Subject:     LINC News Release: Response to BL Strategic Review paper
Sent:        18/9/98 9:35 am
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With apologies for cross-posting

Library and Information Co-operation Council (LINC) News Release

18 September 1998				         For immediate release


Be robust, LINC tells BL

Response to Strategic review paper

The British Library is a vital part of the national heritage, and any 
diminution of its core functions should be rejected by the Department for 
Culture, Media and Sport. 

The British Library Board is urged to take a robust line and not to 
accept decline as inevitable. The Board's task is to affirm the Library's 
core responsibilities, to focus on its unique and special services, to 
concentrate on what others cannot do, to extend its collaboration with 
other libraries and organisations, and to articulate to Government its 
relevance to the Learning Age and to posterity.

This is the nub of the Response from the Library and Information 
Co-operation Council (LINC) to the recent British Library 'Strategic 
review consultation paper'. The Library's primary and unique function is 
to be the repository of the memory of the British nation, through 
collection, storage and preservation of its published output in whatever 
format or medium.

Distributed collection-building and preservation of the national archive 
is feasible only through the provision of statutory responsibilities. No 
co-operative mechanism other than a legally binding requirement can 
provide the necessary guarantees of reliability and continuity.

Any perceived inability of the Library to achieve comprehensive 
acquisition and preservation in practice should not be seen as a reason 
or excuse for compromise or dilution of principles and ideals.

The Library's preoccupation with users and services is therefore of 
secondary importance. The Board should restate in absolute and 
categorical terms the national Library's function as the national memory 
for future generations, and the Library should focus on this function 
over and above more ephemeral or changeable activities. Government 
appears to be amenable to this approach and to the value of investment in 
culture, education and the heritage of the nation; LINC urges the Library 
to build on this.

At the same time, opportunities exist for capitalising on parts of the 
Library's investment, eg. in the areas of document supply, and in 
science, technology and business information, and for imaginative 
collaboration and partnerships in exploiting the Library for the benefit 
of the national economy, for research and innovation, and for education 
and lifelong learning.
LINC suggests that other Departments of Government, especially the DTI 
and DfEE, have an essential role to play in this exploitation and 
creation of access. It calls for a new attitude of mind to the Library 
across Government, with the creation of new partnerships, new 
responsibilities and new funding streams, the achievement of which should 
be a priority for the Library and Information Commission.

The creation of the Commission has removed the need for the British 
Library to aspire to lead the UK library and information community in 
strategy and research matters. These functions are now properly the role 
of the Commission, where they can be exercised from a wider and more 
inclusive perspective. The Library should now help to influence and 
support the Commission's strategies and programmes.

In sum, LINC sees the British Library's primary role as to acquire, hold 
and preserve UK material as the nation's library of last resort; and it 
sees the development of strategies, research, and the exploitation and 
provision of first resort access to the acquired resources, as a matter 
for collaboration, outsourcing, partnership and market forces.

/ends

Notes to Editors

1.  The British Library. 'Strategic review consultation paper'. July 
1998. http://www.bl.uk

2.  LINC is the leading representative organisation promoting 
co-operation and partnership in the UK and Republic of Ireland as a means 
of improving the effectiveness of the library and information sector. Its 
members include the British Library, the National Library of Scotland, An 
Chomhairle Leabharlanna (the Irish Library Council), LISC (NI), 
Interlending Wales, LA, SCONUL, the Society of Chief Librarians, all but 
one of the English Library Regions, and a range of organisations with an 
interest in co-operation.  

3.  For further information or a copy of LINC's full Response to the 
British Library paper,  contact: 
LINC Honorary Secretary Paul Turner, County Librarian, Hampshire, 81 
North Walls, Winchester SO23 8BY.  Tel: 01962 846 109.  Fax: 01962 856 
615.  E-mail: [log in to unmask]
or
LINC Chair John Blagden, University Librarian, Cranfield University, 
Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL. Tel: 01234 754 446.  Fax: 01234 752 
391.  E-mail: [log in to unmask] 
 
4.  News release issued for LINC by Pat Wressell & Associates, Press 
Officer. Tel: 0191 281 3502.  Fax: 0191 212 0146.  E-mail: 
[log in to unmask] 



Pat Wressell & Associates
36 Highbury
Jesmond
Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 3EA
Tel: +44 (0) 191 281 3502
Fax: +44 (0) 191 212 0146
Email: [log in to unmask]



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