Use of Internet-based and digital media continues to increase. In order to retain and enhance their central role as information brokers, public libraries need to keep pace with the rapid development of information and communications technologies and develop short-term solutions. Public libraries have always been dedicated to education and learning. This function now has to be redefined. Public libraries must provide access to electronic information media and empower citizens to make effective use of this information.
Professional Publication
Abstract: New media, information and communications technology are developing at breathtaking speed. Linked to this, a dramatic change is taking place in society and the world of work. This affects us as individuals and our libraries. The society of the future will be marked by multimedia communication, decentralisation and deregulation. This will empower individuals to shape their own lives. However, we will also be confronted with an enormous increase in the amount of ...
Summary: This paper examines some of the questions and challenges facing libraries. The work is continuous, but now and then it is important to formulate some ideas and visions. Seeing with fresh eyes. We see what we expect to see. What we know, or think we know, influences us so strongly that we are often blind to change, or to new views and new opportunities. This is true in all aspects of life. The challenge is to see everything around us with fresh eyes. The future i...
Introduction and Acknowledgements: Why is it that libraries in some countries have achieved high levels of development of new electronic services at a national or regional level by working co-operatively? What is it that makes this possible? Does co-operation mean that there is no competition, and no local identity for libraries? What would it take to encourage co-operative development of electronic services in our own two countries, Germany and New Zealand? What would b...
Context: Technology has been the driving force of change, which has impacted industries and organizations worldwide. It has created an extremely knowledge-dependent society in which consumers have heightened expectations for immediate satisfaction of informational needs. Within the library profession, the roles of library staff as information providers have been reshaped by these changes. In order to effectively manage and cope with this accelerating rate of change, a cl...
Preface: Cultural diversity is a rapidly growing aspect of society all around the world. It also creates a great challenge for libraries that must adjust their services to meet changing patron groups and demands. This is why the International Network of Public Libraries of the Bertelsmann Foundation chose to research this topic. The authors were motivated to work on this subject both by their strong belief that libraries should serve all members of society and by their c...
Summary: The project had seven main objectives: 1. To establish the extent of the lapsed borrower problem in other countries and thus confirm whether or not it is a local or cultural problem. 2. To examine customer loyalty to establish what factors can be identified which might contribute to customer loyalty and to identify library practice world-wide which follows such factors. 3. To show conclusively, and in detail, factors which libraries can bring to bear which might...
Preface/Executive Summary: ?Customer satisfaction? ? already old hat for many libraries? Unfortunately not! When searching the specialist librarian press for terms such as ?customer satisfaction? or ?customer orientation,? HERNON/ALTMAN (1998:8) state that they found hardly anything. They classify the available literature as ?[...] overwhelmingly, even oppressively, behaviorally based: uses, not users, system performance, not patron perception.? Furthermore, the terms cu...
Prologue: The Third Mourner?s Eulogy. Once, the Buddha sat under a bo tree. Disciples gathered in the shade and listened to his voice. To learn, they had to come within earshot. And in that place they formed their community of believers. There was no other way. Then his words were written down. First, the laboriously hand-written holy books were kept in monastery libraries, where the faithful could come to read. Long after he was dead, they could travel to these book-cen...
Summary: New information and communications technology has a tremendous effect on enormously the quantity, diversity and quality of information transmission and hence the work of the public library as information broker. It is worth noting that this effect is not just limited to the supply side of information transmission, but that it applies within the process of information transmission, that is to say within the core business of the library. There is therefore no ques...
Executive Summary: The digitization phenomenon in public libraries is firmly established and continues to grow rapidly. While traditional media continue to enjoy high use, the public constantly demands the adoption of new methods of communication and information transmission. As locally situated information institutions, public libraries are singularly positioned to offer unique content to the digital realm. Local historical resources are particularly excellent candidate...
Executive Summary: This report has been written to affect the interest of public library managers regarding the possibilities of e-government for libraries, and designed to help them become involved in the e-agenda of their local authorities and/or national government. It examines a number of common strategies among leaders in e-government service provision. These strategies include access; linking communities online; transactions; content; and learning and development. ...
Introduction: This paper will try to identify the Internet-based services that public libraries may offer at the beginning of the new millennium. The authors are aware of the difficulties and the limits of this exercise. Indeed, technical, social and political conditions are changing so quickly that any finite plan would be difficult to adhere to. The authors are well aware that the term ¯future-oriented® used in connection with public library services could indicate tha...
Excerpt: Rationale for the paper. The study was undertaken because partnerships are growing in number and significance in the libraries of the nations in the European Union, North America, Australia and New Zealand. Partnerships increase because networked computers create the need for cooperation among different government authorities and public libraries and because national and state government officials, recognizing the transforming power of new networked technology, ...
Introduction and Concept: As a result of reading the professional press in their respective country, the majority of librarians are familiar with initiatives in their own field. However, the new initiatives will almost certainly relate to the narrow world of librarianship. Many librarians do not appear to look to other businesses for inspiration and ideas.
Summary: This paper relates how Helsinki City Library created management self-assessment in the form of Assessment Criteria for Mastering Quality and how to use this tool. It also reflects the author?s experience of library management during the past 12 years. The work is put in a wider context in two ways. On the one hand I use a brief search of library management literature, and on the other hand the Quality work is described as a part of the general development work d...
Abstract: When we think of personalization or personalized Web content, most of us think of home pages like My Yahoo! or My AltaVista. However, those personalized pages are usually only additional features limited to the content offered on that particular site. This research goes beyond understanding personalization to an examination of different perspectives in view of which personalization should be applied to the library environment. It also provides concrete examples...
Introduction: What is the topic? In recent years there has been increasing discussion on the role of the public library. The discussions have ranged from the defining of the role of the public library to more recent moves to incorporate the public library as a key player in the learning society. Major reports in Australia and Great Britain have indicated that unless public libraries are prepared to accept that they have arrived at a critical moment in the development of ...
Executive Summary: Few people entering the library profession anticipate their careers being directly affected by the governmental process. Those who plan to move into public library administration typically anticipate their challenges being library-related rather than politically-related. They are surprised when they find that much, if not most of their time, is spent on issues seemingly unrelated to day-to-day library operations and played out in arenas away from the i...
Introduction: Education professionals have long written and still write about the importance of early reading, about how it must be taught in the schools in order to help children?s future evolution at school and in life. What teachers have always considered natural, however, seems a bit elusive for some librarians and public libraries in some (so-called) developed countries. Yet we librarians surely consider early reading a core issue as well. The UNESCO Public Library ...
Management Summary: Customer self service, the taking over by patrons of parts of library-work processes, is a powerful tool in reallocating library resources to new media and information technology. The new tool creates possibilities for introducing new products and processes beside the more traditional library business. Identification of patrons and materials by barcode is a reliable technique and can be used with great success in self service when combined with electr...