Staff Papers
Embracing Electronic Access: Renovating Conspectus for the Digital Era
Paper by Maggie Bond, National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch, National Library of Australia presented at the VALA Conference, Melbourne, 28th-30th January 1998
Abstract:
This paper challenges a view that Conspectus has outlived its usefulness. It provides evidence in support of Conspectus demonstrating its worth as a strategic business resource in the struggle for survival and the treadmill known as the performance improvement cycle. With governments intent on evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of activities in meeting corporate objectives, Conspectus is our benchmark for measuring cost and effectiveness in fulfilling client needs.
Conspectus is dead. Seems like a pretty provocative statement to make. Why would someone say such a thing, dare they say such a thing, and is there any substantial evidence to back it up?
In terms of the Distributed National Collection that Conspectus was designed to facilitate, what has been achieved? The vision behind the DNC was to maximise the ability of libraries to meet the information needs of all Australians as effectively as possible. In implementing this vision, Australian libraries have built a substantial infrastructure of cooperation. The key strategy was the listing of all collections on the National Bibliographic Database and the availability of information about collection strengths and collecting intentions of individual libraries through the use of the Conspectus methodology.
But the concept was established in a largely print based world where collection development, bibliographic access and document delivery were seen as discrete and self contained elements supporting the Australian library system. There was the assumption that the national collection could meet the information needs of Australia and there was value in being information self sufficient.
However, as a result of the development of electronic publishing and the emergence of distributed network structures via the Internet, there has been a lessening of dependence on both national systems as the framework for access, and physical collections as the only source of supply. Consequently, we are witnessing a withdrawal of support by libraries for cooperative mechanisms in the areas of document delivery and cataloguing. Rather than being the only mechanism for enhancing quality service delivery, cooperative structures are becoming just one part of the mix that libraries can invest in.
Mega trends within the new IT era have shifted our focus from just in case to just in time and reduced the emphasis away from collection building to access. We have become an information society, working in a network environment of multiple options that is high tech/high touch and driven by self help. Dare I suggest it, but the spirit of cooperation seems to have been overtaken by a free for all in the fight for resources and the allocation of funds. The common good is being pushed aside by the whats in it for me mentality in the fight for survival.
Conspectus is costly, its labour intensive, time consuming and requires a substantial commitment from the organisation. Conspectus in these times of economic constraints and alternative solutions has outgrown its usefulness. But has it? Only by demonstrating gain, can we influence the decisions of others. Lets examine that in terms of what Conspectus is.
Conspectus is: Evidence of librarians as tool builders
The digital era has witnessed a shift from the industrial society to the information society. Perhaps we were among the original information workers, but today we are far from alone in this category. We can see the dramatic growth in information work reflected in the greater number of competitors that we have in the information field and in the rapid expansion of the information industry. If librarians are to assume their role as information leaders, we need to be the information provider, the one who creates the information product - the tool builder. Conspectus is that tool.
The Australian Conspectus has proved to be a valuable tool for the assessment of library collections. Hitherto, Conspectus has related only to traditional library collections, that is, books on shelves. It has been recognised, however, that for Conspectus to retain its utility as a library management tool it needs to take account of changes in library service provisions resulting from increased access to networked electronic information and the resultant change in focus in collecting from ownership to access of material.
Earlier this year a Working Group representative of Australian Conspectus users from different states was formed to look at the issue of incorporating electronic access considerations into Conspectus methodology and, in particular, the definitions revised for this purpose and drafted under the auspices of the Research Libraries Group, the Association of Research Libraries and the Western Library Network in 1996 and 1997.
The objective of the Working Group was to assess the suitability of the WLN revisions for incorporation into the Australian Conspectus Manual. The group communicated by email and held one teleconference on 7 August 1997, at which it was agreed to incorporate the WLN electronic access revisions into the Australian Conspectus, covering Collection Depth (or Level) and Language coverage indicators, with certain minor amendments.
These amendments:
- cover refinement to the definition for Electronic resources in the Australian context;
- provide guidance in the use of the revised Language Coverage indicators for Australian Aboriginal languages; and
- provide for the optional use of collection level 3c not previously available for Australian Conspectus users. Level 3c is defined as Advanced study or instructional support level. It covers resources adequate for imparting and maintaining knowledge about all aspects of the topic which are more extensive than the intermediate level (level 3b) but less than that needed for doctoral and independent research (level 4). The impetus for this decision came from a desire to make the Australian Conspectus methodology more consistent with its international counterparts.
Details of the new definitions for Collection Depth (including level 3c) and Language Coverage indicators, incorporating the amendments agreed by the Working Group, are detailed in the Australian Conspectus Manual August 1997 amendment which is available on the National Library of Australias website for Conspectus.
The incorporation of electronic access considerations into the Australian Conspectus represents a substantial shift in the functional locus of the Conspectus methodology. There was some discussion during the teleconference as to whether the alterations require libraries to undertake separate or integrated Conspectus assessments for the print and electronic resources. It was concluded that fully integrated print/electronic Conspectus assessments are the intention, even though, as part of what may turn out to be a transitional arrangement, the revisions to the collection level definitions distinguish between print and electronic resources.
You will hear more about the changes resultant from the revised definitions from Jess Burke at the Queensland University of Technology where the new definitions are being tested in preparation for their implementation and promulgation.
Which brings me back to my initial point, if librarians are to be leaders in the field of information, not only must they be the information providers, they must design the tools that provides access to that information. They must also be the tool builders. Conspectus is one such example. It is a management tool built by librarians, and as an international standard, a tool of significance, I might add.
And this brings me to my second point in support of Conspectus.
Conspectus is: a management tool
In addition to the shift to the information society, most of us have been experiencing changes in our organisation in recent years. We often work in organisations that have chosen or been forced to restructure or downsize. It is ironic that when the information age arrived it was also accompanied by a downsizing in resources available for traditional library and information services. Even so, there are tremendous opportunities for creating new roles in collecting, organising and providing access to electronic resources.
What makes the situation particularly difficult for us at this point is that we are truly in a transition time when neither print nor electronic resources can completely meet the needs of our users. There is pressure to maintain the known archival format and capital investments in the technical infrastructure needed to deliver scholarly information electronically will be slow. In addition, there are economic pressures. In the face of continuously escalating costs and the volume of scholarly publishing, relentless inflation, soaring labour costs and declining budgets, library managers are finding that they must control their cost structures in order to remain economically viable. To do this, they need to balance a number of competing costs, - acquisitions versus preservation, books compared to serials, print versus electronic journal subscriptions, scholarly science journals with high use/high cost and increasing output with lesser-used journals, many with low prices and low inflation rates and in the social sciences and humanities. Add to these operational costs which are already being used to create economies of scale and reduce overall costs. Conspectus falls into this category.
The question is how does Conspectus compete, and this is where the argument comes in, that it is one of a series of tools that management can use in allocating available funds to meet the organisations goals in fulfilling the clients need. Our challenge is to prove the worth of Conspectus in terms that senior decision makers can most easily understand, and that requires couching it in financial terms, not process terms.
Conspectus is a way of putting comparable, quantifiable value on a librarys collection that users and senior decision makers can understand. Identifying a collection (not forgetting access to electronic resources) in terms of its strength, as able to support research in the field, for example, quantified in terms of a level 4, as compared to another at say the basic level, quantified as a 2 and limited to general introductory works, provides instant recognition of a collections worth and helps to quantify it in dollar terms, as either the failure to invest or the need to invest to bring it up to scratch if need be. And there you have the basis of a funding argument.
For teaching institutions, and this applies equally to special libraries that might be supporting the health industry (health professionals, medical schools/training hospitals) as to universities or colleges, Conspectus has the added advantage as a management tool in that it can show whether the collection is adequate to support the teaching requirement. It can be used to expand the institutions teaching reputation or to push it to the level of a research institution. Conspectus can be used to prepare library impact statements on the ability of the collections to support new courses. It can be used in the accreditation process to identify areas in the collection relevant to the course, to identify areas of weakness and to provide the cost estimate to remedy the shortfall. It can also be used in estimating the cost of maintaining the collection at level. Conspectus can be used in conjunction with the librarys Collection Development Policy to guide selection and acquisition to counteract weaknesses identified by the collection assessment.
The problem in the past has been in counting Conspectus as a cost, not as an asset, in not seeing it as integral to the organisations achievement of its goals, both now and in the future.
Conspectus is at the core of our business. It is a strategic business resource by which we can regularly evaluate and review the effectiveness and efficiency of our activities as part of a performance improvement cycle which, implemented regularly, will help to ensure:
- that client expectations are being met;
- the decision making processes are improved; and
- the allocation of scarce resources, which have and will continue to plague us.
Conspectus is our benchmark in measuring performance and testing cost and effectiveness. It is evidence of funds invested, of costs outlaid. The collection (both as a physical entity and defined access to electronic resources), represents the return on investment and is also indicative of our ability to achieve our objectives. The goal is to find best practices that can be used to improve ones own work processes. Conspectus is total quality management. Its continuous quality improvement. Its a challenge, its a commitment, and its control.
Which brings me to my final point.
Conspectus is: evidence-based practice
Evidence-based practice is all about basing service on systematic research. In the field of medicine evidence-based practice is the systematic analysis of scientific evidence to deduce best practice guidelines. Librarians as information professionals have the knowledge, skills and facilities to ensure that their decisions are based on the best available evidence. That evidence is Conspectus. The Conspectus methodology has enabled us to critically evaluate our collections to establish the extent of its strength. The fact that it is either a level 3 or a level 4 is evidence we can work on. Without such evidence how can we be sure we are serving our clients needs? How else can we be accountable in the business sense?
In conclusion
Conspectus is not finished as the word dead might imply. It has made, and will continue to make, a valuable contribution in ensuring our resources are used effectively, efficiently and in a way that reflects our organisations goals.
Lets use it to keep libraries at the centre and centres of evidence in this digital era.
Bibliography
The performance improvement cycle: guidance for managers. Commonwealth of Australia [Department of Finance], May 1997.
Scholarly communication and technology: (http://www.arl.org/scomm/scat/rosenblatt.html) conference organised by the Andrew W Melton Foundation, 24-25 April 1997 at Emory University.
The Australian Conspectus manual: amendment
The National Library of Australias Conspectus website
