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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 41 | October 1999


NLA and the library community

‘Projections—Reflections’

Twenty National Library of Australia staff joined 300 other library technicians in Fremantle, Western Australia for the 10th National Library Technicians Conference. Aptly named ‘Projections—Reflections’, to review the profession’s progress over the last 20 years, there was a broad mix of sessions that summarised the past, and predicted the future.

The conference was opened by Vicki Williamson from Curtin University of Technology. Vicki encouraged the profession to write about its own history, and embrace the world of digital technology. In his speech, Carl Grant, president of the Ex Libris company based in Chicago, spoke of three trends which will influence our libraries of the future: the need to amalgamate access to digital information with existing information delivery, the impact of distance education, and the redefinition of value-added services. The end result, he predicts, will be an increased focus on customer service.

Carl threw out many challenges. While libraries will remain recognisable as institutions, they will need to become more complex in order to survive in competition from other web-based services. While it’s easy to say that the web is not for serious research, end users are making it so. Carl predicted the demise of Z39.50, and also of search engines that continue to provide access to full-text content only. He feels that library services must be adapted to provide access to all types of data and that they must permit end users to search using ordinary communication patterns, not complicated interfaces.

The opportunities of distance education indicate an ongoing role for libraries, but they will have to change their services to cope with this demand. Materials will need to move between them quickly, and expanded borrower privileges may be required. The original reference desk and the IT help desk must merge, and library staff will need training to serve virtual patrons. Carl encouraged libraries not to hesitate in charging for such value-added services, because patrons will pay for convenience, accuracy, and ease of use. He suggested subject-specialised portals as an avenue for making money.

Carl recommended the following steps for adopting the trends foreshadowed. Help the staff understand the mission of the library, think of the patron first when tailoring services, be willing to take risks and be willing to fail, spend resources wisely, measure results (not budgets) by conducting surveys and interviewing patrons. Above all, follow up customer service issues relentlessly and maintain passion..

On the second day of the conference, discussion centred on the need for, and uses of, metadata. Debbie Campbell spoke of Australian subject gateways (similar to portals, but currently providing services without individual authentication, customisation and e-commerce functionality) and digital library collections. Exemplar digital collections include Tasmania Online, Our Digital Island (a Tasmanian digital archive), the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, the UNSW E-Project, and PANDORA. Gateways illustrated were Agrigate, AVEL, EdNa, MetaChem, and AMOL.

A strong theme of the conference was how to respond to the changes in the library profession; the combining of library and information technology services in many institutions has meant a convergence of job responsibilities in the two areas. Useful advice on how to upgrade job descriptions and conduct training was provided and delegates learned about new vocational training and tertiary-level courses that are now ready to prepare the information mediators of the future.

| Contents list for this issue of Gateways |

Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: lkirwan@nla.gov.au

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