Would that John Sumison's views (about even small branch library users
having access to a wide range of resources) were born out by events. The
reality is that even larger libraries are being priced out of the market -
and the additional costs of networking simply mean that only privileged
users of academic or govt. institutions have genuinely free access to a wide
range of information.
Andrew Sandeman
Edinburgh
-----Original Message-----
From: John Sumsion <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 30 October 2001 22:53
Subject: Re: the future of the main library
>Dear colleagues,
>
>Over and above the networked lending facilities and community meeting
>places, etc. we looked at another aspect of this in our research on the
>ECONOMIC VALUE OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
>
>Electronic networking provides the opportunity, in time, of making
>Reference information available both to users at home and to users in small
>branch libraries. The central library will lose its monopoly of reference
>material - as, in many places, it has already lost its monopoly of
>Community Information.
>
>To quote from our website
><http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/dils/disresearch/econvalu.html>
>(Economic Value of Public Libraries 25 WWW abbreviated version: Morris,
>Hawkins & Sumsion: page 25) -
>
>"Summary (IT)
>
>The economic issues relating to IT developments can be summarised as
follows:
>
>* Networked PCs allow public library users to access the Internet and
>specialist
>collections. Public and community information will be even more widely
>available on electronic networks. Access need not be confined to libraries.
The
>network could be accessed from home or using a terminal sited in almost any
>public place.
>
>* There is scope for public libraries to subscribe to a wide range of
>databases and
>CD-ROMs which users may access at the library or from home. This will have
>consequences for publishers as well as libraries. Special licence fees for
>public
>libraries will be required and consortium purchasing will develop.
>
>* When all libraries are networked, a much wider range of reference sources
>will
>be available at the smallest library. The value of a small library as a
>resource
>will be increased."
>
>- and, an indirect account of American experience:
>
>"The new ALA Manual (Bertot, McClure and Ryan, 2000) contains a main
section to
>count the number of full-text databases available by subscription, serial
>titles and
>others which "may include e-books, encyclopedias, indexes and abstracts,
photo
>archives, etc. A subscription consists of a contractual agreement or
>license between
>the library and a provider to offer one or more databases for library use
>under certain
>conditions. . . . Some agreements may not include monetary payment, for
>example: a
>local electronic full-text provider, like a local newspaper, may agree to
>allow the
>library to make the full text available . . . at no charge". Counting
>accesses in this
>situation relies heavily on data supplied by the database provider rather
than
>collected by the library.
>
>Acquisition of access to this type of material could have a significant
>bearing on the
>separation of academic and public libraries. At present there are barriers
>- buildings
>and location even more than of funding - to shared access to knowledge. A
print
>volume or periodical can only be in one place. With electronic formats the
>physical
>barriers to sharing resources are removed, leaving only the organisational,
>commercial and intellectual property obstacles to be overcome!"
>
>What these arguments envisage is a great deal of Reference Content acquired
>in electronic format - as the Americans are doing - and also librarians in
>the small libraries trained to help users navigate web based information.
>
>I hope this is of interest as illustrating another aspect of the potential
>for smaller libraries - which does not seem, as yet, to figure as
>prominently as it might in the forward plans for the Peoples' Network.
>(KNOW UK and KNOW EUROPE are there for starters.)
>
>John Sumsion
>
>At 6:14 pm +0000 30/10/1, David Murray wrote:
>>Dear colleagues
>>
>>Not an earth-shatteringly important point, perhaps, but it might be worth
>>noting that one of the things that fascinates officers concerned with
>>community regeneration/neighbourhood renewal/IEG agendas, and those beyond
>>local government, is the extensive and all pervasive nature of the
library
>>network. They are gripped by the realisation that there are "community
>>venues" that, in theory anyway, anyone can use for a whole range of
>>purposes, and that can be linked via ICT for a multitude of purposes...
>>
>>So what? Well, the fact that they have literally millions of pounds to
>>allocate to "community based" partners is a bit of an incentive not to
>>rationalise away one of key USPs...maybe
>>
>>David Murray
>>Director
>>London Libraries Development Agency
>>35 St Martin's Street
>>London
>>WC2H 7HP
>>
>>t 020 7641 5266
>>f 020 7641 5266
>>m 07932 613807
>>
>>www.llda.org.uk
>>
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Steven Heywood" <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 5:52 PM
>>Subject: the future of the main library
>>
>>
>>> While we're having ruminative questions on the list I thought I'd chuck
>>this
>>> into the pool. I'm thinking aloud here and to my knowledge none of this
>>> reflects anything going on where I work.
>>>
>>> The recent trend nationally has been to close down small
>>"under-performing"
>>> libraries in favour of big "superlibraries". Is that the right way
round?
>>In
>>> these days of networked catalogues and circulation systems and on-line
>>> reference materials should we be looking more at a decentralised
delivery
>>> model?
>>>
>>> In some respects the only reason to have a main library at all is to
find
>>> somewhere big enough to fit a great pile of books and, in many cases,
>>> habitable for support and managerial staff (or at least close enough
>>thereto
>>> to meet the needs of the Shops Acts). Because these are the "important"
>>> libraries they tend to be the ones with the greatest opening hours. They
>>> also tend to be in town centres away from where people live. Meanwhile,
>>> people travel home from the town centres where they tend to work, have
>>their
>>> tea, go to their local small branch library and find it closed. Given
the
>>> choice between travelling back into town to go to the library or going
>>home
>>> and watching the telly a good proportion will probably do the latter.
>>>
>>> So... say you're keeping a main library open for 40 hours a week with 10
>>> staff (I'm keeping the sums simple) and keeping branch libraries open
for
>>20
>>> hours a week with 2 staff, why not redeploy the main library staff so
that
>>> you're keeping five branches open for an additional 20 hours each,
>>> preferably at evenings and weekends? And get all those public library
>>> standard Brownie points. Not having a big range of stock immediately on
>>the
>>> shelves isn't such a big deal these days: after all, if you've got a
>>> networked cataloguing/circulation system it doesn't matter where a book
>>> physically lives, it's available for loan anywhere on the system. Or to
>>use
>>> an example from the retailing field: how many items can you see on the
>>> shelves when you go shopping at Argos? Your OPAC is your Argos
catalogue.
>>>
>>> There are probably tons of legitimate - and less so - arguments against
>>the
>>> idea, I can think of a few myself. I just thought it might be
interesting
>>to
>>> poke this lemon with a stick.
>>>
>>> Steven
>>>
>>>
>>> Steven Heywood
>>> Systems Manager
>>> Rochdale Library Service
>>> Wheatsheaf Library
>>> Baillie Street
>>> Rochdale OL16 1JZ
>>> Tel: 01706 864967
>>> Fax: 01706 864992
>>> email: [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> Feeling glum? See
>>> http://www.rochdale.gov.uk/living/libraries.asp?url=pageofun and see
what
>>> real glum looks like!
>>>
>
>
>John Sumsion - Senior Fellow, Department of Information Science, Medway
>Building, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leics. LE11 3TU, (UK).
>Tel +44 (0) 1509 228052. Fax: 223053.
>HOME ADDRESS (preferred): The Granary, 29 Main Street, Rotherby, Melton
>Mowbray, Leics. LE14 2LP. Tel: +44 (0) 1664 434485. Fax: 434918
>[same e-mail]
>
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