Design), Ho Mui Huay
(Temasek Polytechnic Library).
Notes
1. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/1039077/1/.html
2. Library 2000 Review Committee. (1994). Library 2000:
Investing in a learning nation: Report of the Library
2000 Review Committee. Singapore: SNP Publishers.
3. The National Library Board Act. http://www.nlb.gov.sg/
Corporate.portal?_nfpb¼true&_pageLabel¼Corporate_
portal_page_aboutnlb&node¼corporate%2FAboutþ
NLB%2FNLBþAct&corpCareerNLBParam¼NLBþAct
4. Tampines: The branch library of the future. (1993,
March 18). The Straits Times, p. 23.
5. Peralta, C. (1997, March 12). National Library’s $2.6m
facelift. The Straits Times, News Focus, p. 2.
6. BrainyQuote. 2011. Steve Job Quotes. Retrieved 6 February 2013 from: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/
authors/s/steve_jobs.html#tVJyMbh2btRKfOEt.99
References/Additional readings
Corner EJH (1981) The Marquis: A tale of Syonan-to.
Singapore: Heinemann Educational Asia.
Hanitsch R (1991) Raffles Library and Museum. In W
Makepeace, Brooke GE and Braddell RJ (eds.) One hundred years of Singapore. Singapore: Oxford University
Press.
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (2012). Library Outlook 2013. Retrieved February 20, 2013, from http://
www.iseas.edu.sg/library-outlook-2013.cfm.
Library 2000 Review Committee (1994) Library 2000:
Investing in a learning nation: Report of the Library
2000 Review Committee. Singapore: SNP Publishers.
Lim HT (1970) Libraries in West Malaysia and Singapore, a
short history. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press.
Liu G (1987) One hundred years of the National Museum Singapore 1887–1987. Singapore: The Museum, Singapore.
119
Makepeace W, Brooke GE and Braddell RJ (eds.) (1991)
One hundred years of Singapore. Singapore: Oxford
University Press.
National Institute of Education (n.d.) Fast facts on NIE.
Retrieved January 16, 2013, from http://www.nie.edu.
sg/about-nie/general-information/fast-facts-nie
National Institute of Education (n.d.) History. Retrieved
January 16, 2013, from http://www.nie.edu.sg/aboutnie/general-information/history
National Institute of Education (n.d.) Vision, Mission, Core
Values. Retrieved January 16, 2013, from http://www.
nie.edu.sg/about-nie/general-information/vision-mission-core-values
National Library Board (1995–) Annual Report 1995–. Singapore: National Library Board.
National Library Board (2005b) Library 2010: Libraries
for life, knowledge for success. Singapore: National
Library Board.
National Library Board (2007) The people’s library: 50
years of national and public library services. Singapore:
National Library Board.
National Library Board (2009) Molly’s memories, milestones and moments: celebrating mobile library services
in Singapore. Singapore: Public Libraries Singapore,
National Library Board.
National Library Singapore (1964–) Annual Report 1963–.
Singapore: The Library.
Raffles Library and Museum (1876) Annual Report 1875.
Singapore: The Museum.
Raffles Library and Museum (1940) Annual Report 1939.
Singapore: The Museum.
Raffles Library and Museum (1956) Annual Report 1955.
Singapore: The Museum.
Hallowell R, Knoop C-I and Siong NB (2001) Transforming Singapore’s public libraries. Boston, Mass.:
Harvard Business School.
Seet KK (1983) A place for the people. Singapore: Times
Books International.
Seet KK (2005) Knowledge, imagination, possibility:
Singapore’s transformative library. Singapore: SNP
Editions.
Singapore Polytechnic (2012) Singapore Polytechnic
Annual Report 2011/12, Singapore.
Singapore Polytechnic (2013) Singapore Polytechnic website [online]. Available from: http://www.sp.edu.sg
[Accessed 24 January 2013].
Singapore Polytechnic (2013) SP Prospectus 2013–14,
Singapore.
Turnbull CM (2009) A history of modern Singapore, 1819–
2005. Singapore: NUS Press.
Wijeysingha E (1989) The eagle breeds a gryphon: The
story of the Raffles Institution 1823–1985. Singapore:
Pioneer Book Centre.
Useful links to Singapore library homepages
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, ISEAS
Libraries. http://www.iseas.edu.sg/library.cfm
120
Nanyang Polytechnic Library, NYP Library. http://
library.nyp.edu.sg
Nanyang Technological University, NTU Library.
www.ntu.edu.sg/library/
National Institute of Education, Library and Information Services Centre. http://libris.nie.edu.sg
National Library Board, Singapore. http://www.nlb.
gov.sg/
National University of Singapore, NUS Libraries.
www.lib.nus.edu.sg/
Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Lien Ying Chow Library.
http://www.np.edu.sg/library
Singapore Institute of Management, SIM Libraries.
http://www1.sim.edu.sg/
Singapore Management University, Li Ka Shing
Library. http://library.smu.edu.sg/
Singapore Polytechnic, SP Library. http://eliser.
lib.sp.edu.sg/
Singapore University of Technology and Design,
SUTD Library. http://library.sutd.edu.sg/
Temasek Polytechnic, TP Library. http://library.tp.
edu.sg/
Author biographies
Julie S Sabaratnam has rich experiences from the public,
private and academic sectors. She was instrumental in the
landmark Library 2000 study that shaped the transformation
IFLA Journal 39(2)
of libraries in Singapore, the establishment of the National
Library Board and the Masters in Information Studies
programme at NTU. She helped establish and manage information and research services in various organizations.
Though Julie was the corporate librarian, she had the opportunity to work as the strategic planner and was actively
involved in various national plans such as IT2000, ICT21,
and Renaissance City. She spearheaded the first national
digital library initiative, TiARA in 1996. Julie obtained her
Masters in Information Studies from Loughborough University of Technology. Contact details: Ms Julie S Sabaratnam,
University Librarian, Singapore University of Technology
and Design, 20 Dover Drive Singapore 138682. Tel: þ6563036691. Email: juliesabaratnam@sutd.edu.sg Web: www.
sutd.edu.sg Library Homepage: library.sutd.edu.sg
Mrs Esther Ong Wooi Cheen is the Director of Library
and Information Resources at Temasek Polytechnic,
Singapore since 1991. She is the pioneer librarian who set
up the present day 11-storey library building. She graduated with a BSc (Econ) from the University of Canterbury,
NZ in 1974 and obtained her Postgraduate Diploma in
Librarianship from the University of NSW, Australia in
1978. She has worked in the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University libraries prior
to her present appointment. Contact details: Temasek Polytechnic Library, 21 Tampines Ave 1, Singapore 529757.
Tel: 65-67805211. Email: ongwc@tp.edu.sg
I F LA
Article
Commonwealth of uncertainty: How
British and American professional
models of library practice have shaped
LIS Education in selected former
British Colonies and Dominions
International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions
39(2) 121–133
ª The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0340035213486405
ifla.sagepub.com
Mary Carroll
Charles Sturt University Wagga Wagga
Paulette Kerr
University of the West Indies, Mona
Abdullahi I. Musa
Emporia State University
Waseem Afzal
Charles Sturt University
Abstract
Worldwide the library and information profession has been the focus of competing social and political agendas
that have contributed to the shape of the profession. From the late 19th century to the present in countries
aligned to the former British Dominions and Colonies (today part of the Commonwealth of Nations) these
external influences were predominantly from two cultural arenas, that of the United Kingdom (UK) and the
United States (US). The result in many Commonwealth countries been two competing and at times
contradictory models for LIS pedagogy which have been labelled the British and American ‘models or
patterns’ of education. The convergence of these two influences has had a role in shaping LIS education and
has left a complex legacy. This paper will examine how the legacy of this convergence continues to shape
the aspirational agenda of local professional communities and will discuss how this has influenced the
delivery and the educational model for librarianship. This paper will examine as a series of case studies how
the legacy of this convergence has shaped the aspirations of the LIS profession and influenced the delivery
and the educational model of librarianship in a number of Commonwealth countries.
Keywords
library and information education, cultural influences, Commonwealth countries
Exploration of the foundations of modern library and
information science (LIS) worldwide reveals a discipline which has been the focus of competing international agendas seeking to influence education and
practice at the local level. These international influences can be seen clearly in many of the countries
which constitute the Commonwealth of Nations1. From
the late 19th century to the present in many former
British Colonies and Dominions2 these international
influences were derived predominantly from the
United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) and
have been variously called the British and American
Corresponding author:
Mary Carroll, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Boorooma
Street, North Wagga NSW, Australia. Postal address: Locked Bag
588, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia.
Email: macarroll@csu.edu.au
122
‘models’ or ‘patterns’ of education and practice (Bramley 1975; Bryan 1972; Keane 1985). As a consequence
of this duality of influence in many local professional
communities there exists an uneasy convergence of
two competing and at times contradictory models of
LIS. The outcome in countries where this has occurred
can be professional tensions and uncertainties and
complex, and at times contradictory, models for education and practice within the one jurisdiction. This paper
will examine as a series of case studies how the legacy
of this convergence has shaped the aspirations of the
LIS profession and influenced the delivery and the educational model of librarianship in a number of these
Commonwealth countries.
Models of education
The British model
In the late 19th and early 20th century the LIS profession
in many of the former British Colonies and Dominions
derived its educational and professional structures principally from UK precedents. This so called ‘British
model’ for LIS included training in the workplace in
an apprenticeship mode and eventually involved examinations in both general and specialist knowledge set by
the local professional association or the Library Association (LA) of the United Kingdom. In the second half
of the 20th century this model evolved into one which
initially included local training schools catering for
these examinations and later first or undergraduate
degrees in librarianship with some of the LIS professional associations acting as course accrediting rather
than examining bodies. These changes were in response
to a variety of factors including increasing accessibility
of education, growth in the number of libraries, changes
in government policy and lobbying by professional associations for education to support practice and promote
the status of their professions.
Despite these changes in the second half of the 20th
century, educational conditions in the United Kingdom and many of its former colonies and dominions
remained very different from those of the United
States and consequently the pathway to professions
such as librarianship was equally dissimilar. Access
to libraries and the conditions under which they operated in the US were also very different as was the role
the library was seen to play in society. In the US public libraries were widespread thanks to the work of
philanthropists such as Andrew Carnegie and they,
like education, were entwined with wider social and
political agendas. In the US
Education for librarianship follows this pattern. The
first recognized professional degree is the master’s;
IFLA Journal 39(2)
admission to most library schools requires the fouryear bachelor’s degree, following the twelve years of
elementary-secondary education (Asheim 1971: 43).
The concept of librarianship as a postgraduate
profession in the US style was not favoured however
by British trained librarians working nationally and
internationally in the many former colonies and
dominions and was viewed as inappropriate to local
needs and conditions. It was argued these differences
in education and library infrastructure made a postgraduate model neither appropriate to the needs of
local communities, nor sustainable, aimed as it was
towards producing library leaders rather than workers.
The British based apprentice and undergraduate
model of education for librarianship held sway in
many Commonwealth countries for a large part of the
20th and 21st centuries. Yet in many countries US
based influences and practices ran parallel to these
British practices.
The promotion of US library practice
Historically US standardized work practices and systems such as Dewey Decimal Classification began to
make inroads internationally in the second half of the
19th century (though not without some resistance3).
The exportation of these standardized practices and
systems was to be a harbinger of a broader promotion
of US style professional principles and practice internationally in the 20th century. Led by the American
Library Association and supported by both US philanthropic and government agencies, the promotion of an
American model of ‘modern’ library practice and
education abroad was part of a broader agenda to provide a living example of democratic culture at work
(Kraske, 1985: 3).
In this ‘American model’ education for librarianship
occurred in tertiary institutions and followed the precedents of professions such as law and medicine as a
graduate profession. The professional association acted
as an accrediting body for tertiary programmes rather
than an examination body and the establishment and
promotion of professional associations was seen as
central to promoting the status of the profession.
Ongoing issues
Within many international professional groups the
complex legacy emerging from this historical context
can be seen in local professional and aspirational struggles as attempts are made to reconcile the competing
influences and contrasting educational structures. Such
struggles have, in some instances, resulted in ongoing
uncertainty and tension over best practice in education,
Carroll et al.: Commonwealth of uncertainty
preferred professional entry points and persistent and
unresolved debate associated with what constitutes
appropriate education for the LIS profession. These
debates encompass issues such as apprenticeship versus degree models of education, the role of professional
associations in education and defining standards–
including the question of examination versus accreditation; the appropriateness of undergraduate or postgraduate education as an entry point for the
profession and to meet local labour needs; whether
paraprofessional training (that is for library technicians or library technical assistants) is necessary in
the industry, and; if those trained in such a way
should be given access to, and credit for, their training towards professional undergraduate or postgraduate qualifications (Carroll 2011). Each of these
issues reflects a tension between the two different
and contending educational paradigms which can
be seen running through the development of professional librarianship internationally. This legacy and
its implications for professional practice will be discussed in this paper as they relate to four LIS communities: Australia, Jamaica, Nigeria and Pakistan.
Australia
European Australia has long been exposed to various
cultural pressures from beyond its own shores and
has been profoundly influenced by its colonial heritage–resolutely and proudly part of the British
Empire and Commonwealth yet pragmatically looking elsewhere for inspiration, identity and a sense of
independence. Despite its strong cultural and emotional ties to the former British Empire, from the late
19th century onwards Australia began to look frequently to its increasingly influential Pacific neighbour, the United States, for cultural, political and
educational inspiration.
Historical trends in Australia
The first decades of the 20th century were to see
increased exposure to US popular culture through
media such as popular fiction, film and radio and the
increasing engagement of influential Australian professionals with their US counterparts. Nationally,
educational historian Richard Selleck believes that
there was ‘significant cultural change’ during this
period, as ‘Australian educationalists were beginning
to seek inspiration in the United States rather than
Britain’ (1982: 272). The increasing presence of US
philanthropic bodies and other non-government agencies in Australia also provided opportunities to Australian professionals for and exposure to new ideas
and modes of practice emerging from the US.
123
Importantly for the library profession in Australia
(and elsewhere) amongst the US philanthropic organization making their presence felt in Australia, was the
CCNY. The influence of the CCNY on the Australian
education and library community in the 1920s, 1930s
and 1940s is considered significant (Horrocks, 1971;
White, 1997). The years prior to World War II saw the
CCNY become actively engaged in Australian professional life, funding the establishment of the Australian
Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the
Australian Institute of Librarians (AIL) later known
as the Library Association of Australia (LAA). The
CCNY also funded the international travel of many
key men and women to both Europe and the United
States. CCNY funding in Australia was to align with
emerging US government agendas in promoting the
US abroad and the opportunities provided by the
CCNY also exposed key influential Australian librarians to new templates for practice and ambitions for
Australian LIS education. While not uncritical or
all-embracing in their acceptance, these influential
practitioners were to place in the Australian arena
ambitions for a mode of education and practice often
at odds with Australian educational conditions, which
at this time more closely resembled those of its traditional mentor, the UK. In Australia the activities of
the CCNY were to lay the ground for the work of
other US agencies in the construction of the library
profession.
Ensuring democratic librarianship was the benchmark for professional practice and an essential part
of the broader defence of democracy was to become
an integral and overt element in wider US diplomatic
efforts. In 1944 the Australian library fraternity welcomed a number of high-profile US Office of War
Information (OWI) librarians to its shores as part of
an effort to establish OWI libraries in strategically
important locations in the Pacific. The Australian
OWI libraries were established in Melbourne, Victoria and Sydney, New South Wales and were part
of a broader information effort by the US government
involving news services, films and intelligence gathering, as well as library service. The Australian OWI
librarians included Helen Wessells, later editor of the
Library Journal and Harriet Root, librarian of the US
Information Service in Washington. Their arrival was
to continue the promotion of US practice started by
the CCNY in Australia and was aligned to the US war
efforts and the role defined for libraries and librarians
identified these efforts as being critical in the defence
of freedom and in supporting democracy. In the time
they were to spend in Australia, these librarians had a
lasting impact on local library practice. The US democratic vision presented by these librarians was to
124
have a hold in the imagination of many of the elite of
the library profession who had benefited from CCNY
travel grants in Australia, and ambitions emerged for
a US model of professional education. This was an
agenda to be pursued in the coming decades.
The activities of the US library fraternity did not
mean that the influence of the UK had ceased entirely.
In November 1946, sponsored by the British Council,
well-known British librarian Lionel McColvin4
arrived Australia in somewhat controversial circumstances5 to follow up progress on the conditions of
public libraries in Australia. McColvin was known
to view US librarianship as an opportunity for ‘‘useful
guidance’’ but ‘‘not of a character to completely meet
our needs’’ (1939: 60) and promoted a system for
Australia closely aligned to the UK model in his resultant report, Public libraries in Australia: present conditions and future possibilities (1947). Perceptions of
the degree of influence of McColvin’s Australian
report vary, but what McColvin’s visit accomplished
was to reinforce perceptions of UK modes of practice
and their appropriateness for Australian conditions to
Australian professionals in a period which was to see
the arrival of many British-trained librarians to Australian shores. The consequences of this were to
engage the Australian profession for the following
decades.
Despite a clear preference to follow US precedents
amongst leading Australian librarians, much activity
during the 1940s and 1950s followed models emerging out of the UK. In 1941 the Australian Institute
of Librarians (AIL) Board of Certification and Examination was established making the AIL an examination rather than accreditation body much as was its
British counterpart. Training schools were established
in the major state libraries to conduct classes for
employees and others wishing to sit the Institute’s
exams and LIS training continued very much in the
model of the UK with close links to vocational and
applied education.
Issues of education and accreditation
The 1960s and 1970s were to see the expansion of
Australia’s tertiary education, and the long-term
impact and confluence of educational influences of
the CCNY, the OWI librarians and visitors such as
McColvin began to emerge. In the 1960s ‘‘the library
workforce consisted of clerical level staff, trainee
librarians, registration librarians, graduates without
library qualification and graduate librarians’’ (Ennever,
1989: 167). This workforce was a reflection of a
complex and divided vision for the profession. The
balance, however, seemed to be tipping in favour of
IFLA Journal 39(2)
a US model, with the first school of librarianship
based on the ‘American model’ established at the
University of New South Wales in 1960. At this time
official LAA policy for LIS education– led as it was
by many of those who had been influenced by US
practice in the 1930s and 1940s–was also in favour
of a postgraduate qualification from a university
(Library Association of Australia, 1965). The wider
LIS library community, however, became concerned
with this direction for Australian librarianship and a
divide began to surface between those who had been
exposed to US practice, either through contact locally
with prominent US librarians or through travel funded
by organizations such as the CCNY, and the remaining library workers.
Despite the moves earlier in the decade to establish
the Australian profession as a graduate one by 1965
the LAA had pragmatically adopted a different model
other than its preferred graduate policy with the acceptance of 2-year diplomas from ‘second-tier’ institutions,
such as the Royal Melbourne Institutes of Technology
(RMIT) and Sydney Technical College (STC) as conferring exemption from some its registration exams.
Reflecting on these activities, librarian Harrison Bryan
states:
Prior to the recognition, in rapid succession, of the
two non-university schools (STC and RMIT) it would
have been reasonable to assume that what it really
had in mind was in favour of university schools on
the (basically) American pattern of education for
librarianship (1972: 15)
From this point onward the LAA moved officially
away from the concept of an entirely ‘graduate profession’ though this continued (and continues) to be fiercely debated and these ambitions were never fully
relinquished. Encel, Bullard and Cass, in their sociological review of Australian librarianship, Librarians:
a survey (1972), believed that an influx of British
librarians into Australia in the years following World
War II was largely responsible for a shift away from
the previous graduate policy. According to Encel,
Bullard and Cass,
Outside N.S.W. [New South Wales] the majority of
librarians were non-graduates. This applied in particular to the large numbers of British librarians who
came to Australia with the post 1945 War wave of
migrants. Instead they had a background of solid
training in a well developed Public Library system.
The (British) Library Association, the professional
body to which most of these librarians had belonged
was predominantly an association of non-graduate
librarians. Many of these librarians were opposed to
125
Carroll et al.: Commonwealth of uncertainty
the concept of a graduate profession, and their influence has been strongly felt in the affairs of the
Library Association of Australia (1972: 59).
To add to the complexity already evident, in 1969
US educator Lester Asheim visited Australia. Asheim
was a proponent of the three-tiered model of librarianship consisting of untrained clerks, trained library
technicians and graduate librarians. Such a model presumed the existence of a postgraduate US-inspired
education model situated in a university. Many prominent librarians, particularly in the State of Victoria,
continued to aspire to postgraduate education despite
the official change of policy and resistance among its
members. They had reason to be hopeful as there
emerged positive moves at the University of Melbourne towards another postgraduate school. This,
however, foundered in the face of what Harrison
Bryan called the ‘‘general uninterest on the part of the
universities’’ and ‘‘the distressing apathy shown by
the University of Melbourne’’ and its reluctance to
take up the funding of a Chair of Librarianship on offer
from the philanthropic Myer Foundation (1972: 15). In
1970, with the ambitions for this three-tier model still
influential amongst the executive of the Victorian
branch of the LAA, a Library Technicians Certificate
was introduced into the technical division of the Victorian Education department. The aim of such a certificate was to supply a body of trained clerical staff. In
the same year, and in the same state, the first 3-year
first professional award (Associate Diploma in
Librarianship) was introduced at RMIT. It was at this
moment that the two different approaches to LIS education met in one state and at the one time, setting the
scene for the future.
The following decades were to see continued shifts
in the broader social and educational forces driving
Australian LIS education, yet the tensions and structures which emerged in the first half of the 20th century remained. Educationally a pendulum tipped back
and forth over time, favouring at times the ‘British
model’ then the ‘American model’. Of those who travelled during the 1930s and 1940s, prominent Australian librarian and educator John Metcalfe perhaps best
typified the Australian approach when, in reflecting
on his travels to the UK and the US, he states, ‘‘I want
to see if I can strike something of a balance between
British and American Librarianship (1996: 138).
The legacy
This theme of somehow ‘balancing’ the two models
becomes a recurrent one throughout the following
decades in Australian LIS literature and continues to
concern Australian LIS education into the 21st century, with many of these original debates remaining
unresolved (Harvey, 2001; Myburg 2003). Tension
and debate surrounding appropriate entry points to the
profession and the preferred model of education to
meet industry aspirations for professional recognition
and status continue, and the legacy of Australia’s
divided vision is still evident in the complex education system and structures in place for Australian LIS.
Entry to the profession continues at baccalaureate and
post-baccalaureate levels, with little distinction made
between the two. Post-baccalaureate qualification do
not necessarily mean a Master’s qualification, as they
can include a postgraduate diplomas, and paraprofessional training has continued uninterrupted from the
1970s onward leading to a porous educational structure. What is evident in Australian LIS education today
is the unresolved legacy of two competing professional
paradigms.
Jamaica
A British colony from the 17th century, Jamaica
reveals a complex combination of colonial, cultural
and geographic legacies. Jamaica’s historical and
cultural legacies confirm the national motto, ‘‘Out
of Many, One People’’. While the country proudly
presents a unified ‘creolized’ face that has been developed by multiple cultural influences ranging from
Spanish, British and American to African and Asian,
there remain the sometimes unspoken contradictions
and tensions among dominant cultures. Similarly,
while the country boasts a centuries-long colonial
relationship with Britain, which has shaped its political, social and educational milieu, close proximity to
the United States has presented another contending
paradigm which has profoundly impacted cultural,
economic and educational aspirations.
Library education in Jamaica, (and indeed in the
wider English-speaking Caribbean), mirrors trends
in the national education system, which is rooted in
British practice and which remained predominantly
British into most of the 20th century. Douglas cites
major influences on the development of information
professionals in the Caribbean and argues that the
British practice has been the most influential model
for educating Jamaican and Caribbean librarians,
mainly because of the strong colonial relationship
with Britain (1992: 12). However, with increasing
cultural and economic relationships and travel
between the US and Jamaica, North American standards and practice have led to major changes over the
last 30 years. According to Douglas, the British influence was greatest in the earliest years but ‘‘British
126
progressive activity had less influence in later years’’
(p.13). The challenge to find autonomy remains today.
Historical trends in Jamaica
Similarly to what occurred in Australia, education for
Caribbean librarians started in the 1940s, when
would-be librarians studied for and sat examinations
set by the Library Association, then the examining
body for library education in Britain and the British
Commonwealth. Early Jamaican and Caribbean librarians attended library schools in Britain as well as the
Eastern Caribbean Regional Library School (ECRL
School), which was established in Trinidad in 1948
by the British Council for Colonial Development and
Welfare. A few also studied on their own under the
guidance of those who had attended British library
schools. The ECRL School was intended to train personnel to operate public libraries which the British
Council was establishing in the Caribbean region
(Bennett and Ferguson, 2000). Although not initially
participating in the project, a number of Jamaican students utilized this option, as although a part-time
facility, it prepared persons for the Library Association’s examinations which earned different awards
namely the Associateship of the Library Association
(ALA) and the Fellowship of the Library Association
(FLA), which was awarded on the basis of a thesis
(Mohamedali 2004: 103). Unfortunately, with reduced funding, the ECRL School closed in 1962 and
Jamaican library personnel sat these examinations
privately. Bennett and Ferguson declare that a hiatus
was created with the closure of the ECRL School and
with the revision of the Library Association’s curriculum towards full-time study. Intense lobbying by
the Jamaica Library Association and other library
associations in the English-speaking Caribbean region resulted in the creation of a local School of
Library Studies in Jamaica. The aim for these librarians was to design a ‘‘programme suited to the needs
of the Caribbean’’ (Bennett and Ferguson, 2000).
Mohamedali argues that when this independent
training institution was established in 1971, it was
‘‘modelled largely on British concepts and practices
because the University of the West Indies in which it
was established was derived from a British institution and because the planners were oriented to this
system’’ (p.103). The University of the West Indies
( UWI), which started in 1948 as a College of the
University of London, gained university status as the
University of the West Indies in 1962 when Jamaica
became independent. Modelling the British tradition,
the newly developed library school, the Department of Library Studies, began with an undergraduate
IFLA Journal 39(2)
3-year degree, rather than the North American graduate model.
At the time of its introduction, an undergraduate
degree ‘‘was considered to be more suited to the
existing situation in the Caribbean where this was the
first attempt to provide professional education in
the discipline at the local level and the majority of
prospective students from the region had only high
school certification’’ (Quality Assurance Self-Study
Report, 2012: 10).
It was felt at the time that such a programme was
suitable to provide graduates who are able to manage
libraries and other information units to meet needs
expressed by organizations in the public sector.
Interestingly it seems that this apparently single British orientation to library education was seen as a
means of building a cohesive regional library force,
as Mohamedali states it ‘‘provided for the establishment of a sound, stable network of library systems
across the region’’ (p.103). In 1973, also based on
the British tradition, a Postgraduate Diploma was
introduced for persons with a non-library university
degree. Both programmes included mandatory internship components.
While the UK model was seen as the more suitable
for developing Caribbean librarians, US influence
was inescapable. Although the new programme was
shaped on the British model, the initial grant from
UNESCO for developing the school provided for two
UNESCO experts who would fill posts of Professor
and Senior Lecturer. One came from Columbia University in New York and the other from Loughborough
University of Technology School of Librarianship in
Britain. These experts would bring different approaches
to bear on the direction of the programme. In addition,
since the library school was situated in an academic
research institution, the programme was not entirely
professional, but combined librarianship and academic
subjects to meet the requirements of the UWI.
Further, there were a few Jamaican professionals
who received education and training from US universities during those early years. It was felt, however, that
their impact was insignificant and that there were
‘‘obvious incompatibilities between what was learned
and the needs of the region’’ (Mohamedali, 2004:
103). Many of these sentiments would change over
time with demands for curriculum revisions and for
international accreditation. The increasing influx of
US trained faculty via the Organisation of American
States (OAS) and Fulbright funding would see changes
towards the inclusion of alternative approaches and a
US-based model of education. Douglas contends that
127
Carroll et al.: Commonwealth of uncertainty
the ‘‘information science’’ approaches and the’’ facilitator’’ aspects were derived from North American
influences (p.13).
In addition, when the UWI decided to change from
the traditional academic year system to the US
semester-based system in 1988, major reviews of the
curriculum were initiated by the Department, which
enabled greater specialization at the upper and graduate levels (Bennett and Ferguson, 2000). Given the
growth of information technology, the Department
introduced new courses to reflect the trends. Mohamedali states that American practices in the areas of
automation and audiovisual work have influenced
practice in the Caribbean (p.103).
Curriculum and programme revisions
Major revisions were brought to bear on the curriculum from the changing influences. In 1987, adopting
a US approach, the Department introduced the Master
in Library Studies (MLS) which was intended to
upgrade the Postgraduate Diploma. The programme
now included a research component. Eleven years
later, in keeping with the British tradition, honours
graduates of the undergraduate Bachelor’s degree
were able to enrol in the Master of Arts in Library and
Information Studies (MALIS), an advanced degree
with a research component.
Also reflecting changes in library education in
North America, the Department’s name was changed
in 1996 from the Department of Library Studies to
the Department of Library and Information Studies.
The introduction of courses in records management,
information literacy, information technology and information resources management, to name a few, underscored the need for the name change. Later a Master
of Philosophy (MPhil) programme was also introduced, reflecting the British educational tradition.
Despite the pull between American and British influences, balance is somehow maintained by a system of
external examiners in which LIS professors from both
jurisdictions monitor standards in the two Masters
programmes.
In 2011, in another major curriculum review process, extensive revisions were introduced in all programmes, based primarily on the evolving trends in
LIS education globally and particularly in North
America. Cognizant of the demands of employers,
and increasing competition in the library and information science landscape, the Department embarked
on a repositioning of the Department to emphasize
the information aspect of Library and Information
Studies (Kerr, 2012). A new undergraduate major
in Information Management and Technology was
proposed, reflecting current trends. The process also
included a benchmarking exercise of courses against
the American Library Association (ALA) Core Competencies for Librarianship. New courses developed
include digital libraries, advanced metadata and
resources discovery, information literacy for graduate students as well as digital curation and law
librarianship.
Currently there are demands from internal and
external stakeholders to benchmark the education of
librarians in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean against US and North American standards. Yet
there is a challenge to maintain the British model of
an undergraduate degree parallel to two Masters Programmes. The undergraduate programme continues to
be essential to the Department because it still attracts
the highest number of students, the majority of whom
do not have the required first degree for entering graduate programmes. There are demands for increased
specializations and programmes in line with North
American traditions.
Issues of education and accreditation
Until recently, the Royal Charter status of the University of the West Indies negated the need for accreditation of its programmes. However, influences relating to
globalization and the emergence of competition from
offshore institutions and the proliferation of online
degree programmes emphasize the need for institutional
as well as programme accreditation. Change matters
coalesce around benchmarking the programmes of
the Department, particularly against North American
standards, particularly in light of geographical proximity and expectations of job opportunities in the
USA and Canada. Recognizing the challenges associated with accreditation by the American Library
Association outside of its territories, the way forward
for the Department will be to explore accreditation
from both sides of the Atlantic and maybe this will
result in the best of both worlds.
The greater aim, however, is to develop programmes
which reflect the mission of the Department to
provide the highest standard of teaching and research
to produce library and information professionals
equipped to face the challenges of the dynamic information environment capable of managing the information needs of the Caribbean for the twenty-first
century and beyond. (2012: 3)
Nigeria
This section will discuss the influence of the AngloAmerican systems of library education on library
128
pedagogy and practices in Nigeria, uncovering many
similar themes and influences to those evident in Australia and Jamaica. Like in many other Commonwealth
countries, Nigerian LIS education and its development
make apparent to the observer the broader sociopolitical influences at work in the country. The trends
which emerge in post-war library education in Nigeria
mirror the previously explored themes emerging in
Australia and Jamaica of apprenticeship versus professional education, examination versus accreditation, and
professional entry and undergraduate versus postgraduate education models for the discipline discussed elsewhere. As will be discussed, the story of library
education in Nigeria serves to illustrate many of those
tensions discussed previously.
Historical trends in Nigeria
Nigeria became a British colony in 1861 and under
British rule the country was divided into two administrative protectorates: the Southern and Northern
protectorates. However in 1914, the two protectorates
were administratively joined. In 1960 Nigeria gained
full independence and was politically administered
under a federal system of government with three
regions: the Northern region, South region, and Eastern region. Today Nigeria is divided into 36 states and
a Federal Capital Territory.
During the post-World War II period, similarly to
what occurred in Australia, the many British librarians in Nigeria favoured a part-time apprenticeship
model for library education, reflecting their own
experience, and did not see a great need for a fulltime library school (Bramley, 1975: 138). The mode
of library training in the country up until 1960, therefore, was largely conducted through short courses
organized for the staff of local reading rooms and the
Native Authority libraries. In some instance library
staff were sponsored for training to go to the United
Kingdom by the British Council (Hood, 1962).The
short courses and sponsored training enabled participants to sit the British Library Association (LA)
examinations. In the years immediately after World
War II the influence and resources of the United
Kingdom were depleted and the influence of British
practice lessened. Newer influences began to be felt,
including that of philanthropic organizations such as
the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY) and
the United States Government as they began to take
a much more active role in this region.
The first moves towards the full-time professional
model for LIS education arose out of recommendations for the establishment of a system of professional
library schools emerging from a seminar organized in
IFLA Journal 39(2)
1953 by UNESCO on the future of public library service provision in the region . One of the outcomes of
recommendations made at the UNESCO seminar was
that the Carnegie Corporation of New York commissioned a study to assess the library needs of West
Africa. Conducted by Harold Lancour, Dean of the
University of Illinois Library School, the report recommended the establishment of a library training institute at University College, Ibadan, in southern Nigeria.
A grant of US$88,000 was provided by the CCNY to
establish this new school, which commenced operation
in 1959. Bramley claims Lancour’s report ‘‘presaged
the end of British influence on library education in
West Africa’’ (1975: 140). While the school initially
offered training leading to the certificate of Associateship of the British Library Association (ALA) and Fellowship of Library Association (FLA), by 1963 it had
changed to the American model of graduate library
training (Aina, 2007; Nweke, 1995).
Subsequent to the establishment of the first library
school in southern Nigeria; the northern Nigeria
regional government, under the auspices of the Special Commonwealth African Assistance Plan, undertook a survey of the library needs of northern
Nigeria in 1963. This report was conducted by F.A.
Sharr, State Librarian of Western Australia from
1953 to 1976 and a librarian trained in the British tradition. The survey recommended the establishment of
a library school in northern Nigeria to train librarians
at diploma and bachelor’s degree levels and in 1967
the second library school was opened in Nigeria based
on British practice.
Issues of education and accreditation
The establishment of the second library school in
Nigeria marks the beginning of new controversies and
heated debates over the appropriateness of undergraduate versus graduate qualification as an entry point
into the profession. While the Ibadan library school
situated in southern Nigeria was premised on training
librarians at graduate level, the Zaria library school in
northern Nigeria was founded on training librarians at
diploma and bachelor’s degree levels. Those who
favoured graduate level qualification as an entry point
into the profession argued that the country needed
high level leaders who would provide the direction for
library development in Nigeria after independence,
and that only the holders of a first degree in an academic subject should be considered for admission to
library schools. Those working in the region, including leading British librarians, opposed graduate level
library qualification on the basis of Nigerian educational and developmental realities in the 1960s. Such
129
Carroll et al.: Commonwealth of uncertainty
opposition was based on a view that a graduate school
and librarians with postgraduate qualifications had
very little to offer a Nigerian quest for rapid development, and argued that what Nigeria needed was
library professionals at undergraduate and diploma
levels who could manage existing libraries (Onadiran, 1985). The resultant debate over appropriate
professional qualifications and the subsequent addition of technician level qualifications to the Zaria
programme ‘‘added another confusion in the philosophy and curriculum of education and training of
library professionals in the country’’ (Mohammed,
2008).
From these arguments it can be seen that the conflicting trends in library education in Nigeria are in
many ways a mirror of those influences and conflicts
discussed previously in the Australian context and
show the influences of Britain and the US in shaping
the local professional model for education. Controversies surrounding library education in Nigeria
were explicated by Gerald Bramley in his book
World Trends in Library Education (1975). The
author has identified a number of contradictory
trends and divergent thinking in the development
of library education in English-speaking countries
of West Africa, including Nigeria. In the context of
countries such as Nigeria, however, the struggle
between old and new for cultural and strategic influence was in many ways more overt than in Commonwealth countries such as Australia and New Zealand.
According to Bramley, by 1975 the ‘‘struggle between the old and new colonists had not been resolved
in any clear cut way’’ and was the result of conscious
attempts by new and old colonial powers to ‘‘extend
their authority in Africa’’ (Bramley, 1975: 137). The
trends which emerge in post-war library education
illustrate once again the recurring themes of apprenticeship versus professional, examination versus accreditation and undergraduate versus postgraduate
education models for the discipline discussed elsewhere. In addition, Bramley identifies a number of
unique concerns in the development of education
in this region. These include debate around the perceived purpose of Nigerian LIS education – if its
purpose was to educate leaders and academics, or the
emerging workers needed to expand and sustain the
nation’s public libraries. Tension also emerged
around the issue of the need for independent national
LIS schools in preference to a regional school of librarianship. As will be discussed, the story of library education in Nigeria serves to illustrates many of these
tensions.
However, controversies still exist as to who is a
professional librarian in Nigeria. For instance
The NLA (Nigerian Library Association) . . . accepted the recommendation made by the Education
Committee that holders of HND (Higher National
Diploma) in Library Science are registrable as professional librarians. This decision was upturned by
the Librarians Registration Council of Nigeria
(LRCN). The LRCN observed that the Polytechnic
Library Science education programmes lack subject’s specialization and that the courses offered are
not enough. A librarian without any subject background, cannot offer specialized information service
to any given specific subject specialist group
(Chukwuma-Nwosu, 2009: 22).
Presently there are over 50 institutions that offer
library training in Nigeria at universities, polytechnics,
and colleges of education. Courses offered include Certificates in Librarianship, National Diploma; Higher
National Diploma in Library Science; Bachelor’s
Degree, Master’s and Doctorate degree (Saleh,
2012). Today in Nigeria the body responsible for
registering librarians to practice as professionals is
the Librarians Registration Council. The body was
established by Decree 12 of 1995. It is conferred
with the responsibility of determining who is a
Librarian, and to determine the standards of knowledge and skills for the library profession in Nigeria.
Accreditation of library programs in Nigeria is, however, done by many government agencies, depending
on whether the program is run in a university, polytechnic, or college of education. Library courses
offered in universities are accredited by the National
Universities Commission. Library courses offered in
polytechnics are accredited by the Nigerian National
Board for Technical Education, while library courses
offered in colleges of education are accredited by the
National Commission for Colleges of Education
(Nigeria. Federal Republic, 1995; Nigeria. National
Universities Commission, 1995).
The legacy
The legacy of the Anglo-American library system of
education is apparent in the courses that are offered
in Nigerian library schools and in the mode of library
practices in the country. The core courses of Nigerian library schools reflect Anglo-American library
philosophies that are based on transfer of explicit
knowledge. The core courses are: cataloguing and
classification, reference and bibliography, collection
development, library administration, and automation
(Aguolu 1985; Ajidahun, 2007; Saleh, 2012).
Also inspired by the Anglo-American mode of providing library services via information and communication technology (ICT), many librarians in Nigeria
130
are strongly advocating for ICT and digitization to
be the cornerstone for Nigerian library training and
practices (Saleh, 2012; Ozioko and Nwabueze,
2010; Nzotta, 1984; Salman and Olanrewaju, 2005).
It should be observed that while the teaching of ICT
in library schools in Nigeria has the potential of
producing manpower for the profession that is proficient in modern technologies, it should however be
treated with caution within the economic, social, technological, educational, and cultural realities of the
country.
The future
To move forward in the provision of effective library
services in Nigeria, library schools in the country
require a new paradigm of librarianship. This new
paradigm should be rooted in the sociology of knowledge and should take into account the uniqueness of
Nigeria in respect to the following: societal ontology,
societal epistemology, patterns of knowledge flow
among communities in Nigeria, and how knowledge
is constructed within each segments of the Nigerian
polity. This can be achieved through curriculum
restructuring and will require Nigerian library schools
to include as part of their core curricula courses on
Oral and Indigenous Knowledge Transfer. This recommendation is premised on the fact that Nigeria is
predominantly an oral society with an estimated 50
million adults who cannot read or write (UNESCO,
2011; Olden, 1999). The recommendation is also consistent with the Nigerian National Policy on Education and UNESCO which states that ‘‘the goals of
education in Nigeria shall be to develop the intellectual capability of individuals to understand and
appreciate their local environments’’ (Edegbo, 2011;
UNESCO, 1976: 36). Therefore library curricula that
are based on Anglo-American traditions will not
effectively serve the needs of the majority of Nigerians who cannot read and write. By not adequately
servicing the non-literate population in Nigeria,
library professionals negate the principles of equity
of service which underpin the profession.
Afolabi has observed that when the departments of
library and information science were established in
Nigeria in the early 1960s, their aim was ‘‘to produce
librarians for libraries’’ in accordance with the British
and American library philosophies (Afolabi, 1994).
However, today library schools in Nigeria should aim
to produce librarians that will serve the developmental needs of every citizen wherever and whenever.
Roberts’ observation is as relevant in Nigeria as it was
many years ago ‘‘To educate librarians to think only
in terms of a place called the library as we currently
IFLA Journal 39(2)
know that institute is to do them a disservice and probably doom them to ineffectuality’’ (1979: 1879).
Pakistan
Pakistan came into being as an independent nation in
1947. Before 1947, Pakistan was part of United India
which was ruled by the British for almost two centuries. During this rule various administrative norms
and institutional structures developed in the Indian
Subcontinent that reflected the British way of governance. There was, however, a finer and more subtle
permeation of British cultural practices into Indian
culture, and educational practices were no exception.
Many high schools and convents were established primarily in the big cities of United India. These schools
were in addition to a large number of religious schools
already operating. These religious schools were normally part of mosques and students were educated both
in religion and contemporary sciences. Religious education included training in morphology, syntax, principles of jurisprudence, theology and other traditional
sciences, including logic, philosophy, astronomy,
arithmetic (Zaman,1999) leading towards a wellseated understanding of religion as informed by the
education in contemporary sciences.
After independence, the inherited educational
structure as well as the needs dynamics of a newly
born nation shaped the education system as a whole.
The schools that were established during British rule
continued to conduct education using the English language as the medium of instruction while the new
schools established by the government of Pakistan
started to use Urdu (the national language of Pakistan)
as the medium of instruction. In this way a dual education system developed representing two parallel
streams of education, one looking to a colonial past
and another to an independent future.
This duality of systems penetrated the administrative structure also. For instance, the official language
for administrative documentation is English, whereas
the national language is Urdu. As a result anyone trying to get a job as a civil servant should have a good
command of the English language and the schools set
up either during the British rule or afterwards but following the same model do a good job in preparing students to compete for these positions. However,
students trained in the schools where Urdu is the
medium of instruction usually have to exert extra
effort to compete for opportunities in a system reminiscent of the British tradition.
Colleges and universities represent also a very
novel educational environment. Due to widespread
development of educational institutions in the private
131
Carroll et al.: Commonwealth of uncertainty
sector and especially for imparting business education, there have been tremendous inflows of the
American way of education – including semester system, credit hours, grade point averages (instead of
first second or third divisions or pass, fails, distinctions, etc.). These influences, which were limited primarily to private business educational institutions,
started to permeate and influence educational institutions at large, and LIS institutions were no exception
to this. It can be argued that LIS education and profession in Pakistan represent a convergence of the British
and American influences, although the British influence can be identified more prominently with the way
in which the school system prepares a student for
higher education. That is, the British influence is acting more as a mediating factor rather than a direct
influence on the design of LIS education and development of professional practice in Pakistan. On the other
hand, American influence in terms of LIS education
(its content and underlying pedagogy) and in a felt
need among LIS circles in Pakistan to have some sort
of national accrediting body (Mahmood, 2003) can be
identified. It is important to note that LIS education in
Pakistan presents a unique situation in that some of
the educational credentials awarded depict a very
British influence. For example, postgraduate diploma,
certificate level of education, and MPhil – all of these
educational awards are customary in the British educational tradition but almost foreign to America’s.
Universities imparting LIS education have the semester system, requirements for students to have apprenticeship (Warraich, 2008), the option to write a thesis,
availability of MPhil leading to PhD, and different certificates and postgraduate diploma programs. These
practices clearly represent a convergence of two significant traditions – one British and the other derived from
the United States.
A Commonwealth of uncertainty
This exploration of LIS education in Australia,
Jamaica, Nigeria and Pakistan provides a vignette of
what Bramley (1975) called ‘‘new’’ and ‘‘old’’ colonialism and its impact on local practice, and provides
insights into how professions have been shaped internationally. As has been shown by these case studies,
the tensions running through LIS education are not
unique and resonate across communities and continents with recurring debates and themes evident from
country to country. The complex legacy of competing
influences in countries such as Nigeria, Australia,
Pakistan and Jamaica continue to engage these local
communities as they attempt to reconcile their professional traditions with the new, emerging and future
needs of their communities. LIS education has been
accused of being ‘‘a harp of the winds responding to
every slight breeze’’ (Harper, in Mulvaney 1989:12)
but if it is to survive and to meet both the many challenges confronting it in the 21st century and engage
and meet the needs of local communities then it is
essential we recognize and reconcile this legacy.
Notes
1. The Commonwealth of Nations, formerly known as the
British Commonwealth, is an association of 54 sovereign states, historically British colonies. The Commonwealth was first officially formed in 1931 when the
Statute of Westminster gave legal recognition to the
independence of the British dominions.
2. A territory constituting a self-governing commonwealth
and being one of a number of such territories united in a
community of nations.
3. At the Melbourne Public Library(now the State Library
of Victoria), Australia for example in 1910 the issue of
the appropriateness of the US Dewey Decimal System
for the research library led to such acrimonious debate
that it was raised in State Parliament and led to longterm divisions amongst the staff. This debate came to
be known as the ‘‘disaffection at the library’’.
4. Lionel McColvin was Secretary of the Library Association and undertook a three-month visit to Australia.
5. For further discussion of these events see Jones, D. (2005).
Great minds: Metcalfe, McClain and Public libraries in
Australia. Australian Library Journal 54(4), 386-412.
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Author biographies
Mary Carroll is a lecturer in the School of Information
Studies at Charles Sturt University Australia. Formerly she
was an Early Career Development Fellow in the School of
Business, IT and Logistics at RMIT University, Melbourne
and also worked for many years in LIS Vocational Education. She has published in the area of history of librarianship,
vocational education and library education. Her PhD was
both an historical and contemporary investigation into the
role sectoral educational divisions have played in the construction of LIS professional identity in Australia. Contact:
Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Boorooma Street,
133
North Wagga NSW, Australia. Postal address: Locked Bag
588, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia. Email: macarroll
@csu.edu.au
Paulette A Kerr is Head of the Department of Library and
Information Studies at the University of the West Indies,
(UWI) Mona, Jamaica. Prior to pursuing a PhD at Rutgers
University she was Information Literacy Coordinator at the
UWI, Mona. Her research areas coalesce around information
literacy education, conceptual change and Caribbean social
history. She has published and presented in these areas. Contact: University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. Email:
paulette.kerr@uwimona.edu.jm
Abdullahi I. Musa is a Senior Lecturer in the School of
Library and Information Science, Ahmadu Bello University
Zaria, Nigeria. He is currently a Doctorate Student and an
Adjunct Faculty in the School of Library and information
Management Emporia State University, Kansas USA. His
research interest is on diffusion, adoption, and use/non-use
of knowledge. He has presented at conferences and published in peer reviewed journals. Contact: Emporia State
University, Emporia, Kansas, USA. Email: aibrahim@em
poria.edu
Waseem Afzal holds a Lecturer appointment at the Charles
Sturt University School of Information Studies, Australia.
His formal education took place at the Emporia State University, USA where he earned his MBA in Business
Administration and PhD in Library and Information Management; and the University of Punjab, Pakistan, where
he earned his Master’s of Commerce with an emphasis in
Finance. He researches in the areas of human information
behavior, economics of information, social informatics,
and Library and Information Science education. Contact:
Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia. Email:
wafzal@csu.edu.au
Paper presented at the World Library and Information
Congress: 78th IFLA General Conference and Assembly,
11–18 August 2012, Helsinki, Finland, in session 105;
International and comparative librarianship: toward
valid, relevant and authentic research and education.
Library Theory and Research, Education and Training
and LIS Education in Developing Countries Special Interest Group.
I F LA
Article
Leadership in libraries in times
of change
International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions
39(2) 134–139
ª The Author(s) 2012
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/0340035212473541
ifla.sagepub.com
Petra Düren
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
Abstract
Academic as well as public libraries nowadays have to face constant change. This paper gives an overview about
leadership competences needed to succeed with deliberate large-scale changes in libraries. Most of the needed
competences can already be imparted during undergraduate studies toward a bachelor’s degree in library and
information science, as can be seen in the example of the University of Applied Sciences Hamburg. The critical
success factors of every change project are information, communication and participation. Two qualitative
studies concerning leadership in academic libraries and leadership in academic and public libraries in times
of change, as well as a quantitative study in an academic library concerning the influence of a transformational
and a transactional leadership style of the top management on the middle management as well as on team members including the influence of the organizational culture, emphasize the importance of these success factors,
especially the communication competence of leaders in times of change.
Keywords
leadership competences, change management, academic libraries, public libraries, information, communication,
participation
Need of competences in change
management and leadership for current
and upcoming deliberate large-scale
changes in libraries
There always have been changes in libraries, but in the
last years the rate of change as well as its speed and
complexity did increase (Stewart, 1996) and is still
growing. Continuing change is already and will be the
norm in libraries, but this paper concentrates on major,
deliberate large-scale changes with a high complexity
and the involvement of many members of staff.
After a profound look at the three phases of change
by Lewin (1947) it is clear that deliberate large-scale
changes in organizations need planning and organizing as well as certain leadership competences.
Phase 1 – Unfreezing
After the top management has recognized the need to
change something in their library or in his or her
department, and had a vision about the future
demands of users as well as sponsors, the upcoming
deliberate large-scale change needs to be announced
in the library and especially the reason for the
alterations should be known and made clear for everyone affected. Deliberate large-scale changes in
libraries, such as the implementation of a Library
RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) Management
System or the introduction of team work or of
performance-based pay, cannot be understood and
accepted without explanations.
Phase 2 – Changing / Moving
Also throughout the entire change process information needs to be given about the alteration itself as
well as its progress. Moreover it is important in this
phase to give those who are affected by this major
change the possibility to participate in this process
and to bring in own ideas about the inevitable alterations. This is the phase where change managers and
Corresponding author:
Prof. Dr. Petra Düren, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences,
HAW Hamburg, Faculty Design, Media & Information,
Department Information, Finkenau 35, 22081 Hamburg,
Germany. Tel. þ40 42875-3637. Fax: þ40 42875-3609.
Email: petra.dueren@haw-hamburg.de
Düren: Leadership in libraries in times
of change
135
Table 1. Helpful competences in times of change.
Phase 1 – Unfreezing
Phase 2 – Changing / Moving
Phase 3 – Refreezing
Communication
Strategic Planning
Project Management
Communication
Leadership Styles
Management by Delega tion and by Objectives
Motivation
Performance Appraisal
Teamwork
Selection of Personnel
Employee Representation
Communication
Controlling
Research Methods
promoters of the change are needed as well as volunteers for pilot projects.
Phase 3 – Refreezing
After the official ending of the change project there
needs to be time given to learn the new processes and
to work in them for a while before these new processes as well as the change project need to be evaluated. If some aspects of the alterations need to be
changed again, the process begins afresh with Phase
1 – Unfreezing.
During change processes everybody involved
should be seen as an individual with certain concerns
and fears as well as an expert in his or her own working field. This already shows that some aspects of
leadership are needed to handle a deliberate largescale change in the library.
In Table 1 competences are listed that might help
leaders as well as promoters to fulfil their tasks during
change projects.
To already prepare students to be able to cope with
deliberate large-scale changes in their career, the
following subjects are integrated in the curriculum
of the undergraduate studies toward a bachelor’s
degree ‘Library and Information Science’ at the University of Applied Sciences Hamburg.
Management of Library and Information Services
(compulsory subject)
Information Controlling (compulsory subject)
Media and User Research (compulsory subject)
Statistics and Data Analysis for Business (compulsory subject)
Communication Training (compulsory subject)
Human Resource Management (compulsory
optional subject)
Libraries in Times of Change – Change Management (compulsory optional subject)
Also in the curriculum of the studies toward a
master’s degree ‘Information Science and Services’
at the University of Applied Sciences Hamburg there
are compulsory optional subjects which provide the
students with further knowledge which can be helpful
in times of change, such as ‘Learning Organization’
and ‘Project Management’.
Critical success factors: information,
communication, and participation
During change processes team members often ask
three questions (Vahs and Leiser, 2007):
Why are we changing?
What are the goals of this change project?
What does this change project mean for me
personally?
Information and communication
A change process may stall if there isn’t a regular and
consistent exchange of clear and, for everyone, understandable information about the purpose as well as the
change project’s strategies and benefits. This information should be given as accurately as known at the
given time (Smith, 2011). For this – depending on the
phase of the change project – leaders should ask themselves the questions illustrated in Figure 1.
Communication – of vision, strategies and action –
which is transparent, can open the door to an understanding and sharing (Smith, 2011).
Participation
Participation should meet the requirements of the
group, of the team members affected by a deliberate
large-scale change, as well as satisfy the individual
team member. For this a two-way-communication
should be established, which enables, listens and
responds to the team members’ communication
(Stewart, 1996).
Especially the questions (Figure 1) asked in the
second phase (‘Changing / Moving’) and in the third
136
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Phase 1 – Unfreezing
Phase 2 – Changing /
Moving
Phase 3 – Refreezing
“Why are we doing this?”
“Which of our goals did we achieve up
to now?”
“Did we learn something new?”
“Where should we change something?”
Figure 1. Important questions during the phases of a change project. (Düren, 2013).
phase (‘Refreezing’) should be discussed with the
members of staff involved in the change project and
team members affected by the major change.
Leadership in libraries
Leadership in libraries has been analysed by a student
of ‘Library and Information Science’ at the University
of Applied Sciences Hamburg for her bachelor thesis.
For this she accomplished four expert interviews with
leaders of academic libraries to find out what characterizes their leadership style (Berke, 2012).
Three of the four interviewed leaders said of themselves that they prefer and use the cooperative leadership style; only one tends to a more authoritarian
leadership style. Interesting is that this leader is the
one who would prefer the implementation of Management by Objectives in the library as she thinks that
this allows more participation. This shows that sometimes determining factors lead to a leadership style
that isn’t truly the one wanted by the leaders
themselves.
Those who lead in a more cooperative style see
their team members as experts in their working fields
and for this let them participate in decisions. Furthermore they delegate tasks to these team members independent of their individual hierarchical status. They
see themselves more as coordinators with many
conceptual tasks. One said that the authoritarian leadership style is – especially for someone who is new in
the position of leader of an already existing team – not
enforceable, as he or she is confronted with a team
that has been working together for a while and is thus
very experienced. Another leader said that the authoritarian style may be needed by someone who didn’t
get a good education and training or if the parents
didn’t socialize this person during his childhood years
in such a way that he is able to integrate himself in
teams or participate in discussions and team working
processes. But all in all there should be a liability in
the leadership style to give the team members a
certain degree of reliance.
All leaders want their team members to work independently. They use a lot of their working time for
communication. One points out the importance of the
personal dialogue with his team members instead of
using mail for communication. Also this one gives
everybody access to his online calendar so that his
team members can calendar their appointments
directly. With this his team members have a great
influence on the organization of his daily routine as
a leader.
Some leaders work together with their team
members on a regular basis, for example at the information desk. This gives them the chance to talk to
team members and to know what their tasks are.
Management by Objectives is only implemented in
one of the examined libraries, although this is a participative method and three of the four leaders think
that this is a reasonable management method, even
if it is very time consuming.
In another research project for a dissertation –
among others – the influence especially of the leadership style of the top management on the middle
management as well as the team members was
explored. For this a written survey was carried out
with leaders and members of the staff of an academic
library that participated directly or indirectly in the
development of the library’s strategy or which were
affected by the resulting measures (Düren, 2009).
Transformational as well as transactional leadership (see Table 2 for detailed information about these
Düren: Leadership in libraries in times
of change
137
Table 2. Transformational and transactional leadership style (Podsakoff et al., 1990; Hall et al., 2008).
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP
Identifying and articulating a Vision
Providing an Appropriate Model
Fostering the Acceptance of Group Goals
High Performance Expectations
Providing Individualized Support
Intellectual Stimulation
Contingent Reward Behavior
Table 3. Trust-based organizational culture (Düren, 2009).
Vision
TRUST-BASED ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Change Manager
Participation
Leader
Reliable Person
leadership styles) of the top management has a positive influence on a trust-based organizational culture
(see Table 3 for details of the trust-based organizational culture). And a trust-based organizational
culture leads to a high own initiative and great flexibility of the middle management as well as the team
members.
Transformational leadership, therefore, is suitable
to handle major changes in libraries. Transactional
leadership, which is based on contingent reward behavior, correlates with transformational leadership
(Avolio, Bass and Jung (1999), which means that
leaders should display both transformational and
transactional leadership.
Anxieties
Team Members
Trust
Information
Participation
Minor Density of Regulation
Others Working in the Library
Figure 2. New aspects of leadership. (Düren, 2013).
have done, that a lot of them did change their behaviour throughout a change process and that all of them
had to cope with new leadership aspects.
How new aspects of leadership – as can be seen in
Figure 2 – can help to master a deliberate large-scale
change in a library is shown in the following examples (Düren, 2013):
Leaders and their Vision
Leadership during change processes
In this section some interesting findings of a research
project at the University of Applied Sciences
Hamburg about leadership aspects during the time
of deliberate large-scale changes in libraries can be
found (Düren, 2013). For this, expert interviews with
middle management leaders of academic and public
libraries, as well as change managers in libraries, have
been accomplished.
The idea of this research project was to find out
what leaders thought throughout their change projects, if they recognized and how they reacted to the
anxieties, worries and fears of their team members,
how they communicated during the change process
and if they thought afterwards that they could or
should have done anything better. This of course does
not say if a change project was done well, but it shows
that leaders nowadays are able to reflect on what they
To introduce a deliberate large-scale change in a
library, leaders should be able to discover trends and
new challenges and act proactively instead of only
reacting to changes and external pressure. They are
in the role of innovators and forerunners.
Leaders need to be reliable
During a merger of an academic library with an
information service provider, the leaders working for
the information service provider questioned the correctness of the evaluation results which had led to
their integration in the academic library, and communicated this to their team members. At the same time,
these leaders communicated to the director of the
academic library their willingness to cooperate. All
in all, the team members of the information service
provider were given inconsistent information and
decisions. This unclear and unreliable leadership
138
resulted in unwillingness of the team members of the
information service provider to work together with
their leaders and stand behind them any longer. They
told them this in one of their regular status meetings,
which led to the leaders’ resignations.
Leaders as change managers
Leaders should be change managers themselves and
for this they need to know the different tools and
methods of change management, such as the different
phases of a change process, as well as the phases of
the staff’s reaction to change1 and what this means for
their leadership style. One leader recognized in the
course of his change project a short intermediate
phase of euphoria, which was followed by a deep valley of uncertainties, worries and anger, before the
phase of acceptance followed, and had to deal with it.
Team members and others working in the library
Their anxieties need to be recognized and those who
are directly affected by a deliberate large-scale
change should be given a chance to participate in the
change project.
One of the most important aspects for the success
of a change project is the communication process.
Leaders have to communicate much more than before
to reduce their team members’ anxieties and concerns
regarding the change project. This does not necessarily mean they need to change the communication
tools, but they should raise the frequency of providing
information. During one change project, a leader
learned that some information needs to be given twice
or even more times, and that it is essential to communicate the repeated information with the same enthusiasm and conviction as the first time.
The communication process includes the other
managers of the library, especially the leader’s own
superior. Here it is important to take the time to talk
with them – even if the change project is running short
of time. One leader has seen in retrospect that it would
have been better to have a personal discussion with
her superior regarding a very important issue, rather
than just using the telephone, or – even worse – via
e-mail.
Leaders interviewed for this research project in
general emphasized how important it was to listen
to what their team members had to say. In extreme
situations that affect everybody of the team, such as
deliberate large-scale changes, a leader cannot act
single-handedly. For this there should always be a
personal dialogue between the leader and his or her
team members.
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Conclusion
Leaders in times of change need special competences
to handle major changes in their library. They need
not only to know and react to their users’ needs and
wishes and to be able to anticipate the future of information services – and with this, of their library.
Besides their potential to create a vision and a strategy
for their library, leaders have to deal carefully with
their team members’ anxieties. Change projects might
raise concerns and fears with employees that need to
be understood and taken care of.
For this, students of library and information
sciences should be prepared for their (potential) future
leadership role in leadership and management aspects
as well as change management.
Top management as well as middle management
leaders operating on the basis of the transformational
leadership style – in combination with the transactional leadership style (Avolio, Bass and Jung,
1999) – in a trust-based organizational culture might
be able to handle deliberate large-scale changes better
than others, especially than those with a more authoritarian leadership style.
All in all, leaders should have a vision, be reliable, act
as change managers, recognize their team members’
anxieties and give those team members and others working in the library who are directly affected by a deliberate
large-scale change a chance to participate in the change
project. Management by Objectives as a participative
method can support the handling of major changes.
The most important aspect of leadership in times of
change is to communicate with everybody as often as
possible!
Further research should include the question of
whether modern methods of communication, such as
wikis, blogs or Twitter, can support the communication
process. The research project at the University of
Applied Sciences Hamburg about leadership aspects
during the time of major changes in libraries (Düren,
2013) did not show an interest in employing these
modern communication tools. Also, it might be interesting to find out how leaders can be prepared to communicate better, and especially not only to inform their
team members, but to install a communication process
which includes a regular dialogue in change projects.
Note
1. The reaction curve usually starts with shock and denial
and ends with acceptance and integration (e. g. Kostka
and Mönch, 2006).
References
Avolio BJ, Bass BM and Jung DI (1999) Re-examining the
components of transformational and transactional
Düren: Leadership in libraries in times
of change
leadership using the multifactor leadership questionnaire. Journal of Occupational and Organizational
Psychology 72(4): 441–462.
Berke KE (2012) Führungsstile in wissenschaftlichen
Bibliotheken – Vergleich und Analyse in Bezug auf Bibliotheken als moderne Dienstleistungsunternehmen. In:
W Tannhof and P Düren (editors): Aus der Praxis für die
Praxis, Veröffentlichungen der Universitätsbibliothek der
Helmut-Schmidt-Universität / Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg, No. 5, 2012. ISBN 978-3-86818030-5.
Düren P (2009) Einfluss von Führungsverhalten und
Unternehmungskultur auf die Steuerung öffentlicher Einrichtungen. Modellentwicklung, Empirie und Gestaltungsempfehlungen für eine Balanced Scorecard-Einfu¨hrung.
München und Mering: Rainer Hampp Verlag, 2009. ISBN
978-386618-321-6.
Düren P (2013) Leadership in academic and public
libraries: a time of change. Oxford: Chandos Publishing, not yet published. ISBN 978-1-84334-690-6.
Hall J, Johnson S, Wysocki A and Kepner K (2008) Transformational leadership: the transformation of managers
and associates. EDIS document HR 020, July 2002,
Reviewed October 2008. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/
pdffiles/HR/HR02000.pdf
Kostka C and Mönch A (2006) Change Management: 7
Methoden für die Gestaltung von Veränderungsprozessen. München: Hanser Verlag, 3. Auflage, 2006. ISBN
978-3-446-40285-0.
Lewin K (1947) Frontiers in group dynamics: concept,
method and reality in social science; social equilibria
and social change. Human Relations June 1947, 1(1):
5–41. DOI: 10.1177/001872674700100103.
Podsakoff PM, MacKenzie SB, Moorman RH and Fetter R
(1990) Transformational leader behaviors and their
effects on followers’ trust in leader, satisfaction, and
organizational citizenship behaviors. Leadership
Quarterly 1(2): 107–142.
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Smith I (2011) Organisational quality and organisational
change: Interconnecting paths to effectiveness. Library
Management 32(1): 111–128. DOI: 10.1108/
01435121111102629.
Stewart J (1996) Managing change through training and
development. Second Edition. London: Kogan Page
Limited, 1996. ISBN 0-7494-1846-X.
Vahs D and Leiser W (2007) Change Management in
schwierigen Zeiten. Erfolgsfaktoren und Handlungsempfehlungen für die Gestaltung von Veränderungsprozessen. Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag,
2003 (second modified reprint in 2007). ISBN 978-38244-0711-8.
Author biographies
Prof. Dr. Petra Düren is Professor for Management of
Library and Information Services at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. She was formerly a lecturer at
three universities and Head of Department at the German
National Library of Science and Technology and the University Library Hannover (TIB/UB), a member of the
library management and responsible for corporate management. Contact: Hamburg University of Applied Sciences,
HAW Hamburg, Faculty Design, Media & Information,
Department Information, Finkenau 35, 22081 Hamburg,
Germany. Tel. þ40 42875-3637. Fax: þ40 42875-3609.
Email: petra.dueren@haw-hamburg.de
Paper presented at the World Library and Information
Congress: 78th IFLA General Conference and Assembly,
11–78 August 2012, Helsinki, Finland, in session 162 —
Libraries and librarians as forces for transformative
change: continuing education the fuel — Continuing
Professional Development and Workplace Learning.
I F LA
Article
Welcoming, flexible, and state-of-the-art:
Approaches to continuous
facilities improvement
International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions
39(2) 140–150
ª The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/0340035213486408
ifla.sagepub.com
Charles Forrest
Emory University
Sharon L. Bostick
Illinois Institute of Technology
Abstract
As digital access to all sources of information continues to expand at an accelerating rate, libraries around the
world are working to transform themselves in response to their changing role in the communities they serve
and support. Academic libraries face particular challenges as a generation of students enters university having
embraced online, mobile, anytime, anywhere access to information. At the center of an academic community
that increasingly values intellectual collaboration among faculty and students, and learning in and out of the
classroom, the 21st century academic library must continually recreate itself as a place that fosters
curiosity, engagement, collaboration, and lifelong learning. Typical 20th-century capital investment cycles in
academic libraries in the United States were characterized by large-scale once-a-generation investments in
facilities expansion and enhancement. In the first decade of the 21st century the drive to transform is greater
than ever before, but there is less capital funding available, increasing the pressure on institutions to reduce the
capital investment cycle time in order to remain responsive to rapid changes in technology, pedagogy, scholarship, and user expectations. The end of any project is the start of evaluation and planning for the next cycle of
change and investment. This paper will explore and discuss library efforts at two major academic institutions in
the United States, one receiving public funds and one private, to develop innovative ways to evaluate library
spaces, functions, services, operations and maintenance. The speakers will highlight projects intended to operationalize capital investment, shorten cycle times and provide incremental interventions, within a general
framework of planning big and implementing small. Data encompass exit counts, occupancy rates, and peer
comparisons; data sources include surveys, focus groups, and simulations. Particular projects and initiatives will
address user needs, program innovation, and facilities enhancement, with the aim of continually refreshing and
renewing library spaces that enhance learning, inspire scholarship, and foster community.
Keywords
library facilities, continuous improvement, data-driven decision-making, library renovation
Introduction
Academic libraries are reinventing themselves as
learning spaces for 21st century students and faculty.
Cognitive research informs and shapes emerging pedagogies to foster problem-based, experiential, active
learning. Our campuses and parent institutions are
working hard to understand and respond to the implications of these new relationships among learners,
learning experiences and learning spaces.
Academic libraries are increasingly willing to characterize their communities of users as ‘customers’;
some are prepared to take another page from business
in an attempt to transform themselves from service
providers to collaborative partners in learning and
research, embracing and deploying powerful technologies for distribution, access and manipulation of
Corresponding author:
Charles Forrest, Director, Library Facilities, Emory University,
540 Astbury Circle, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Tel. þ1 404-7270137. (Mobile: þ1 404-895-5037.
Email: charles.forrest@emory.edu
Forrest and Bostick: Welcoming, flexible, and state-of-the-art: Approaches to continuous facilities improvement
massive quantities of digital information in a variety
of formats–print, image and sound. The virtual library
accessible from the ‘‘anywhere, anytime’’ of the Internet, is complemented by the human scale and human
experience of the library as place, providing a unique
user experience that creates and supports the academic community, the basis for the modern residential campus.
The customer experience
In The Experience Economy Pine and Gilmore propose
a model for understanding the transition they see
underway from a goods and services economy to an
experience economy. The service economy supplanted
the goods-based economy in your lifetime. We’re now
moving into the experience economy, where the target
‘‘commodity’’ is your experience as a customer. Goods
are useful and service is helpful, but experiences are
memorable. Experiences leave a lasting impression and
can be transformative.
In the information world, data is a commodity, the
raw material of research and learning. Compiling and
analyzing the raw material of data, information aggregators package and deliver information goods, ‘‘tangible items sold to largely anonymous customers who
buy them off the shelf, from the lot, out of the catalog,
and so on.’’1 Libraries select and acquire these information goods (books, journals, databases, other resources)
as the foundation for programs of services, intangible
activities customized to the individual request of known
clients; services employ an estimated 80 percent of the
workforce.2 But the dominance of services in the modern economy leads to their commoditization; the Internet is the greatest force for commoditization, for both
goods and services. Automation promotes disintermediation; the end user is increasingly able to go ‘‘straight
to the source’’ of information, decreasing reliance on
intermediaries such as libraries.3 Will the end result be
to take libraries completely out of the equation? What
value do libraries add?
Pine and Gilmore suggest that services can be differentiated based on the quality of the customer experience. The focus on the customer experience occurs
whenever a company intentionally uses services as the
stage and goods as props to engage an individual.
While goods are tangible and services intangible,
experiences are memorable.4 Figure 1 summarizes this
transformation of the customer relationship in libraries.
When the patron’s mode of interaction with the
library was the transaction, the library’s goal was control, and its primary role was that of gatekeeper, with
the aim of exercising effective stewardship over limited, shared resources. With information packaged
141
and deployed in print-on-paper physical containers
(books and journals), the library worked to organize
and manage scarce physical resources, focusing on
policies and rules governing access and use; the
library loaned and the patron borrowed. The library’s
success was measured in terms of its investments in
the resources it made available, the inputs in the information transaction (such as volume count, number of
subscriptions, total staff, or total expenditures).
When the library patron evolved into the library customer, the primary mode of interaction became service.
The library’s goal was the provision of customer assistance, connecting the prepared user with the appropriate source of information or set of resources. The
library’s success was measured not in terms of what
it had (inputs) but of what it did, the activities it supported, its outputs (such as circulation transactions,
reference questions answered, classes taught and students served).
In the transition to the experience economy the
library’s resources and services (its inputs and outputs)
are used to set the stage for the customer experience.
When the library customer is seen as a guest (in the
all-inclusive resort sense, rather than the hotel/motel
or restaurant sense), the library begins to pay attention
to all the factors that contribute to the quality of the
total user experience. Library staff become collaborative partners, setting the stage and attending to the
library’s guests on a number of levels. The library’s
success is measured not by what it has or what it does,
by how it’s used or the activities it supports, but what
happens as a result of those activities and encounters,
the impacts or outcomes of what goes on in the library
(such as fostering student learning success, supporting
faculty productivity, and enhancing institutional
reputation).
After the library deploys its resources in support of
its activities, the question becomes one of results:
What difference has it made? Transactions are useful,
service is helpful, but experience is memorable–and
potentially transformative.
Measuring success
Libraries count. We count volumes added and volumes
withdrawn, subscriptions received and back issues
bound, total circulation and gate count. We use this data
to let our user communities and our funding agencies
know what we’re doing and, perhaps more importantly,
how well we’re doing. We compare our present to our
past to document our growth, and justify our requests for
ongoing support or additional resources. We compare
our own library to other libraries, to demonstrate our
success or highlight our shortcomings. We plan for the
142
IFLA Journal 39(2)
CUSTOMER
LIBRARY
Mode
Role
Mode
Role
Success
measured
by
Transaction
Patron
Control
Gatekeeper
Inputs
Service
Customer
Connect
Assistant
Outputs
Experience
Guest
Collaborate Partner
Outcomes
Figure 1. Transformation of the customer relationship in libraries.
future by projecting growth and setting measurable
goals.
The ARL Statistics is an annual data series that
describes the collections, expenditures, staffing and
service activities for the more than 120 member
libraries of the Association of Research Libraries
(ARL). The whole data series from 1908 to the present
represents the oldest and most comprehensive continuing library statistical series in North America. 5 For
most of its history, the ARL Statistics has reported data
on library inputs, such as total volumes in collection,
volumes added, serials received, number of staff, and
expenditures in broad categories. In response to a call
for more meaningful and relevant measures of library
activity, in the mid-1990s ARL added a handful of output measures to its annual survey, including number of
reference transactions and number of classes taught.6
More recently, in response to increased demands for
institutional accountability, research libraries are being
challenged to provide measures that document their
contributions to teaching, research, scholarship, and
community service. ARL’s Statistics & Measurement
program is supporting member efforts to develop new
models for measurement that address issues of service
quality, electronic resource usage, and outcomes
assessment. In 1999, the ARL membership endorsed
the ‘‘New Measures Initiative,’’ aimed in part to
develop tools for comprehensive collection, compilation and reporting of outcome measures, including surveys of user satisfaction and measures of service
effectiveness.7 One of the first surveys to emerge from
this effort was the LibQUALþ initiative.8
These new initiatives aim to document the library’s
contributions to institutional mission in large part by
asking the library’s users what they think about the
quality and accessibility of information resources, the
friendliness and helpfulness of staff, and the comfort
and functional effectiveness of library as place. Local
surveys, focus groups, and other sociological and
anthropological research protocols bring the authentic
voice and observed behavior of the user to the process
of designing new types of library spaces. These emergent methodologies for assessing the usefulness and
effectiveness of those new spaces are based not solely
on traditional measures of investment (inputs) and
activity (outputs) but on the library’s influence on
enhanced learning and quality research (outcomes).9
In the broad area of inputs, widely available guidelines ask about the adequacy of space to the intended
purpose: Is there enough shelving to house the collection at efficient and effective working density? Are
there enough group studies proportionate to the size
and pedagogical needs of the student body? In the
area of outputs, efforts build on basic activity measures: Is the library used? Are gate counts and occupancy rates commensurate with expectations, and
comparable to peers? Is seating generally adequate,
and especially during peak demand periods around
midterms and finals?
These investments and activities, these inputs and
outputs, are tactical and short-term, observable on
regular cycles (quarterly, semester to semester, annually), familiar and relatively easy to measure. Outcomes and impacts, on the other hand, are strategic
and long term, are often only measurable over several
annual cycles, and are more difficult to define and
measure validly and reliably. But critical to accountability is the ability to answer the question: When you
add up the investment, and review all the activity,
what difference did it make?
The customer survey is the cornerstone of outcomes assessment, asking users themselves about
their satisfaction with library resources, services, staff
and facilities. Student pre- and post-testing can begin
to demonstrate the positive value of library instruction
and library use. Do students self-report a positive
value for certain types of library spaces? Is it possible
to demonstrate a correlation between certain types of
facilities designed for student group work and the
quality of student collaborative projects? Does the
library contribute to developing a sense of academic
community? What’s the connection between student
Forrest and Bostick: Welcoming, flexible, and state-of-the-art: Approaches to continuous facilities improvement
perceptions of the library as a welcoming and inviting
facility, and their self-reported satisfaction with
library staff and services? Are users staying away
from the library, perhaps going elsewhere, preferring
other on-campus or off-campus spaces–and if so,
why? The answers to such questions can inform strategic planning, helping to frame initiatives whose
implementation period is often measured in years.
Case study: Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in
metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The University was founded as Emory College in 1836 in
Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists, who
named the town for the school’s prestigious British
cousin, and the school itself for Methodist bishop John
Emory, who dreamed of an American education that
molded character as well as the mind. A land-grant
by Asa G. Candler, then president of The Coca-Cola
Company, enabled the small college to relocate to metropolitan Atlanta in 1915 where it was chartered as
Emory University. The University currently enrolls
nearly 14,000 students in nine academic divisions:
Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Oxford College,
Goizueta Business School, Laney Graduate School,
School of Law, School of Medicine, Nell Hodgson
Woodruff School of Nursing, Rollins School of Public
Health, and the Candler School of Theology.
Libraries at Emory
There are libraries for Business, Law, Health Sciences,
Special Collections, and Theology. Opened in 1969, the
Robert W. Woodruff Library, named for another president of The Coca-Cola Company, is the main library at
Emory.
Library development at Emory University has followed a typical cycle of major capital investment
about once a generation, typical of 20th century academic libraries in the United States. The 30 year cycle
starts with a new library or a major capital investment
in an existing library, followed by a decade of optimal
operations. Then come 10 years of decreasing satisfaction culminating in a strong call for remediation
and action, initiating a capital planning process that
typically takes another decade to produce a new
library or a major capital investment in an existing
library, at which point the cycle begins all over again.
This thirty-year generational cycle of development
can be seen in the development of the main library at
Emory. The University received its charter in Atlanta
in 1915, and began to build its new campus within a few
years. The first free-standing main library on campus,
the Asa G. Candler Library, opened in 1926. Thirty
143
years later, in the mid-1950s, the Candler Library was
partially renovated by adding an infill floor to the grand
reading room and two story lobby, increasing assignable
square footage but severely compromising the character
of these spaces. The inadequacy of this renovation soon
became apparent, and 15 years later the campus built a
new main library, the Robert W. Woodruff Library,
which opened in 1969. The Woodruff Library in turn
underwent a major expansion and renovation nearly
30 years later in 1997, creating the Center for Library
and Information Resources (CLAIR). In 2003 the renovation of the Candler Library, including the restoration
of the lobby and reading room, completed the upgrading
and updating of the main library complex.
A major capital investment can have a dramatic influence on the use of library facilities; potentially doubling
gate counts. Figure 2 shows 20 years of exit counts in the
Woodruff Library. The opening of CLAIR produced an
80 percent increase in the exit count in 1998. Increased
traffic counts were also seen after the opening of the new
Music and Media Library in 2001 and the library coffee
shop in 2005. New spaces and novel services produced
enduring in baseline rates of library use.
Shortening the capital cycle: ‘‘opportunistic
incrementalism’’
The pace of change is accelerating. Facilities enhancements that take up to a decade or more to implement do
not produce flexible, responsive, innovative library
spaces, and can result in library facilities that are ‘‘frozen in time’’. Planning big and implementing small
means a growing number of smaller, phased projects
on an annual basis, an approach that Emory’s Director
of Libraries Rick Luce has called ‘‘opportunistic incrementalism’’. Figure 3 shows the number of Emory
Library facilities projects for the last five fiscal years
with a price tag of at least US$50,000.
Group studies
Data on use formed the basis for decision-making
about furnishing group studes. A review of group study
use in the main library from Spring 2011 revealed that
the two most unconventionally furnished group studies
(565 and 756) also had the lowest use. During the summer of 2011, more standard conference tables and
chairs were installed to replace the low table and cushions in 656 (affectionately nicknamed the ‘‘tea room’’,
modeled after three sit-on-the-floor individual workstations in the Cox Hall Computing Center at Emory) and
the café height table and stools in 756 (which were
relocated to L1 Learning Commons).
Figure 4 shows the resulting increase in reservations for these two rooms in the fall of 2011. Note
144
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Figure 2. Emory University Main Library annual exit count fiscal year ending 1989 through fiscal year ending 2011.
Figure 3. Number of facilities projects, each at least $50K
USD, last 5 fiscal years.
Figure 4. Tech Equipped Group Studies: Change in # of
reservations, Spring 2011 to Fall 2011.
especially the increase in use of 656 (formerly the tea
room).
The data further suggest that the availability of the
newly refurnished 656 and 756 could acount for the drop
in traffic in 764 and especially 213. A site visit to group
study 213 revealed that it needs a general AV and furniture refurbishment and upgrade. Likewise, observation
of the use of 764 suggests that the furniture is less than
effective; students move one of the benches to gain better access to the markerboards. Both rooms now appear
on the list of proposed renovations.
hours. Representatives from Emory University’s Student Government Association approached the Woodruff Library to request an expansion of operating hours
to 24 hours per day, seven days per week (24 x 7). At
the time of the student request, the main library at
Emory opened at 12 noon on Sunday, and remained
open 24 hours a day during the week, closing again at
20:00 pm on Friday evening. The students claimed that
Emory is the only top 20 library in the US that doesn’t
provide 24 x 7 access. The first thing we did was test that
claim.
Figure 5 shows total weekly hours of operation
across top 20 US universities which revealed three
tiers of hours of operation, each tier representing
roughly a third of the sample population. The top tier
institutions offer at least one library, or space within a
Hours of operation
Occupancy data helped inform decision-making when
Emory students requested that the library offer longer
Forrest and Bostick: Welcoming, flexible, and state-of-the-art: Approaches to continuous facilities improvement
145
Figure 5. Total weekly hours of operation for 20 large US academic libraries.
Figure 6. Head count Friday & Saturday nights, continuous 24 hour operation, April 2011.
library, that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
for at least part of the year, usually the fall and spring
semesters. The second tier (including Emory University) offered 24-hour library access at least part of the
week, typically five days Monday through Friday.
The third tier of libraries did not offer 24-hour access.
While Emory does provide 24-hour access five days a
week, it is at the bottom of the middle tier (by a small
margin), so it seemed reasonable to think there was an
opportunity to consider an expansion of hours of
operation.
On the Library side we had always claimed ‘‘we
don’t remain open because there’s insufficient demand
to justify remaining open’’. But how can we say
anything about demand if we’re closed? We decided
to test our own claim as well.
We remembered that the Library remains open
continuously for two and a half weeks at the end of the
fall and spring semesters. So we examined the data
from the month of April 2011, during part of which
we were open continuously, round the clock and
through the weekend.
Figure 6 shows that on the days the Library closed
at 20:00 pm use fell off quickly beginning around
17:00 pm. On the days the Library remained open
24 hours, use held fairly steady until about twelve
midnight, when it began to fall off until it reached its
lowest level around 6:00 am or 7:00 am. The top line
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IFLA Journal 39(2)
Figure 9. University of Missouri Kansas City Miller Nichols
Library, Information Commons, 2000.
Figure 7. University of Kansas City Library, 1950s.
Figure 8. University of Missouri-Kansas City Miller Nichols
Library, 1989.
shows occupancy for the last day of April, during the
middle of final exam week, always one of the busiest
days of the year. It’s interesting to note that although
the occupancy rate is higher on April 30, the pattern of
decline after 12 midnight is the same. So overall,
although occupancy remains high through midnight,
it falls off significantly by around 2:00 am.
The data suggested the library could meet the needs
of a large number of students by remaining open an
additional four hours until 12 midnight on Friday and
Saturday evenings, instead of closing at 20:00 pm.
The Library is continuing to collect occupancy data,
including during the new hours of operation on Friday
and Saturday evenings. The data will be reviewed, and
the Library will decide to continue the changed schedule into the fall, or revert to the previous hours of operation, based on the actual level of use.
Case Study: The University of
Missouri-Kansas City
The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC)
Libraries date back to 1933, when the university was
called the University of Kansas City. Back then the
library was located in the only building on campus. Lack
of space became a problem almost immediately and the
collections moved to several places, sometimes separated. The urgent need for new library space was understood, but funding was not made available for a true
library building until 1966. The General Library was
completed in 1969, providing a permanent home for the
collections. Even at that time there was awareness that
the size would soon be insufficient and the design for the
General Library included plans for an additional two
floors to be added at a later time. That time came in
1989 when the fourth and fifth floors were built, funded
by an appropriation from the Missouri General Assembly
and supplemented by a generous gift from local businessman and philanthropist Miller Nichols. The expanded
building was then named the Miller Nichols Library.
The Miller Nichols Library remained functional for
many years, but by the late 1990s it became apparent
that once again, more space was needed. Several plans
were created for a major renovation, but funding never
followed. That was the time when truly looking at
opportunities for incremental renovations began. While
the unfunded plans for an expansion languished, a great
deal of interest was exhibited on the campus in the new
concept of information commons. A plan was developed to take space on the first floor and transform it
into an innovative, physically attractive and accessible
space for study and learning. A variety of furniture
styles were incorporated, and the technology was
placed in areas designed to be the most efficient. The
Miller Nichols Foundation provided funding, and the
Information Commons opened in 2000.
Forrest and Bostick: Welcoming, flexible, and state-of-the-art: Approaches to continuous facilities improvement
147
Figure 11. Example of a collaborative learning space, 2011.
Figure 12. Example of a collaborative learning space, 2011.
Figure 10. Automated storage and retrieval system.
The Information Commons was a great asset to
library services and was used heavily. It did not reach
the maximum number of students however, because it
was on one side of the first floor, and students tended to
enter the library and go straight ahead to the stack
floors without looking to the side. It was, however,
very useful, and served as a model for future plans. The
future plans still, at that time, included the goal of renovating and expanding the entire Miller Nichols Library.
In 2004 a design team (Sasaki Associates, Boston and
PGAV Architects, Kansas City) was hired to prepare a
conceptual study, looking at collection, study and staff
space. In 2007 they were asked to provide a schematic
design, utilizing the following vision:
‘‘Transform the library from a ‘‘book vault’’ into a
facility that embraces both the University and the surrounding communities by renovating Miller Nichols
Library’s existing 169,733 gross square feet and adding approximately 68,296 gross square feet.’’
The total cost of the building was not funded. It was
then that the idea of renovating in increments began in
earnest. The initial design was divided into phases. A
study determined that installing an automated storage
and retrieval system (ASRS, or robot) was a cost
Figure 13. Example of a collaborative learning space, 2011.
effective and efficient way of safely storing books and
making them easily accessible, while at the same time
creating the type of space needed to begin the transformation of the library into a student centered collaborative learning environment.
A combination of private and university funding
allowed the construction of the first phase, which was
the extension to house the ASRS as well as its purchase. The costs were actually considerably less than
estimated, and a substantial amount of funds remained.
It was decided to alter the phases, and use the
148
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Figures 14 a and 14 b. University of Missouri-Kansas City Miller Nichols Library. Usage statistics, 2010–2011.
Figure 15. Publicity for the LibQUALþ results.
unexpected funds to renovate the first floor once again,
greatly expanding and updating the old information
commons. It was also decided to use the project as a way
to test ideas for future building renovations, creating in
essence a ‘‘prototype information commons’’. This
phase of the project was completed in 2011, creating a
variety of collaborative learning spaces. These spaces
are relevant now and also will guide future renovations.
This new space was evaluated in 2012, and the most
basic measure–building usage statistics–indicated an
amazing 40 percent increase between 2010 and the
same time in 2011.
As this part of the project was nearing completion,
another opportunity arose. Bond money was unexpectedly made available explicitly for another phase. This
one, as of this writing, is under construction. It will provide a classroom addition and grand entrance to the
Miller Nichols Library. The distinct phases that were
originally planned have ended with this addition.
Instead, discrete areas are being selected for planning
and focused fundraising. The Library is now fully in the
incremental mode for renovations. In the meantime,
evaluation of the completed areas is in process. It is different sort of evaluation because it is not an entire building or even all of the related services. This type of
evaluation both addresses the success of the new areas,
and informs the planning for future ones.
Evaluation takes several forms, including punch
lists for the very new areas and several types of usage
statistics. The University Libraries also participates in
the LibQUALþ assessment tool, a nationally-normed
survey that helps library staff assess and improve
library services, including the library as a place. In
addition to input about how the new and older spaces
work for students, they are also able to give input about
what they would like to see happen in the library. The
results are posted online in a multi-page LibGuide
(http://libguides.library.umkc.edu/content.php?pid¼
277782&sid¼2288913), along with the Libraries’
responses to date. Library users also are invited to
comment, thereby continuing the evaluation in a less
scientific manner. The University Libraries run a new
LibQUALþ survey every 3 years.
Qualitative evaluation is done periodically, often
via focus groups. Focus groups are also used when
planning for new renovations. Library advisory
groups also provide qualitative input.
Another very important and sometimes very informal
evaluation procedure is observation. Librarians and
library management do walk around the library and note
usage patterns and styles. Sometimes it is just visual;
sometimes notes are taken, particularly in selected areas.
Since further renovations and improvements are now
opportunistic, this type of information is very valuable.
What does an opportunistic renovation strategy
means for UMKC? There are many positive reasons
for such a strategy. Pragmatically, it is better, and
often cheaper, than doing nothing. It allows for
experimentation since much is done in smaller increments, and there is the opportunity for ‘‘as you go’’
evaluation. It is a good strategy for working with
visionary donors, as has been possible with UMKC’s
relationship with the Miller Nichols Foundation.
Some challenges exist as well. The library may be
essentially living in a constant state of renovation,
which can be disrupting and discouraging. There may
be side effects. For example, to expand the area for a
Special Collections department, space from another,
Forrest and Bostick: Welcoming, flexible, and state-of-the-art: Approaches to continuous facilities improvement
adjacent service may be required and they then must
have space elsewhere. It can also be challenging to
have a constantly changing infrastructure.
Planning is essential to a good opportunistic renovation strategy. A strong, up-to-date strategic plan is
essential to take full advantage of opportunities, and
to provide the framework to evaluate them, before,
during and after.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Conclusion: creating a culture of
assessment for library facilities
A commitment to systematic and ongoing collection,
compilation, analysis and reporting of data about
library activity and user satisfaction can be the basis
for developing a ‘‘culture of assessment’’ in an academic library. Continuous improvement requires continuously updated, regularly reported information.
The library’s user community can be a rich source of
management information, and should be formally and
informally consulted on a regular basis. It is important
to ask library users what it is they want from the library,
and whether or not they are getting it. Statistical tools
and data are not intended to replace current sources of
information, but rather to supplement and complement
what is already known. Statistical data and survey
results should be distributed throughout the organization to inform management processes, shape decisionmaking and, ultimately, improve service to users.
The information marketplace has become more
competitive in recent years, with academic libraries
no longer holding a clear monopoly. As we struggle
to understand the library’s new roles and responsibilities among its communities of users, there is inspiration and value to be found in the best practices and
innovations of the commercial, retail and even entertainment sectors. We have all been customers, and
can rethink our approach to designing services and
facilities based on a deeper and more nuanced understanding of that shared customer experience.
If we can create experiences for our students,
faculty, and visitors that linger in their memory long
after they have left our libraries and our campuses,
we will remain central to the academic enterprise.
Delivering experiences that produce lifelong memories, informing and transforming thought and behavior long after those experiences have ended, is as
good a working definition of the educational enterprise as one might hope to find.
References
1. Joseph Pine B. II, and James H. Gilmore. The experience economy: Work is theater & every business
8.
9.
149
a stage. (Boston: Harvard Business School Press,
1999), 7.
Pine and Gilmore, 8.
Pine and Gilmore, 11.
Pine and Gilmore, 11–12.
About ARL (Association of Research Libraries): ARL
Fact Sheet. http://www/arl/org/arl/arlfacts.html
Crawford Walt and Gorman Michael. Future Libraries:
Dreams, Madness, & Reality. (Chicago: American
Library Association, 1995), 140–141.
ARL New Measures Initiatives. http://www/arl.org/stats/
newmeas/newmeas.html
Thompson Bruce, Cook Colleen and Thompson Russel
L. ‘Reliability and structure of LibQUALþ scores:
Measuring perceived library service quality.’ Portal:
Libraries and the Academy, January 2002(2.1); 3–12.
Forrest Charles and Williamson Amy. ‘From inputs to
outcomes: Measuring library service effectiveness
through user surveys.’ Georgia Library Quarterly, Summer 2003, 40(2); 12–18.
About the authors
Charles Forrest has more than 30 years of experience in academic and research libraries. He holds an MA in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a BA in
Telecommunications and Psychology from Michigan State
University. After nearly a decade with the University of Illinois libraries, he moved to Emory University in 1988 where
he has held a series of administrative positions in the Emory
Libraries, including Director of Instructional Support Services and Director of Planning and Budget. Currently Director of Library Facilities, Charles has served as library project
manager for numerous library construction and renovation
projects, including the Center for Library and Information
Resources, a major addition to Emory’s main library. A member of the Committee on the Environment of Emory’s University Senate, Charles served as library project manager for
the renovation of Emory’s original main library, the first
LEED-certified renovation project on campus. Charles is
active in the American Library Association, the Association
of College and Research Libraries, the Library Leadership
and Management Association and IFLA. He has served on
several library architecture and design award juries, and is a
regular presenter at conferences, workshops and institutes.
Contact: Director, Library Facilities, Emory University
Library, Woodruff Library, 540 Astbury Circle, Atlanta GA
30322, USA. Tel. þ1 404-727-0137. Mobile: þ1 404 895
5037. Email: charles.forrest@emory.edu
Sharon L. Bostick is Dean of Libraries at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. She was formerly Dean of
University Libraries at the University of Missouri Kansas
City, Director of Libraries at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and has held library positions at the University
150
of Toledo, Wichita State University and Oakland University, all in the United States. She holds a PhD in Higher
Education Administration from Wayne State University,
an AMLS (Library Science) from the University of Michigan, and a BA in English and Counseling from Oakland
University in Michigan. She has also worked as an independent consultant for libraries and higher education,
focusing on assessment, innovation, and accessibility, and
served as a special advisor on international academic
library projects. She has written and presented extensively
on information-seeking behavior in university students,
on academic and library consortia in the United States and
on academic library buildings. She created the Library
Anxiety Scale, a statistically validated instrument, which
is in use worldwide as a diagnostic and research tool. She
is co-author of the book ‘Library Anxiety: Theory,
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Research and Applications’. Her current research interests
combine the study of information-seeking behavior with
the study of creative learning environments. Sharon is a
member of IFLA’s Buildings and Equipment, and the
American Library Association’s LLAMA Buildings
and Equipment Committee. Contact: Illinois Institute
of Technology, Paul V. Galvin Library, 35 West 33rd
Street, Chicago, IL 60616-3793, USA. Tel. þ1 312567-3293 (0ffice). þ1 205-936-3711 (mobile). Email:
sbostick@iit.edu
Paper presented at the World Library and Information Congress: 78th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, 11–18
August 2012, Helsinki, Finland, in session 190: Making the
case for change through evaluation: post-occupancy evaluation of library buildings. Library Buildings and Equipment.
I F LA
Article
UNIMARC – Understanding
the past to envision the future
International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions
39(2) 151–161
ª The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0340035213486410
ifla.sagepub.com
Rosa Maria Galvão and Maria Inês Cordeiro
National Library of Portugal
Abstract
The context of major changes that are envisaged for the bibliographic standards environment demands a
reflection on the nature and specification of MARC and its adequacy for the integration of bibliographic
discovery systems into the larger world of networked information and systems. From this starting point, this
paper provides an overview of the evolution of UNIMARC and the practices of its maintenance, collecting
knowledge that may be useful as a first contribution to inform future steps in redesigning bibliographic data
standards.
Keywords
UNIMARC, bibliographic standards
Introduction
In the library community, the development and future of
the library catalog as a discovery system has been the
central focus of professional attention, especially since
the provision of library services in a web-based environment. Cataloguing principles and codes have evolved
alongside models for the functional requirements of
records with a potential for significant advances in
renewing the foundations of library catalogues, while
for many years the future of MARC formats has been
a matter of much debate yet with no structural changes.
The FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records)1 model has brought an understanding
of the bibliographic universe based on a detailed analysis of bibliographic data functions from the user’s
perspective. There is international recognition of the
validity of the model and experience of ‘‘FRBRized’’
displays based on existent MARC records.2 Both have
underlined that full FRBRization of bibliographic data
will require different levels of data about work, expression, manifestation and their attributes and the capability of parsing data into separate elements that allow
enough flexibility and discretion for their manipulation
and recombination.
However, the framework of MARC formats consists
of non-relational implementations – in fact, MARC
bibliographic formats are specific ISBD implementations, i.e., essentially oriented to record display rather
than to enable a network of relationships based upon
the richness of its data elements.3 The principles governing the structure and evolution of MARC formats
have not been aligned with technology concepts and
the practice of data modelling, despite some past
suggestions, e.g., for the application of principles
underlying conceptual database schemas to MARC4
for object-oriented thinking in structuring cataloguing
data5 or for the use of formal ontologies to design and
support relationships of bibliographic entities.6
With FRBR providing a conceptual model of the bibliographic universe built upon the entity-relationship
method of analysis a whole new perspective is open
pointing to a redesign of standards for data records that
is already emerging in undertakings such as the Bibliographic Framework Transition Initiative,7 under which
new bibliographic data modeling activities will be carried out. These will be oriented not only by the needs
raised in FRBR but also by the demands of the semantic
web technology, e.g., linked open data.
Therefore, it seems clear that nowadays we may be
on the verge of a major shift in the conception and
management of library data. In this context it may
be useful to make the exercise of looking back at the
Corresponding author:
Maria Inês Cordeiro, Director, National Library of Portugal,
Campo Grande, 83 – 1749–081 Lisboa – Portugal. Tel. (þ351)
217982 021/022. Fax. (þ351) 217982 140.
Email: icordeiro@bnportugal.pt
152
evolution of MARC formats and develop a critical
analysis of its management and limitations. This is the
context of the present paper, the objective of which is
to provide an overview study of the evolution of
UNIMARC since it started to be used, with special
emphasis on the period covered by the activity of the
Permanent UNIMARC Committee (PUC), from its
establishment in 1991 to the present (March 2012, the
date of the last PUC meeting).
A brief history of UNIMARC
First issued in 1977, as a recommendation of the IFLA
Working Group on Content Designators, UNIMARC
(standing for UNIversal MAchine-Readable Cataloguing) was primarily aimed at facilitating the exchange
of bibliographic records originally produced in any
other MARC format. It was therefore designed to act
as a common format capable of accommodating /
translating data from / to other formats. At the time,
a variety of bibliographic data standards8 were in
place in different countries and the cost of producing
and maintaining different conversion tools was to be
avoided. In its development phase, several publications followed that defined the format in detail and
provided the necessary documentation for actual use.9
Facilitating the international exchange of records
was still the main goal of UNIMARC in the early
1990s, when the Commission of the European Community (CEC) recognized its potential as a common
standard for data exchange among European national
libraries, bibliographic utilities and the book trade.
Following a workshop held in Luxembourg in 1990,
a study on this matter was commissioned to the
Deutsche Bibliothek whose results,10 presented at a
seminar in Florence, in 1991, underlined the importance of UNIMARC for that purpose, confirmed it
as the common standard for all European cooperation
projects and stressed the need for data conversion
programs to and from UNIMARC.
Another important outcome of the 1991 Seminar
was the establishment of a maintenance body for
UNIMARC: the existence and terms of reference of the
PUC were decided,11 superseding the review functions
of the International MARC Network Committee
(IMNC), established in 1975. The PUC, composed of
specialists from several countries, has since then governed the maintenance of UNIMARC, first within the
IFLA UBCIM Core Activity,12 later, since 2003, under
the responsibility of the IFLA UNIMARC Core Activity,13 coordinated by the National Library of Portugal.
Since the late 1980s, and especially since the establishment of the PUC, UNIMARC evolved from a
theoretically defined format for record exchange to
IFLA Journal 39(2)
a format used also for the generation and management
of original records. Many countries adopted it as their
national standard, providing for the emergent need in
library automation or replacing other existing national
MARC flavors.14 As a consequence, UNIMARC maintenance has been driven by both the need to align with
the evolution of other MARC formats, for purposes of
exchange, and the practical needs of actual users in the
creation of original records. This has reinforced, since
the beginning of the 1990s, the need for more detailed
and regularly updated UNIMARC documentation and
for the completion of the set of standards that correspond to the different library data records: bibliographic,15 authorities,16 classification17 and holdings.18
Over the years, the number of different national
MARC formats has decreased, with MARC 21
becoming more prominent at the international level,
especially since it emerged from the harmonization
of USMARC with CANMARC,19 in 1999, and its
adoption to replace UKMARC, in 2004.20
Despite some moves of former UNIMARC users to
MARC21, the evolution of the UNIMARC community
shows a continuing growth. In 1993, UNIMARC was
used as the internal format at six national bibliographic
agencies plus as exchange format in another three; and
in three countries new MARC formats were based on
UNIMARC.21 By 1998, 18 institutions used UNIMARC as their local standard and nine for purposes of
exchange only, while four had UNIMARC-based formats.22 In 2008, 23 national institutions were using
UNIMARC as their internal format, 10 for exchange
only, and there were five UNIMARC-based national
formats.23 These figures reveal a community that is stable, relying on the continuity of the standard.
The evolution of UNIMARC: general
figures
Over its 35 years of existence, UNIMARC evolved to
adapt to emergent needs related not only to the coverage of different types of resources to describe but also
to align with changes in ISBDs, with concepts and
terminology arisen from the new International Cataloguing Principles (ICP)24 and, more recently, to reflect
changes derived from the implementation of FRBR
and FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority
Records) in bibliographic standards.
In general terms, we can see the UNIMARC evolution in terms of growing content designation of the
bibliographic format: since 1983 we have 68 percent
growth in the number of fields and of 431 percent in
the number of subfields. While new field definition is
quite regular, the subfield growth is particularly high
1998 and 2005 (Tables 1, 2 and 3).
153
Galvão and Cordeiro: UNIMARC – Understanding the past to envision the future
Table 1. Number of fields and subfields by edition/year.
Hanbook
Fields
Subfields
1
st.
ed.
2
nd.
ed.
2nd. ed.,
1st. up.
2nd. ed.,
2nd. up.
2nd. ed.,
3rd. up.
2nd. ed.,
4th. up.
2nd. ed.,
5th. up.
3rd. ed.
1983
1987
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2005
2008
115
337
144
464
153
489
164
530
167
1109
171
1181
178
1239
185
1653
193
1791
2nd. ed.,
1st. up.
2nd. ed.,
2nd. up.
2nd. ed.,
3rd. up.
2nd. ed.,
4th. up.
2nd. ed.,
5th. up.
3rd. ed.
Table 2. Number of fields by block and edition/year.
Hanbook
1
st.
ed.
2
nd.
ed.
Blocks
1983
1987
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2005
2008
0–
1–
2–
3–
4–
5–
6–
7–
8–
Total
7
10
8
22
30
16
12
9
1
115
9
21
10
29
31
16
17
9
2
144
10
22
11
30
34
17
18
9
2
153
11
24
11
33
36
18
19
9
3
164
13
24
11
33
36
18
19
9
4
167
15
24
11
33
36
18
19
10
5
171
18
24
11
34
36
18
20
11
6
178
19
25
11
34
40
18
20
11
7
185
20
25
11
34
40
20
22
14
7
193
2nd. ed.,
1st. up.
2nd. ed.,
2nd. up.
2nd. ed.,
3rd. up.
2nd. ed.,
4th. up.
2nd. ed.,
5th. up.
3rd. ed.
Table 3. Number of subfields by block and edition/year.
Hanbook
1
st.
ed.
2
nd.
ed.
Blocks
1983
1987
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2005
2008
0–
1–
2–
3–
4–
5–
6–
7–
8–
Total
19
29
41
23
30
65
70
57
3
337
22
64
43
35
31
114
84
66
5
464
26
65
44
36
34
117
90
72
5
489
29
64
45
56
36
124
97
74
5
530
37
68
45
56
576
124
97
74
32
1109
43
68
45
56
612
128
116
77
36
1181
61
70
45
76
612
128
129
81
37
1239
78
79
50
83
960
134
135
81
53
1653
78
84
50
90
1000
149
175
111
54
1791
In general, the rate of enlargement and further specification observed in the evolution of UNIMARC
parallels that of USMARC, now MARC21: in 1972
there were 118 fields and 471 subfields25 while the
corresponding figures rose up to 207 fields and 2042
subfields in 2012.
UNIMARC maintenance activities
Methodology
The study encompassed all the proposals received by
the PUC since its establishment, consisting of a total
of 384. Throughout time there were changes in the terminology used to reflect the status of a proposal. For
this analysis, all proposals recorded as ‘‘approved’’,
‘‘accepted’’, ‘‘approved or accepted as amended, or
with amendments, or with changes’’, and ‘‘done’’ are
approved proposals. Not approved are those recorded
as ‘‘rejected’’, ‘‘cancelled’’, ‘‘superseded by . . . or
replaced by . . . or added to . . . ’’ another previous or
later proposal, as well as those marked ‘‘postponed’’
and ‘‘withdrawn’’.
This section will present data about UNIMARC
maintenance and evolution in three perspectives: i)
154
IFLA Journal 39(2)
From other countries: the remaining 73 proposals, of which 77 percent approved.
Figure 1. Total of approved and not approved proposals
1991–2012.
general data about maintenance activities: number of
approved and not approved proposals: proposals
approved according to specific UNIMARC formats,
years of production and source; ii) type of resources
dealt with the approved proposals; iii) characterization of changes by format block.
With regard to the type of resources dealt with by
the approved proposals, the objective was to analyze
the subject and temporal focus of the proposals and
its connection with the concerns of providing
UNIMARC with features to cope with resources other
than books and serials as well as to align with the
FRBR and FRAD models.
In the characterization of changes by format block,
the objective was to analyze the evolution of the format vis-à-vis the changes in ISBD and the type of
changes according to the UNIMARC structure.
Proposals by format. The majority of proposals respect to
UNIMARC/Bibliographic (316), followed by Authorities (64) and Holdings (9). The years with the highest
number of approved proposals were 2011 (30), 2007
and 2008 (28), 2006 (24), 2012 and 2001 (21) (Figure 3).
The 2011 and 2012 approved proposals were essentially focused on providing UNIMARC with a data structure better prepared to describe the entities of the FRBR
model, following the frame of reference described as
scenario 1 in RDA Implementations Scenarios.26
Besides some consolidation of descriptive fields
and enhancement of appendices, the proposals from
2006 to 2008 were mostly about the creation of fields
for identification numbers and new subject and title
access points.
The 2001 changes were at the level of coded data
mostly, followed by descriptive fields, respecting
primarily to music, followed by continuing and electronic resources.
The years with the highest numbers of not approved
proposals were 2009 and 2010. These proposals concerned the format adaptation to ISBD area 0 and
requirements of FRBR group 1 entities. They were not
approved due to the need of further study of these
topics and were submitted later, in 2011 and 2012.
Type of resources dealt with the approved proposals
General data about maintenance activities
Number of proposals. From 1991 to March 2012 a total
of 384 proposals were submitted to the PUC, whose
status (Figure 1 and 2) is as follows:
approved – 277
not approved – 106
under discussion – 1
According to the source, the distribution of proposals is as follows
France, from CfU mostly: 143 proposals, of
which 71 percent approved.
Italy, from ICCU mostly: 48 proposals, of
which 56 percent approved.
UK: 33 proposals, of which 85 percent approved.
Russia: 25 proposals, of which 68 percent
approved.
Croatia and Portugal: 20 proposals each, 90 percent approved.
From the PUC itself: 21 proposals, of which 57
percent approved.
Throughout the years many proposals consisted of
changes that we can consider of a general nature, i.e. applicable to any type of resource: new fields and subfields or
the description of existing ones, definition of repeatability
and required occurrence, notes and examples, etc.
These types of changes (with a total of 109)
occurred between 2006 and 2008 mostly (Figure 4).
The number of UNIMARC changes applicable to
specific types of resources was less expressive and
scattered throughout the years. Those relating to
printed textual resources (including fields specific to
antiquarian) are from 17 proposals only, occurred in
2001 and 2007 mostly (Figure 5).
Changes related to electronic resources (a total of 16)
occurred in 1999 and 2001 mostly, reflecting specific
needs arisen from the 1997 publication of ISBD(ER)
(Figure 6).
Changes regarding continuing resources (12 in
total) occurred mainly in 2002 (the publication year
of ISBD(CR)) and 2007, although the first proposals
date from 2001 regarding a specific code for this type
of resource in the leader and the change to make 210
Galvão and Cordeiro: UNIMARC – Understanding the past to envision the future
155
Figure 3. Proposals by format/year of approval.
Figure 2. Approved and not approved proposals by year.
repeatable to carry information about several sequential publishers (Figure 7).
In what concerns music (notated music, printed or
manuscript) there were 21 proposals approved, most
of them in 2001, when the need was felt for codes to specifically identify the form of musical work and key or
mode, as well as the medium of performance. In 2012,
other changes were approved having in mind the adaptation of music data elements to FRBR (Figure 8).
Manuscripts and archival materials were also the
object of several approved proposals, 10 in total,
focused on improving the description of this type
of documents. This demand started in 2001 for
manuscripts and had a second increment in 2012 with
a set of proposals specifically concerning archival
documents (Figure 9).
Types of resources other than the above mentioned
had little expression in the proposals submitted to/
approved by the PUC:
cartographic material was the object of 4
proposals only (1993, 2001, 2003 e 2012), the
latter concerning adaptation to FRBR. This little demand for changes is perhaps the refection
of UNIMARC having, since the beginning,
data elements specific to cartography;
156
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Figure 4. Changes applicable to all types of resources.
Figure 6. Changes applicable to electronic resources.
Figure 5. Changes applicable to textual resources.
sound and video recordings had 7 proposals
(1999, 2003, 2006 and 2012) with the last one
also concerning FRBR;
graphic material and realia received a total of
8 proposals (1992, 1993, 1999, 2001 and 2008);
for data elements concerning reproductions,
there were 4 proposals (1992, 2003 and 2012).
Figure 7. Changes applicable to continuing resources.
Changes to accommodate FRBR
The need for practical application of the FRBR model,
especially since its implementation in RDA (Resource
Description and Access) motivated the adaptation of
UNIMARC to the description of entities work and
expression. The movement towards such changes
started in 2008 and intensified in 2011. Between
2008 and 2012, 38 proposals were approved with that
objective, some in UNIMARC bibliographic, others
in Authorities (Figures 10 and 11).
UNIMARC Bibliographic format –
characterization of changes
General overview
Table 4 provides an overview of the changes in the
bibliographic format, by block. Numbers refer to the
Figure 8. Changes applicable to music resources.
year the approved proposals were submitted. Blocks
1–, 3–, 5– and 6 – are the most affected.
Blocks 2– and 3–
Changes proposed to blocks 2– and 3– of UNIMARC
bibliographic are the ones that best match the changes
in ISBD, as they correspond to areas 1 to 7 of the bibliographic description standard. Most of the changes
157
Galvão and Cordeiro: UNIMARC – Understanding the past to envision the future
Figure 9. Changes applicable to manuscripts.
Figure 11. FRBR changes by format.
Table 4. Distribution of changes in the bibliographic
format by block/year.
Figure 10. Changes to accommodate FRBR entities.
in these blocks occurred in 2001 and 2012 (each with
17 percent of the proposals concerning these blocks),
followed by 2003 and 2008 (12 percent each year).
Taking into account the data regarding changes by
type of resource, we can see that changes in these
blocks, mostly in 2001, correspond to the need to consolidate descriptive information elements while more
recent changes, mostly in 2012, reflect other needs –
those of adapting the format to FRBR.
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Total
0–
1–
2–
3–
4–
5–
6–
7–
8–
Total
–
1
1
–
–
1
3
–
–
1
1
–
1
–
1
1
3
–
1
1
–
–
16
–
4
1
–
1
1
2
1
7
1
9
–
5
2
–
–
3
3
–
2
–
9
51
1
–
1
–
–
–
–
2
1
1
3
1
–
–
–
–
–
3
–
–
–
3
16
–
1
1
–
–
–
–
1
–
–
3
1
4
–
–
2
2
1
–
–
–
3
19
1
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
4
1
–
–
1
3
–
2
–
–
–
12
–
1
–
2
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
1
2
1
–
4
2
1
1
–
4
–
19
–
1
1
1
–
–
1
1
1
1
–
1
–
–
–
5
2
4
–
–
–
–
19
–
1
1
–
–
–
–
–
1
–
1
1
–
–
1
2
–
2
1
–
1
1
13
–
–
–
–
1
1
2
–
–
–
2
–
–
2
–
1
2
–
–
–
1
–
12
2
9
6
3
2
3
8
5
10
4
19
9
13
5
2
16
17
14
5
3
6
16
177
Block 0–
This block contains two types of identification numbers: those that identify the bibliographic record (with
13 percent of the changes) and those that identify the
resource being described (accounting for 87 percent
of the changes). Only the last one is related to ISBD,
therefore more subject to change (Figure 13).
In the three blocks analyzed above, the most frequent
changes have been the so called content changes i.e. text
changes to any part of the content designation description (e.g. definitions, content notes, examples, etc.)
which represent 33 percent of the changes in block
2–, 50 percent of the changes in block 3– and 42 percent of the changes in block 0—(Figure 14).
Blocks 5–, 6– and 7–
In UNIMARC bibliographic, blocks 5–, 6– and 7– are
used for access points of title, subject and responsibility,
respectively. These blocks account for 29 percent of the
changes occurred (Figure 15).
In block 5– the most important changes were at the
level of new fields and content information (each with
33 percent of the total changes in this block). In what
concerns new fields, two of them respect to the identification of the entity work and another two relate to
the entity expression.
As for block 6–, the most important changes were
at the level of subfields (42 percent of the total in this
158
Figure 12. Changes to UNIMARC Bibliographic blocks 2–
and 3–.
Figure 13. Changes to UNIMARC Bibliographic block 0–.
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Figure 15. Type of changes to UNIMARC Bibliographic
blocks 5–, 6– and 7–.
Figure 16. Type of changes to UNIMARC Bibliographic
block 1–.
Block 1–
Data from Block 1– Coded information block, serves
mainly restriction functions in the retrieval and selection processes. Most changes were new codes and
data elements (44 percent), followed by changes in
content. From the new elements created, two relate
to the identification of the entities work and expression (Figure 16).
Block 8–
Figure 14. Type of changes to UNIMARC Bibliographic
blocks 0–, 2– and 3–.
block). In block 7–, 35 percent of changes were new
fields created, while 29 percent respect to changes
in content and 24 percent to new subfields. The
remaining 12 percent were changes regarding the
application of relator codes.
This block contains data elements for maintenance and
exchange of records. Most changes in this block were
new fields created (33 percent) followed by changes
in content (25 percent) (Figure 17).
UNIMARC Authorities format –
characterization of changes
The conceptual evolution regarding bibliographic
control that developed internationally, especially in
Galvão and Cordeiro: UNIMARC – Understanding the past to envision the future
159
Figure 19. Type of changes to UNIMARC Authorities.
Figure 17. Type of changes to UNIMARC Bibliographic
block 8–.
the bibliographic format and changes in content to
improve text consistency.
Access points are recorded in blocks 2–, 4–, 5– and
7–, respectively for authorized, variant, related access
points and access points in another language and/or
script. As changes operated in a block 2– field should
have parity in the corresponding fields of the other
blocks, these changes were taken care simultaneously.
Figure 19 shows the creation of new fields to record the
controlled information regarding work and expression
title.
Concluding notes
Figure 18. Changes to UNIMARC Authorities – distribution by year.
what concerns authority control – from the concept of
uniform heading27 to that of authorized heading28
and, later, to that of controlled access point29 –have
influenced the maintenance and development of
UNIMARC Authorities format.
Changes in Authorities have also derived from the
need to align with changes in the bibliographic format
and the need to implement FRBR and FRAD concepts.
In 2008, an important set of changes started to be defined
concerning the relationships between entities, both primary entities and specific instances of such entities.
From the total (64) of the proposals submitted, 72
percent (46) were approved.
The majority of changes occurred in 2011 (33 percent) resulting from approval of new fields to adapt the
format to FRBR (fields for data regarding the work and
expression), following earlier proposals of 2008 (15
percent) for the creation of fields for international identification numbers or codes such as ISTC, ISWC,
ISAN, ISRC. Changes approved in 2006 and 1997
(11 percent each year) were essentially alignments with
The objective of the analysis carried out for this paper
was twofold: first, to provide an overview of the evolution of UNIMARC aimed at contributing to lead us to
improve our actions regarding the future of the format
management. Second, to interpret the evolution to get
new ideas about the future of the format itself.
The analysis revealed that the format evolved to a
large standard whose specification became fairly complex. Throughout time the frequency and type of
changes has been driven by i) new needs arising from
different materials to describe; ii) changes that
occurred in other existing or emerging standards; and
iii) occasional demands from users, foreign to any strategic directions.
In all these cases and for most situations, the factors influencing the evolution of the format have been
exogenous to it and, therefore, of a different nature.
That is to say, changes in the format have been mostly
to accommodate new data elements or attributes by
adding new content designators or values, rather than
to improve the structure and quality of the format as
such.
As a consequence, the practical result of the
UNIMARC evolution has been essentially one of
extension, rather than one of revision, in a structural
160
sense. And this is why we have lived comfortably
with so many and constant changes to the format:
usually they are not disruptive and in many cases new
content designations or values are optional. But can
we simply proceed with extending the format?
The experiences with FRBRization and other mapping and conversion operations show that one of the
reasons why they are difficult is because of the length
and complexity of the standard. Not to mention that
extending the specification has not circumvented the
diversity of local options (and localizations), thus not
helping to improve a standard application.
Besides, it is known that a significant proportion of
existing content designators have a fairly low usage,30
which makes us to question the return on investment of
studying, approving, documenting, publishing, changing processing tools, teaching, etc., a very extended
element set, also difficult to understand and reuse,31
especially by outsiders and where deficiencies such
as redundancy, for example, are not solved.
The truth is that the ‘‘expansionist’’ strategy of the
format maintenance has served extended content
better than functionality, flexibility and facility of use
and integration in the wider and diversified space of the
online environment. Especially, the evolution of the
format has not been dictated by technological changes:
this can be claimed for a small number of changes only,
and not structural.
All this is known, has been long discussed and is not
specific to UNIMARC. Other MARC formats have had
the same problems and they come from the same historical (or legacy) reasons deeply rooted, first of all,
in the model of the old card catalogue and driven by
‘‘display’’ requirements. Even the recent efforts to
implement FRBR in UNIMARC, which are deemed
of structural value to catalogues, have been made by
expanding the format, not otherwise: so far, the need
to comply with a different model and simultaneously
to provide for continuity does not leave us with other
options.
This being said, what is different now? The real
urgency is in finding practicable ways to realize the
restructuring of catalogues and at the same time to
achieve easy and smooth integration with the technology and content of the wider information environment,32 by lowering the barriers to understanding
and reuse of bibliographic data. This may require
radical approaches to transformation, starting with
data disaggregation, decomposition and remodeling,
as was done, at the conceptual level, in FRBR.
The overview of UNIMARC maintenance activities
and the evolution portrayed in this paper is offered for
further exploration. It does not provide answers to how
a radical approach is to be done or what methodology
IFLA Journal 39(2)
and effort it entails. But we believe that looking back to
what, why and how was done in the past may enact a
better understanding, or simply some clues, for what
we may not want in the future.
Notes and references
1. IFLA Study Group on FRBR (1998) Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records. München: K.G. Saur.
Also available at: http://www.ifla.org/publications/functional-requirements-for-bibliographic-records.
2. See, for example CHAPMAN, A.; DANSKIN, A.
(2003) A new direction for bibliographic records? : the
development of functional requirements for bibliographic records. Part 2. Catalogue & Index 149
(Autumn): 9–11.
3. COYLE, K. (2011) MARC 21 as data: a start. Code4Lib Journal, ISSN 1940-5758, Issue 14. Available at:
http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/5468.
4. LEAZER, G. (1992) An examination of data elements
for bibliographic description: towards a conceptual
schema for the USMARC Formats. Library Resources
and Technical Services 36(2): 189–208.
5. HEANEY, M. (1995) Object-oriented cataloging.
Information Technology and Libraries 14(3): 135–53.
6. WEINSTEIN, P. (1998) Ontology-based metadata:
transforming the MARC legacy. In Witten, I.; Aksyn,
R.; Shipman, F., eds. Proceedings of the third ACM
conference on Digital libraries, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 23–26. New York: ACM Press, pp. 254–263.
7. Launched in May 2011, the Bibliographic Framework
Transition Initiative is aimed determining ‘‘a transition
path for the MARC 21 exchange format in order to reap
the benefits of newer technology while preserving a
robust data exchange that has supported resource
sharing and cataloging cost savings in recent decades.’’
More information at: http://www.loc.gov/marc/transi
tion/.
8. HOPKINSON, A. (1984) International access to bibliographic data: MARC and MARC-related activities.
Journal of Documentation 40(1): 13–24. Also available
at: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/2705/1/IABD_pdf_2780400
102.pdf.
9. UNIMARC: Universal Marc Format, 2nd ed., 1980;
UNIMARC Handbook, 1982; UNIMARC Manual,
1987.
10. Study to establish the feasibility of using UNIMARC
amongst EC national libraries, bibliographic utilities
and booktrade based upon their present computer
facilities: final report . . . by Die Deutsch Bibliothek,
under contract LIBACT5/UNIMARC – EC to the
Commission of the European Communities, DG XIII–
E – 3. Luxemburg: CEC, 1992.
11. PUC (1992) Permanent UNIMARC Committee: terms
of reference and procedure. International Cataloguing
& Bibliographic Control 21(4): 51–52.
12. See archived information at: http://archive.ifla.org/VI/
3/ubcim-archive.htm.
13. Available at: http://www.ifla.org/en/unimarc
Galvão and Cordeiro: UNIMARC – Understanding the past to envision the future
14. CAMPOS, F. M.; LOPES, M. I.; GALVÃO, R. M.
(1995) MARC formats and their use: an overview.
Program 29(4): 445–459.
15. UNIMARC Manual: Bibliographic Format, 2nd ed.,
1994, with 5 updates between 1996 and 2005; and
3rd ed. 2008.
16. UNIMARC/Authorities: Universal Format for Authorities, 1991; UNIMARC: Authorities Format, 2nd ed.
2001; UNIMARC Manual: Authorities Format, 3rd.
ed., 2009.
17. UNIMARC Concise Classification Format, 2000, first
approved draft not yet complete, available at: http://
archive.ifla.org/VI/3/p1996-1/concise.htm.
18. UNIMARC Manual: Holdings Format, 2006, updated
2007. Available at: http://archive.ifla.org/VI/8/projects/UNIMARC-HoldingsFormat.pdf.
19. See information at http://www.loc.gov/marc/annmarc21.
html.
20. See information at http://www.bl.uk/bibliographic/nb
sils.html.
21. Data from the McBride, K.; Jones-Fuller, P.; IFLA
UBCIM Programme (1993) International guide to
MARC databases and services: national magnetic tape,
online and CD-ROM services. München: K.G. Saur.
22. See PLASSARD, M.-F.; RATHEI, S. (1998) International List of UNIMARC Users and Experts. Summary
of responses to 1998 questionnaire. Available at:
http://archive.ifla.org/VI/3/p1996-2/iluue.htm#tab1.
23. See CORDEIRO, M. I. (2008) The UNIMARC landscape: updated overview. Available at http://www.
ifla.org/en/news/unimarc-survey-and-users-meeting.
24. IFLA (2009) Statement of International Cataloguing
Principles (ICP). Available at: http://www.ifla.org/
files/cataloguing/icp/icp_2009-en.pdf
25. See MOEN, W.; MIKSA, S. (2007) Catalogers’ Use of
MARC Content Designation over Time: An Analysis of
MARC Records from 1972 to 2004. MCDU Project.
Available at: http://www.mcdu.unt.edu/.
26. DELSEY, T. (2009) RDA Implementation Scenarios.
For the Joint Steering Committee for Development of
RDA, July 2009. Available at: http://www.rda-jsc.
org/docs/5editor2rev.pdf.
27. IFLA (1984) Guidelines for Authority and References
Entries (GARE). London : IFLA International Programme for UBC.
28. IFLA (2001) Guidelines for Authority and References
Records (GARR). 2nd ed. München : K. G. Saur. Also
available at: www.ifla.org/files/cataloguing/garr/garr.
pdf.
29. IFLA (2009) Statement of International Cataloguing
Principles (ICP). Available at: http://www.ifla.org/
files/cataloguing/icp/icp_2009-en.pdf.
30. See MOEN & MIKSA (2007), op. cit. for USMARC and
LOPES, M. et al. (2007) UNIMARC: estudo da sua
161
utilização na PORBASE. Paper to Congresso Nacional
BAD, 9, Açores, 28–30 march. Available at: http://
www.apbad.pt/Edicoes/EdicoesCongresso9.htm,
for
UNIMARC.
31. See, for example, THOMALE, J. (2010) Interpreting
MARC: where’s the bibliographic data? Code4lib
journal. ISSN 1940-5758. Issue 11, (2010.09.21).
Available at:http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/3832.
32. As suggested in COYLE, K. (2010) Understanding the
Semantic Web : bibliographic data and metadata.
Library Technology Reports 46(1) (Jan.).
Author biographies
Maria Inês Cordeiro holds a doctorate in Library Science from UCL/University of London and is the
Director-General of the National Library of Portugal
(NLP), where she served as Deputy Director from
2006 to 2012. From 1996 to 2006 she worked as senior
librarian in charge of Information Systems & Innovation
Projects at the Art Library of the Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation. From 1986 to 1996 she held various positions at the NLP, including Director of the National Bibliographic Database – PORBASE. She collaborates with
the UDC Consortium since 1994, having served as UDC
Editor-in-Chief in the period 2006–2009. She has participated in IFLA activities continuously since 1989, in
various standing committees and other groups, and currently serves as Director of the UNIMARC Core Activity, since 2007. Contact: National Library of Portugal,
Campo Grande, 83 – 1749–081 Lisboa – Portugal. Tel.
(þ351) 217982 021/022. Fax. (þ351) 217982 140
Email: icordeiro@bnportugal.pt
Rosa Maria Galvão is a PhD student in Library Science at
the University of Évora. She works for the National Library
of Portugal (NLP) since 1989, and is the Head of Standards
and Quality Unit since 2007. From 1999 to 2007 she served
as Director of Collections and Access Department at the
NLP, and as Head of the Standards Division of the National
Bibliographic Database Department from 1992–1999. She
specializes in bibliographic standards and is a member of
the Permanent UNIMARC Committee since 1996. She
teaches at Universidade Nova (Lisbon) in Library Science
Master since 2004. Email: rgalvao@bnportugal.pt
Paper presented at the World Library and Information
Congress: 78th IFLA General Conference and Assembly,
11–78 August 2012, Helsinki, Finland, in session 92–New
futures for bibliographic data formats: reflections and
directions–UNIMARC Core Activity.
I F LA
Article
Techniques to understand the
changing needs of library users
International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions
39(2) 162–167
ª The Author(s) 2012
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/0340035212472846
ifla.sagepub.com
Susan Gibbons
Yale University
Abstract
This paper demonstrates a set of techniques development by the River Campus Libraries at the University of
Rochester (USA) which have facilitated a tight alignment between the services, collections, facilities, and digital
presence of the Libraries with the academic needs of the undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty
at the University of Rochester. At the heart of what has come to be called the ‘Rochester method’ is a belief
that a greater understanding of the academic work practices of a university or college community can reveal
unintentional misalignments between a library’s services and user needs, as well as overlooked opportunities
for a library to provide new services. The focus and study of academic work practices has been achieved
through the adoption and adaptation of methods from anthropological and ethnography, which are then
applied to the study of segments of a university community. The process begins with the identification of a
question, such as ‘‘what does a student do between the time a research paper is assigned and the paper is
complete?’’ A suite of research methods are then developed to explore the question, such as in situ
interview, photo elicitation exercises, design charettes, and academic diaries. The application of those study
methods results in data in various forms including photographs, drawings, interview transcripts, and bluesky descriptions of ideal tools, spaces, and services. Diverse teams of staff from across the library study the
data and develop findings. At this point in the cycle, those findings require an organizational response that
results in real change which can vary from improved marketing, altered physical facilities, new services and web
tools. The success at the University of Rochester has demonstrated that a greater understanding and appreciation of the academic needs of library users is not overly difficult nor costly to obtain. While the findings of the
Rochester studies are unique to the unique community of the University of Rochester, the methods of study
can and have been applied successfully to the study of library users on other campuses.
Keywords
user needs, user behavior, user studies, academic libraries, Rochester method
For centuries the prevailing assumption was that a
great research university required an equally great
library system. Increasingly, however, this assumption is being questioned. The causes vary and can
include extreme economic constraints, the decoupling
of the physical library from access to digital information, consortial and regional partnerships, and the
growth of information services, such as Google, that
have built an expectation of nearly instantaneous
response to information queries. Today, academic
libraries no longer exist in an environment devoid
of competition and potential alternatives to some
traditional core library services, as evidenced by projects such as Google Books1, DeepDyve2, OverDrive3
and Ask.com4.
While librarians often argue that such alternatives
fail to match the quality of information and services
provided by academic libraries, as Clayton M. Christensen’s research has shown, disruptive innovation
enters a market at the lower end of the performance
spectrum (Christensen 2005). Disruptive technologies
bring a new proposition to the market that is usually
cheaper and more convenient than traditional
Corresponding author:
Susan Gibbons, PhD, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University,
130 Wall Street, New Haven, CT 06511; PO Box 208240,
New Haven, CT 06520-8240, USA. Phone: þ1 (203) 432-1818.
Fax: þ1 (203) 432-1294.
Email: susan.gibbons@yale.edu
163
Gibbons: Techniques to understand the changing needs of library users
offerings. Often the established firms fail to pay early
and serious attention to disruptive technologies in
their ecosystems. By the time the time the traditional
firms are able to see the full potential of the disruptive
technology, it is too late for them to react. It is not
inconceivable that the Internet and the everexpanding services built upon it are in fact disruptive
technologies for academic libraries (Gibbons 2007).
Academic libraries must acknowledge that they
new reside in an increasingly competitive marketplace and should react accordingly. One form of
response is the adoption of a more patron-centric,
rather than collections-centric, orientation for a
library. Traditional measures of libraries, such as size
of collections and circulation statistics, fail to articulate or demonstrate the impact and value that an
academic library offers its host institution.
This paper focuses on a particular set of techniques
development by the River Campus Libraries at the
University of Rochester (USA) which have facilitated
a tight alignment between the services, collections,
facilities, and digital presence of the Libraries with
the academic needs of the undergraduate students,
graduate students and faculty at the University of
Rochester.5 At the heart of what has come to be called
the ‘Rochester method’ is the adoption and adaptation
of methodologies from anthropologies and ethnography which are then applied to the study of the work
practices of distinct segments of a university community.6 These studies are driven by a conviction that a
greater understanding of the academic work practices
of a community can reveal unintentional misalignments between a library’s services and user needs,
as well as overlooked opportunities for a library to
provide new services.
Brief background
Since the 1970s, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
(Xerox PARC) has pioneered the practice of using
social scientists to study work environments.7 When
David Lindahl left Xerox PARC to join the River Campus Libraries in 2001, he brought this idea with him.
With funding from a federal granting agency, Institute
of Museum & Library Services, the Libraries was able
to hire anthropologist, Dr. Nancy Fried Foster, onto a
project that studied the academic work practices of
faculty in order to better understand why institutional
repositories were not being used by researchers as had
been initially predicted (Foster and Gibbons 2005).
The success of that initial project spawned what is now
nearly 9 years of anthropology and ethnography-based
studies at the Libraries which have focused on a variety
of research questions, including the work practices of
Queson
Change
Findings
Methods
Data
Gathering
Diagram 1. Rochester Method Research Cycle.
graduate students (Randall et al. 2008), how undergraduate students create research papers (Foster and
Gibbons 2007), the role of science library facilities in
disciplines where so much of scholarly communication
has gone digital, and how researchers discover information to inform the design of a new catalog interface
(Foster et al. 2011).
As a participant in the work practice study projects at the River Campus Libraries for 8 years, over
time I came to see the process as having distinct steps
as illustrated in Diagram 1. The cycle began with the
identification of a question, such as ‘‘how do students write their research papers?’’ Dr. Foster would
then take the lead in determining and developing
methods by which we could explore the question,
such as in situ interview, photo elicitation exercises,
design charettes, and academic diaries. The methods
would all conform to the standards and protocols
established in the United States which govern human
subject research, with oversight by the University of
Rochester’s Institutional Review Board. The application of those study methods would result in data
in various forms including photographs, drawings,
interview transcripts, maps, and idealized descriptions of new tools, spaces, and services. Diverse
teams of staff from across the Libraries would study
the data and develop high level findings, examples of
which included the fact that the Libraries lacked collaborative learning spaces (Gibbons and Foster
2007) and that students were largely unaware of the
services and expertise that the subject librarians can
provide (Burns and Harper 2007). At this point in the
cycle, those findings required an organizational
response that resulted in real change which could vary
from improved marketing, altered physical facilities,
new services, and redesigned web interfaces (Foster,
164
Dimmock and Bersani 2008). Change is difficult for
any organizational culture to embrace and the River
Campus Libraries was no exception. However, because
the changes were grounded in the rigorous study of
library users and the Libraries’ administration fully
embraced and supported the program, an organizational culture developed over time which embraced the
need for the Libraries to continually realign itself to the
rapidly changing academic community that it served.
Moreover, the studies demonstrated how often our
personal assumptions about our library patrons, which
had guided years of decisions, were incorrect. Academic work practices are rapidly changing, in no small
part due to technological changes, yet we too often
assumed that our own college and university experiences are largely similar to those of students today.
Examples of the Rochester Method in
action
The power of the Rochester method is perhaps best
explained by a few examples of movement through
the research cycle in Diagram 1.
During 2004–2006, the Libraries undertook a
focused study of undergraduate students. One of the
questions was, what activities did students undertake
when assigned a research paper? A group of volunteer
students were identified and Dr. Foster remained in
touch with the students throughout the semester, asking for updates on the progress of their research
papers. When their papers were submitted to the professors for grading, the students were individually
interviewed by Dr. Foster and asked to detail the
activities involved in researching and writing their
paper. In addition to a verbal narrative, each student
was asked to draw the steps on a large poster board
(Briden, Burns and Marshall 2007). When the data
from the interviews and the drawings were studied,
a curious feature emerged. Sometimes the student
would involve his/her parent in the paper-writing process, such as asking for advice on the thesis of the
paper or requesting that the parent help to edit the
paper. This finding was consistent with a child/parent
relationship paradigm emerging in American culture
which has often been labeled as ‘‘helicopter parents’’;
parents who retain close involvement in the activities
of their children even after the child leaves the home
and goes to college (Strauss and Howe 2006). The
Libraries’ response to this finding was to consider
how to leverage the close parent/child relationship
to promote library services.
Historically, the Libraries had participated in freshmen orientation, which was a brief, lecture-style
orientation to the Libraries within the students’ first
IFLA Journal 39(2)
days on campus. The effectiveness of the student
orientation was questionable because the students, who
had just arrived on campus, were much more focused
on the upheaval of the transition to university than the
great collections and services provided by the
Libraries. The Libraries pulled out of freshmen orientation in 2006 and instead started the tradition of hosting
a breakfast for the parents. The purpose of the breakfast
was to deliver a very pointed message to the parents
about the many ways in which the Libraries can assist
students in the research and writing of research papers.
We asked the parents to convey this message to their
sons and daughters at the point of need, recognizing
that the parents would likely know when the students
needed library assistance before we would.
A second example of the impact of the Rochester
method also came from the undergraduate research
project of 2004–2006. Another question that the project explored was, what it was like, at a holistic level,
to be an undergraduate student at the University of
Rochester? In addition to observations, maps, academic diaries, and interviews, Dr. Foster recommended the use of cameras through a photo
elicitation project (Briden 2007). Students were given
disposable cameras and a list of items to take pictures
of, including a place in the library where you feel lost,
your favorite place to study, the things you always
carry with you, and a picture of your dorm room
showing your computer. Once the pictures were
developed, Dr. Foster conducted an interview with the
student, using the photographs as starting off points
for broader conversations about life on campus.
For me one striking pattern that the photographs
revealed was that students were coming to campus
with a laptop, rather than a desktop, computer. Yet,
that laptop computer was not included in the photograph that showed the items the students always
carried with them. The cost of providing and maintaining hundreds of desktop public computers in the
Libraries was considerable, yet if the laptops
remained in the students’ dormitory rooms, the
Libraries had no option but to continue to provide
desktop public computers. We began to explore the
question about how to make the Libraries a more
laptop-friendly environment. At the time, the weight
of the laptops was one reason that the students did not
wish to carry them about campus, but advances in laptop and battery technology have significantly
decreased the weight. Battery life was another barrier
to laptop use, particularly in the main library, Rush
Rhees Library, which was built in 1930 and had very
few power outlets. When we engaged the students in
drawing their ideal library spaces, we saw power outlets drawn into some of the pictures. Wireless Internet
Gibbons: Techniques to understand the changing needs of library users
connection and wireless printing were determined to
be other criteria necessary for a laptop-friendly library
space.
In 2007, the Libraries opened the Gleason Library,
a renovation of 23,000 square feet in the Rush Rhees
Library, with one, of many goals, being the creation of
a laptop-friendly library space. The floor was cored to
provide power outlets throughout. The ratio of table
space to seats was increased to adequately provide
enough room for a laptop to comfortably be placed
into the workspace. Strong wireless signals throughout and wireless printing were given top prioritization
in the technology specifications for the space. The
space was designed with only ten desktop public computers, but they proved sufficient because the students
brought their laptops almost immediately. Within a
year, the percentage of students observed using a personal laptop in the Gleason Library was 49 percent
(Briden and Maarshall 2010). This initial success led
to small facilities projects to bring more electrical outlets into the book stacks and reference room, and to
strategically place tables near power outlets. When a
new power outlet could not be ideally situated, extension cords were provided at the circulation desk. Yale
University Library finished a renovation in January
2012 of the Center for Science & Social Science
Information in which lockers were built with power
outlets inside every locker so that students can
power-up their laptops, phones and other electronics
securely.
A third and final example of the Rochester method
in action emerged during a 2-year study of graduate
students, 2007–2009. When exploring the question
of the barriers to successful dissertation completion,
in situ interviews were conducted with graduate students in the spaces where they most often worked
on their research. While science and social science
students at the University of Rochester often had
laboratory or office space on campus, the humanities
students frequently had no office-like space on campus. Moreover, the Libraries’ few remaining study
carrels were assigned to faculty and thus provided
no assistance to the graduate students. The interviews
revealed a sense of isolation among some graduate
students, particularly those who lived and worked in
off-campus housing and who had not formed peer
support groups from amongst their fellow graduate
students. We came to realize that the Libraries could
assist in the success of our graduate students by providing study spaces dedicated to graduate students.
Design workshops with graduate students further
articulated the type of space the students needed:
quiet, with a variety of chairs and tables, and a mature
style that emulated a faculty member’s office, rather
165
than an undergraduate students’ study commons. The
graduate students also expressed the desire that the
space be for graduate students only. Initially, such a
request seemed elitist; however, when we probed this
question further, we came to recognize that at the
University of Rochester, graduate students played
many roles including teaching assistant, lab assistant,
and tutor. The graduate students were seeking a place
wherein they could focus on their primary role as
dissertation researcher and writer without being interrupted by others, such as undergraduate students in
their classes seeking assistance. The evidence for the
need for a graduate student study was strong enough
to convince a loyal supporter of the Libraries to fund
the renovation of a tired, neglected room in the Rush
Rhee Library into a stately graduate student study.8
Before the renovation was even finished, the same
donor funded the renovation of a second graduate
student study.9
This experience demonstrated the great power and
effect of the Rochester method. Not only did the process reveal a need among the graduate students that
the Libraries were well-positioned to address, but the
process also provided credible and compelling stories,
from the students themselves, about the significant
impact the graduate student study space was going
to make in their academic success.
Conclusion
As more and more alternative information providers
and services chip away at the traditional offerings of
an academic library, it is essential that a library more
closely align itself with the unique needs of its host
institution. This trend will likely necessitate that academic libraries become more dissimilar than similar,
just as universities are increasingly striving to distinguish themselves from others. Librarians cannot rely
on their own college and university experiences to
inform the design and provision of services in today’s
academic libraries. Technology and the rapidly
changing education landscape have made our own
university experiences largely anachronistic.
The success at the University of Rochester’s River
Campus Libraries, however, has demonstrated that
a greater understanding and appreciation of the
academic needs of library users is neither overly
difficult nor costly to obtain, but very powerful.
While the findings of the Rochester studies are
unique to the distinct community of the University
of Rochester, the methods of study can and have
been applied successfully to the study of library
users on other campuses as documented on the
AnthroLib Map (Diagram 2).10
166
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Diagram 2. AnthroLib Map.
To be clear, the Rochester method will not quantify
the precise return on investment that a university
receives from each dollar or Euro invested in its
library. However, the Rochester method can provide
the foundation for evidence-based decision making
and be a catalyst for organizational change. In the
right organizational environment, the results can be
a better, more evident, alignment between an academic library and its host institution, thus silencing
the questions about whether a great university needs
a great academic library.
Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
http://books.google.com/
http://www.deepdyve.com/
http://www.overdrive.com/
http://www.ask.com/
Author was employed as a librarian at the River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester from 2000–
2011.
Two examples of work-practice study are Wenger,
Etienne. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning,
Meaning, and Identity (New York: Cambridge University Press) and Goodwin, Charles. (1994). Professional
Vision. American Anthropologist, New Series, 96:3,
pp. 606–633.
http://www.parc.com/services/focus-area/
ethnographyservices/
http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id¼3476
http://www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V73N1/0305_
messinger.html
http://www.library.rochester.edu/anthrolib/
References
Briden J (2007) Photo surveys: eliciting more than you
knew to ask for. In Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester.
Chicago: ACRL Publications, pp. 40–7. http://hdl.handle.net/1802/7520
Briden J and Marshall A (2010) Snapshots of laptop use in
an academic library. Library Hi Tech 28(3): 447–453.
Briden J, Burns V and Marshall A (2007) ‘Knowing our
students: undergraduates in context’, presented at the
Association of College and Research Libraries 13th
National Conference, March 29th–April 1, 2007, Baltimore Maryland. http://docushare.lib.rochester.edu/
docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-25072/Knowing_our_
students_URochester.pdf
Burns V and Harper K (2007) Asking students about their
research. In Studying Students: The Undergraduate
Research Project at the University of Rochester. Chicago: ACRL Publications, pp. 7–15. http://hdl.handle.
net/1802/7520
Christensen CM (2000) The Innovator’s Dilemma. New
York: Harper Business.
Foster NF and Gibbons S (2005) Understanding faculty to
improve content recruitment for institutional repositories. D-Lib Magazine 11(1) http://www.dlib.org/dlib/
january05/foster/01foster.html
Foster NF and Gibbons S, eds. (2007) Studying Students:
The Undergraduate Research Project at the University
of Rochester. Chicago: ACRL Publications. http://hdl.
handle.net/1802/7520
Foster NF, Dimmock N and Bersani A (2008) Participatory
design of websites with web design workshops. Codef4glib
Journal 2. http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/53
Gibbons: Techniques to understand the changing needs of library users
Foster NF, et al. (2011) Scholarly Practice, Participatory
Design and eXtensible Catalog. Chicago: ACRL Publications. http://hdl.handle.net/1802/12375
Gibbons S (2007) The Academic Library and the Net Gen
Student. Chicago: ALA Edition, pp. 1–11.
Gibbons S and Foster N (2007) Library design & ethnography. In Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research
Project at the University of Rochester. Chicago: ACRL
Publications, pp. 20–9. http://hdl.handle.net/1802/7520
Randall R, et al. (2008) The Next Generation of Academics:
A Report on a Study Conducted at the University of
Rochester. http://hdl.handle.net/1802/6053
Strauss W and Howe N (2006) Millennials and the Pop
Culture. Great Falls, Va: Life Course Associates.
Author biographies
Susan Gibbons, PhD, is University Librarian at Yale University. She earned an MLS and MA in history from Indiana University, a professional MBA from the University of
Massachusetts and a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Rochester. She is well
known in the library world, most significantly for the
167
library user studies at Rochester she has undertaken since
2004. In collaboration with an anthropologist, Gibbons
determined how faculty and students do their academic
work, find information, and make use of the physical and
technological resources offered by the libraries. The results
have led to service, collections and physical space changes
in the River Campus Libraries designed to better meet user
needs. In 2007 she co-edited Studying Students: The
Undergraduate Research Project at the University of
Rochester (ACRL Publications), and published her own
book, The Academic Library and the Net Gen Student:
Making the Connections (ALA Editions). Contact: Sterling
Memorial Library, Yale University, 130 Wall Street, New
Haven, CT 06511; PO Box 208240, New Haven, CT
06520-8240, USA. Phone: þ1 (203) 432-1818. Fax: þ1
(203) 432-1294. Email: susan.gibbons@yale.edu
Paper presented at the World Library and Information
Congress: 78th IFLA General Conference and Assembly,
11–18 August 2012, Helsinki, Finland, in session 94:
Creating a culture for innovation and change. Management
and Marketing with Academic and Research Libraries.
I F LA
Article
Measuring the public library’s
societal value: A methodological
research program
International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions
39(2) 168–177
ª The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0340035213486412
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Frank Huysmans
University of Amsterdam
Marjolein Oomes
Netherlands Institute for Public Libraries
Abstract
Public libraries in the Netherlands face growing scepticism about their value to communities and society at
large. The digitization of media, information and communication gives rise to questions about the library’s
function, as it still is based mainly on physical service provision. Furthermore, the current economic
recession causes local, regional and national governments to critically question every euro spent on cultural
institutions. In this climate, there is a growing need for public libraries to show their worth – not only in an
economical, but also in a more sociological sense. As standardized measurements for these values are still
lacking, a research program was started to develop these outcome measurements. In this paper, we sketch
the rationale behind this program and the steps the Netherlands Institute of Public Libraries is taking to
develop a measurement instrument geared at validly and reliably demonstrating the societal value of public
libraries. Results from the first stages of the research program will be presented: a theoretical framework
of the (possible) impact of libraries on Dutch society, based on the findings of a literature study and
qualitative research. The findings help us identify and conceptually enrich five domains of possible impact:
cognitive, social, cultural, affective and economical. This outcome framework will guide the development of
a measuring instrument.
Keywords
public libraries, outcome measurement, societal value, social return on investment
Introduction
The value of public libraries in the Netherlands to
communities and society at large is less taken for
granted than it was in the past. The societal context
in which libraries operate is rapidly changing. They
are confronted with various challenges in the field
of digitization, changing usage patterns and changing
expectations of patrons. These challenges give rise to
questions about the library’s function, as it is still
based mainly on physical service provision. Furthermore, the current economic recession causes local,
regional and national governments to critically evaluate every euro spent on cultural institutions. Libraries
are therefore more and more urged to document their
value and demonstrate their relevance to citizens,
commentators and politicians. Dependent on the
prevailing public management theory at the local
level – either new public management or public value
strategic management1 – this takes the form of (only)
economical or (additional) sociological frames of
reference.
Demonstrating relevance can take the form of output and outcome measurement. Hitherto, much attention has been paid to the outputs of the library
(numbers of materials, loans, visits, etc.) in addressing
the importance of public libraries for Dutch society.
Corresponding author:
Frank Huysmans, Professor of Library Science, Media Studies,
Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Turfdraagsterpad
9, NL-1012 XT Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Email: huysmans@uva.nl.
169
Huysmans and Oomes: Measuring the public library’s societal value
What is considerably less well known and documented
are the outcomes of the library, or, in other words, its
real social worth to society (Institute of Museum and
Library Services, 20002; Johnson, 20103; Marless and
Streatfield, 20014). Attempts to capture the meaning
of libraries to the users are being made with user surveys, but these measures are mostly aligned to assessing or evaluating library performance (in the context
of user needs, preferences and satisfaction). These output and performance measures, however, do not shed
enough light on the value of the library to the user and
the impact on his or her life (Durrance and Fisher,
20035; Debono, 20036, Vakkari and Serola 20127; Poll
20038; Poll and Payne, 20069).
A further step, measuring outcomes, is made in
several studies abroad. Most of the research is, however, aimed at university libraries and research
libraries.10 However, in some countries efforts to conceptualize and measure the impact of the public
library have also been made. These measures are
mostly aimed at specific domains or types of outcome. The various approaches and results will be
discussed below. These studies do not always depart
from a theoretical framework or at least an inventory
of possible societal domains where impact of public
libraries is expected. Where they do, approaches
diverge and it is not clear which approach is to be
preferred.
To help improve this state of affairs, the aim of this
research project is therefore a methodological one,
combining the development of both a theoretically
inspired framework for studying the societal value
of public libraries, and a combination of measurement
instruments which constitutes a valid and reliable
operationalization of that framework. In so doing, in
the long term, we:
contribute to the level of knowledge (from the
branch, stakeholders and politics) about the outcomes of the public library in society
hereby stimulate critical reflection of what we do
and how we do it
which contributes to maximization of the impact
of libraries on society
and helps us show the impact of public libraries to
the outside world (e.g. stakeholders and politicians).
The main research question reads as follows:
How can we develop a valid and reliable research
instrument (or combination of instruments) that
makes it possible to measure various aspects of the
societal value (returns or benefits) of the public
library on the national level?
Outputs versus outcomes in public
libraries
For long, public libraries have collected statistics on
their performance. In the Netherlands, more or less reliable statistics are available starting from the sector’s
birth years at the beginning of the 20th century.11 These
statistics consist largely of units that could easily be registered or counted, e.g. the number of organizations,
branches, registered users, loans, loan extensions and
opening hours. Numbers like these are valuable for
mapping the sector’s expansion and having crude measures of its societal impact. However, if one’s aim is to
demonstrate the public library’s value to critical observers like subsidy providers, these measures quickly fall
short. A book having been borrowed does not equal a
book having been read or consulted. One would want
to know what reading a book has contributed to a person’s worldview or knowledge. Here, we touch upon the
distinction between outputs and outcomes.
Outputs can be described as
a product directly resulting from a program (be it
an activity or a service); typically measured in
numbers to demonstrate the productivity of a program; hence output ¼ count / event (entity that
can be registered)
usually a measure of volume (expressed in numbers,
counts): i.e. number of products / services that
are provided, people who are helped, activities
that are organized
the results of inputs (resources) and activities
(programs or services)
to be objectively quantified by neutral observers.
Outcomes take the importance of the library for
individuals and society one step further in relating
to the differences that are being made through the
goods and services offered:
they reflect the changes or improvements brought
about in people’s lives, showing that your program has (or has not) been successful (effective)
they are measures of impact or benefit
they are usually reported in amount of change in
skills, knowledge, attitude, behaviour, or condition (life situation / social status)
they are the success stories of outputs
they are moving away from ‘‘what did we provide’’
to ‘‘why do we matter?’’
Output statistics can demonstrate the ‘‘capacity
utilization’’ of library services, which is only one
dimension in the determination of the effectiveness
of the library. On the other hand, outcome measurements can demonstrate how well a library is meeting
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IFLA Journal 39(2)
Table 1
Library story:
Output:
Expressed in
mission
statements
(things we say
and aim to do)
Products / services / activities
(Things we say)
(Things we do and that we (should) count)
Stimulate reading
Collection (quantity / quality); host
and contribute to
literacy courses, reading circles;
the level of
supply schools with books and
language skills
learning materials
Stimulate local
involvement and
citizenship
Outcome:
# people who are
helped / reached
Perceptible effect / change
(in behaviour, knowledge, skills,
attitude, life situation, status)
(Things we want to know)
Did people truly read the books they
borrowed? Were they inspired/
surprised? Did their reading skills
improve? Was their horizon
broadened? Are they inclined to
read more often?
Organization of meetings / lectures / # of participants,
Did people learn new things? Did they
debates; supply of government
visitors, brochures
meet new people? Did information
information
that were taken,
help them to form / change their
web statistics
opinion? Were they activated to be
more involved in the democratic
process?
the (information) needs of its users (Curry Lance et al.
2001; Dugan and Hernon 2002; Dugan et al. 2009).12
In Table 1, the distinction between outputs and
outcomes is clarified with two examples. The leftmost
column contains the library’s story as it is usually told
in policy documents and mission statements. ‘Mission
statements reflect the desire of librarians to show that
libraries show a vital role in their community’ (Durrance and Fisher, 2003: 54313), ‘for many organizations it is written in such general and utopian terms
that have little substance’ (Marless and Streatfield,
2001: 170). Mission statements show that libraries
seek to strengthen their communities by offering guidance; inform, culturally enrich and empower citizens; contribute to democracy, promote cohesion
and inclusion, support local identity, etc.14
A further step to better illustrate this story is to describe the products, services and activities employed/performed to realize or support the mission. In themselves,
these do not shed much light on whether or not the mission
is actually realized. The first thing one should know is the
extent to which the public is actually ‘reached’ by these
services. But what matters most in solidly substantiating
or testing the mission, is the extent to which services have
factually brought about an effect in people’s lives.
A methodological research program
The research path is divided into two phases, each
comprising several steps. The first phase comprises a
Use of materials, #
of participants
preliminary investigation that consists of a literature
study, a qualitative study and a quantitative survey
research. The results of the first two steps (literature
and qualitative study) will give a first glimpse at the
possible domains that libraries have an impact on, at
least in Dutch society. In the third and last step of this
phase these domains will be converted into a questionnaire in order to get a first grip on the user’s experience
on outcome: what (general) benefits that we found in
the qualitative and literature study do they actually
recognize and/or experience? The findings stemming
from these first three research steps help us identify and
conceptually enrich domains of possible outcome and
will result in a theoretical framework that will guide
the development of a measuring instrument.
The development of the actual instrument(s) is the
central focus of the second stage of the research
project. Insights from the literature study, qualitative
study, survey research, as well as from an expert meeting that will be organized in the autumn of 2012, will
be used to develop one or multiple questionnaires
geared at validly and reliably demonstrating the societal value of public libraries.
This questionnaire offers the operational definitions of the outcome concept that we choose to study
and offers ways to measure it. For this purpose the
concept will be split up into research dimensions
(the qualities of the concept), indicators (measurable
evidence, i.e. actions or behaviours) and, finally,
questions. During the process of formulating the
Huysmans and Oomes: Measuring the public library’s societal value
questionnaire, it will be elaborately pretested before it is
ready to be administered. Every test phase consists of a
preliminary test to determine its effectiveness and problems (administered to friends or acquaintances) and a
formal pretest to examine patterns of response (administered to a trial group that is as similar as possible to the
actual survey administration).15 On the basis of the preliminary pretest and formal pretest revisions will be
made and, if regarded necessary, tested again.
A first glimpse on the results of Phase 1,
stages 1 and 2
Phase 1, stage 1: literature review and constructing
theoretical framework – results
There is a growing body of national and international
studies that have attempted to measure the value of
public libraries to their communities, often as an instrument in advocacy efforts on behalf of public libraries.
These studies are connected with various projects, in
various nations, across different research populations.
The populations under study range from national, to
statewide, to a few libraries and their communities. A
wide range of methodologies is used: often questionnaires were selected as a tool to assess library impact,
but qualitative methods (interviews and focus groups)
were also applied to look for evidence or anecdotal
stories to support conclusions.
Furthermore, the literature varies from describing
general or overall studies, covering multiple societal
domains, to studies that focus on one specific field
of impact (e.g. social / economic) in particular.
Finally, outcomes were established among different target groups (users / non-users; library staff;
stakeholders; local / national community leaders) and
the ones reported / found / expressed vary from very
abstract or intangible (e.g. contribution to democracy)
to more concrete (tangible / manifest / observable)
ones (e.g. supporting language skills).
Next we will introduce some major studies dealing
with the outcome of public libraries conducted in different countries. We do not aim to offer a comprehensive or
even exhaustive review of the broad literature, but to
shed light on the breadth of the subject under study.
US Impact study (USA)16
In the US the Global Libraries Programme of the Bill
& Melissa Gates Foundation systematically evaluates
the effects of Internet PCs in the library on its users.
Findings of the so called ‘US Impact study’ were based
on nearly 50,000 completed surveys from patrons of
over 400 public libraries across the country and 319
interviews with users, non-users, staff, administrators,
171
funding agencies, and other community agencies in
four case study sites from all over the country. Results
show that Internet access is now one of the most
sought-after public library services, and it is used by
nearly half of all visitors. The overall purpose for using
library computers is to perform both life-changing and
routine tasks, such as finding work, applying for college, securing government benefits, and learn about
critical medical treatments. The variety of fields where
library influence was perceived was reduced to seven
categories: social connection (maintain personal connections); education (e.g. using library computers to
do schoolwork and taking online classes); employment
(e.g. search for job opportunities; submit an application
online or work on a resumé); health and wellness
(learning about medical conditions, finding health care
providers, and assessing health insurance options); egovernment (e.g. learn about laws and regulations, find
out about a government program or service); community and civic engagement (e.g. learn about politics,
news, and the community, keeping up with current
events); personal finance (e.g. manage personal
finances, online banking and making purchases
online). Although many different types of residents use
public library computer and Internet services, libraries
appear to be particularly effective in addressing the
needs of families who still lack access in their homes
or elsewhere. But also when they do have an Internet
connection at home, they use the library, because they
either wanted technical help from a librarian, they
competed with each other for access to the computer
at home, or simply wanted to work somewhere more
peaceful and inviting than a crowded coffee shop or
a hectic unemployment office.
Perceptions of public libraries in Africa
In six African countries, eIFL has asked users and nonusers, librarians, local and national government officials about benefits from, and impact of, public
libraries.17 The study was conducted from December
to July 2011 in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania,
Uganda and Zimbabwe. The goal of the study was to
understand the perceptions of national and local stakeholders (municipalities, ministries, public agencies,
media, etc.) and the public (including non-users) on the
potential of public libraries. Findings show that all
groups surveyed seem to agree that libraries are essential to individuals as well as communities in general
and that they have the potential to contribute to
community development in important areas such as
health, employment and agriculture. The main fields
of impact as perceived by the respondents correspond
to a large extent with the ones in the US impact study:
172
education (e.g. children’s learning, literacy), economic
development (productivity enhancement, cost savings,
access to new ideas), health (e.g. access to health information, space for health-related events), communication (build new (online) social relationships, reach
distant friends and family); culture (i.e. collect and promote local content, provide access to resources); social
inclusion and community development (i.e. provide
meeting space, serve needs of disadvantaged populations); citizen empowerment, democracy and egovernment (i.e. access to and dissemination of government information, civic space for discussions, opinion
sharing and exchange); agriculture outcomes (e.g. information on weather or pricing, planting and maintaining
crops); information society and digital divide (technology skills and free access to information technologies).
Libraries Building Communities study (Australia)18
In Australia, the Library Board of Victoria and the
Victoria Public Library initiated an extensive research
project aiming at increasing community awareness of
the range of public library services and showing how
public libraries can help achieve government policy
goals. Several reports were written in which the
results of interviews, surveys and focus groups with
almost 10,000 people were presented. Information
was gathered from a diverse range of stakeholders –
including library users, non-users, library staff and
co-mmunity leaders such as local councillors, bureaucrats, business people, school principals and teachers,
and people working in key community organizations
such as maternal and child health and religious groups. The study shows that libraries and librarians
make a fundamental contribution to the communities
in four key areas: overcoming the digital divide;
creating informed communities; convenient and comfortable places of learning and building social capital.
More specifically, findings show that on the individual
level, the library contributes by providing access to
information (stimulating and supporting information
discovery; providing access to multilingual services;
helping culturally and linguistically diverse communities; mediating between the user and the information available and maintaining local history and
culture, and helping individuals to develop their skills
(promoting learning in infancy and childhood; supporting young people/students; supporting basic literacy and encouraging reading; providing access to
new technology and skills; stimulate thinking). On the
community level, libraries are perceived to add value
in the fields of: social interaction; promoting social
inclusion; bridging the generation gap and providing
a focal point for the community.
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Participants in the Libraries Building Communities
project were also asked to place a monetary value on
the library services available to them. The findings
suggest that a large library with about 150,000 registered borrowers would be adding value to users of
about $730 million each year and a small library with
about 20,000 users somewhere in the order of $10
million. This far exceeds the annual expenditure on
public libraries – which varies from a minimum of
$350,000 to a maximum of $11 million.
Enriching communities: The value of libraries in New
South Wales (Australia)19
Another Australian research project was conducted
more recently by the Library Council of New South
Wales. A variety of methodologies was utilized to
adequately explore the subject, including: a survey
inviting input from the library managers of all public
library services; ten case studies for a more in-depth
evaluation of stakeholders’ views and interviews with
representatives from nine external organizations to
better understand how public libraries benefit other
institutions. The project has demonstrated that public
libraries sustain the community and contribute positively to several fields reflecting four types of wellbeing
in society: social (offer safe, harmonious, welcoming
and inclusive environment; promote acceptance and
understanding of others; ensure free and equitable
access to collections; address the needs of specific
target groups; contribute to develop, maintain and
improve literacy levels; and preserve the past through
extensive local and family history collections);
cultural (play an active role in local cultural coordinating committee; participate in literary events;
celeb-rate cultural diversity; work with local theatres
to promote events; host local artists and travelling
exhibitions; cooperate with other cultural institutions;
keep alive the names and work of significant Australians); economic (enable users to avoid or reduce
expenditures, enlarge job opportunities; support local
businesses; build programs to establish new libraries
or extend/refurbish existing libraries; assist small to
medium-sized enterprises to maintain high professional standards and compete with larger organizations; contribute to tourism); environmental.
Concerning monetary benefits, the study found that
public libraries generated an economic benefit equivalent to $4.24 per invested dollar (which means freeing the same amount of funds for use elsewhere) and
that NSW public libraries generated $2.82 of economic activity for each dollar expended on public
libraries.
Huysmans and Oomes: Measuring the public library’s societal value
Public Libraries: Arenas for Citizenship (Norway) 20
In Norway, a research project called Public Libraries –
Arenas for Citizenship (PLACE) has started in 2007
to gain more understanding in the role of the public
library in the making of social capital.
The project aims at investigating the possibility of
developing public libraries in multicultural local communities into arenas where different kinds of meetings can take place. Two quantitative surveys were
carried out in 2006 and 2011 (no publication to date)
in three communities in Oslo and Tromsø to measure
the role of the library as a meeting place as reflected
in actual use.
Results indicate that the library is a complex meeting place with a range of meetings along a continuum
from high intensive to low intensive. The different
kinds of meetings that can take place in the library are
grouped into six categories:
173
which is based on the individual’s own assessment of
the good to be valued and implies ‘‘that respondents are
asked to state their values of a change in the provision
of a nonmarket good, in the form of willingness to pay
(WTP) for an improvement or willingness to accept
(WTA) a change to the worse’’(Aabø, 2005b:178). In
this case, respondents were asked to make a trade-off
between closing the library to save money for investment in other community fields, such as care for the
elderly and education. The overall conclusion from the
empirical study is that, on average, Norwegian households value the benefits from public libraries clearly
higher than the costs of providing the library services,
demonstrating a cost-benefit ratio of approximately 1:4
at the national level. This means that for each NOK of
taxes that is used on public libraries, the population
gets four times back in benefits from them.
Outcomes in every day life (Finland)
1. the library as a public space and a low threshold
social meeting place, a place for accidental meetings and conversations, for making appointments
to do something else
2. a meeting place between meeting places, an arena
where you can find information about and be
directed to other meeting places in the community
3. a public sphere in its own right where political and
cultural ideas are presented and discussed (e.g.
participation in meetings with authors or politicians, search information on community issues)
4. an arena where you can acquire the information
and knowledge you need to be an active, involved
and participating citizen
5. an arena where you live out professional or private involvements together with colleagues and
friends (joint activities)
6. an arena for virtual meetings on the web.
The library is heavily used as a meeting place and
the type of meeting with the highest score is that of
encounters with people belonging to a different culture,
where one has observed and experienced things about
these cultures. The library thus appears to be a place
where, in a safe environment and in an unobtrusive
way, people are exposed to the complexity of the digital and multicultural society and learn something about
multiculturalism.
In Finland a quantitative study was performed to
explore the benefits in everyday life that adult citizens
derive from using public libraries.22 For measuring
the outcomes of public libraries the researchers asked
a sample of 1000 respondents from 15–79 years to
rate how frequently they have benefited from public
library services in the following 22 segments of
human daily life: education (finding educational
opportunities; completing formal education; work
related educational development; self-education during leisure time); work and business (finding jobs;
executing specific work tasks; developing job skills);
everyday activities (household; child care and schooling; housing; consumer issues; health; travel and holidays; social relations); leisure time (reading fiction /
non-fiction; cultural activities; creative activities;
outdoor activities; exercise sports; interest in nature;
interest in history or society; participating in and following public discussions). After a factor analysis,
these benefits were grouped into three categories:
everyday activities, benefits in cultural interests, and
career benefits. Results show that public libraries
seem to be used most commonly for recreational, cultural or educational literary purposes in leisure time.
Libraries were least successful in core everyday activities relating to family and household, but did considerably well in other aspects like health and travel.
Dividends: the value of public libraries in Canada23
Monetary value of the public library
Also in Norway, Svanhild Aabø21 conducted research
in which the value of public libraries was estimated
from the population’s perspective, in monetary terms.
Aabø uses the contingent valuation (CV) method,
In 1996, the Library Action Committee of the Book and
Periodical Council undertook a research project to
review the importance of public libraries to library
users, suppliers, publishers, retailers and other businesses, as well as to Canadian culture. An inventory
174
IFLA Journal 39(2)
impact comes about. Finally, because affective outcomes flow directly from library use (i.e. fun in
using a library service) as well as indirectly through
outcomes that are experienced in the other domains
(i.e. self confidence because of reaching educational
goals), as in the model above it is situated on a
different level than the other four domains.
Figure 1. Overview of domains of library impact based on
literature review.
of several Canadian sources, as presented in a discussion
paper that was written by Leslie Fitch and Jody Warner,
outlines the many areas in which public libraries play a
vital role in Canada. The researchers conclude that public libraries: are cost-effective information providers;
support the local economy; contribute to the economic
wellbeing of local businesses; improve the market
worth of a community; invest in the economy; benefit
local businesses; provide high-skill and high-tech jobs;
support the cultural industry sector and Canadian culture, support a democratic society, support children and
students and lifelong learning; help people to make
informed personal decisions and ensure the information
highway is accessible to all Canadians.
Overall outcome framework
Based on these studies discussed above and quite a
few additional sources in related areas, we derived
five categories, or main domains (areas), of (possible)
impact: educational, cultural, social, economical and
affective. In these domains, the library is assumed
and/or proven to be influential, through its function
as a warm, welcoming and neutral meeting place, as
a supplier (disseminator) of information, as a multimedia learning environment, organizer of or host for
cultural activities and debates, etc.
The particular concepts that the outcome domains
contain are shown in Figure 2. They concern both
individual and community outcome dimensions. As
is by definition the case with models, this one presents
a simplified representation of reality. Relationships
between the dimensions covered by the main outcome
domains are not shown in the model, whereas in reality these specific concepts (and, by consequence, the
dimensions) are narrowly intertwined, both within
and between main dimensions; e.g. career management skills or opportunities (economical domain) are
obviously related to cognitive skills (educational
domain). And preservation of and access to cultural
heritage (cultural domain) will be linked to the common
identity of society (social domain). Also, the model
does not describe the mechanisms through which
Phase 1, stage 2: verifying/expanding
framework: qualitative librarians and
stakeholders study – results
In order to examine and further enrich the outcome
domains and dimensions identified in the literature
study, specifically for Dutch society, in the second stage
a qualitative study was conducted in November /
December 2011.24 The aim of this study was to explore
the concept of public library outcome in the Netherlands, in all its breadth. In the first research stages,
in-depth interviews were held with several stakeholders: seven library directors (hereby covering big
city as well as countryside libraries of different sizes and
geographically dispersed across the country), experts in
specific relevant fields of interest (liveability on the
countryside and reading promotion), and partners in the
cultural field. These interviews appeared not to bring
about much new or unexpected information, thus supporting the resulting model from the literature review
(Figure 2). Also, library outcomes were formulated in
relatively abstract terms by the stakeholders. In the
remainder of the study, the focus was therefore shifted
from directors and stakeholders/partners to the user of
the library.
The main findings of the study were the following.
The dimensions of the literature review (Figure 2)
were replicated in the qualitative research and
remained intact. The affective dimension was indeed
found to be supportive of the other four and can only
partly be viewed as an independent one. The research
indicated further that a distinction between intrinsic
and extrinsic value of the public library’s functioning
is of importance. Patrons are not always aware of
many outcomes, because some outcomes reveal themselves only after quite a while. Furthermore, since
they report using the library for the intrinsic (affective) reward of reading, they may not acknowledge the
additional consequences of that activity in their lives.
Another finding is the complicated nature of disentangling outcomes from various sources. It is difficult
to establish with any certainty that any particular outcome was the direct result of a specific intervention.
The library is but one of many organizations which
are all striving for a societal ‘return’ for their investments, quite often in the same domains as the public
Huysmans and Oomes: Measuring the public library’s societal value
175
Figure 2. Specified overview of the domains and dimensions of library impact.
library. This finding serves as a warning sign for the
remainder of the research program, which has (at the
time of writing, in May 2012) still to be carried out.
We will be turning to it now, by way of conclusion.
Looking ahead: What’s next?
Phase 1, stage 3: verifying/expanding the framework:
quantitative (non) users study
Now that the reference framework for the societal outcomes has been developed and qualitatively tested
and enriched, it is necessary to try and verify it by way
of a quantitative test with its main stakeholders: the
users and non-users. The main aim of this last stage
in the first phase of the program is to have another
check. The outcome dimensions in the literature and
the stakeholders’ views are very likely to be coloured
by societal discourses about the public library as
‘storehouses of knowledge’, ‘cornerstones of democracy and information freedom’ etc. Noble and perhaps
also apt as these labels may be, it could very well be
that in the views of the users, their societal importance
is of a less elevated nature. In any case, the user interviews in the qualitative study pointed in that direction.
Users worded the benefits they derive from the public
library’s services more in intrinsic than extrinsic terms.
176
In August/September 2012, we will have a short
quantitative survey research carried out among the
Dutch population. The questionnaire to be administered will contain items measuring the four main
dimensions – educational, economic, social and cultural benefits, plus affective benefits. As far as possible, the questions will copy those of earlier surveys25
for cross-national comparison purposes. Other questions will be developed and pre-tested in order to
have all dimensions of the framework covered, both
in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic benefits people can
derive from the public library.
Phase 2: developing and testing new measurement
instrument
Once the first phase will have been completed (end of
2012), we will have an empirically validated theoretical framework for measuring societal outcomes of
public library services. The next and crucial step will
then be to further develop and pre-test measurement
instruments, in order to arrive at a set of instruments
with which the societal impact of public libraries
could be tested in a valid and reliable manner.
As has become clear from the literature review and
the qualitative study, it is far from certain that ‘the’
outcomes of the public library system are the same
from various perspectives, in particular institutional
versus individual ones. To give an extreme example:
an institution like a primary school might find that it
benefits considerably from the library’s collections
and its support in reading promotion activities. The
school’s teachers may feel freed from the burden of
having to incorporate reading promotion in their curricula without having learned the necessary skills
themselves. From the point of view of the individual
children, this institutional outcome may not be desirable at all, for now it is left to them to find the way to
the library and its reading promotion activities.
So in this second phase of our research program,
we will have to decide how to deal with these divergent perspectives on outcomes. Will it be feasible to
incorporate all stakeholders’ viewpoints in one
measurement instrument, or will we have to resort
to multiple instruments, each geared at another group
of stakeholders? Furthermore, will it be possible to
cover all dimensions – educational, economic, social,
cultural – in all of these cases? A decision will probably have to be made to exclude some of the stakeholders and/or some of the dimensions in order to
limit the budgetary requirements. As should be clear,
the instrument(s) is (are) not developed for the sake
of this methodological program itself, but in order
to be put into practice in the real world. Practical
IFLA Journal 39(2)
considerations therefore will have to be leading in
this phase.
After the practical boundaries have been set, the project will enter a phase of developing, testing, improving,
re-testing and re-improving the measurement instruments. This phase will consequently be of a methodological nature, possibly using multitrait-multimethod
designs to judge the validity and reliability of the
instruments.26 In 2014, we hope to be able to present
the validated instrument(s) to the library community.
Notes and references
1. Moore MH (1995) Creating public value. Strategic
management in government. Harvard: Harvard University Press; Benington J (2009) Creating the public in
order to create public value? International Journal of
Business Administration 32(3–4): 232–249.
2. Institute for Museum and Library Services (2000) Perspectives on outcome based evaluation for libraries
and museums. Washington, D.C.: IMIS. Retrieved on
May 5, 2012, from http://www.imls.gov/assets/1/
workflow_staging/AssetManager/214.PDF.
3. Johnson CA (2010) Do public libraries contribute to
social capital? A preliminary investigation into the relationship. Library and Information Science Research 32:
147–155.
4. Markless S and D Streatfield (2001) Developing performance and impact indicators and targets in public
and education libraries. International Journal of Information Management 21: 167–179.
5. Durrance JC and KE Fisher.(2003) Determining how
libraries and librarians help. Library Trends 51(4):
541–570.
6. Debono B (2002) Assessing the social impact of public
libraries: what the literature is saying. Australian Public Libraries and Information Services 12(2): 80–95.
7. Vakkari P and Serola S (2012) Perceived outcomes of
public libraries. Library & Information Science
Research 34(1): 37–44.
8. Poll R (2003) Impact/outcome measures for libraries.
Liber Quarterly 13: 329–342.
9. Poll R and P Payne (2006) Impact measures for libraries
and information services. Library Hi Tech 24(4), 547–
562.
10. E.g. Kaufman PT (2008) The library as strategic
investment: results of the Illinois Return on Investment
study. Liber Quarterly 18(3/4); Harless DW, Alle FR
(1999) Using the contingent valuation method to measure patron benefits of reference desk service in an academic library. College & Research Libraries 60(1):
56–69; Tenopir C, King DW, Mays R, Wu L, Baer A
(2010) Measuring value and return on investment of
academic libraries. Serials. 23(3): 182–190.
11. See e.g. Greve H.E (1933) Geschiedenis der Leeszaalbeweging in Nederland [History of the reading room
movement in the Netherlands]. Den Haag: Uitgeversfonds der Bibliotheekvereenigingen.
Huysmans and Oomes: Measuring the public library’s societal value
12. Curry Lance K; NO Steffen, R Logan, MJ Rodney, S
Kaller (2001) Counting on results new tools for
outcome-based evaluation of public libraries. Aurora:
Bibliographic Center for Research. http://www.lrs.
org/documents/cor/CoR_FullFinalReport.pdf; Dugan
RE and Hernon P (2002) Outcomes assessment: not
synonymous with inputs and outputs. Journal of
Academic Librarianship 28(6): 376–380; Dugan RE,
Hernon P and Nitecki DA (2009) Viewing library
metrics from different perspectives: inputs, outputs
and outcomes. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. For more
information on outputs and outcomes, see for example an online course for Outcomes-based planning
and evaluation (OBPE) by the Institute of Museum
and Library Services (IMLS) and Indiana University –
Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) http://www.
shapingoutcomes.org/index.htm or the website of
IMLS (http://www.imls.gov/applicants/outcome_based_
evaluations.aspx).
13. Durrance JC and KE Fisher (2003) Determining how
libraries and librarians help. Library Trends 51(4):
541–570.
14. For an overview of mission statements worldwide:
International Federation of Library Associations
(IFLA), Members of the Government Libraries Section
(2011) Mission and/or vision statements of government
libraries worldwide. Retrieved from http://www.ifla.
org/files/government-libraries/publications/MissionSt
atementsAugust2011-2.doc at 02-05-2012.
15. Baker TL (1999) Doing social research. Singapore:
McGraw-Hill Book Co.
16. Becker S., MD Crandall, KE Fisher, B Kinney, C
Landry, A Rocha (2010) Opportunity for all. How the
American public benefits. Washington: Institute of
Museum and Library Services.
17. eIFL (2011) Perceptions of public libraries in Africa:
full report. Retrieved from http://www.eifl.net/
perception-study, 4 May 2012. See also: Elbert M, D
Fuegi, U Lipeikaite (2012) Perceptions of public
libraries in Africa. Ariadne. Web magazine for Information Professionals. Retrieved from http://www.
ariadne.ac.uk/issue68/elbert-et-al, May 15, 2012.
18. State Library of Victoria (2005) Libraries building
communities. Retrieved from http://www2.slv.vic.
gov.au/about/information/publications/policies_report
s/plu_lbc.html, May 15, 2012.
19. Library Council of New South Wales (2008) Enriching
communities: The value of libraries in New South
Wales. Sydney: Library Council of New South Wales.
20. Aabø S, Audunson R and Vårheim A (2010) How do
public libraries function as meeting places? Library &
Information Science Research 32(1): 16–26. Audunson
R, A Vårheim, S Aabø, ED Holm (2007) Public libraries,
social capital and low intensive meeting places. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science—‘‘Featuring
the Future’’. Information Research 12(4): 1–13 (http://
informationr.net/ir/12-4/colis20.html).
177
21. Aabø S (2005a) Are public libraries worth their price? A
contingent valuation study of Norwegian public libraries.
New Library World 106(11/12): 487–495. Aabø S
(2005b) Valuing the benefits of public libraries, Information Economics and Policy 17: 175–198.
22. Vakkari P. and S. Serola (2012)
23. Fitch L, J Warner (1998) Dividends: the value of public libraries in Canada, The Bottom Line: Managing
Library Finances 11(4): 158–179.
24. Zweers J, De Kleijn M and Stroeker N (2012) Maatschappelijke opbrengst van openbare bibliotheken, Een
verkenning [Societal outcomes of public libraries, An
exploration]. Zoetermeer: Research voor Beleid/Panteia.
25. The questions formulated by Vakkari and Serola
(2012) are being used in Sweden and Norway at the
time of writing. They will be used in our Dutch study
as well. Furthermore, the instruments of the eIFL
(2011) study will be copied as far as this is useful for
our purposes. Additional questions still to be developed will complete the questionnaire.
26. Saris WE and Andrews FM (1991) Evaluation of measurement instruments using a structural modeling
approach. In PP Biemer, RM Groves, LE Lyberg, NA
Mathiowetz and S Sudman (Eds.) Measurement errors
in surveys (pp. 575–597). New York [et al.]: Wiley.
Author biographies
Frank Huysmans, MSc in communication science, University of Nijmegen, NL (1992), PhD in social science
(University of Nijmegen, NL, 2001). Worked as senior
researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Social Research
(2001–2010) and programme manager for Research &
Knowledge Sharing at the Netherlands Institute for Public
Libraries (SIOB, 2010–2012). Since 2012 independent
research consultant (WareKennis, The Hague, NL). Since
2005 holding an extraordinary chair in Library Science,
Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam. Correspondence: Media Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Turfdraagsterpad 9, NL-1012 XT
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Email: huysmans@uva.nl
Marjolein Oomes, MSc in sociology, University of
Tilburg, NL (2007). Worked as researcher/advisor and
project manager at the library service provider Cubiss
(Tilburg, NL, 2007–2010) and as programme officer for
Research & Knowledge sharing at the Netherlands Institute
for Public Libraries (SIOB, 2010–current). Correspondence:
PO Box 16160, NL-2500 BD Den Haag, Netherlands.
Email: oomes@siob.nl
Paper presented at the World Library and Information Congress: 78th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, 11–78
August 2012, Helsinki, Finland, in session 76 — Crisis?
What crisis? The use of statistics and data for libraries at
a turning point — Statistics and Evaluation.
I F LA
News
International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions
39(2) 178–184
ª The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0340035213486415
ifla.sagepub.com
News
IFLA therefore reaffirms the following principles:
News Contents
IFLA Policies
News from IFLA Headquarters
Membership Matters
Future IFLA Conferences and Meetings
IFLA Publications
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184
IFLA Policies
IFLA Professional Statement on UBC
A statement reaffirming IFLA’s commitment to Universal Bibliographic Control has been endorsed by the
Professional Committee. The statement was initiated
by the Bibliography Section and has been endorsed
by the Cataloging Section and the Classification and
Indexing Section:
During the 1970s IFLA established an office for
Universal Bibliographic Control following several
years of discussion about the importance of international sharing of bibliographic data to help reduce
costs and to encourage greater cooperation worldwide. That office became known as UBCIM (Universal Bibliographic Control and International MARC).
At that time the philosophy was that each national
bibliographic agency would catalog the works published in its own country and establish the names of
its authors, and that data would be shared and
re-used around the world.1
However, in the 1990s it was recognized that having data in a language and script users can understand
is extremely important, so respecting the cultural
diversity of users around the world should be
addressed as well. These are not necessarily mutually
exclusive conditions, as has been demonstrated in the
subsequent Virtual International Authority File
(VIAF) initiative. Web technologies offer new possibilities of sharing data at a global scale and beyond
the library domain, but also show a need for authoritative and trusted data. Thus, the concept of UBC is
still valid and worth IFLA’s continued support and
promotion.
A national bibliographic agency (NBA) has the
responsibility for providing the authoritative bibliographic data for publications of its own country
and for making that data available to other NBAs,
libraries, and other communities (for instance
archives and museums) through appropriate and
timely services with the goal of increasing open
access to the bibliographic data;
NBAs, as a part of the creation of authoritative
bibliographic data, also have the responsibility for
documenting authorized access points for persons,
families, corporate bodies, names of places, and
authoritative citations for works related to its own
country and for making that authority data available to other NBAs, libraries, and other communities (for instance archives and museums);
IFLA has the responsibility for maintaining and
promoting the Statement of International Cataloguing Principles (ICP), published in 2009, as the
foundation for the sharing of bibliographic data;
IFLA has, through the work of its relevant professional units and advisory committees, the responsibility for creating, maintaining and promoting
bibliographic standards and guidelines to facilitate this sharing of bibliographic and authority
data (e.g., ISBD, the FRBR family of conceptual
models, etc.);
IFLA works collaboratively with other international organizations (e.g., ISO, ICA, ICOM, etc.)
in the creation and maintenance of other standards
in order to ensure that library standards developments, including compatible data models, are
coordinated with those of the wider community.
In 2003 the UBCIM core activity was closed and the
coordination of bibliographic standardization was
moved to the IFLA-CDNL Alliance for Bibliographic
Standards (ICABS), which was later changed to the
IFLA-CDNL Alliance for Digital Strategies (ICADS).
In 2011 it was decided to discontinue ICADS. During
the 2011 WLIC conference the idea arose of revitalizing UBC and the Bibliography Section took on this
task.
News
1. Readers interested in the UBC history are directed to the following resources: Dorothy Anderson, ‘‘Universal Bibliographic Control : a long
term policy, a plan for action’’ Pullach/Muenchen:
Verlag Dokumentation, 1974. 87 p. There is also
a report from IFLA for the UNESCO Intergovernmental Conference of 1974 that includes a
chapter more briefly describing UBC (p. 10–12:
‘‘IFLA and the role of libraries’’ published by
IFLA in 1974. 38 p.
Download links at: http://www.ifla.org/news/iflaprofessional-statement-on-ubc
Statement of Principles on Global Cross
Sectoral Digitisation Initiatives
The International Federation of Library Associations
and Institutions (IFLA), the International Council on
Archives (ICA), the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA), the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the International
Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the
International Council for Scientific and Technical
Information (ICSTI) share a common mission of collecting, recording, organising, storing, preserving in
perpetuity, and providing access to the world’s cultural
patrimony and intellectual output in documentary
form.
Together they support and follow the long-term
vision as formulated by the CDNL (Conference of
Directors of National Libraries) in 2008, on the development of a global distributed digital collection –
comprehensive, open, seamlessly-connected, and
universally accessible on the Internet – giving ready
access to digital materials in the collections of all the
cultural heritage institutions of the world and in
private collections, in the interests of scholarly
research, education and lifelong learning, innovation
and economic development, and the promotion of
international understanding; in this way complying
with the wish to strengthen the strategic collaboration
with other stakeholders such as cultural heritage professionals, cultural heritage institutions, scientific
institutions, national and international government
organisations, other NGOs, publishers and information providers, and other private sector organisations.
A shared vision for global digital heritage
To this end IFLA, ICA, CCAAA, ICOM, ICOMOS
and ICSTI adopt the CDNL recommendations and
will promote these recommendations through its
international constituency:
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Notwithstanding the fact that cultural heritage institutions operate in different environments, the above
institutions encourage cultural heritage professionals
in heritage institutions and/or with private collections
to:
1. promote, encourage, and support the development of collaborative digital collections of all
types;
2. promote and support the connecting of the digital collections of national cultural heritage institutions, and in cross sectoral dialogue with one
another, to provide a window to the cultures of
the world and to open up their rich and diverse
holdings;
3. support cultural and linguistic diversity and
multilingualism, and also respect indigenous
cultures and cultural property;
4. promote the development of digital tools, products and services and common standards
through standard setting organisations within
their own organisations and through the International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC),
and with a particular focus on critical issues
such as long-term digital preservation, authenticity, and understanding the needs of our users;
5. ensure that learning on digital collection developments and best practice are shared between
cultural heritage professionals, whether in cultural heritage institutions or working with private collections, at a cross sectoral level;
6. increase digital capability and support digital
developments by cultural heritage professionals,
whether in cultural heritage institutions or working with private collections in the developing
world;
7. work for widespread appreciation of the importance of intellectual property issues in the digital
age;
8. advocate for solutions to intellectual property
issues which strike the appropriate balance
between the crucial public interest in ensuring
access to information and ideas and also the
rights of creators to be recognised and rewarded
for their work;
9. advocate for the development of the global digital collections and for regulatory support (particularly through legal deposit and intellectual
property regimes) and financial support for digital developments;
10. strengthen the strategic collaboration of cultural
heritage professionals, through their cultural heritage institutions or through their private collections, with national and international government
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IFLA Journal 39(2)
organisations, publishers, information providers, and other private sector organisations.
Long-term access to cultural heritage
IFLA, ICA, CCAAA, ICOM, ICOMOS and ICSTI
Facilitate discussion and promote understanding
of and cooperation on matters of common interest
to the international cultural heritage sector in the
areas of copyright, cultural heritage protection
and recovery, effective advocacy and lobbying
at international level, and long term preservation
of and access to its institutions cultural heritage.
Support the promotion, facilitation and advocating for long-term access to the cultural heritage,
in all formats, preserved by cultural heritage professionals, whether in private collections, or in the
cultural heritage institutions of the world.
Are committed to cultural and linguistic diversity.
Promote mutual understanding as well as the sharing of best practices, mutual support and professional networking.
Seek to facilitate the cross sectoral collaboration of
cultural heritage institutions and cultural heritage
professionals, and the integration of access to
collections for the benefit of the global community.
Background to the Principles
In 2008 the Conference of Directors of National
Libraries (CDNL) developed a long term vision on the
development of a global digital library. The international NGO’s on cultural heritage regularly meet to
discuss issues of mutual interest and to share experiences on common practices in an informal gathering
called the LAMMS Coordinating Council. At one of
these occasions they took up this Vision Statement
to adjust it and make it suitable for adoption by all
NGO’s within LAMMS. After a long review process
in which various subsequent versions were discussed
thoroughly, the representatives of IFLA, ICA,
CCAAA, ICOM, ICOMOS and ICSTI at their 6th
LAMMS Coordinating Council meeting in December
2011 decided to adhere to this Statement of Principles
on Global Cross Sectoral Digitisation Initiatives and
to promote this within their membership.
The Principles were prepared by:
The LAMMS Coordinating Council (2012): Ingrid
Parent (IFLA President, chair of LAMMS Coordinating
Council 2009–2011); David Leitch (ICA Secretary
General); Bénédicte Selfslagh (ICOMOS Secretary General 2008–2011); Kurt Deggeller (CCAAA
Convener till 2012); Julien Anfruns (ICOM Director
General); France Desmarais (ICOM), Herbert Gruttemeier (ICSTI past President), Ingeborg Verheul
(IFLA, LAMMS Coordinating Council Secretariat).
Endorsed by the IFLA Professional Committee 12
August 2012.
Download: http://www.ifla.org/publications/statem
ent-of-principles-on-global-cross-sectoral-digitisationinitiatives
The IFLA Position on Internet Governance
(2013)
IFLA issued a Position on Internet Governance in
2005 in connection with the second phase of WSIS
in Tunisia. As WSIS enters a review period in the run
up to its assessment by the UN General Assembly in
2015, the IFLA Governing Board endorsed a revised
statement in January 2013 to ensure that IFLA’s
thinking on Internet governance reflects current
thinking and issues:
1. As the foremost international professional association concerned with information and library
services, IFLA represents associations and institutions worldwide that endeavour to provide
access to all publicly available information today
and in the future, whether factual or fictional, and
regardless of media or format. The Internet is a
critically important platform for the information
services delivered by libraries, and in many countries public and educational libraries are the
major or only agencies that provide the general
population with free or affordable access to these
resources. In doing so, they make a huge contribution to cultural, social and economic development. IFLA therefore has a direct interest in the
future governance of the Internet, and in contributing to the debates, mechanisms and processes
shaping its future.
2. IFLA opposes any measures which would lead to
control of information access and freedom of
expression by commercial, governmental or sectoral interests, or hinder the development of the
Internet as an enabler of human rights. Measures
which may be necessary to ensure the reliable
operation of the Internet, ensure its security, and
enable individuals to protect their privacy must
not be used to limit the rights expressed in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, especially those in Article 19. IFLA therefore
endorses the free flow of information on the
Internet, rejects any discrimination by network
operators between different types of services,
content and applications transmitted by their
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News
networks/infrastructure, and supports balanced
copyright frameworks that facilitate the widest
possible public access to digital information
resources.
3. IFLA supports the development of the Internet as
a reliable multilingual system which will be
available to all and will facilitate unrestricted
access to information by all peoples in their languages and scripts of choice.
4. In regard to the governance of the Internet and
related public policy issues, IFLA supports a multistakeholder approach which involves governments, civil society, business, academia and the
technical community and which offers an opportunity for increasing participation by those interests in all countries as the capacity to participate
develops. IFLA consequently endorses the principle and spirit of the multistakeholder approach
under the UN aegis and supports the process of
enhanced co-operation in relation to critical Internet resources. In this context, IFLA emphasizes
the need for effective representation of all stakeholder interests and the broader involvement and
participation of stakeholders from developing
countries in particular.
5. As a voice for more than one billion registered
library users across the world and an United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
accredited international professional organisation,
IFLA is resolved to contribute to the development
of effective multistakeholder models for Internet
governance. IFLA therefore encourages the participation of library and information professionals in
Internet governance at all levels.
Endorsed by the IFLA Governing Board, January
2013
Source: http://www.ifla.org/node/7515
From IFLA Headquarters
New webpages on IFLA and the
Information Society
IFLA is pleased to launch a new set of resources relating to the role libraries play in the information society
and the way they can contribute to Internet governance. The new webpages look at the different forums
of the information society, such as the World Summit
of the Information Society (WSIS), and the Internet
Governance Forum (IGF) and highlight why the
involvement of libraries is important. In addition to
these resources, a 2013 revised version of the IFLA
Position on Internet Governance stresses our view of
the multistakeholder approach to Internet governance
issues, and the pages also provide information on how
you can get involved with the issues at national and
international levels.
It is our intention to build these resources over
time. We would welcome feedback about the pages.
Please feel free to inform your network about our
new pages and do not hesitate to contact us with questions or suggestions.
Access the new pages on the IFLA and the Information Society: http://www.ifla.org/information-society
Stuart Hamilton, Director, Policy & Advocacy.
Email: stuart.hamilton@ifla.org
Webpages on Libraries and Development
IFLA is pleased to launch a new set of resources
relating to the role libraries play in supporting
development. Access to information is one of the
core needs of society and libraries are stepping
up and fulfilling this need through capacity building, partnerships, training, and access opportunities
for everyone.
The new webpages look at how libraries are furthering development worldwide as well as highlighting
the role of public libraries as agents for development.
They share links to information resources on development projects and research, highlight what IFLA is
doing to further development through libraries and
how you can get involved in the process.
It is our intention to build these resources over time
and to focus on innovative library projects that contribute to development. We would welcome feedback
about how we can increase the numbers of case studies highlighted, or provide links to information
resources that can raise awareness of the way libraries
can contribute to development activities.
Access the new pages: http://www.ifla.org/ict4d
Impact Report 2012: Building Strong
Library Associations programme
Library associations are key institutions in the library
and information sector around the world. Library
associations are advocates for equitable access to
information, and help to build strong, sustainable
library communities by improving services for library
users, and supporting development of the profession.
The IFLA Building Strong Library Associations Programme, launched in 2010, offers a strategic and
coordinated approach to capacity building and sustainability of library associations. This report highlights the first six country projects undertaken
between 2010 and 2012.
Strong library associations support and enrich
society and the library and information profession.
182
They unite a country’s library community around a
common platform for advocacy and development of
the profession.
Building Strong Library Associations Impact Report
2012
BSLA builds capacity by facilitating experience
sharing within regions, strengthening library leaders
in-country, and developing locally relevant solutions. Through cascade workshops and outreach, the
programme has had an impact across countries and
regions.
Programme activities include training and mentoring which helps associations to form partnerships,
strengthen governance and member services, and to
become better advocates for their library community.
Training and activities are customised to the objectives of library associations, and for different cultural,
political, technological and social conditions.
IFLA measures the difference its programmes make
using impact evaluation. This methodology considers
the change that the programme has effected on individuals, associations and library communities. The impact
evaluation process involves the clear identification of
the goals and objectives for each programme, with evidence collected to measure the extent to which those
goals and objectives are achieved.
This report presents preliminary programme impact
following the conclusion of project activities and incountry evaluation meetings and interviews in mid2012.
Download: BSLA Impact Report 2012. http://
www.ifla.org/files/alp/BSLA/impact-report/
IFLA_BSLA_impactreport_2012.pdf
IFLA launches principles, research and
advice for eLending in Libraries
IFLA is pleased to launch a new set of resources relating to eBooks and libraries. Providing access to
eBooks is one of the most pressing issues facing
libraries right now. Public libraries, in particular, are
dealing with implications of rapidly changing business and access models. IFLA has previously issued
a background paper on eLending during 2012, and
is now building on this paper to launch a new official
policy document ‘IFLA Principles for Library eLending’ which was endorsed by the Governing Board in
February 2013.
In addition, the new webpages contain links to the
background paper, and a commissioned thinkpiece on
eBooks in libraries, both of which are intended to further the debate around the subject and provide
IFLA Journal 39(2)
interested colleagues with further information. There
are links to existing campaigns on eBooks, and further
details on how to get involved in IFLA’s work on the
issue.
The plan is to build on these resources during
2013 and expand the amount of information available. The Principles will be discussed at the MLAS
Seminar on eBooks in Libraries on February 21st
2013 in London.
Access the new pages: http://www.ifla.org/e-lending
Stuart Hamilton, IFLA Director of Policy and Advocacy
Membership Matters
New Members
We bid a warm welcome to the 34 members who have
joined the Federation between 10 December 2012 and
15 March 2013. Including the following:
National Associations
Te Ropu Whakahau, New Zealand
Institutions
Columbus Metropolitan Library, United States
Communauté Agglomération Sophia Antipolis,
Direction de la Lecture Publique, France
New Jersey State Library, United States
URFIST de Bretagne et Pays de la Loire, France
Halifax Public Libraries, Canada
Lappeenranta Provincial Library, Finland
University of Cincinnati, United States
Kokkola City Library – Regional Library, Finland
Université du Luxembourg, Bibliothèque, Luxembourg
Rovaniemi City Library – Provincial Library of
Lapland, Finland
Personal Affiliates
Lisa Krolak, Germany
David Ramı́rez-Ordóñez, Colombia
Nancy Vanegas Cuevas, Colombia
Thomas Simiele, United States
Dixie Jones, United States
Triveni Kuchi, United States
Sharon Mader, United States
Janice Van de Velde, Australia
Rebecca Brown, United States
Bozena Rasmussen, Norway
Fred Stielow, United States
Judy Jeng, United States
Mireille Lamouroux, France
Dolaya Buranasing, Thailand
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News
Leticia Anidiobu, Nigeria
Elizabeth Wallace, Canada
Hilda Estela Gomez Rodriguez, El Salvador
Student Affiliates
Christopher Bonilla de la Plata, France
Lisa Chatellier, France
Mathilde Riot, France
Romain Vany, France
Emily Ekstrand-Brummer, Canada
IFLA Conferences and Meetings
Singapore 2013
The World Library and Information Congress:
78th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, will
take place in Singapore from 17–23 August 2013.
Theme: Future Libraries: Infinite Possibilities
More information regarding the 79th IFLA General
Conference and Assembly are available at http://conf
erence.ifla.org/sites/default/files/files/wlic2013/ifla2013-final-announcement.pdf and at http://conferen
ce.ifla.org/ifla79
Singapore Satellite Meetings
Workshop on User Interaction Built on Library
Linked Data (UILLD). Pre-conference to the 79th
World Library and Information Conference. Jurong
East Regional Library, Singapore, 16 August 2013.
The main objective of this workshop/pre-conference
is to provide a platform for discussion of deployed
services, concepts, and approaches for consuming
Linked Data from libraries and other cultural heritage
institutions. Special attention will be given to presenting working end user interfaces using Linked Data
from both cultural heritage institutions (including
libraries) and other datasets.
For further information about the workshop,
please contact the workshops chairs at uilld2013@
gmail.com Website: http://uilld2013.linkeddata.es/
Newspapers/ Genealogy and Local History
(GENLOC) Sections Pre-conference Satellite
Meeting. Singapore, 14–15 August 2013. Theme:
Newspapers to the People.
This Pre-conference Satellite Meeting is jointly
organised by the National Library of Singapore, the
IFLA Newspapers Section, and the IFLA Genealogy
and Local History Section.
More information: Frederick Zarndt, Chair, IFLA
Newspapers Section. Tel. þ1.801.361.3204. Fax
þ1.888.723.3204. Skype: frederickzarndt Email: fred
erick@frederickzarndt.com
Library Theory and Research Section Satellite
Meeting. Singapore, 14–15 August 2013. Theme:
How do we fit in the global knowledge environment?
Researching the library’s role.
Further information: Virginia Chapman, Publisher,
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Howard House,
Wagon Lane, Bingley, BD16 1WA United Kingdom.
Tel: 00 44 1274 515667. Fax: 00 44 1274 785200.
Email: www.emeraldinsight.com
Children and Young Adults and Core Activity
Preservation and Conservation Satellite Meeting.
Bangkok, 14–15 August 2013. Theme: Creating the
future: preserving, digitizing and accessing all forms
of children’s and young adults’ cultural heritage.
Further information: Viviana Quiñones, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Centre national de la littérature
pour la jeunesse – La Joie par les livres, Quai FrançoisMauriac, 75706 Paris cedex 13, France. Tél. þ 33 (0)1
53 79 52 86. Email: viviana.quinones@bnf.fr
Welcome to IFLAcamp? Singapore, 15–16 Aug
2013.
Following-up the first IFLAcamp in 2012, the New
Professionals Special Interest Group and the Asia and
Oceania Section welcome you to IFLAcamp?,
the WLIC2013 unconference for new and established
professionals!
What IFLAcamp? is a two-day satellite meeting in
the mode of an unconference that provides
plenty of space for ad-hoc sessions and group
discussions. The participant-driven approach
will allow for active involvement of all attendees
and including all kinds of topics of interest.
Who IFLAcamp? is a joint event by the New Professionals Special Interest Group and the Asia
and Oceania Section.
When IFLAcamp? will take place from 15–16
August 2013.
Where IFLAcamp? We are going to meet in the Li
Ka Shing Library of the Singapore Management
University. Located in the heart of Singapore,
we will not only spend two intensive days of
unconferencing, but also have the chance to
explore this exciting metropole and enjoy some
culinary adventures.
Further information: wilke.sebastian@gmail.com
Lyon 2014
During the Closing Session in Helsinki Finland on 16
August, IFLA President Ingrid Parent officially
announced the host location for the 2014 World
Library and Information Congress: Lyon, France.
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IFLA Journal 39(2)
Interlending and Document Supply
Conference 2013
13th IFLA Interlending and Document Supply
Conference 2013. Peking University, Beijing, China,
16–18 October 2013.
The IFLA Document Delivery and Resource
Sharing Section is pleased to announce that the China
Academic Library and Information System (CALIS)
has been selected to host the 13th IFLA Interlending
and Document Supply Conference in 2013.
More information: Mary A. Hollerich, Co-Editor,
Interlending & Document Supply, 1118 W. Washington Blvd., #3A, Oak Park, IL 60302, USA. Email:
mary.hollerich@gmail.com Tel. þ1 847-275-0666
(cell)
IFLA Publications
Ambassadors of the book: competences and training for heritage librarians. Edited by: Raphaële
Mouren, Berlin/Munich: De Gruyter Saur, 2012.
ISBN 978-3-11-030127-4. (IFLA Publications; Nr
160) Euro 99,95 / for USA, Canada, Mexico US$
140.00. Special price for IFLA members Euro 79,95
/ for USA, Canada, Mexico US$ 112.00.
What competences are needed for heritage librarians,
and how can they be taught? The management of heritage collections requires a unique mix of knowledge
and skills, including expertise in preservation and conservation; heritage policies; acquisitions and collection
management; bibliographic description; the materiality of books and other collection objects; and the history of libraries. Librarians must also understand the
need for open access, the importance of marketing,
and the challenges posed by digitization.
Guidelines for Subject Access in National
Bibliographies. Edited by Yvonne Jahns. Berlin/
Munich: De Gruyter Saur, 2012. ISBN 978-3-11028089-0. (IFLA Series on Bibliographic Control;
Nr 45)Euro 59.95 / for USA, Canada, Mexico US$
84.00. Special price for IFLA members Euro 49.95 /
for USA, Canada, Mexico US$ 70.00
In a networked and globalized world of information the form of national bibliographies may have
changed, however their major function remains
unchanged: to inform about a country’s publication
landscape, its cultural and intellectual heritage. Subject access offers a major route into this landscape
providing information about the dispersion of publications in specific fields of knowledge and topics contained in a particular national publishing output. The
Guidelines for Subject Access in National Bibliographies give graded recommendations concerning subject indexing policies for national bibliographic
agencies and illustrating various policies by providing
best practice examples.
I F LA
Abstracts
International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions
39(2) 185–200
ªThe Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permission:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0340035213490854
ifla.sagepub.com
ﺍﻹﺭﺙ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﻤﺆﺛﺮﺍﺕ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻃﻤﻮﺣﺎﺕ ﻣﻬﻨﺔ ﺃﻣﺎﻧﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻭﻋﻠﻰ ﻃﺮﻳﻘﺔ
ﺗﻌﻠﻴﻢ ﻋﻠﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﻋﺪﺩ ﻣﻦ ﺩﻭﻝ ﺍﻟﻜﻮﻣﻨﻮﻟﺚ.
ﻗﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺃﻭﻗﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﻴﺮ:
Petra Düren
ﺍﻟﻌﺪﺩ (2013) 39ﻣﻦ ﻣﺠﻠﺔ ﺍﻹﻓﻼ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺨﺼﺼﺔ ،ﺭﻗﻢ ،2ﺹ139–134:.
ﻳﺘﻮﺟﺐ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻌﺎﻣﺔ ﺍﻵﻥ ﻣﻮﺍﺟﻬﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﺮﺍﺕ
ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺴﺘﻤﺮﺓُ .ﻳﻠﻘﻲ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﻧﻈﺮﺓ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺆﻫﻼﺕ ﺍﻟﻘﻴﺎﺩﻳﺔ ﺍﻟﻼﺯﻣﺔ
ﻟﻠﺘﻌﺎﻣﻞ ﻣﻊ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﺮﺍﺕ ﻭﺍﺳﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﻨﻄﺎﻕ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ،ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻲ ُﻳﻤﻜﻦ ﺍﻛﺘﺴﺎﺑﻬﺎ
ﻗﺒﻞ ﺍﻟﺘﺨﺮﺝ ﻭﺍﻟﺤﺼﻮﻝ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻟﻴﺴﺎﻧﺲ ﻋﻠﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﻭُﻳﻤﻜﻦ
ﺃﻥ ﻧﺄﺧﺬ ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ ﻫﺎﻣﺒﻮﺭﺝ ﻟﻠﻌﻠﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﺘﻄﺒﻴﻘﻴﺔ ﻣﺜﺎ ًﻻ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺫﻟﻚ .ﻭُﺗﺸﻜﻞ
ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻮﺍﺻﻞ ﻭﺍﻟ ُﻤﺸﺎﺭﻛﺔ ﺃﻫﻢ ﻋﻮﺍﻣﻞ ﻧﺠﺎﺡ ﻛﻞ ﻣﺸﺮﻭﻋﺎﺕ
ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﻴﺮ .ﺗﺆﻛﺪ ﺩﺭﺍﺳﺘﺎﻥ ﻛﻴﻔﻴﺘﺎﻥ ﺣﻮﻝ ﺍﻟﻘﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻴﺔ
ﻭﺍﻟﻌﺎﻣﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺃﻭﻗﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﻴﺮ ،ﻛﻤﺎ ﺗﺆﻛﺪ ﺩﺭﺍﺳﺔ ﻛﻤﻴﺔ ُﺃﺟﺮﻳﺖ ﻓﻲ ﺇﺣﺪﻯ
ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻴﺔ ﺣﻮﻝ ﺗﺄﺛﻴﺮ ﺃﺳﺎﻟﻴﺐ ﺍﻟﻘﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻴﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺃﻭﻗﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﺤﻮﻝ
ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺘﻮﻯ ﺍﻹﺩﺍﺭﻱ ﺍﻷﻭﺳﻂ ﻭﻓﺮﻳﻖ ﺍﻟﻌﻤﻞ ﻭﺗﺄﺛﻴﺮ ﺫﻟﻚ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺜﻘﺎﻓﺔ
ﺍﻟﻤﺆﺳﺴﻴﺔ ،ﻭﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﻫﻤﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﻮﺍﻣﻞ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺑﻖ ﺫﻛﺮﻫﺎ ﻭﺧﺎﺻﺔ ﻗﺪﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﺩﺓ
ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺘﻮﺍﺻﻞ ﻓﻲ ﺃﻭﻗﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﻴﺮ.
ﺗﺒﻌﺚ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺘﺮﺣﺎﺏ ،ﺗﺘﺴﻢ ﺑﺎﻟﻤﺮﻭﻧﺔ ،ﺣﺪﻳﺜﺔ :ﺃﺳﺎﻟﻴﺐ ﺗﻄﻮﻳﺮ ﺍﻟﻤﺮﺍﻓﻖ
ﺑﺎﺳﺘﻤﺮﺍﺭ:
Abstracts
ﻗﺘﻄﻔﺎﺕ
ﻣﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺳﻨﻐﺎﻓﻮﺭﺓ :ﻣﻦ ُﻣﺠﺮﺩ ﻣﺒﺎﻧﻲ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻣﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﻛﻞ ﻣﻜﺎﻥ:
ﺗﺤﺮﻳﺮ Esther Ong :ﻭJulie S Sabaratnam
ﺍﻟﻌﺪﺩ (2013) 39ﻣﻦ ﻣﺠﻠﺔ ﺍﻹﻓﻼ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺨﺼﺼﺔ ،ﺭﻗﻢ ،2ﺹ120–103:.
ُﻳﻠﻘﻲ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻟﻤﻘﺎﻝ ﻧﻈﺮﺓ ﺷﺎﻣﻠﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻣﺸﻬﺪ ﺗﻄﻮﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺳﻨﻐﺎﻓﻮﺭﺓ.
ﻓﻘﺪ ﻟﻌﺒﺖ ﻣﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﺳﻨﻐﺎﻓﻮﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ ﻭﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ ﺳﻨﻐﺎﻓﻮﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ ﺩﻭ ّﺭﺍ ﻫﺎ ّﻣﺎ
ﻓﻲ ﺗﺄﺳﻴﺲ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﺠﺰﻳﺮﺓ ﺍﻟﺠﻨﻮﺏ ﺁﺳﻴﻮﻳﺔ ﻣﻨﺬ 190ﺳﻨﺔ.
ﻭﺷﻬﺪﺕ ﺳﻨﻐﺎﻓﻮﺭﺓ ﻣﻨﺬ ﺫﻟﻚ ﺍﻟﺤﻴﻦ ﺯﻳﺎﺩًﺓ ﻛﺒﻴﺮﺓ ﻓﻲ ﻋﺪﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻣﻨﻬﺎ
ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻣﺔ ﻭﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺨﺼﺼﺔ .ﻭﻇﻠﺖ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺑﺪﻋﻢ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺳﺎﺕ
ﻭﺍﻹﺳﺘﺮﺍﺗﻴﺠﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺤﻜﻮﻣﻴﺔ ﻟﻬﺎُ ،ﻣﻬﻤ ًﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺣﻴﺎﺓ ﺍﻟﺸﻌﺐ ﺍﻟﺴﻨﻐﺎﻓﻮﺭﻱ .ﻭﻛﺎﻥ
ﻋﻠﻰ ﻣﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺍﻷﻣﺔ ﺃﻥ ﺗﺒﺘﻜﺮ ﻃﺮﻕ ﺟﺪﻳﺪﺓ ﻹﺩﺍﺭﺓ ُﻣﻘﺘﻨﻴﺎﺗﻬﺎ ﻭﺗﻠﺒﻴﺔ ﺍﺣﺘﻴﺎﺟﺎﺕ
ﺍﻟﺠﻤﻬﻮﺭ؛ ﻛﻲ ﺗﻮﺍﻛﺐ ﺍﻟﺘﻄﻮﺭﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻜﻨﻮﻟﻮﺟﻴﺔ ﻭﺗﻐﻴﺮ ُﻣﺘﻄﻠﺒﺎﺕ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺴﺘﺨﺪﻡ.
ﻳﺴﺘﻌﺮﺽ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﺗﺎﺭﻳﺦ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺳﻨﻐﺎﻓﻮﺭﺓ ﻗﺒﻞ ﺑﺪﺀ ﺍﻻﻫﺘﻤﺎﻡ
ﺑﺎﻟ ُﻤﺒﺘﻜﺮﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﻴﺔ ﻛﻤﺎ ﻳﻬﺘﻢ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﺑﺎﻟﻤﻨﺘﺠﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﺨﺪﻣﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺮﻗﻤﻴﺔ
ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺗﺘﻀﻤﻦ ﺇﺩﺍﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻨﻈﻢ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻮﺍﺭﺩ ﺍﻹﻟﻜﺘﺮﻭﻧﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟ ُﻤﻌﺪﺍﺕ
ﺍﻟﺮﻗﻤﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻻﺳﺘﻔﺎﺩﺓ ﻣﻦ ﻣﻮﺍﻗﻊ ﺍﻟﺘﻮﺍﺻﻞ ﺍﻻﺟﺘﻤﺎﻋﻲ ﻓﻲ ﺟﺬﺏ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺴﺘﺨﺪﻣﻴﻦ.
ﺩﻭﻝ ﺍﻟﻜﻮﻣﻨﻮﻟﺚ :ﻛﻴﻒ ﺷﻜﻠﺖ ﻧﻤﺎﺫﺝ ﺍﻟﻌﻤﻞ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﻲ ﺍﻟﺒﺮﻳﻄﺎﻧﻴﺔ
ﻭﺍﻷﻣﺮﻳﻜﻴﺔ ﺗﻌﻠﻴﻢ ﻋﻠﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺑﻌﺾ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺴﺘﻌﻤﺮﺍﺕ
ﺍﻟﺒﺮﻳﻄﺎﻧﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺑﻘﺔ:
Charles Forrest, Sharon L. Bostick
ﺍﻟﻌﺪﺩ (2013) 39ﻣﻦ ﻣﺠﻠﺔ ﺍﻹﻓﻼ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺨﺼﺼﺔ ،ﺭﻗﻢ ،2ﺹ150–140:.
Mary Carroll, Paulette Kerr, Abdullahi I. Musa,
Waseem Afzal
ﺍﻟﻌﺪﺩ (2013) 39ﻣﻦ ﻣﺠﻠﺔ ﺍﻹﻓﻼ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺨﺼﺼﺔ ،ﺭﻗﻢ ،2ﺹ133–121:.
ﺗﻌﻤﻞ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺣﻮﻝ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻢ ﻓﻲ ﻇﻞ ﺍﺳﺘﻤﺮﺍﺭ ﻭﺗﺴﺎﺭﻉ ﺗﺪﺍﻭﻝ ﻛﻞ ﻣﺼﺎﺩﺭ
ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺻﻮﺭﺗﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﺮﻗﻤﻴﺔ ،ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺘﺤﻮﻝ ﻟﻠﺘﻔﺎﻋﻞ ﻣﻊ ﺗﻐﻴﺮ ﺩﻭﺭﻫﺎ
ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺠﺘﻤﻌﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺗﻘﻮﻡ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺧﺪﻣﺘﻬﺎ ﻭﺩﻋﻤﻬﺎ .ﺗﻮﺍﺟﻪ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ
ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻴﺔ ﺗﺤﺪﻳﺎﺕ ﺧﺎﺻﺔ ﺑﺪﺧﻮﻝ ﺫﻟﻚ ﺍﻟﺠﻴﻞ ﺍﻟﺬﻱ ﺍﻋﺘﺎﺩ ﺍﻹﻧﺘﺮﻧﺖ
ﻭﺍﻟﻬﺎﺗﻒ ﺍﻟﻨﻘﺎﻝ ﻭﺍﻟﺤﺼﻮﻝ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺃﻱ ﻭﻗﺖ ﻭﻣﻜﺎﻥ ،ﻭﻓﻲ
ﻗﻠﺐ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺠﺘﻤﻊ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻲ ﺍﻟﺬﻱ ﻳﺰﺩﺍﺩ ﺗﻘﺪﻳﺮﻩ ﻟﻠﺘﻌﺎﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺮﻱ ﺑﻴﻦ ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻴﺎﺕ
ﻭﺍﻟﻄﻼﺏ ﻳﺠﺐ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻘﺮﻥ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﺩﻱ ﻭﺍﻟﻌﺸﺮﻳﻦ
ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺪﻳﺪ ﻣﻦ ﻧﻔﺴﻬﺎ ﺩﺍﺋ ّﻤﺎ ﺑﺤﻴﺚ ُﺗﺮﺳﺦ ﺍﻟﺮﻏﺒﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺮﻓﺔ ﻭﺍﻟ ُﻤﺸﺎﺭﻛﺔ
ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻌﺎﻭﻥ .ﻭﻛﺎﻥ ﻳﺘﻢ ﺍﻻﺳﺘﺜﻤﺎﺭ ﻓﻲ ﻣﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺃﻣﺮﻳﻜﺎ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻴﺔ ﺧﻼﻝ ﺍﻟﻘﺮﻥ
ﺍﻟﻌﺸﺮﻳﻦ ﺍﻋﻠﻰ ﻧﻄﺎﻕ ﻭﺍﺳﻊ؛ ﻟﻠﺘﻮﺳﻊ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﺮﺍﻓﻖ ﻭﺗﻄﻮﻳﺮﻫﺎ .ﻭﻛﺎﻥ
ﺍﻟﺘﻮﺟﻪ ﻟﻠﺘﺤﻮﻝ ﻓﻲ ﺑﺪﺍﻳﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﺮﻥ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﺩﻱ ﻭﺍﻟﻌﺸﺮﻳﻦ ﺃﻛﺜﺮ ﻣﻦ ﺃﻱ ﻭﻗﺖ
ﻣﻀﻰ ،ﻟﻜﻦ ﻛﺎﻥ ﻗﺪﺭ ﺍﻟﺘﻤﻮﻳﻞ ﺃﻗﻞ ﻣﻤﺎ ﺯﺍﺩ ﺍﻟﻀﻐﻂ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺆﺳﺴﺎﺕ؛ ﻛﻲ
ُﺗﻘﻠﻞ ﻣﻦ ﻣﺪﺓ ﺩﻭﺭﺗﻬﺎ ﺍﻻﺳﺘﺜﻤﺎﺭﻳﺔ ﻟﺘﺴﺘﻄﻴﻊ ﺍﻻﺳﺘﻤﺮﺍﺭ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﻔﺎﻋﻞ ﻣﻊ
ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﺮﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻜﻨﻮﻟﻮﺟﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺮﺑﻮﻳﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺪﺭﺍﺳﻴﺔ ﻭﺗﻮﻗﻌﺎﺕ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺴﺘﺨﺪﻣﻴﻦ
ﻟﻘﺪ ﻛﺎﻧﺖ ﻣﻬﻨﺔ ﺃﻣﺎﻧﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﺣﻮﻝ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻢ ﺩﺍﺋ ّﻤﺎ ﻣﺤﻮﺭ
ُﻣﻨﺎﻓﺴﺔ ﺍﻷﺟﻨﺪﺍﺕ ﺍﻻﺟﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺳﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺳﺎﻫﻤﺖ ﺑﺪﻭﺭﻫﺎ ﻓﻲ
ﺗﺸﻜﻴﻞ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﻬﻨﺔ .ﻭﻣﻨﺬ ﺃﻭﺍﺧﺮ ﺍﻟﻘﺮﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺳﻊ ﻋﺸﺮ ﻭﺣﺘﻰ ﺍﻵﻥ ،ﻛﺎﻧﺖ
ﺗﻠﻚ ﺍﻟﻤﺆﺛﺮﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﺨﺎﺭﺟﻴﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺪﻭﻝ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻛﺎﻧﺖ ﻓﻲ ﻣﺎ ﻣﻀﻰ ﺿﻤﻦ
ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺴﺘﻌﻤﺮﺍﺕ ﻭﺍﻷﺭﺍﺿﻲ ﺍﻟﺨﺎﺿﻌﺔ ﻟﻠﺴﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﺍﻹﻧﺠﻠﻴﺰﻳﺔ )ﻭُﺗﻌﺪ ﺍﻵﻥ ﺿﻤﻦ
ﺩﻭﻝ ﺍﻟﻜﻮﻣﻨﻮﻟﺚ( ،ﻣﺆﺛﺮﺍﺕ ﺗﻨﺘﻤﻲ ﻟﺜﻘﺎﻓﺘﻴﻦ ﺃﺳﺎﺳﻴﺘﻴﻦ ﺃﻻ ﻭﻫﻤﺎ ﺛﻘﺎﻓﺘﻲ
ﺍﻟﻤﻤﻠﻜﺔ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺤﺪﺓ ﻭﺍﻟﻮﻻﻳﺎﺕ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺤﺪﺓ ﺍﻷﻣﺮﻳﻜﻴﺔ ،ﻣﻤﺎ ﺃﺩﻯ ﺇﻟﻰ ُﻣﻨﺎﻓﺴﺔ ﺑﻞ
ﻭﻓﻲ ﺑﻌﺾ ﺍﻷﺣﻴﺎﻥ ﺗﻨﺎﻗﺾ ﺃﺻﻮﻝ ﺗﺪﺭﻳﺲ ﻋﻠﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ
ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ُﺃﻃﻠﻖ ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ ”ﻧﻤﺎﺫﺝ“ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﻠﻴﻢ ﺍﻟﺒﺮﻳﻄﺎﻧﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻷﻣﺮﻳﻜﻴﺔ .ﻓﻠﻌﺐ ﺍﻟﺘﻘﺎﺀ
ﻫﺬﺍﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﺆﺛﺮﺍﻥ ﺩﻭ ّﺭﺍ ﻓﻲ ﺗﺸﻜﻴﻞ ﺗﻌﻠﻴﻢ ﻋﻠﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﺗﺎﺭ ّﻛﺎ
ﻭﺭﺍءﻪ ﺇﺭﺛّﺎ ُﻣﻌﻘ ّﺪﺍ .ﺗﺴﺘﻜﺸﻒ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﻮﺭﻗﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺜﻴﺔ ﺍﺳﺘﻤﺮﺍﺭ ﺩﻭﺭ ﻫﺬﺍ
ﺍﻹﺭﺙ ﻓﻲ ﻭﺿﻊ ﺃﺟﻨﺪﺓ ﻃﻤﻮﺣﺔ ﻟﻠﻤﻬﻦ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﻴﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺘﻮﻯ ﺍﻟﻤﺤﻠﻲ
ﻭُﺗﻨﺎﻗﺶ ﻛﻴﻔﻴﺔ ﺗﺄﺛﻴﺮ ﺫﻟﻚ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻧﻤﻮﺫﺝ ﺃﻣﺎﻧﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻭﺗﻘﺪﻳﻤﻪ .ﺳﻴﺘﻨﺎﻭﻝ
ﻀﺎ ﺳﻠﺴﻠﺔ ﻣﻦ ﺩﺭﺍﺳﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﻟﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺗﻮﺿﺢ ﻛﻴﻒ ﺷﻜﻞ ﻫﺬﺍ
ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﺃﻳ ّ
186
)IFLA Journal 39(2
ﺧﻼﻝ ﺍﺗﺒﺎﻉ ﻭﺗﻌﺪﻳﻞ ﺃﺳﺎﻟﻴﺐ ﺗﺮﺟﻊ ﻟﻌﻠﻮﻡ ﺍﻹﻧﺴﺎﻥ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﻐﺮﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻹﺛﻨﻴﺔ
ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻲ ُﺗﻄﺒﻖ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺷﺮﺍﺋﺢ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺠﺘﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﺠﺎﻣﻌﻲ .ﺗﺒﺪﺃ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﻌﻤﻠﻴﺔ ﺑﻄﺮﺡ
ﺳﺆﺍﻝ ،ﻣﺜﻞ“ :ﻣﺎﺫﺍ ﻳﻔﻌﻞ ﺍﻟﻄﺎﻟﺐ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻔﺘﺮﺓ ﺑﻴﻦ ﺗﻜﻠﻴﻔﻪ ﺑﺎﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﻭﺇﺗﻤﺎﻣﻪ؟"،
ﺛﻢ ﺗﻮﺿﻊ ﻣﺠﻤﻮﻋﺔ ﻣﻦ ﻣﻨﺎﻫﺞ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﻻﺳﺘﻜﺸﺎﻑ ﺫﻟﻚ ﺍﻟﺴﺆﺍﻝ ﻣﺜﻞ ﻛﺘﺎﺑﺔ
ﺍﻟﻴﻮﻣﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻴﺔ .ﻭﻳﺆﺩﻱ ﺍﺳﺘﺨﺪﺍﻡ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﺎﻫﺞ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺪﺭﺍﺳﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺟﻤﻊ
ﺑﻴﺎﻧﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ُﻣﺨﺘﻠﻒ ﺻﻮﺭﻫﺎ :ﺻﻮﺭ ،ﺭﺳﻮﻡ ،ﺳﺠﻼﺕ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﻘﺎﺑﻼﺕ،
ﺍﻷﻭﺻﺎﻑ ﺍﻟﻤﺜﺎﻟﻴﺔ ﻟﻸﺩﻭﺍﺕ ﻭﺍﻷﻣﺎﻛﻦ ﻭﺍﻟﺨﺪﻣﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﻴﺔ .ﺗﻌﻜﻒ
ﻣﺠﻤﻮﻋﺎﺕ ُﻣﺨﺘﻠﻔﺔ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻣﻠﻴﻦ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺩﺭﺍﺳﺔ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺎﻧﺎﺕ
ﻭﺗﺤﻠﻴﻠﻬﺎ ﻭﺍﻟﻮﺻﻮﻝ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻧﺘﺎﺋﺞ .ﻭﻣﻦ ﻫﻨﺎ ﻳﻠﺰﻡ ﺗﺠﺎﻭﺏ ﺍﻟﻤﺆﺳﺴﺔ ﻣﻊ ﻫﺬﻩ
ﺍﻟﻨﺘﺎﺋﺞ ﻹﺣﺪﺍﺙ ﺗﻐﻴﻴﺮ ﺣﻘﻴﻘﻲ ﻳﺘﻤﺜﻞ ﻓﻲ ﺳﻴﺎﺳﺎﺕ ﺗﺴﻮﻳﻘﻴﺔ ﺃﻭ ﻣﺮﺍﻓﻖ
ﺃﻓﻀﻞ ﺃﻭ ﺗﻘﺪﻳﻢ ﺧﺪﻣﺎﺕ ﺟﺪﻳﺪﺓ ﻭﺃﺩﻭﺍﺕ ﺇﻟﻜﺘﺮﻭﻧﻴﺔ .ﻭﻗﺪ ﺃﻭﺿﺢ ﻧﺠﺎﺡ
ﺍﻟﺠﺎﻣﻌﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺮﺑﺔ ﺃﻥ ﻋﻤﻠﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﻌﻲ ﻟﻔﻬﻢ ﻭﺗﻘﺪﻳﺮ ﺍﺣﺘﻴﺎﺟﺎﺕ
ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺴﺘﺨﺪﻣﻴﻦ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻴﺔ ﻟﻴﺴﺖ ﻋﻤﻠﻴﺔ ﺑﺎﻟﻐﺔ ﺍﻟﺼﻌﻮﺑﺔ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻟﺘﻜﻠﻔﺔ .ﻭﺑﺎﻟﺮﻏﻢ
ﻣﻦ ﻣﻼﺋﻤﺔ ﺍﻷﺳﺎﻟﻴﺐ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻭﺻﻠﺖ ﺇﻟﻴﻬﺎ ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ ﺭﻭﺷﺴﺘﺮ ﻣﻊ ﺍﺣﺘﻴﺎﺟﺎﺗﻬﺎ
ﺑﺎﻟﺘﺤﺪﻳﺪ ﺇﻻ ﺃﻧﻪ ُﻳﻤﻜﻦ ﺑﻞ ﺗﻢ ﺑﺎﻟﻔﻌﻞ ﺗﻄﺒﻴﻘﻬﺎ ﻭﺑﻨﺠﺎﺡ ﻓﻲ ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺎﺕ ﺃﺧﺮﻯ.
ﺗﻘﺪﻳﺮ ﻗﻴﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺠﺘﻤﻌﻴﺔ :ﺑﺮﻧﺎﻣﺞ ﺑﺤﺚ ﻣﻨﻬﺠﻲ:
Frank Huysmans, Marjolein Oomes
ﺍﻟﻌﺪﺩ (2013) 39ﻣﻦ ﻣﺠﻠﺔ ﺍﻹﻓﻼ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺨﺼﺼﺔ ،ﺭﻗﻢ ،2ﺹ177–168:.
ﺳﺮﻳﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﺮ .ﻭُﺗﻌﺪ ﻧﻬﺎﻳﺔ ﻛﻞ ﻣﺸﺮﻭﻉ ﺑﺪﺍﻳﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻘﻴﻴﻢ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺨﻄﻴﻂ ﻟﺪﻭﺭﺓ
ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﻴﺮ ﻭﺍﻻﺳﺘﺜﻤﺎﺭ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﻘﺒﻠﺔ .ﺗﺴﺘﻜﺸﻒ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﻮﺭﻗﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺜﻴﺔ ﻭُﺗﻨﺎﻗﺶ ﺟﻬﻮﺩ
ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺍﺛﻨﻴﻦ ﻣﻦ ﺃﻛﺒﺮ ﺍﻟﻤﺆﺳﺴﺎﺕ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻮﻻﻳﺎﺕ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺤﺪﺓ
ﺻﺎ؛ ﻛﻲ ﺗﻄﻮﺭ
ﺍﻷﻣﺮﻳﻜﻴﺔ ،ﺗﺘﻠﻘﻰ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ﺗﻤﻮﻳ ًﻼ ﻋﺎ ّﻣﺎ ﻭﺍﻷﺧﺮﻯ ﺗﻤﻮﻳ ًﻼ ﺧﺎ ّ
ﺃﺳﺎﻟﻴﺐ ﺗﻘﻴﻴﻢ ﻣﺴﺎﺣﺎﺕ ﻭﻭﻇﺎﺋﻒ ﻭﺧﺪﻣﺎﺕ ﻭﻋﻤﻠﻴﺎﺕ ﺗﺸﻐﻴﻞ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ
ﻭﺻﻴﺎﻧﺘﻬﺎ .ﻭُﻳﻠﻘﻲ ﺃﺻﺤﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﺍﻟﻀﻮﺀ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺸﺮﻭﻋﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺗﻬﺪﻑ
ﺇﻟﻰ ﺗﻔﻌﻴﻞ ﺍﺳﺘﺜﻤﺎﺭ ﺭﺅﻭﺱ ﺍﻷﻣﻮﺍﻝ ﻭﺗﻘﻠﻴﻞ ﻣﺪﺓ ﺩﻭﺭﺓ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻻﺳﺘﺜﻤﺎﺭ
ﻭﻭﺿﻊ ﺇﻃﺎﺭ ﺗﺨﻄﻴﻂ ﻭﺍﺳﻊ ﻭﺗﻨﻔﻴﺬ ﺍﻟﻘﻠﻴﻞ ﻣﻨﻪ .ﻭﺗﺸﻤﻞ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺎﻧﺎﺕ ُﻣﻌﺪﻻﺕ
ﺍﻹﺷﻐﺎﻝ ﻭﺍﻟ ُﻤﻘﺎﺭﻧﺔ ﺑﺎﻟﻨﻈﺮﺍﺀ ﻭﻣﻦ ﻣﺼﺎﺩﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻳﺘﻢ ﺍﻻﻋﺘﻤﺎﺩ
ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ :ﺍﻻﺳﺘﺒﻴﺎﻧﺎﺕ ﻭﻣﺠﻤﻮﻋﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﺮﻛﻴﺰ ﻭﻧﻤﺎﺫﺝ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺤﺎﻛﺎﺓ .ﻛﻤﺎ ﻳﺘﻢ
ﺇﻧﺸﺎﺀ ﻣﺸﺮﻭﻋﺎﺕ ﻭ ُﻣﺒﺎﺩﺭﺍﺕ ﺗﺘﺠﺎﻭﺏ ﻣﻊ ﺍﺣﺘﻴﺎﺟﺎﺕ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺴﺘﺨﺪﻡ ﻭﺗﻌﻤﻞ
ﻋﻠﻰ ﺗﻄﻮﻳﺮ ﺍﻟﻤﺮﺍﻓﻖ ﺑﻬﺪﻑ ﺗﺠﺪﻳﺪ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺑﺎﺳﺘﻤﺮﺍﺭ ﺑﺤﻴﺚ ﺗﺪﻋﻢ
ﻭﺗﻄﻮﺭ ﻋﻤﻠﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﻠّﻢ ﻭﺍﻟﺪﺭﺍﺳﺔ ﻭﺗُﺘﺸﺠﻊ ﺗﻄﻮﻳﺮ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺠﺘﻤﻌﺎﺕ.
:UNIMARCﻓﻬﻢ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺿﻲ ﻟﺘﺼﻮﺭ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺴﺘﻘﺒﻞ:
Rosa Maria Galvão and Maria Inês Cordeiro
ﺍﻟﻌﺪﺩ (2013) 39ﻣﻦ ﻣﺠﻠﺔ ﺍﻹﻓﻼ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺨﺼﺼﺔ ،ﺭﻗﻢ ،2ﺹ161–151:.
ﻳﺘﻄﻠﺐ ﺇﻃﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﺮﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺼﻮﺭ ﻟﺒﻴﺌﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺎﻳﻴﺮ ﺍﻟﺒﺒﻠﻴﻮﻏﺮﺍﻓﻴﺔ ﺗﻔﻜﻴ ّﺮﺍ ﻓﻲ
ﻃﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺭﻙ ﻭﻣﺪﻯ ﻣﻼءﻤﺘﻪ ﻟﺪﻣﺞ ﻧﻈﻢ ﺍﻻﺳﺘﻜﺸﺎﻑ ﺍﻟﺒﺒﻠﻴﻮﻏﺮﺍﻓﻲ ﻣﻊ
ﻋﺎﻟﻢ ﺷﺒﻜﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﻨ ُﻈﻢ .ﻳﻨﻄﻠﻖ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﻣﻦ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻘﻄﺔ ﻟُﻴﻠﻘﻲ
ﻧﻈﺮﺓ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺗﻄﻮﺭ UNIMARCﻭﺍﻟﺤﻔﺎﻅ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﺳﺘﻤﺮﺍﺭﻳﺘﻪ ﻭﺟﻤﻊ
ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻗﺪ ُﺗﺸﻜﻞ ﺍﻹﺳﻬﺎﻡ ﺍﻷﻭﻝ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻼﺯﻣﺔ
ﻟﺨﻄﻮﺍﺕ ُﻣﺴﺘﻘﺒﻠﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺇﻋﺎﺩﺓ ﺗﺸﻜﻴﻞ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺎﻳﻴﺮ ﺍﻟﺒﺒﻠﻴﻮﻏﺮﺍﻓﻴﺔ.
ﺗﻮﺍﺟﻪ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﻫﻮﻟﻨﺪﺍ ﺗﺸﻜﻴ ّﻜﺎ ُﻣﺘﺰﺍﻳ ّﺪﺍ ﻓﻲ ﻣﺎ ُﺗﻤﺜﻠﻪ ﻣﻦ ﻗﻴﻤﺔ
ﻟﻠ ُﻤﺠﺘﻤﻌﺎﺕ .ﻓُﻴﺜﻴﺮ ﺗﻮﻓﺮ ﻭﺳﺎﺋﻞ ﺍﻹﻋﻼﻡ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻮﺍﺻﻞ ﻭﻣﺼﺎﺩﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎﺕ
ﺗﺴﺎﺅﻻﺕ ﺣﻮﻝ ﻭﻇﻴﻔﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﺍﻵﻥ ﻓﻬﻲ ﻣﺎﺯﺍﻟﺖ ﻗﺎﺋﻤﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺗﻘﺪﻳﻢ
ﺍﻟﺨﺪﻣﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻠﻤﻮﺳﺔ .ﺑﺎﻹﺿﺎﻓﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺑﺤﺚ ﺍﻟﺤﻜﻮﻣﺎﺕ ﻭﺗﺪﻗﻴﻘﻬﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺇﻧﻔﺎﻕ
ﺃﻳﺔ ﺃﻣﻮﺍﻝ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺆﺳﺴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺜﻘﺎﻓﻴﺔ ،ﻓﻲ ﻇﻞ ﻣﺎ ُﻧﻌﺎﻧﻴﻪ ﻣﻦ ﻛﺴﺎﺩ
ﺍﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻱ .ﻓﻲ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻷﺟﻮﺍﺀ ،ﺗﺘﺰﺍﻳﺪ ﺣﺎﺟﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺇﻇﻬﺎﺭ ﻗﻴﻤﺘﻬﺎ
ﻀﺎ .ﻭﻣﻊ ﻗﺼﻮﺭ
ﻟﻴﺲ ﺑﺎﻟﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﺍﻻﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻱ ﻓﺤﺴﺐ ﺑﻞ ﺍﻻﺟﺘﻤﺎﻋﻲ ﺃﻳ ّ
ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺎﻳﻴﺮ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺤﺪﺩﺓ ﻟﺘﺤﺪﻳﺪ ﻣﻦ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﻘﻴﻢ ،ﺗﻢ ﺍﻟﺒﺪﺀ ﻓﻲ ﺑﺮﻧﺎﻣﺞ ﺑﺤﺜﻲ ﻟﻮﺿﻊ
ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺎﻳﻴﺮ .ﻳﻮﺿﺢ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﺃﺳﺒﺎﺏ ﺇﻧﺸﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﺒﺮﻧﺎﻣﺞ ﻭﺍﻟﺨﻄﻮﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ
ﺗﺄﺧﺬﻫﺎ ﻣﺆﺳﺴﺔ ﻫﻮﻟﻨﺪﺍ ﻟﻠﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻣﺔ ﻟﻮﺿﻊ ﺃﺩﻭﺍﺕ ﺗﻘﻴﻴﻢ ﻭﺍﺿﺤﺔ
ﻣﻮﺛﻮﻕ ﺑﻬﺎ ﺗﻮﺿﺢ ﻗﻴﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻣﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺠﺘﻤﻊ .ﺳُﺘﻌﺮﺽ ﻧﺘﺎﺋﺞ
ﺍﻟﻤﺮﺣﻠﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﺒﺮﻧﺎﻣﺞ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺜﻲ :ﺍﻹﻃﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﻨﻈﺮﻱ ﻟﻸﺛﺮ )ﺍﻟ ُﻤﻤﻜﻦ(
ﻟﻠﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺠﺘﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﻬﻮﻟﻨﺪﻱ ﺑﻨﺎ ّﺀ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻧﺘﺎﺋﺞ ﺍﻟﺪﺭﺍﺳﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺜﻴﺔ.
ُﺗﺴﺎﻋﺪﻧﺎ ﻫﺬﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﺘﺎﺋﺞ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺗﺤﺪﻳﺪ ﺧﻤﺲ ﻣﺠﺎﻻﺕ ُﻳﻤﻜﻦ ﺇﺣﺪﺍﺙ ﺗﻐﻴﻴﺮ ﻓﻴﻬﺎ
ﺑﻞ ﻭﺇﺛﺮﺍءﻬﺎ ،ﻭﻫﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﺠﺎﻻﺕ :ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺮﻓﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻹﺩﺭﺍﻛﻴﺔ ،ﺍﻻﺟﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ،
ﺍﻟﺜﻘﺎﻓﻴﺔ ،ﺍﻟﻮﺟﺪﺍﻧﻴﺔ ،ﺍﻻﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻳﺔ .ﻭﺳﻴﻮﺟﻪ ﺍﻹﻃﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﺬﻱ ﻳﺘﻢ ﻭﺿﻌﻪ ﻋﻠﻰ
ﺍﻟﻮﺻﻮﻝ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺃﺩﻭﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﻘﻴﺎﺱ ﺍﻟﻼﺯﻣﺔ.
ﻳﻮﺿﺢ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺚ ﻣﺠﻤﻮﻋﺔ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﺘﻘﻨﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻭﺿﻌﺘﻬﺎ ﻣﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ﺟﺎﻣﻌﺔ
ﺭﻭﺷﺴﺘﺮ ﺑﺎﻟﻮﻻﻳﺎﺕ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺤﺪﺓ ﺍﻷﻣﺮﻳﻜﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺣﻘﻘﺖ ﺍﺗﺴﺎ ّﻗﺎ ﻛﺒﻴ ّﺮﺍ ﺑﻴﻦ
ﺍﻟﺨﺪﻣﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟ ُﻤﻘﺘﻨﻴﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺮﺍﻓﻖ ﻭﺍﻟﺒﻴﺌﺔ ﺍﻟﺮﻗﻤﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺎﺕ ؛ ﻟﺘﻠﺒﻴﺔ
ﺍﻻﺣﺘﻴﺎﺟﺎﺕ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻴﺔ ﻟﻄﻼﺏ ﺍﻟﺠﺎﻣﻌﺔ ﺃﺛﻨﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﺪﺭﺍﺳﺔ ﻭﻓﻲ ﻣﺮﺣﻠﺘﻲ
ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺟﺴﺘﻴﺮ ﻭﺍﻟﺪﻛﺘﻮﺭﺍﻩ .ﺇﻥ ﺍﻹﻳﻤﺎﻥ ﺑﺄﻥ ُﻣﻤﺎﺭﺳﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻌﻤﻞ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻲ
ﺍﻟﻴﻮﻣﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺠﺎﻣﻌﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﻜﻠﻴﺎﺕ ُﻳﻤﻜﻦ ﺃﻥ ﻋﺪﻡ ﺍﻻﺗﺴﺎﻕ ﻏﻴﺮ ﺍﻟﻤﻘﺼﻮﺩ ﺑﻴﻦ
ﺧﺪﻣﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﻭﺍﺣﺘﻴﺎﺟﺎﺕ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺴﺘﺨﺪﻡُ ،ﻳﻤﺜﻞ ُﻟﺐ ﻣﺎ ُﻳﺪﻋﻰ ﺍﻵﻥ “ﻃﺮﻳﻘﺔ
ﺭﻭﺷﺴﺘﺮ" ،ﻛﻤﺎ ﻳﻮﺿﺢ ﺍﻟﻔﺮﺹ ﺍﻟﻀﺎﺋﻌﺔ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﻟﺘﻘﺪﻳﻢ ﺧﺪﻣﺎﺕ
ﺟﺪﻳﺪﺓ .ﻟﻘﺪ ﺗﻤﺖ ﺩﺭﺍﺳﺔ ُﻣﻤﺎﺭﺳﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻌﻤﻞ ﺍﻷﻛﺎﺩﻳﻤﻲ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺮﻛﻴﺰ ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ ﻣﻦ
Library of Singapore)和新加坡国立大学图书馆
摘要
(National University of Singapore Library)的
成立为新加坡这个东南亚岛国的图书馆建设打下
ﺗﻘﻨﻴﺎﺕ ﻓﻬﻢ ﺣﺎﺟﺎﺕ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺴﺘﺨﺪﻣﻴﻦ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﻐﻴﺮﺓ:
Susan Gibbons
ﺍﻟﻌﺪﺩ (2013) 39ﻣﻦ ﻣﺠﻠﺔ ﺍﻹﻓﻼ ﺍﻟ ُﻤﺘﺨﺼﺼﺔ ،ﺭﻗﻢ ،2ﺹ167–162:.
新加坡图书馆:从泥瓦房到信息中心
了坚实的基础。自此,包括公共图书馆、学术图
编辑: Julie S Sabaratnam,Esther Ong
书馆和特色图书馆在内的各类型图书馆在新加坡
国际图联杂志 39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 103–120
如雨后春笋般涌现。在政府的政策与战略支持
下,图书馆在新加坡人的生活中扮演了十分重要
。本文对新加坡的图书馆发展史进行了全面展示
的角色。为适应技术发展及用户需求与行为的变
大 约1 9 0年 前 ,新 加 坡国 家图 书 馆( N a t i o n a l
187
Abstracts
化,新加坡的各类图书馆都在寻求馆藏管理与用
力和时代变革中的学术与公共图书馆领导力的定
户服务的新方式。本文首先回顾了新加坡图书馆
性研究,以及一项在学术图书馆中关于改革型与
的发展史,之后特别针对图书馆创新、数字产品
务实型高层领导对中层及团队(包括组织文化)影
与服务(包括图书馆管理系统、电子资源、数字设
响的定性研究。
备)以及通过社会媒体吸引用户等方面提出了几点
见解。
舒适、灵活、艺术:提升设备能力的举措
举棋不定的联邦国家:英美图书馆专业模型对原
查尔斯·弗里斯特(Charles Forrest),沙龙·L·博斯
英属殖民地及领地图书馆学教育的影响
蒂克(Sharon L. Bostick)
玛丽·卡罗尔(Mary Carroll),波莱特·克尔(Paul-
国际图联杂志 39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 140–150
ette Kerr),阿卜杜拉希·I·穆萨(Abdullahi I.
随着信息数字化的迅猛发展,各国的图书馆都在
Musa),瓦西姆·阿夫扎尔(Waseem Afzal)
积极转型以适应其在社区服务与支持工作中的角
国际图联杂志 39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 121–133
色转变。高校图书馆尤其要面临这样的挑战,因
从世界范围来看,图书馆与情报专业向来是社会
与政治事务的关注焦点并深受二者的影响。自19
世纪末至今,原英属殖民地与领地(即现在的部分
英联邦国家)主要受到来自英美两国的文化影响。
这种影响导致在许多英联邦国家中出现了两种相
互竞争甚至有时是冲突的图情教学模型,并且被
分别贴上了英式和美式教育“模型或方式”的标
签。这两种影响力的交叉作用对图情教育模式的
塑造产生了重要影响,但同时也导致了一个复杂
的问题。本文将研究这一问题会对本地专业群体
的未来事务产生何种持续影响,及其对图书馆技
能的传播与教学模型产生的既定影响。文章将通
过几个英联邦国家的系列案例探讨这种文化交集
如何塑造图情专业未来导向及其对图书馆技能的
传播与教育模型产生的影响。
时代变革中的图书馆领导力
为新一代的大学生是在一个能够随时随地获取信
息的网络与移动媒体环境中成长起来的。当今学
术界越来越重视学院与学生间、以及课内外学习
中的学术合作,而身处学术圈中心的21世纪的高
校图书馆必须不断将自身打造为一个能够培养求
知欲、投入力、合作度及终身学习能力的地方。
在美国高校图书馆界,典型的20世纪资本投资路
线是在设备扩充与升级方面的大规模一代性投
资。在21世纪前10年间,对于设备升级的要求远
大于前,而资金供应却无法及时跟进,导致各机
构难以缩短资本投资循环时间,从而无法应对技
术、教学、学术研究与用户需求的迅速变化。任
何一个计划的结束都是下一轮变化和投资评估与
规划的开始。本文将探讨图书馆针对美国国内两
大学术机构(分别由公共基金及私人赞助支持)开展
图书馆空间、职能、服务、运营与维护的创新评
估工作所作的努力。作者将重点介绍关于资本投
资运营、缩短资本循环时间及采取介入措施等方
佩特拉·杜伦(Petra Düren)
面的内容,这些内容都是基于一个宏观规划与具
国际图联杂志 39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 134–139
体实施的大框架提出的。涉及数据包括设备淘汰
当前的学术图书馆和公共图书馆同样都要面临长
期变革。本文概述了在图书馆开展大规模改革所
需的领导能力。从汉堡应用科学大学(University
of Applied Sciences Hamburg)例子可以看出,
大部分所需要的领导能力可以在图情专业本科阶
段习得。每一次变革进程的关键因素都包括信
量统计、设备拥有率及同侪比较;数据来源包括
调查问卷、目标群体调研及仿真数据。一些特别
项目和方案将涉及用户需求、创新工程和设备升
级,这些项目方案的宗旨都是为了将图书馆打造
为一个加强学习、激励学术、促进合作的地方。
息、通信与合作,这些影响因素,尤其是领导人
UNIMARC – 回顾历史,展望未来
在变革时代的交际能力的重要性在多项研究成果
罗莎·玛利亚·加尔旺(Rosa Maria Galvão),玛利
中都予以了强调,包括两项涉及学术图书馆领导
亚·伊内斯·科代罗(Maria Inês Cordeiro)
188
国际图联杂志39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 151–161
IFLA Journal 39(2)
究数据并给出结论。至此,根据这些结论将提出
一个系统性反馈并最终促成切实的改进,这些改
当前业界有一些要求变革书目标准环境的呼吁,
进的方面可以是更好的推广手段、升级的物理设
但这些变革需要考虑MARC的特性与规范,以及
施、新的服务形式或是网络工具。罗切斯特大学
它是否能够适应书目发现系统与网络信息及网络
的成功案例表明,了解并理解图书馆用户的学术
系统的整合。基于此出发点,本文概述了UNIM-
需求并不困难也不必耗费过多财力。虽然罗切斯
ARC的演进、保存与采集方法,这将为今后进一
特案例的结论只是针对罗切斯特大学单一社区的
步完善书目数据标准提供第一手资料。
研究成果,但相关研究方法可以并已经成功应用
于其他校区图书馆用户的研究。
了解图书馆用户的变化需求的方法
苏珊·吉彭斯(Susan Gibbons)
评估公共图书馆社会价值:方法研究项目
国际图联杂志39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 162–167
弗兰克·于斯曼(Frank Huysmans),马若琳·奥姆
本文介绍了一系列由美国罗切斯特大学(Univer-
斯(Marjolein Oomes)
sity of Rochester)里佛校区图书馆(River Cam-
国际图联杂志39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 168–177
pus Libraries)提出的(有关了解用户需求的)方
法,通过结合罗切斯特大学的在校生、毕业生及
荷兰的公共图书馆正面临着越来越多对于其社区
学院的学术需求,这些方法大大加强了图书馆服
与社会价值的质疑。由于图书馆仍然以提供实体
务、传统馆藏、设备及数字文献间的有机结合。
服务为主,因而随着媒体、信息与通讯的数字化
所谓的“罗切斯特方式”的核心理念即:通过深入
进程,也引发了对图书馆功能的讨论。此外,当
了解大学或学院团体的学术工作需求,可以发现
前低迷的经济也使得本地、地区及国家政府部门
非主观造成的图书馆服务未能满足用户需求的问
对用于文化机构的经费更加斤斤计较。面对这样
题,以及被图书馆忽略的创新服务机遇。通过引
的处境,公共图书馆更加需要体现它们的存在价
入人类学与人种论的研究方法并对其做出适度改
值——不仅从经济层面,更要从社会意义层面予
善,已成功吸引了业界对学术工作实践需求的关
以凸显。由于仍缺乏标准化的价值评估方法,目
注与研究,并且这些方法又被应用于大学社区成
前已启动了一个项目进行相关研究。本文将概述
分构成的研究。研究工作通常由一个问题开始,
该项目的基本原理以及荷兰公共图书馆协会为构
例如“从研究报告被布置下来直到完成报告,学生
建能够有效并有力体现公共图书馆社会价值的评
在此期间一般会做什么工作?”接下来研究人员将
估方法所采取的措施。文章将介绍研究项目的第
采取一系列方法来回答问题,比如现场采访、照
一阶段成果:基于文献研究及定性研究结果,提
片引导、开展专家会议以及做学术记录。这些不
出图书馆对荷兰社会的(潜在)影响的理论框架。
同研究方式将收到不同形式的数据,包括相片、
调研结果将有助于认知并从概念上了解5个潜在
图画、采访稿以及对理想化工具、空间、服务的
影响的层面:认知、社会、文化、情感与经济层
设想。接下来来自图书馆的小组成员们将开始研
面。这一框架将可用于指导构建评估方法。
Sommaires
Cet article présente une vue d’ensemble de l’évolution du
paysage des bibliothèques à Singapour. Il y a près de 190
ans, deux institutions – la Bibliothèque Nationale de
Singapour et la Bibliothèque de l’Université Nationale
de Singapour – jouèrent un rôle décisif pour jeter
les bases des bibliothèques dans cet état insulaire du
Sud-est asiatique. Depuis, Singapour a vu proliférer les
bibliothèques, qu’elles soient publiques, universitaires
Singapore libraries: from bricks and mortar to
information anytime anywhere [Les bibliothèques
de Singapour : depuis les briques et le mortier à
l’information toujours et partout]
Edited by Julie S Sabaratnam and Esther Ong
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 103–120
189
Abstracts
ou spécialisées. Soutenues par des politiques et stratégies
gouvernementales, les bibliothèques sont demeurées
importantes dans la vie des Singapouriens. Pour s’adapter aux développements technologiques ainsi qu’à l’évolution des demandes et des comportements, les
bibliothèques du pays ont dû trouver de nouvelles façons
de gérer leurs collections et de répondre aux besoins de
leurs usagers. Cet article s’intéresse à l’histoire des
bibliothèques à Singapour et met ensuite en lumière les
innovations bibliothécaires, accordant une attention
particulière aux produits et services numériques qui
englobent systèmes de gestion bibliothécaire, ressources
électroniques et appareils numériques et qui utilisent les
médias sociaux pour impliquer les usagers.
Commonwealth of uncertainty: How British and
American professional models of library practice
have shaped LIS Education in selected former
British Colonies and Dominions [Un Commonwealth d’incertitude : comment les modèles professionnels britanniques et américains de pratiques
bibliothécaires ont donné forme à l’enseignement des
Sciences de l'Information et des Bibliothèques dans
d’anciennes colonies et dominions britanniques
sélectionnés]
Mary Carroll, Paulette Kerr, Abdullahi I. Musa,
Waseem Afzal
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 121–133
Dans le monde entier, la profession des Sciences de
l’Information et des Bibliothèques (SIB) a été le sujet
principal d’agendas sociaux et politiques concurrentiels
qui ont contribué à lui donner forme. Depuis la fin du
19e siècle jusqu’à présent, dans des pays issus des
anciens dominions et colonies britanniques (qui font
aujourd’hui partie du Commonwealth des Nations), ces
influences extérieures provenaient essentiellement de
deux arènes culturelles, à savoir du Royaume-Uni
(UK) et des États-Unis (USA). Dans de nombreux pays
du Commonwealth, cela a donné lieu à deux modèles
concurrentiels et parfois contradictoires de pédagogie
des SIB, qui ont été intitulés « modèles ou structures
» d’enseignement britannique et américain. La convergence de ces deux influences a joué un rôle dans
l’élaboration de l’enseignement des SIB et a légué un
héritage complexe. Cet article examine comment l’héritage de cette convergence continue à exercer une influence sur l’agenda des communautés professionnelles
locales et aborde la façon dont cela a influencé l’enseignement des professions bibliothécaire mis en place et
son modèle. À l’aide d’une série d’études de cas, cet
article examine également comment l’héritage de cette
convergence a donné forme aux idéaux de la profession
des SIB et influencé l’enseignement des professions
bibliothécaires et son modèle dans divers pays du
Commonwealth.
Leadership in libraries in times of change
[Diriger les bibliothèques en période de changement]
Petra Düren
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 134–139
Aujourd’hui, les bibliothèques aussi bien universitaires
que publiques sont confrontées à des changements
constants. Cet article donne une vue d’ensemble des
compétences nécessaires en matière de leadership pour
parvenir à opérer des changements radicaux et délibérés
au sein des bibliothèques. La plupart des compétences
requises peuvent être déjà transmises au cours du premier cycle d’études universitaires menant à une Licence
en Sciences de l’Information et des Bibliothèques,
comme on peut le voir dans l’exemple de l’Université
des Sciences appliquées de Hambourg. Dans tout
projet de changement, les facteurs critiques de succès
sont l’information, la communication et la participation.
Deux études qualitatives portant sur les compétences de
direction dans les bibliothèques universitaires et publiques en période de changement, ainsi qu’une étude quantitative dans une bibliothèque universitaire portant sur
l’influence d’un style de leadership transformationnel
et transactionnel de la part des dirigeants à l’égard des
cadres moyens ainsi que des membres de l’équipe, y
compris l’influence de la culture organisationnelle, mettent l’accent sur l’importance de ces facteurs de succès,
spécialement l’aptitude des dirigeants à communiquer
en période de changement.
Welcoming, flexible, and state-of-the-art: Approaches
to continuous facilities improvement [Accueillants,
flexibles et ultramodernes : différentes approches
pour améliorer constamment les équipements]
Charles Forrest, Sharon L. Bostick
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 140–150
Alors que l’accès numérique à toutes les sources d’information se développe à un rythme qui va en s’accélérant, les bibliothèques à travers le monde s’emploient à
se transformer, en réaction à l’évolution de leur rôle au
sein des communautés qu’elles desservent et soutiennent. Les bibliothèques universitaires sont confrontées
à des défis particuliers, dans la mesure où une génération
d’étudiants qui s’est appropriée l’accès à l’information
en ligne, mobile, à tout moment et partout, arrive à l’université. Au centre d’une communauté universitaire qui
apprécie de plus en plus la collaboration intellectuelle
190
entre le corps enseignant et les étudiants ainsi que l’apprentissage aussi bien au sein des classes qu’en-dehors,
la bibliothèque universitaire du 21e siècle doit se réinventer en permanence en tant que lieu favorisant la curiosité, l’engagement, la collaboration et l’apprentissage
tout au long de la vie. Au 20e siècle, les cycles typiques
d’investissements de capitaux dans des bibliothèques
universitaires aux États-Unis se composaient d’investissements à grande échelle une fois par génération visant à
étendre et améliorer les équipements. Au cours de la première décennie du 21e siècle, le désir de transformation
est plus grand que jamais, mais il y a moins de fonds disponibles, les institutions subissant une pression accrue
pour réduire la durée du cycle d’investissement de capitaux afin de pouvoir réagir aux changements rapides sur
le plan des technologies, de la pédagogie, des études et
des attentes des usagers. La fin de tout projet est le début
d’une évaluation et de la planification du cycle suivant de
changement et d’investissement. Cet article s’intéresse
aux efforts des bibliothèques au sein de deux institutions
universitaires de premier plan aux États-Unis, l’une
financée par des fonds publics et l’autre privée, en vue
de développer des méthodes innovantes servant à évaluer les espaces, les fonctions, les services, le fonctionnement et la maintenance des bibliothèques. Les auteurs
mettent en lumière des projets ayant pour but de rendre
opérationnel l’investissement de capitaux, raccourcir les
durées des cycles et permettre des interventions progressives, dans un contexte général de planification à grande
échelle et de réalisation à petite échelle. Les données
englobent décomptes des sorties, taux d’occupation et
comparaisons avec d’autres établissements ; les
sources de données comprennent enquêtes, groupes
de discussion et simulations. Des initiatives et projets
particuliers s’intéressent aux besoins des usagers, aux
innovations en matière de programmes et aux améliorations des équipements, dans le but de moderniser et
rénover en permanence les espaces bibliothécaires
permettant de favoriser l’apprentissage, inciter à
l’étude et stimuler la communauté.
UNIMARC – Understanding the past to envision
the future [UNIMARC – Comprendre le passé pour
concevoir l’avenir]
Rosa Maria Galvão and Maria Inês Cordeiro
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 151–161
Le contexte des changements importants envisagés en
matière de normes bibliographiques exige une réflexion
sur la nature et la spécification de MARC et sur son adéquation pour intégrer des systèmes de découverte bibliographique dans l’univers plus large des informations
et systèmes organisés en réseaux. En partant de là, cet
IFLA Journal 39(2)
article propose une vue d’ensemble de l’évolution
d’UNIMARC et des pratiques relatives à sa gestion, rassemblant des connaissances qui peuvent servir de première contribution en vue de mesures futures visant à
remanier les normes de données bibliographiques.
Techniques to understand the changing needs of
library users [Techniques pour comprendre l’évolution des besoins des usagers des bibliothèques]
Susan Gibbons
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 162–167
Cet article présente divers types de développement des
techniques mis en place par les bibliothèques du River
Campus à l’Université de Rochester (USA). Ils ont permis d’aligner parfaitement les services, les collections, les
équipements et la présence numérique des bibliothèques
sur les besoins académiques des étudiants de premier
cycle, des étudiants des cycles supérieurs et du corps
enseignant de l’Université de Rochester. Au cœur de ce
que l’on appelle maintenant « la méthode Rochester » est
la conviction qu’une meilleure compréhension des pratiques de travail académique d’une communauté universitaire peut révéler des décalages involontaires entre les
services d’une bibliothèque et les besoins des usagers,
ainsi que des possibilités inexploitées par une bibliothèque de fournir de nouveaux services. L’observation
et l’étude des pratiques académiques de travail ont lieu
grâce à l’adoption et à l’adaptation de méthodes venues
de l’anthropologie et de l’ethnographie, qui sont ensuite
appliquées à l’étude de segments d’une communauté universitaire. Le processus commence avec la formulation
d’une question, par exemple : « Que fait un étudiant entre
le moment où il reçoit l’ordre de rédiger un document de
recherche et le moment où il en a terminé la rédaction ? ».
Un ensemble de méthodes de recherche est ensuite développé pour examiner cette question, notamment interview sur place, exercices d’interviews basées sur des
photos, charrettes de conception et tenue de journaux
d’études. L’application de ces méthodes d’études fournit
des données sous différentes formes, y compris photos,
dessins, transcriptions d’interviews et descriptions fondamentales d’outils, d’espaces et de services idéaux.
Diverses équipes constituées d’employés de l’ensemble
de la bibliothèque étudient les données et en tirent des
conclusions. À ce point du cycle, ces conclusions nécessitent une réaction de la part de l’organisation pour
résulter en un véritable changement, qui peut aller de
l’amélioration du marketing à la modification des équipements ainsi qu’à de nouveaux services et outils Web.
Le succès de l’Université de Rochester a démontré
qu’une meilleure compréhension et appréciation des
besoins académiques des usagers de la bibliothèque n’est
Abstracts
ni trop compliquée ni trop coûteuse à atteindre. Bien que
les conclusions des études Rochester concernent uniquement la communauté unique en son genre de l’Université
de Rochester, les méthodes d’étude peuvent être appliquées à l’étude des usagers des bibliothèques sur d’autres
campus et l’ont été avec succès.
Measuring the public library’s societal value: a
methodological research program [Mesurer la
valeur sociétale de la bibliothèque publique : un
programme de recherche méthodologique]
Frank Huysmans, Marjolein Oomes
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) No. 2 pp. 168–177
Les bibliothèques publiques aux Pays-Bas sont
confrontées à un scepticisme grandissant en ce qui
concerne leur valeur pour les communautés et la
société dans son ensemble. La numérisation des
médias, des informations et de la communication suscite des questions sur la fonction de la bibliothèque,
dans la mesure où elle est encore principalement
basée sur la fourniture de services physiques. En
outre, la récession économique actuelle incite les
Zusammenfassungen
Singapore libraries: from bricks and mortar to
information anytime anywhere [Bibliotheken in
Singapur: von konventionellen Konzepten bis hin
zum allzeitigen und ortsunabhängigen
Informationszugriff]
Herausgegeben von Julie S Sabaratnam und Esther Ong
IFLA-Journal 39 (2013) Nr. 2 S. 103–120
Dieser Artikel bietet einen umfassenden Einblick in
die sich entfaltende Landschaft der Bibliotheken in
Singapur. Vor etwa 190 Jahren haben zwei Institutionen – die National Library of Singapore und die
National University of Singapore Library – maßgeblich dazu beigetragen, den Grundstein für die Bibliotheken in diesem Inselstaat Südostasiens zu legen.
Seitdem sind sehr viele weitere Bibliotheken in Singapur hinzugekommen; dabei sind öffentliche sowie
wissenschaftliche Bibliotheken und Spezialbibliotheken entstanden. Dank der Unterstützung der Regierungspolitik und der Regierungsstrategien spielen
die Bibliotheken weiterhin eine wichtige Rolle im
Leben der Bewohner von Singapur. Um mit den technologischen Entwicklungen mitzugehen und sich auf
die modernen Anforderungen und das geänderte
191
gouvernements locaux, régionaux et nationaux à
remettre en question chaque euro dépensé pour des
institutions culturelles. Dans ce climat, les
bibliothèques doivent de plus en plus démontrer leur
valeur – pas seulement au sens économique, mais
aussi dans un sens plus sociologique. Dans la mesure
où il n’y a toujours pas de mesures standardisées de
ces valeurs, un programme de recherche a été lancé
pour développer ces mesures des résultats. Dans cet
article, nous évoquons les raisons ayant motivé ce
programme et les dispositions prises par l’Institut
néerlandais des bibliothèques publiques pour développer un instrument de mesure visant à démontrer
de façon valable et fiable la valeur sociétale des
bibliothèques publiques. Les résultats des premiers
stades de ce programme de recherche vont être présentés : un cadre théorique concernant l’impact (possible) des bibliothèques sur la société néerlandaise,
basé sur les conclusions d’une étude de documents
et d’une recherche qualitative. Les conclusions nous
aident à identifier et enrichir conceptuellement cinq
domaines d’impact possible : cognitif, social, culturel, affectif et économique. Le cadre ainsi obtenu servira à développer un instrument de mesure.
Verhalten der Nutzer einzustellen, mussten die
Bibliotheken des Landes neue Wege finden, um ihre
Kollektionen zu managen und den Bedürfnissen ihrer
Nutzer gerecht zu werden. Der vorliegende Beitrag
analysiert die Geschichte der Bibliotheken in Singapur und richtet dann die Scheinwerfer auf die Innovationen in den Bibliotheken. Dabei liegt der
Schwerpunkt insbesondere auf den digitalen Produkten und Dienstleistungen mit den Bibliotheksmanagementsystemen,
den
E-Ressourcen,
den
Digitalgeräten sowie der Nutzung der Social Media
zur Einbindung der Anwender.
Commonwealth of uncertainty: How British and
American professional models of library practice
have shaped LIS Education in selected former
British Colonies and Dominions [Commonwealth
der Unsicherheit: Wie professionelle Modelle der
Bibliothekspraxis aus Großbritannien und den
USA die Ausbildung im I&B-Bereich in einigen
früheren britischen Kolonien und dem vormaligen
britischen Herrschaftsgebiet gestaltet haben]
Mary Carroll, Paulette Kerr, Abdullahi I. Musa, Waseem
Afzal
IFLA-Journal 39 (2013) Nr. 2 S. 121–133
192
Weltweit hat der Berufsstand der Bibliotheks- und Informationsfachleute im Brennpunkt der miteinander konkurrierenden sozialen und politischen Entwicklungen
gestanden, die diesen Berufszweig mitgestaltet haben.
Seit dem späten 19. Jahrhundert bis heute entstammten
diese äußeren Einflüsse in den Ländern des früheren britischen Herrschaftsgebietes und der britischen Kolonien
(die heute zum Commonwealth of Nations gehören) in
erster Linie zwei Kulturkreisen – dem des Vereinigten
Königreiches (UK) beziehungsweise dem der Vereinigten Staaten (US). In vielen Ländern des Commonwealth
sind daraus zwei rivalisierende und zeitweise sogar
widersprüchliche Modellen für die Pädagogik im I&BBereich erwachsen, die demgemäß als britische beziehungsweise amerikanische Bildungsmodelle oder
Ausbildungsprogramme bezeichnet wurden. Das Aufeinanderprallen dieser beiden Einflüsse hat zur Gestaltung der I&B-Ausbildung in ihrer heutigen Form
beigetragen und ein komplexes Vermächtnis hinterlassen. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht, in welcher
Weise das Vermächtnis dieser zweigleisigen Entwicklung die angestrebten Ziele der Berufsgemeinschaften
vor Ort auch weiterhin definiert und die Autoren legen
dar, in welcher Weise diese Vorgeschichte die tägliche
Praxis und das Ausbildungsmodell für das Bibliothekswesen beeinflusst hat. Eine Reihe von Fallstudien soll
aufzeigen, wie das Vermächtnis dieses Aufeinandertreffens zweier Kulturen die Ziele des I&B-Berufsstands
gestaltet hat und auch weiterhin die heutige tägliche Praxis und das Ausbildungsmodell für das Bibliothekswesen in vielen Ländern des Commonwealth beeinflusst.
Leadership in libraries in times of change
[Führungsqualitäten in den Bibliotheken in Zeiten des
Wandels]
Petra Düren
IFLA-Journal 39 (2013) Nr. 2 S. 134–139
Die wissenschaftlichen wie auch die öffentlichen Bibliotheken werden heutzutage mit ständigen Veränderungen
konfrontiert. Dieser Beitrag bietet einen Überblick über
die Führungsqualitäten, die benötigt werden, um die
beabsichtigten groß angelegten Veränderungen in den
Bibliotheken auch erfolgreich durchführen zu können.
Die meisten der erforderlichen Kompetenzen können
bereits im Lauf des Grundstudiums der Bibliotheks-und
Informationswissenschaften mit Bachelor-Abschluss
erworben werden. Die Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften in Hamburg verdeutlicht dies beispielhaft.
Die kritischen Erfolgsfaktoren aller Änderungsprojekte
sind Informationen, Kommunikation und Teilnahme.
Zwei qualitative Studien über die Führungsqualitäten in
IFLA Journal 39(2)
wissenschaftlichen Bibliotheken und in öffentlichen
Bibliotheken in Zeiten des Wandels sowie eine quantitative Studie in einer wissenschaftlichen Bibliothek, die sich
mit dem Einfluss eines transformatorischen beziehungsweise transaktionsorientierten Führungsstils der Führungsspitze auf das mittlere Management sowie auf
die Teammitglieder befasst, wobei auch den Auswirkungen der Organisationskultur Rechnung getragen
wird, unterstreichen die Bedeutung dieser Erfolgsfaktoren, insbesondere der Kommunikationskompetenz
der Führungskräfte in Umbruchzeiten.
Welcoming, flexible, and state-of-the-art:
Approaches to continuous facilities improvement
[Einladend, flexibel und hochmodern: Strategien
zur ständigen Verbesserung der Einrichtungen]
Charles Forrest, Sharon L. Bostick
IFLA-Journal 39 (2013) Nr. 2 S. 140–150
Angesichts der Tatsache, dass der digitale Zugang zu
allen Informationsquellen zunehmend an Bedeutung
gewinnt, arbeiten die Bibliotheken in der ganzen Welt
am eigenen Wandel als Reaktion auf die sich ändernde
Rolle in den Gemeinschaften, denen sie dienen und die
sie unterstützen. Die wissenschaftlichen Bibliotheken
werden mit besonderen Herausforderungen konfrontiert, da nun eine Generation von Studenten an die
Universitäten kommt, die an den allzeitigen und ortsunabhängigen mobilen Online-Informationszugang
gewöhnt ist. Im Mittelpunkt einer akademischen
Gemeinschaft, die zunehmend mehr Wert auf die intellektuelle Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem Lehrköper
und den Studenten legt, wobei nicht nur im Klassenraum, sondern auch außerhalb der Universität gelernt
wird, muss sich die wissenschaftliche Bibliothek des
21. Jahrhunderts ständig neu selbst als ein Ort definieren, der Neugier, Engagement, Zusammenarbeit und
das lebenslange Lernen begünstigt. Typische Investitionszyklen in den wissenschaftlichen Bibliotheken des
20. Jahrhunderts in den Vereinigten Staaten zeichneten
sich durch erhebliche Investitionen in die Erweiterung
und Modernisierung der Einrichtungen aus, die nur
einmal pro Generation getätigt wurden. Im ersten Jahrzehnt des 21. Jahrhunderts hingegen ist der Wandlungswille stärker als jemals zuvor; gleichzeitig sind
jedoch weniger Geldmittel verfügbar. Damit erhöht
sich der Druck auf die Institutionen, die Laufzeiten der
Kapitalinvestitionen zu verkürzen, um sich schnell auf
die Veränderungen in der Technologie, Pädagogik
und Wissenschaft sowie auf die Erwartungen der
Nutzer einstellen zu können. Das Ende jedes einzelnen
Projekts gilt gleichzeitig als Beginn der Evaluierung
und Planung für den nächsten Wandlungs- und
Abstracts
Investitionszyklus. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht
und bespricht die Bemühungen der Bibliotheken bezüglich der Entwicklung innovativer Verfahren zur Evaluierung der Bibliotheksräumlichkeiten, Funktionen,
Dienstleistungen, des Betriebs und der Instandhaltung
an zwei führenden akademischen Institutionen in den
Vereinigten Staaten, von denen eine öffentliche Fördermittel erhält und eine privat finanziert wird. Dabei stellen die Referenten Projekte in den Mittelpunkt, die
darauf abzielen, das Investitionskapital zu operationalisieren, die Zykluszeiten zu verkürzen und inkrementelle
Interventionen zu bieten, und zwar innerhalb eines
allgemeinen Rahmenkonzepts der großen Pläne und der
Implementierung in kleinen Schritten. Die entsprechenden Daten beinhalten Zählungen der die Räumlichkeiten verlassenden Personen, der Ausnutzungsgrade
und Branchenvergleiche; zu den Datenquellen zählen
Umfragen, Fokusgruppen und Simulationen. Spezielle
Projekte und Initiativen werden sich mit den Bedürfnissen der Benutzer, der Programminnovation und der
Modernisierung der Einrichtungen befassen, um die
Bibliotheksräumlichkeiten, die dem Lernen und der
Wissenschaft zuträglich sind und den Gemeinschaftssinn fördern, ständig aufzufrischen und zu erneuern.
UNIMARC – Understanding the past to envision
the future [UNIMARC – Das Verständnis der
Vergangenheit erlaubt einen Blick in die Zukunft]
Rosa Maria Galvão und Maria Inês Cordeiro
IFLA-Journal 39 (2013) Nr. 2 S. 151–161
Der Kontext der eingreifenden Veränderungen, die für
die Bibliographic Standards Environment [die internationale Standardumgebung zur Beschreibung bibliographischer Daten] vorgesehen sind, erfordert eine Analyse
der Art und Spezifikation von MARC und ihrer Zweckdienlichkeit zur Integration der bibliographischen
Abrufsysteme in den größeren Kontext der vernetzten
Informationssysteme. Auf der Grundlage dieses
Ausgangspunkts bietet der vorliegende Beitrag einen
Überblick über die Entwicklung von UNIMARC und
die Praxis ihrer Instandhaltung, wobei Kenntnisse
gesammelt werden, die möglicherweise als ein erster
Beitrag für zukünftige Schritte bei der Neugestaltung der
bibliographischen Datenstandards hilfreich sein können.
Techniques to understand the changing needs of
library users [Techniken zur Verbesserung des
Verständnisses der sich wandelnden Bedürfnisse
der Bibliotheksbesucher]
Susan Gibbons
IFLA-Journal 39 (2013) Nr. 2 S. 162–167
193
Der vorliegende Beitrag zeigt eine Reihe von Techniken
auf, die von den River Campus Libraries an der University of Rochester (USA) entwickelt wurden und ein guter
Abgleich zwischen den Servicedienstleistungen, den
Kollektionen, den Einrichtungen und der digitalen
Präsenz der Bibliotheken und den akademischen
Bedürfnissen der Studienanfänger, der Doktoranden
und des Lehrkörpers an der University of Rochester
ermöglicht haben. Kern dessen, was heute als „Rochester-Methode” bezeichnet wird, ist die Überzeugung,
dass ein besseres Verständnis der akademischen
Arbeitsabläufe an einer Universität oder einer Hochschul- beziehungsweise Fachhochschulgemeinschaft
unbeabsichtigte Klüfte zwischen den Services der
Bibliothek und den Bedürfnissen der Nutzer aufdekken und zudem auch bisher übersehene Möglichkeiten
für die Bibliothek aufzeigen kann, neue Dienstleistungen anzubieten. Der Fokus und das Studium der wissenschaftlichen Arbeitspraktiken stützten sich auf die
Anwendung und Umstellung von Verfahren aus der
Anthropologie und Ethnographie, die dann für das Studium gewisser Teile der akademischen Gemeinschaft
an einer Universität angewendet wurden. Dieser Prozess beginnt mit der Identifizierung einer Frage, beispielsweise „was tut der Student zwischen dem
Zeitpunkt, wo er den Auftrag zu einer Forschungsarbeit erhält und dem Zeitpunkt, wo der entsprechende
Bericht fertig ist?“ Daraufhin wird eine Reihe von
Forschungsverfahren entwickelt, um diese Frage zu klären, beispielseiweise in situ-Interviews, Anforderungen
durch Foto-Übungen, Design-Charettes und wissenschaftliche Journale. Aus diesen Forschungsverfahren
ergeben sich dann Daten in diversen Formaten, beispielsweise Fotografien, Zeichnungen, Protokolle von
Interviews sowie Blue-Sky-Beschreibungen der idealen
Tools, Räumlichkeiten und Services. Diverse Mitarbeiterteams aus dem gesamten Bibliothekskontext
studieren die Daten und entwickeln daraus ihre
Schlussfolgerungen. An diesem Punkt in dem Zyklus
bedürfen die Befunde einer organisatorischen Reaktion
mit nachfolgender realer Veränderung, die vom verbesserten Marketing und geänderten physischen Einrichtungen bis hin zu neuen Services und Web Tools
reichen können. Die an der University of Rochester verbuchten Erfolge haben gezeigt, dass ein besseres Verständnis und eine bessere Bewertung der
akademischen Bedürfnisse der Bibliotheksbenutzer
nicht besonders schwierig oder kostenintensiv sind.
Obwohl die Ergebnisse der Rochester-Studien speziell
auf die besondere Gemeinschaft an der University of
Rochester zugeschnitten sind, können und sind die
Untersuchungsverfahren durchaus auch erfolgreich
zum Studium der Bibliotheksbenutzer an anderen Universitäten verwendet worden.
194
Measuring the public library’s societal value: a
methodological research program [Messung des
gesellschaftlichen Werts der öffentlichen Bibliotheken: ein methodologisches
Forschungsprogramm]
Frank Huysmans, Marjolein Oomes
IFLA-Journal 39 (2013) Nr. 2 S. 168–177
Die öffentlichen Bibliotheken in den Niederlanden
sehen sich mit zunehmender Skepsis konfrontiert, was
ihren Wert für die einzelnen Gemeinschaften sowie die
Gesellschaft im Allgemeinen betrifft. Die Digitalisierung der Medien, der Informationen und der Kommunikation werfen eine Reihe von Fragen bezüglich der
Funktion der Bibliothek auf, da sich diese im Wesentlichen immer noch auf das Angebot physischer Servicedienstleistungen stützt. Außerdem drehen die lokalen,
regionalen und nationalen Regierungen, bedingt durch
die aktuelle Wirtschaftskrise, jeden Euro zweimal um,
bevor sie ihn für Kulturinstitute ausgeben. In diesem
Klima wird es zunehmend wichtig, dass die öffentlichen Bibliotheken ihren Wert zeigen – und das nicht nur
Pефераты статей
Библиотеки Сингапура: от кирпичей и строительного раствора до предоставления информации в любое время в любом месте
Под редакцией Джули С Сабаратнам и Эстер Онг
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) № 2 стр. 103–120
В данной статье представлен широкий обзор эволюции библиотечной системы Сингапура. Около
190 лет назад решающую роль в формировании
основ библиотечной системы этого государства,
расположенного на островах в Юго-Восточной
Азии, сыграли два учреждения: Национальная
библиотека Сингапура и Библиотека Национального университета Сингапура. С тех пор в Сингапуре наблюдается бурное развитие различных
видов библиотек, включая публичные, научные и
специальные библиотеки. Политика и стратегия
правительства предусматривают оказание поддержки библиотекам, и последние продолжают
играть важную роль в жизни жителей Сингапура.
Чтобы идти в ногу с техническим прогрессом, а
также адаптироваться к изменяющимся интересам
и моделям поведения посетителей, библиотекам
страны пришлось внедрять новые методы управления своими фондами и способы удовлетворения
IFLA Journal 39(2)
im wirtschaftlichen, sondern auch in einem stärker
soziologischen Sinn. Da immer noch keine standardisierten Messungen dieser Werte vorliegen, wurde ein
Forschungsprogramm ins Leben gerufen, um geeignete
Messverfahren für die Ergebnisse zu entwickeln. In
diesem Beitrag skizzieren wir das Grundprinzip hinter
diesem Programm sowie die Schritte, die das niederländische Institut für Öffentliche Bibliotheken in die
Wege leitet, um ein Messinstrument zu entwickeln,
das dazu dienen soll, den gesellschaftlichen Wert der
öffentlichen Bibliotheken in gültiger und verlässlicher
Weise zu quantifizieren. Dabei werden auch die Ergebnisse aus den ersten Phasen des Forschungsprogramms präsentiert - ein theoretischer Rahmen für die
(möglichen) Auswirkungen der Bibliotheken auf die
niederländische Gesellschaft auf Basis der Befunde
einer Literaturstudie und der qualitativen Forschung.
Diese Befunde helfen uns dabei, fünf mögliche Einflussbereiche zu identifizieren und konzeptionell
auszufüllen: kognitive, soziale, kulturelle, gefühlsbedingte und wirtschaftliche Faktoren. Auf der Basis dieses Ergebnisgerüsts wird dann ein entsprechendes
Messinstrument entwickelt.
потребностей пользователей. В данной работе приведен анализ истории библиотек в Сингапуре,
после чего отдельно говорится об инновациях в
библиотечном деле, при этом особое внимание
уделяется цифровым продуктам и услугам, к которым относятся системы управления библиотекой,
электронные ресурсы, цифровые устройства, а
также использование социальных сервисов для
привлечения пользователей.
Содружество неопределенности: как профессиональные модели практических методов
работы библиотек Великобритании и Америки
сформировали систему обучения науке о
библиотечно-информационном деле в отдельных Британских колониях и доминионах
Мери Керролл, Полетт Керр, Абдуллахи И. Муса,
Васим Афзал
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) № 2 стр. 121–133
Во всем мире профессия специалиста в области
библиотечно-информационного дела представляла
собой ключевой результат социальной и политической программ, которые внесли свой вклад в
формирование профессии как таковой. С конца
195
Abstracts
19-го века и до настоящего времени в странах,
относящихся к бывшим Британским доминионам
и колониям (сегодня входящих в Содружество
Наций), источниками таких внешних влияний
являлись два культурных поля: Соединенное Королевство (Великобритания) и Соединенные
Штаты (США). В результате во многих странах
Содружества существовали две конкурирующие
и подчас противоречащие друг другу модели преподавания библиотечно-информационной науки,
которые назывались соответственно британской
и американской “моделями или системами”
обучения. Взаимное воздействие двух указанных
факторов влияния сыграло свою роль в формировании системы обучения библиотечно-информационной науке и оставило непростое наследие.
В настоящей работе исследуется, как наследие этого
воздействия продолжает формировать амбициозную
программу местных профессиональных сообществ,
и обсуждается его влияние на способ реализации и
образовательную модель библиотечного дела. В
данной работе на ряде практических примеров
выполнен анализ того, как наследие этого взаимодействия сформировало ожидания профессии
специалиста в области библиотечно-информационной
науки и повлияло на способ реализации и образовательную модель библиотечного дела в некоторых
странах Содружества.
Лидерство в библиотеках во времена перемен
Петра Дюрен
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) № 2 стр. 134–139
Академические, а также общественные библиотеки
в наше время постоянно сталкиваются с переменами. В данной работе приводится обзор лидерских
способностей, необходимых для достижения успеха
в реализации тщательно спланированных крупномасштабных перемен в библиотеках. Большинству
необходимых для этого навыков можно обучить на
этапе подготовки бакалавров в области библиотечного дела и науки об информации, что подтверждается на примере Университета прикладных
наук Гамбурга. Определяющими факторами успеха
любого проекта, связанного с осуществлением
перемен, являются информация, коммуникация и
соучастие. Два качественных исследования в отношении лидерства в академических библиотеках, а
также лидерства в академических библиотеках во
времена перемен, и количественное исследование
в академической библиотеке, касающееся влияния
трансформационного и транзакционного стилей
руководства высшего руководящего состава по
отношению к руководящему составу среднего
звена, а также к членам команды, включая факторы
воздействия организационной культуры, подчеркивают значение указанных факторов успеха, и в особенности, коммуникативных навыков лидеров во
времена перемен.
Приветливые, гибкие и прогрессивные:
подходы к постоянному совершенствованию
технических средств
Чарльз Форрест, Шерон Л. Бостик
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) № 2 стр. 140–150
Поскольку скорость увеличения объема цифрового
доступа ко всем источникам информации продолжает расти, библиотеки по всему миру работают
над вопросом своей трансформации, цель которой
- успешно играть свою изменяющуюся роль в
обществе, которому они служат и которое они поддерживают. Перед научными библиотеками встали
особые задачи с поступлением в университеты студентов нового поколения, исповедующих доступ к
информации в постоянном, мобильном режиме,
всегда и везде. Находясь в сердце академического
сообщества, для которого все более значима роль
интеллектуального сотрудничества между преподавателями и студентами, и зная все тонкости
учебного процесса, научная библиотека 21-го века
должна непрестанно обновляться, играя роль
заведения, возбуждающего любопытство, призывающего к участию, сотрудничеству и непрерывному
обучению. Типичные циклы капиталовложений 20-го
века в научные библиотеки Соединенных Штатов
характеризовались разовыми крупномасштабными
инвестициями в расширение и модернизацию средств
для приведения их в соответствие с требованиями
времени. В первом десятилетии 21-го века необходимость перемен актуальна, как никогда ранее,
однако ограничен объем доступных финансовых
средств, что увеличивает давление на учреждения,
которым необходимо сократить время цикла капиталовложений, чтобы сохранить способность оперативно реагировать на быстрые изменения в
технологии, педагогике, образовании и ожиданиях
пользователей. Окончанием любого проекта является начало оценки и планирования следующего
цикла перемен и инвестиций. В данной работе
рассматриваются и обсуждаются действия в области библиотечного дела двух крупнейших научных учреждений Соединенных Штатов, одно из
которых финансируется государством, а второе за счет частных средств, с целью разработки
196
передовых способов оценки площадей, функций,
услуг, эксплуатации и технического обслуживания
библиотек. Докладчики сообщат о проектах,
направленных на привлечение капиталовложений,
сокращение времени цикла и проведение дополнительных оперативных мероприятий, в общих рамках
планирования в крупных, а реализации в мелких
масштабах. Данные включают в себя опросы на
выходе, коэффициент заполнения и сравнение конкурентов; источниками информации являются
опросы, фокус-группы и моделирование. Конкретные проекты и инициативы будут направлены на
удовлетворение потребностей пользователей, развитие программ и расширение технического оснащения, их целью является постоянная модернизация и
обновление библиотечных площадей, что способствует повышению качества обучения, вдохновляет
студентов и содействует развитию общества.
UNIMARC - понять прошлое, чтобы представить будущее
Роза Мария Галвао и Мария Инес Кордеиро
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) № 2 стр. 151–161
Контекст серьезных изменений, которые представляются возможными в области библиографических стандартов, требует отражения в характере и
технических характеристиках формата MARC, а
также его соответствия для интеграции библиографических систем обнаружения в глобальный мир
сетевых систем и информации. В настоящей работе
представлен обзор эволюции формата UNIMARC,
начиная с момента его возникновения, а также описаны методы его сопровождения, сбора информации, которая может быть полезна в качестве
первого вклада с целью предвидения будущих
шагов в деле переработки библиографических стандартов данных.
Приемы, помогающие понять меняющиеся
потребности пользователей библиотек
Сьюзан Гиббонс
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) № 2 стр. 162–167
В данной работе описан набор приемов, разработанных библиотеками River Campus Libraries Рочестерского университета (США), которые способствовали
созданию четкого взаимодействия услуг, фондов,
технических средств, а также присутствия библиотек в цифровой среде с академическими потребностями студентов, аспирантов и преподавателей
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Рочестерского университета. В основе того, что
стали называть “Рочестерским методом", лежит убеждение, что более четкое понимание методов академической работы в университете или колледже
может выявить неумышленные несоответствия
между услугами библиотеки и потребностями
пользователя, а также упущенные возможности
библиотеки в предоставлении новых услуг. Для концентрации внимания и изучения академических
методов работы применялись и адаптировались
антропологические и этнографические приемы,
которые затем использовались для изучения сегментов университетского сообщества. Процесс
начинается с постановки вопроса, как, например:
“что делает студент с момента получения задания
написать научную работу до момента, когда эта
работа завершена?” Затем разрабатывается набор
исследовательских приемов с целью изучения
вопроса, таких, как интервью на месте, выполнение заданий с использованием фотографий,
«командный штурм», а также академические
дневники. В результате применения указанных
исследовательских приемов собирается информация в различных формах, включая фотографии,
рисунки, записанные интервью, а также сказочные
описания идеальных инструментов, мест и услуг.
Различные группы сотрудников библиотеки изучают полученные данные и разрабатывают решения. На данном этапе цикла эти решения должны
получить отражение в организационном плане,
которое приведет к реальным изменениям, которые могут быть различными и включать в себя
улучшение маркетинговой политики, изменение
материально-технической базы, внедрение новых
услуг и сетевых инструментов. Успех Рочестерского университета показал, что для достижения лучшего понимания и высокой оценки
академических потребностей пользователей
библиотеки не требуется ни чрезмерных усилий,
ни больших затрат. И хоть результаты исследований в Рочестере уникальны и отвечают требованиям уникального сообщества Рочестерского
университета, использованные методы исследования могут и были успешно применены при проведении исследований среди пользователей
библиотек других учебных заведений.
Определяем социальную значимость
публичных библиотек: методическая
программа исследования
Франк Гюисманс, Марьёлейн Омес
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) № 2 стр. 168–177
Abstracts
197
Публичные библиотеки в Нидерландах сталкиваются с растущим скептицизмом относительно
их значения в жизни локальных сообществ и общества в целом. Переход средств массовой информации, собственно, информации и коммуникации в
цифровой формат вызывает вопрос о роли библиотеки, поскольку здесь все по-прежнему основано преимущественно на оказании услуг в
традиционном виде. Кроме того, в условиях текущего экономического спада местные, региональные
и государственные органы управления вынуждены
критически оценивать каждый евро, потраченный
на учреждения культуры. В таких условиях усиливается необходимость продемонстрировать публичными библиотеками свою значимость, не только в
экономическом, но и в более широком социальном
смысле. Поскольку пока еще отсутствуют стандартные методы измерения таких значений, была начата
исследовательская программа, направленная на
разработку таких критериев результата. В данной
работе мы предлагаем краткое обоснование целесообразности реализации этой программы, а также
перечисляем меры, которые предпринимает Нидерландский институт публичных библиотек для разработки методики, позволяющей правомерно и
достоверно продемонстрировать социальную значимость публичных библиотек. Представлены
результаты реализации первых этапов программы
исследований: теоретические основы (вероятного)
влияния библиотек на общество Нидерландов, по
результатам изучения литературы и исследования
качественных показателей. Эти результаты помогают нам определить и принципиально обогатить
пять сфер возможного воздействия: познавательную, социальную, культурную, эмоциональную и
экономическую. Полученные результаты будут
положены в основу разработки необходимой методики определения.
Resúmenes
sistemas de gestión, recursos en línea, dispositivos
digitales y el uso de las redes sociales para captar
usuarios.
Singapore libraries: from bricks and mortar to
information anytime anywhere [Bibliotecas de
Singapur: de los ladrillos y el cemento a la
información en cualquier momento y lugar]
Publicado por Julie S Sabaratnam y Esther Ong
Revista IFLA Journal 39 (2013) Nº 2 pp. 103–120
Este artículo presenta una visión amplia del panorama
cambiante de las bibliotecas en Singapur. Hace unos
190 años, hubo dos instituciones que resultaron decisivas a la hora de sentar las bases de la infraestructura
bibliotecaria en este país insular del sudeste asiático:
la Biblioteca Nacional de Singapur y la Biblioteca de
la Universidad Nacional de Singapur. Desde entonces,
Singapur ha asistido a una proliferación de bibliotecas,
tanto públicas y académicas como especializadas. Gracias al apoyo de políticas y estrategias gubernamentales, las bibliotecas han mantenido su importante
papel en las vidas de los singapurenses. Con el fin
de adaptarse a los avances tecnológicos y a la evolución de las demandas y hábitos de los usuarios, las
bibliotecas del país han tenido que desarrollar nuevos
modos de gestionar sus colecciones para responder a
las necesidades de aquéllos. Este artículo analiza, en
primer lugar, la historia de las bibliotecas en Singapur
y termina centrándose en las innovaciones del ámbito
bibliotecario, dedicando especial atención a los productos y servicios digitales, entre los que se incluyen:
Commonwealth of uncertainty: How British and
American professional models of library practice
have shaped LIS Education in selected former
British Colonies and Dominions [La “Commonwealth” de la incertidumbre: contribución de los
modelos profesionales de biblioteconomía británicos
y estadounidenses a la conformación de los Estudios
Académicos de Biblioteconomía y Documentación
en determinadas colonias y dominios británicos]
Mary Carroll, Paulette Kerr, Abdullahi I. Musa, Waseem
Afzal
Revista IFLA Journal 39 (2013) Nº 2 pp. 121–133
El ámbito profesional de la Biblioteconomía y Documentación ha sido objeto, en todo el mundo, de la aplicación de diferentes programas sociales y políticos
que, compitiendo entre sí, han contribuido a conformar
la profesión. En el caso de los países que anteriormente
constituyeron dominios y colonias bajo soberanía británica (y que actualmente forman parte de la “Commonwealth” o Mancomunidad de Naciones), dichas
influencias externas han procedido, desde finales del
siglo XIX hasta hoy, fundamentalmente de dos entornos culturales: Reino Unido y Estados Unidos. El
resultado en muchos países de la “Commonwealth”
ha sido la coexistencia competitiva, y en ocasiones
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contradictoria, de dos modelos pedagógicos de las
Ciencias de Biblioteconomía y Documentación que
reflejan la impronta de “las pautas o los modelos” educativos británicos y estadounidenses. La convergencia
de ambas influencias ha desempeñado un importante
papel a la hora de conformar los planes de estudios
de Biblioteconomía y Documentación y ha constituido
una herencia compleja. Este artículo analiza la contribución que la herencia derivada de dicha confluencia
de enfoques ha supuesto a la hora de definir los
objetivos de los programas llevados a cabo por las
comunidades profesionales de cada país; asimismo,
plantea un debate sobre la manera en que este hecho
ha influido en el modelo que sirve de base a la formación y la prestación de servicios relacionados con la
biblioteconomía. Por otro lado, se analizará, a través
del estudio de casos, el modo en que la herencia
derivada de dicha coexistencia de enfoques ha conformado los objetivos de los profesionales de las Ciencias
de Biblioteconomía y Documentación, así como la
influencia ejercida sobre los modelos educativos y
de prestación de servicios de biblioteconomía en varios países miembros de la “Commonwealth”.
Leadership in libraries in times of change [El
liderazgo en las bibliotecas en tiempos de cambio]
Petra Düren
IFLA Journal 39 (2013) Nº 2 pp. 134–139
En la actualidad, tanto las bibliotecas públicas como las
académicas se enfrentan al cambio constante. Este
artículo proporciona una visión general de las competencias de liderazgo necesarias para afrontar con éxito
aquellos cambios a gran escala introducidos en las bibliotecas de forma intencional. La mayoría de las competencias requeridas pueden adquirirse durante los
estudios universitarios conducentes a la obtención del
grado en Biblioteconomía y Documentación, tal como
puede observarse en el ejemplo de la Universidad de
Ciencias Aplicadas de Hamburgo. Los factores clave
en el éxito de cada proyecto de cambio son la información, la comunicación y la participación. La importancia
de estos factores de éxito, especialmente de la competencia comunicativa de los líderes en tiempos de cambio, se
ilustra mediante dos estudios cualitativos sobre liderazgo
en bibliotecas académicas y liderazgo en bibliotecas
tanto académicas como públicas en tiempos de cambio,
así como por medio de un estudio cuantitativo, llevado a
cabo en una biblioteca académica, en torno a la influencia de los estilos de liderazgo transformacional y transaccional aplicados por la alta dirección sobre los mandos
medios y los miembros del equipo, teniendo en cuenta
asimismo la influencia de la cultura organizativa.
IFLA Journal 39(2)
Welcoming, flexible, and state-of-the-art: Approaches to continuous facilities improvement [Acogedoras, flexibles y de última generación: enfoques
relativos a la mejora continua de instalaciones]
Charles Forrest, Sharon L. Bostick
Revista IFLA Journal 39 (2013) Nº 2 pp. 140–150
Dado que el acceso a todas las fuentes de información en
formato digital continúa desarrollándose a un ritmo vertiginoso, las bibliotecas de todo el mundo trabajan para
transformarse y poder cumplir con su papel cambiante
dentro de las comunidades a las que prestan servicio. Las
bibliotecas académicas se enfrentan a nuevos retos específicos, como el que supone que los estudiantes que ingresan en la universidad lo hagan hoy habiendo interiorizado
el concepto de acceso a la información en línea, en situación de movilidad, en cualquier momento y en cualquier
lugar. La biblioteca académica del siglo XXI constituye el
centro de la comunidad académica, ya que contribuye
cada vez en mayor medida a la colaboración intelectual
entre los estudiantes y el profesorado, así como al aprendizaje dentro y fuera de las aulas; esta institución debe
continuar reinventándose a sí misma en su papel de
fomento de la curiosidad, el compromiso, la colaboración
y el aprendizaje a lo largo de toda la vida. Durante el siglo
XX, los ciclos de inversión de capital en bibliotecas académicas que solían realizarse en Estados Unidos se caracterizaban por tratarse de inversiones a gran escala en
ampliación y mejora de instalaciones, realizadas una vez
por generación. En la primera década del siglo XXI, este
impulso de transformación es mayor que nunca, pero se
cuenta con menor capital disponible, lo que aumenta la
presión sobre las instituciones para que reduzcan el ciclo
temporal de inversión de capital, con el fin de poder reaccionar ante los rápidos avances de la tecnología, la pedagogía, el conocimiento y las expectativas del usuario. El
final de cada proyecto constituye el comienzo de la evaluación y la planificación del siguiente ciclo de cambio
e inversión. Este artículo repasa y analiza los esfuerzos
realizados por las bibliotecas de dos importantes instituciones académicas de Estados Unidos, una financiada con
fondos públicos y otra privada, a la hora de desarrollar
métodos innovadores de evaluación de los espacios, las
funciones, los servicios, las operaciones y las tareas de
mantenimiento de las bibliotecas. Los entrevistados
destacan los proyectos orientados a movilizar la inversión
de capital, acortar los ciclos y garantizar el incremento
gradual de las intervenciones, dentro de un contexto
general basado en la planificación a gran escala y la
ejecución a pequeña escala. Los datos abarcan recuento
de préstamos, índices de ocupación y comparaciones
con instituciones similares. Las fuentes de datos
incluyen encuestas, grupos de discusión y simulaciones.
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Abstracts
Las iniciativas y los proyectos específicos abordan las
necesidades de los usuarios, los programas de innovación y la mejora de instalaciones, con el objetivo
de renovar y actualizar continuamente aquellos
espacios de la biblioteca que contribuyen a ampliar
el aprendizaje, impulsar el conocimiento y consolidar la comunidad.
UNIMARC – UNIMARC – Understanding the past
to envision the future [Entender el pasado para
poder afrontar el futuro]
Rosa Maria Galvão y Maria Inês Cordeiro
Revista IFLA Journal 39 (2013) Nº 2 pp. 151–161
En el contexto de los importantes cambios previstos en
relación con los estándares del entorno bibliográfico,
es necesario reflexionar acerca de la naturaleza y las
características específicas de los estándares MARC y
su adecuación a la hora de integrar sistemas de localización de recursos bibliográficos dentro del extenso
ámbito de los sistemas y la información en red. Partiendo de esta premisa, este artículo proporciona una
visión general de la evolución del formato UNIMARC
y de las actividades relacionadas con su mantenimiento, recopilando conocimientos que pueden resultar útiles como primera contribución de cara a definir
futuros pasos dirigidos a rediseñar los estándares de
datos bibliográficos.
Techniques to understand the changing needs of
library users [Técnicas para comprender las necesidades cambiantes de los usuarios de bibliotecas]
Susan Gibbons
Revista IFLA Journal 39 (2013) Nº 2 pp. 162–167
Este artículo expone una serie de técnicas, desarrolladas
por las Bibliotecas del River Campus de la Universidad
de Rochester (EE. UU.), que han facilitado que los servicios, las colecciones, las instalaciones y la presencia
de las bibliotecas en el entorno digital sean capaces
de responder a las necesidades académicas de los estudiantes de grado y de posgrado de dicha universidad, así
como de su profesorado. El núcleo de lo que se ha dado
en llamar “método Rochester” es la premisa de que una
mayor comprensión de las prácticas laborales académicas existentes dentro de la comunidad de una universidad o facultad permite detectar desajustes involuntarios
entre los servicios bibliotecarios y las necesidades de
los usuarios, así como oportunidades para que la biblioteca ofrezca nuevos servicios que previamente se
habían ignorado. La atención dedicada a las prácticas
laborales académicas y su correspondiente estudio se
han basado en la adopción y adaptación de métodos
antropológicos y etnográficos, que posteriormente se
han aplicado al estudio de diversos segmentos de la
comunidad universitaria. El proceso comienza con el
planteamiento de una pregunta, como por ejemplo,
“¿qué hace un alumno en el tiempo que transcurre entre
el encargo de un trabajo y la finalización del mismo?”.
Posteriormente se plantean diversos métodos de investigación para responder a dicha pregunta, como entrevistas in situ, ejercicios de evocación a través de
imágenes, talleres intensivos de diseño y diarios académicos. La aplicación de los mencionados métodos de
estudio arroja una serie de datos en diversos formatos:
fotografías, dibujos, transcripciones de entrevistas y
descripciones creativas de herramientas, espacios y servicios ideales. Diversos equipos formados por empleados de la biblioteca analizan los datos y formulan
conclusiones. Una vez realizado este trabajo, dichas
conclusiones se plasman en una respuesta desde el
punto de vista organizativo capaz de inducir cambios
reales, la cual puede ir desde mejorar la promoción de
los servicios o reformar las instalaciones físicas, hasta
ofrecer nuevos servicios y herramientas web. El éxito
logrado en la Universidad de Rochester constituye una
prueba de que una mayor comprensión y evaluación de
las necesidades académicas de los usuarios de bibliotecas no tiene por qué resultar excesivamente difícil ni
costosa. A pesar de que los resultados obtenidos en los
mencionados estudios sean específicos para la comunidad concreta de la Universidad de Rochester, los métodos de estudio pueden aplicarse y se han aplicado con
éxito a usuarios de bibliotecas de otros campus.
Measuring the public library’s societal value:
a methodological research program [Medición
del valor social de las bibliotecas públicas: un
programa de investigación metodológica]
Frank Huysmans, Marjolein Oomes
Revista IFLA Journal 39 (2013) Nº 2 pp. 168–177
Las bibliotecas públicas de Holanda se enfrentan actualmente a un escepticismo cada vez mayor en torno al
valor que éstas aportan a la comunidad y a la sociedad
en general. La digitalización de los medios de comunicación, de la información y de la comunicación suscita
preguntas acerca de la función de las bibliotecas, dado
que estas instituciones todavía se basan principalmente
en proporcionar un servicio físico. Más aún, la recesión
económica actual hace que los gobiernos municipales,
regionales y nacionales cuestionen de forma crítica
cada euro que se invierte en instituciones culturales.
En este contexto, existe una necesidad cada vez mayor
de que las bibliotecas públicas demuestren su valor,
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desde el punto de vista no solamente económico, sino
también sociológico. Puesto que aún no existen medidas estandarizadas al respecto, se ha puesto en marcha
un programa de investigación para definir los índices
correspondientes. El presente artículo resume los fundamentos que sustentan dicho programa y los pasos que el
Instituto Holandés de Bibliotecas Públicas está dando
con el fin de crear instrumentos de medida destinados
a probar de forma válida y fiable el valor social de las
bibliotecas públicas. Se exponen los resultados de las
IFLA Journal 39(2)
primeras fases del programa de investigación: un
marco teórico de estudio de la (posible) influencia
de las bibliotecas en la sociedad holandesa, basado
en las conclusiones extraídas de la revisión de la literatura existente y la investigación cualitativa. Los
resultados nos permiten identificar y definir con
mayor precisión cinco posibles ámbitos de influencia: cognitivo, social, cultural, afectivo y económico.
Este marco resultante servirá de base para la creación
de instrumentos de medida.