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LIS-PUB-LIBS  October 2001

LIS-PUB-LIBS October 2001

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Subject:

Re: the future of the main library

From:

John Sumsion <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

John Sumsion <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Tue, 30 Oct 2001 22:47:36 +0100

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (191 lines)

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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