Case studies
Case study 1: A major Hong Kong university library
(As written by Steve O’Connor for the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Press)
Background
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is the largest publicly-funded tertiary institution in Hong Kong in terms of number of students, with 26,000 full-time and part-time students (or 15,116 FTE) and an academic staff population of 1,128 FTE. It is an institution which is quickly evolving from one with a strong focus on excellence in teaching to that with a dual purpose of teaching and research. As such it is an institution in transition. This transition is in a higher education environment which is competitive within Hong Kong but increasingly within the wider context of the fast-developing mainland Chinese institutions. Further institutional pressures are to improve its position in the global rankings of institutions. These pressures create a variety of opportunities and difficulties for any library ordinarily but more so when considering the changes which all libraries are going through in the new digital environment. The PolyU Library was dealing with this situation in three languages: English, Cantonese and Putonghua. The situation in which this well-managed, staffed and resourced library was operating was complex. It needed to set new directions; it needed to determine its future with clarity; it needed to do all of this while bringing its user communities and senior university academics along on the journey. The library staff would always be the key change agents.
The management of the library understood the challenges facing them and elected to engage in a scenario planning process for a number of reasons. Firstly, the library wanted to engage the university community in choosing the options and directions for the future. Many changes were confronting the university, so it was crucial that the university management understood the opportunities facing them with regard to the positioning of their library.
Secondly, the library had been well managed with a longstanding management team. Early in 2007, the previous librarian had retired after 34 successful years in the position. Many of the staff had been with him for much of this period. With a new librarian in place it was felt important at one level to validate where the library was strategically but also to test the community and the wider environment as to where the library could be.
Thirdly, the scenario planning process was an excellent opportunity to meet with the library’s community to present the issues which confronted the library and also to explore the pressures within the academic and student communities. It was hoped to gain a clearer understanding on both sides of what was desirable and what was achievable.
Fourthly, it was hoped that this process would involve all the library staff and create in this group of nearly 160 persons an understanding of the library’s position and the need to explore change. It was hoped to enlist all these people as agents of change as the process progressed.1
Preferred Library Scenario
The ‘Learning Hub’
The PolyU Library in 2011 continues to be located on a land-locked campus, in the middle of one of the most densely populated parts of the world, but is now everywhere else at the same time. Its strong reputation for being busy is still true but it has successfully fused the information and study worlds; fused the physical and digital into one; fused locally produced and commercially produced information for the benefit of the University research community. This is a seamless world of quality information from the web, large sets of digital books and journals as well as great collections of books. The information is now even more digital and wherever possible print materials are delivered digitally. This is what is now called the LEARNING HUB for the students and researchers. The Library has focused its services more on outreach than previously. In reaching out it is both visiting the University community wherever it is and also bringing more of that same community to the revitalised Pao Yuekong Library building. In this future, the traditional functions of the Library have been re-defined and re-focused to facilitate the growth of knowledge, collaborative learning, reflective thinking and institutional visibility.
A more comfortable and dynamic learning environment has been created to achieve the best problem-based learning situation whereby students can relax in lounge-type chairs to learn in relative comfort. These new facilities also encourage discussions and interactions between students in the same and differing discipline groups. It is a meeting place of people and minds which now includes both a quality coffee shop and small bookstore. This has created a new sense of energy and excitement. Exhibitions, performances and events also make this area a cultural hub of the campus. The Library’s merging of information and people has made the campus a more vibrant place.
The lighting in many study carrels has now been tailored for the individual, thus creating a personalised study environment. Previous complaints about noise have been addressed in 2011 with the creation of more targeted discussions and interactive spaces. The study patterns and habits of each discipline are encouraged and supported in a library environment which has been architect re-designed with as many of the study needs in mind as possible. In all of this the Library has sought to be carbon-neutral, reducing its use of energy in many ways including programmes to reduce the consumption of paper and genuinely staying electronic. The Library and its users are leaders in this movement and have adopted and embraced the motto: ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’.
Not content with only the physical meeting spaces the Library has created new Facebook-type social spaces on the net in which information is being communicated and exchanged. Like its commercial cousin, the PolyU Library-book digital site has proven to be enormously popular as a space in which to navigate through in search of information. It is very relevant and in tune with the emerging groups of students who think, study and communicate very differently to the previous cohorts of students. Through this new style of library the students are finding masses of information which are both exciting and assisting their studies. The Library serves as an information gateway to staff, students, alumni and the wider community. It is difficult not to recognise the extent of the Library presence across the University. Virtual Librarians or avatars roam the Library web presences providing instant assistance. These ‘Avatar Librarians’, fluent in Putonghua, English and Cantonese, are instantly available to users on computer screens both on campus and remotely in the digital virtual information world. They have taken up the important role as information mentors. Information Literacy programmes, delivered both in physical and virtual space, prepare students for research at the University level, and to become successful life-long learners.
The Library has succeeded in creating boutique web spaces for each Faculty which are friendly and responsive to discipline interests. This has been especially well received in the lead-up to the creation of the 3-3-4 program. The users from each discipline feel that they have a space or a place to go to where they will be directly understood as they can speak their discipline language. The physical spaces in the Library have been made more personal, more conducive to learning and less anonymous.
The Library is very cognisant of the new students and has adjusted its systems to meet these new fluencies. A reputation has been gained by the Library for its anticipatory use of future technology, communication systems and devices. The LEARNING HUB lends itself now to a more active role in assisting learning and in partnering with different learning agencies on campus such as the Educational Development Centre. Informal discussions and collaborative group work are also more effective for the different study zones which have been created within the physical fabric of the Library building with the enhancement of Level 7. Those with learning disabilities find even more support.
The information available through the Library continues to be in both print and digital forms although the digital resources have grown very sharply from 2007. Support of the University’s research effort has been focused more in close consultation with Faculty and University policy-makers. As a knowledge hub, the Library also collects all the research output of the University’s Faculties and, in turn, highlights this work digitally to the University and importantly the World. The scope and richness of the important but lower-use research materials have increased markedly with the development of JURA as a HUCOM jointly-owned research repository. PolyU Library has strongly contributed to this important research centre. Hong Kong has maintained its strategic position as the regional information lighthouse. No country in this part of the world is able to match the academic resources now so readily accessible to Hong Kong academics.
This LEARNING HUB Library in 2011 is very much the kind of Library which was needed and sought by the members of the University community. They are proud of this new style of Library and the leading example it provides in Hong Kong and internationally.
Case study 2: A major Australian university library
(Kindly agreed to by Andrew Wells)
Background
This organisation had been very innovative in years past but with a very long-serving and stable staff who were reluctant to consider, let alone embrace, changed circumstances. The average age of this 200-member-plus staff was more than 57 years. The budget of the library was not as strong as in previous years and was under prospective challenge. The library’s organisational structure into subject libraries located within a single physical building had been very innovative in its time but now found itself in a very different Internet world and lacking focus on a single strategic direction. Politics between various sections of the library made it difficult to move the library’s purposes beyond a common grasp of the glories of the past. The new library leadership sought to examine new horizons and directions but found only resistance. The scenario planning process created three things. Firstly, by embracing the university community in a very public dialogue, the library staff was drawn slightly out of defensive postures to recognise some need to change. It became clear that the university community saw the library very differently to that of its well-established staff and expressed these views strongly. Secondly, the scenario planning process developed publicly (again) three viable scenarios for the future of the library. These futures were described not as futures which might be achieved but as different futures which had been realised in three years beyond the present time. In this way these choices, to some extent, were stark choices which the university administration and its library could choose to follow. Finally, by making this process very future-orientated and very public the community was empowered in a way in which it had never been engaged previously. This empowerment spoke loudly of the kind of digital world in which the library now found itself. It is clear that the digital world enables the individual to change much in their environment. So the engagement of the community in making choices was, at once, risky in a political sense but powerful in that through the process, the community felt that it was able to influence the direction of its library.
This Library embraced, at the end of this process, a scenario which was titled ‘The Learning Village’. This very public articulation of a direction had been agreed to by the community and the administration. Library working groups went about the tasks of defining what these changes would mean. They described the effect which these changes would have on the staff that would be required to implement this new vision. The process had achieved much but, as much as a shirt worn inside out gives the viewer a very different view of the wearer, so it was for the library staff that had their views of the library turned inside out.2
Scenario 1
Not the present, but …
The University Library opted to continue the path of growth to ensure that the collections are the main focus of the library’s efforts … something of which the University could be justifiably proud. The University Library sought to allow for the very significant expansion of space needed to accommodate the sizeable collection of resources with a rapidly declining capacity to house library users. The sizeable numbers of books and serials purchased from university resources, as well as from extensive donations (much of which is yet to be catalogued) had grown at such a rate, even with diminished financial resources, that the existing building had the lowest ranking for seat availability amongst university libraries in NSW.
The Library building has become a huge repository of materials with the disciplines physically separated in respective special libraries. The complexity of locating information in the Library has not been reduced. Limited space has been made available for computer work-stations and group study areas. Still users are seen wandering the corridors of shelving in search of materials. The staff profile is changing to meet the need for the collect and despatch services.
Finding it more and more difficult to meet the in-house technology needs of the information users, the Library compromised the competing demands of collections, staff and students with a less in-person service mode of operation. The profile of the Library on campus became more diffuse while seeking to ensure that as much information was available as possible.
The digital services have not totally replaced the physical collections and the formats of some information are available in physical and digital form. It became necessary, for space reasons, to locate the professional staff into the Faculties away from the Library itself. These staff provide course support as well as information literacy programs from within the Faculty structure. Information literacy training is carried out in the facilities of the Faculties because the Library has not been able to develop these spaces within its space priorities. The Library is constantly juggling service need, staff capacity and information acquisition. Budget priorities are complex with a mostly distributed staffing but a heavy requirement to service the vast collections spread across many floors.
The University Library’s long tradition of innovation and responsiveness to academic and library user need has developed to this service model as a response to present priorities and an uncertain future.
Scenario 2
The Unseen Library
The University community has engaged rapidly and completely with the possibilities of digital communication, access and work. The students actually prefer to work completely from their laptops to engage with their curricula and to complete their subject assignments. They naturally wish to receive their subject outlines and other materials digitally while submitting their assignments in the same way. Their essays pass through electronic plagiarism detection in the process of being assessed. This is a new value-added service from the digital expertise of the Library. Many students rarely come onto the campus. They do so more for social than academic reasons.
The academic staff are in a similar position, working from home or their studies reliant on the Internet for professional stimulation and the exchange of information. Often their lectures are not delivered in person. The University Library has adapted to this by pruning its collections significantly to focus on the most highly used materials and providing as much as is possible online. It has consigned ownership of much of its pruned low-use collections to collaborative storage facilities that guarantee digital return of requested materials directly to the requesting user. It has also put into place effective partnerships enabling the library user to have unmediated access to a wider range of materials delivered digitally from a much larger ‘collection’ than had been previously ‘owned’ by the University. The users are very pleased with the power they have to request virtually anything and to have it delivered promptly to their desktop. In the highly competitive world of scholarly monographs the Library has negotiated deals to ensure a far better access within 24 hours than had previously been the case. This was achieved through collaborative profiling of academic research areas.
The users take information literacy courses online and have learnt to critically analyse, filter and navigate through the masses of information with the online assistance of librarians who are contracted to work from home, an office or wherever to assist the academic staff and students achieve excellence through information. A number of these services are available for a fee as a value-added service for the time-pressed coursework student. The Library staff skill mix is significantly different as they work to ensure the best information portal development. The information accessed is a complex web of contractual arrangements negotiated by skilled information professionals.
The lower cost per information unit has enabled the Library to invest more in navigation technologies, partnerships and resources than previously. It is now a truly 24/7 operation working closely with Faculties. It is occupying considerably less physical space than in previous years but, in other senses, is more pervasive.
Scenario 3
The Learning Village
Marshall McLuhan’s axiom of ‘learning a living’ has been a profound driver for the operation of the new University Library. It has harnessed the capability of highly academically oriented people with the stimulation and excitement of ideas. It has built a learning space for the academic community where the power of digital and analogue information has been channelled in an interactive environment. The Library has created the spaces where true collaborative learning work occurs infused with the accessible relevant information. The sources of information are as broad as the user wishes them to be. They are not confined to one discipline or another. Ideas from philosophy have been seen to stimulate solutions in biology, while business colleagues have gained generic models from engineering structures. It has attracted international attention as a supportive strategy.
The learning interactions have seen collaborations between disciplines, previously distant, creating new areas of international research and student learning. These spaces are flexible but are comfortable for users of all levels and attitudes to feel at home. The spaces are thoughtfully equipped with wireless and other emerging technologies. The emphasis is on different uses of space rather than on discipline. This fertility carries seamlessly across in the Internet environment but has characteristics which are unique to the UNSW Learning Village.
Recognising that information needs are constantly changing, the Learning Village has established a network of information suppliers from both the commercial and educational sectors. All services are recognised as belonging to, although not necessarily provided by UNSW. Researchers know from experience that they now have access to a much more dynamic information environment stimulating serendipitous yet systematic discovery. The Learning Village nonetheless contributes most strongly to the provision of, and even creation of, scholarly information in Australasia/Asia.
The area is staffed by Info-Learning specialists (ILSs). Like the Learning Village, these professionals have outgrown older boundaries to respond to the challenges of not just retrieving information but setting it in contexts for educational use. They select services and information to further the educational and research impact of UNSW in the region. The measures of success are not in the volumes or serial titles owned but in information provided and solutions to problems addressed in the learning context. The research community thrive in this environment, finding stimulation in the relationship between teaching and research, and in the excitement of new insights into complex research problems. The students and researchers of this great University realise that while their own futures are not tied to the present or the past, neither is their University Library, which is responding in thoughtful and energetic ways.
Case study 3: CAVAL Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
(As written by Steve O’Connor and agreed to by the Caval Board)
Background
CAVAL Ltd is a consortium based in Melbourne, established in 1978. It was established primarily as a cataloguing consortium for the academic libraries in the Australian state of Victoria. In the course of time, the union cataloguing operation grew and was developed by the National Library of Australia into a National Bibliographic utility. The consortium had been established as a company under Australian Company Law. At the time of constructing the new scenario, it operated essentially a small multi-lingual cataloguing operation and an emerging storage facility of low-use research materials for the owners of the company. The company’s board of directors were looking for new directions which might make the company more stable and sustainable. They were also interested in reducing the financial costs to their own libraries. The new CEO ran a widely based scenario planning exercise drawing out three possible scenarios. Only the final scenario which was accepted by the board is included here. This scenario also suggested a new trading name for the company. This name CAVAL Collaborative Solutions was adopted and used in all promotional materials while the name CAVAL Limited was retained for legal and company purposes.
Scenario
CAVAL Collaborative Solutions is a dynamic, entrepreneurial company which has grown from its solid beginnings as CAVAL. The company has developed to serve a wide customer base – museums, galleries, archives as well as libraries across Australia, New Zealand and the region while still being owned by Victoria’s Vice Chancellors and the State Library Board of Victoria. The service quality, cost efficiency and scope of businesses has, in the early years of the twenty-first century, begun to be more attractive to the private sector. The company is well positioned to serve the wider information community including public and special libraries.
The establishment of the new company has enabled its customers to enjoy an increasing range of professional development opportunities and value-added services with the further benefit of these being achieved in an environment of reducing membership fees and charges.
CAVAL Collaborative Solutions has significantly expanded the range of products and services it offers without diminishing its commitment to its core services of a digital and analogue repository and a national borrowing and authentication service. These services have continued to expand over the years and still are a major focus of the organisation.
In the early stages of its growth CAVAL Collaborative Solutions added a range of new services including training and performance consulting services in partnership with other high-quality providers. This was followed by a recruitment and ‘locum’ service. A full disaster management and recovery service has also received considerable interest from a range of organisations across the region. The broad range of services provided the cash reserves to develop new markets and introduce new technologies.
The success of CAVAL Collaborative Solutions in Victoria quickly attracted the interest of libraries across the nation as well as in New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. The involvement of other libraries has added significantly to the critical mass of resources which can now be made available to the staff, students, researchers and wider community who can access the print and electronic resources using the latest technologies and delivery systems. The new services and new technologies mean that the organisation increasingly provides service transparently to library users, often through the traditional market of the libraries themselves. This new focus has created an even stronger culture of customer service within CAVAL Collaborative Solutions.
While CAVAL Collaborative Solutions is increasingly able to distribute services directly to users, the organisation also uses the available technology to enable its members to overbrand services with their own logo and identity. This allows members to significantly expand the range of offerings to their users without adding to their infrastructure and costs. They are able to concentrate their intellectual and financial resources to provide the highest level of direct customer services while allowing CAVAL Collaborative Solutions to provide as a partner the time-consuming and technologically sophisticated infrastructure tasks so necessary for the provision of information services in the new century.
The success of CAVAL Collaborative Solutions in serving the region’s libraries has created interest from other cultural institutions which are also seeking efficiencies in a world of tight budgets and increased calls on their resources.
The CARM repository has grown significantly to house several million volumes, in print and electronic form, and is a leading part of a National Repository system occupying several sites across the nation. It is also a high-tech repository for resources from galleries, museums and archives. The focus is on providing access to digital and analogue information irrespective of the location of the client. The company’s skill base has enabled effective extension to the provision of a Digital Imaging and Indexing Service which is much in demand.
CAVAL Collaborative Solutions is continuing its strategy of investing in leading edge technologies to manage and make available resources to its clients. The expertise which has been built by CAVAL Collaborative Solutions in deploying new technologies has created a major business opportunity with information management and consultancy forming a high-revenue business unit in its own right.
CAVAL Collaborative Solutions’s innovative focus has also led to its recent strategic alliance with an innovative Australian owned multi-media web company. Partnerships and commercially strategic alliances represent major opportunities, and a major direction, for CAVAL Collaborative Solutions and its customers.
The size, reach and innovation of its services also ensure that the organisation is a key, and equal, player alongside the great and small library and cultural networks of the world.
New services, strategic partnerships and new customers are the watchwords of CAVAL Collaborative Solutions.
Case study 4: SOLINET scenarios
(As kindly agreed to by Kate Nevins, Solinet/Lyrasis)
Background
Members were asked to participate in the discussion via an e-mail invitation. Those able to attend received a copy of all three scenarios prior to the meeting date. Scenarios were developed to depict libraries three to five years into the future, without reference to specific library types or sizes.
Discussion groups contained 10 to 20 people. The discussion was formally facilitated to obtain feedback through the following process:
1. Introduction of all participants, purpose of discussion, and context of scenario planning.
2. Full group divided into three small groups, each to discuss a different scenario and answer the following questions:
(a) What aspects of the scenario are likely for libraries in 3–5 years?
(b) What aspects of the scenario are not likely in 3–5 years?
(c) Is there anything important that is missing? (Are there likely changes in 3–5 years that are not represented in the scenario?)
3. Small groups reported out on their discussions.
4. Small groups reconvened and discussed ‘What can SOLINET do to help your libraries reach the desired future?’
Notes and flip charts were kept for each discussion, and the results of those were combined into a summary report. A link to the finished, web-based report was emailed to all individuals invited to participate in the discussions.
Scenario A
Moving to the Front of the House
This library is serving its community with energy and drive. Resources (staff, collections, and space) have been re-allocated to directly support service goals. Staff resources in particular focus on ‘front-of-shop’ operations, to ensure that the library remains as relevant to the information needs of its community as possible. The library is re-evaluating and frequently outsourcing repetitive and routine processes that do not directly serve users. At the same time, collaborations with non-library organisations are increasing, to better meet a range of community needs within the context of the library (for example, academic libraries are collaborating with tutoring, advising, and technology services on campus to support students, and public libraries are collaborating with local government agencies and businesses to expand access to community services).
Collections are a mix of analogue and digital resources. The book is still important to most users, and digitised materials available in paper format through such services as on-demand printing make up an increasingly large part of the library’s acquisitions. The library is very conscious of the cost of storage for valuable but lesser-used library collections, and it has sought ways and means to store these materials in off-site facilities. Not only is this more cost effective, but offsite storage also frees up more space for user services.
Cost is a significant driver for the administration of the library and its governing agency. The need to justify plans and account for expenditures is paramount. While the library does prefer to have regular suppliers who understand their information and service need, cost is a primary factor in decision-making. To meet accountability expectations, the library relies on assessments of its performance relative to similar organisations. It also invests more resources into obtaining feedback from users and providing ‘return on investment’ reports to the community.
Services are designed to meet assessed needs and be accountable to a defined community of users.
Technology is used to support service to users and re-design of traditional library functions to reduce costs.
Collections are developed to meet immediate needs of users, with reliance on interlibrary lending to supplement local resources.
Buildings are community and service-oriented, although funds to renovate are limited.
Staffs are skilled adapters of technology, with expertise in service management, assessment, and contracting.
Scenario B
The Lithe Physical and Digital Library
The library collection in 2010 has actually shrunk in physical size, but it delivers much more digital resource than it was ever able to deliver as a mixed-media library in previous years. The content of the digital media in the library includes a wide range of materials, from print through music, art, datasets, and interactive games. Some of the library digital collection is ‘born digital’ and some also exists in analogue format. Increasingly, the library acts as the repository and venue for digital resources produced throughout its community. While many library users are never actually seen (they access the library from their home, office, classroom, etc.), ever larger groups of users still come to the physical library for collaborative work and study space, socialising, and community services. There is a ‘wallpaper’ collection of books, but the vast array of resources in the library are digital.
With limited financial buying power, libraries have elected to adopt a strategy of digital delivery for the content they do not hold directly through subscriptions. This has resulted in the delivery of material in digital form that had been only available in print form previously. Wholesale retro-conversion of print resources into digital is still economically challenging for most libraries, but digital conversion is possible for material of immediate use and high value (such as unique, local, and special collections). Digitisation and technology extend the library’s resource reach beyond the region into national and international realms.
The library maintains a strong but flexible staffing arrangement and secures the skill experts it needs when it needs them. It does this so that it can offer the best services to a wide range of users, including an enthusiastic new group of Generation Y and younger users who have different styles of study and service expectations than other groups. With constantly evolving technology and user expectations, libraries invest significant resources in staying ahead of the curve. Although the library still has a strong sense of its physical presence, it is keenly aware that even more usage of its services and content occurs in homes and offices across its community. Users mix the content received from the library with the huge amount of ‘free-to-air’ resources they can access from the web. They are able to do this with a sharp appreciation of how to evaluate content from both sources because of education programmes the library offers both in person and remotely.
Services are primarily digital, both to local and remote users.
Technology is the basis for provision of library services and access to library information resources and collections.
Collections are primarily electronic. Print and other analogue formats are being converted to digital formats.
Buildings remain the physical anchor of the library. They serve local users as a community centre and function as the physical base for the staff and technology resources that drive service to all users.
Staffs use forward-thinking technology skills to be community leaders in information technology.
Scenario C
The Collaborative, User-Driven Library
Library services are increasingly customised to meet individual characteristics of their users. Users have a stronger role than ever in the provision of library services, and are active participants in library operations, from design and delivery of information services to selection and organisation of collection resources. The library collaborates with users in providing service. It also collaborates actively with other libraries through local, state, and regional networks and affinity groups, to meet the needs of various and different shared constituencies.
User and library collaboration is facilitated by the strong integration of library resources with common web-based search engines, such as Google and Yahoo. Users find library resources through these mechanisms rather than through a stand-alone library catalogue. Through web-based search services, libraries are virtually joined together in a global catalogue of resources.
As a consequence, library technical services have changed. Libraries acquire most new material pre-processed, so they do not need to invest internal staff resources in traditional cataloguing. Cataloguing that does occur at the library uses more basic metadata standards defined by international organisations, with the primary goal of ensuring discoverability of library resources through web search services. Librarians can easily source their in-house cataloguing and interlibrary borrowing programmes by directly searching the records of all libraries through Google or Yahoo. State and regional networks provide coordination among their libraries to facilitate lending programmes. At the same time, ‘folksonomies’ are increasingly created and managed by libraries and their users, as another means to customise services. This customisation is also evident in collection acquisitions, as more resources are acquired through on-demand publishing and pay-per-view services at the specific request of users.
Library staff are sophisticated technologists, working with others in the community to develop and apply a variety of programs and tools to library services with a focus on those that enhance user collaboration and improve communication and information delivery. Many of these programs are open source. Working collaboratively with other libraries through networks and consortia supports the development of open-source technology in libraries and ensures interoperability.
Services are primarily digital and users are very involved in their design and delivery; the library is a collaborator and facilitator in providing information services.
Technology is developed by the library to facilitate services to users; it is used to streamline internal processes and support collaboration among users and libraries.
Collections are primarily digital, more often leased than purchased, and selection and acquisition decisions are often driven directly by users.
Buildings support the library infrastructure and provide collaborative community workspace.
Staffs apply forward-thinking technology skills to library operations and to building collaboration and community among users.
Case study 5: Public library
(As written by Cal Shepherd. With kind permission of Lyrasis)
Scenarios3
Role of the library in the community
The following scenarios encompass two important trends: funding for libraries and the library’s place in the market or relevance to today’s user. With the assumption that libraries will experience decreased funding across the board, the scenarios project three different outcomes pertaining to the library’s relevance in its community: the library will take on increased relevance, the library’s relevance will remain stable but services will become increasingly virtual, and the library’s relevance will decrease.
Increased relevance
Community and academic coffers have been depleted by crisis responses to a general economic decline along with decreased tax revenue. Funding for libraries is less available. Despite the budget shortfall, however, and perhaps because of it, users continue to use their libraries in record numbers. The cost to individuals of buying books, home computers and e-book readers, along with fees for accessing digital content continues to be a significant barrier for large segments of the population. The importance of digital resources is rising and the library has positioned itself as a source for this e-content. At the same time, government and other services are continuing to move online and the library is increasingly seen as the source for these services.
All libraries are buying fewer print resources and more digital resources every year. The physical facilities are increasingly serving as the gathering place for users – community centre, group study space and learning centre. The library offers learning programmes that are in high demand by the local community and faculty alike and is widely viewed as a valuable partner in community service and education. The library undertakes regular assessments both to ascertain service area needs and to gather data to demonstrate return on investment (ROI).
Staff resources are focused on direct public service and staff cuts have hit especially hard in the technical services area. As a result the library has had to outsource more and streamline back-end activities while direct service to users is increasing. This reduction in technical services is offset by increased customer-created and customer-donated content.
The library fulfils a service role in its community and is widely seen as a resource for service rather than an information resource.
Stable relevance/increasingly virtual
Libraries continue to support their communities as an information resource. Increasingly patrons are using library resources virtually and are demanding remote access to library resources and services. For many library patrons the browsing experience has become a virtual phenomenon rather than a physical reality. As a consequence, library catalogues and websites are quickly becoming more and more user friendly.
In addition to virtual browsing, the library’s collection is increasingly virtual. With the exception of magazines and newspapers, every single piece of print material is an item that is either requested online for pickup at the library location, a print on demand copy, or an item borrowed (ILL) from another library. With fewer physical holdings, the increasingly virtual collection frees up space in the library building; indeed the largest growth area in library services is the extension of virtual activities. The library has an active presence in Second Life and offers frequent webinars and online classes. Its online book group is very popular, as are the other virtual clubs that the library sponsors. Those patrons who do come through the library doors are doing so to self-serve or to take advantage of the quiet study and other space provided.
The skill set needed by library staff is changing rapidly although there is no funding for staff development or retooling of staff skills. With the emphasis on virtual services, the library is depending more on volunteers to supplement the limited staff who don’t have the requisite technical expertise. An enthusiastic group of Generation Y and younger users is helping the library in its move into the virtual arena by contributing to tagging and other Web 2.0 efforts. At the same time their different styles of study and service expectations are putting a strain on the library’s ability to deliver expected services.
The library serves as an information resource for its community of users, who want and expect to find the right information with or without the service provided by the library staff.
Decreased relevance
The amount of time spent reading by the American people continues to decline year after year. Costs of new Internet, mobile phone, audio, and visual devices have plummeted and digital content is accessible by just about everyone from anywhere any time. Advances in technology are making interactive education experiences available in dorms or even at home as much as in the classroom. Because of declining door counts, circulation, and other service measures, the library is seen as being increasingly irrelevant with the exception of its electronic resources. County and university officials are allocating resources to meet more pressing needs and, as a result, the library’s funding is steadily declining. Print collections are stagnant, staff has been reduced, and new library buildings are not being erected. While the library is esteemed in its community it is struggling to stay afloat using interlibrary loan to make up for ever larger gaps in the collection.
The expectations of library users for library services are in a downward spiral as the library increasingly is unable to meet their needs. The library is viewed as a repository for books whether anyone uses those books or not. The library has an active friends group along with a committed cadre of volunteers made up mostly of retirees. These loyal supporters love books and want to do everything possible to make sure the library’s collection is well preserved. The library building with its imposing architecture is often used as the host site for large events such as swearing in the mayor or the installation of a new provost.
Library staff continue to catalogue materials and offer programmes but increasingly users are accessing e-resources remotely without entering the building. Because of the declining customer base the library café closed its doors last year. The library offers public access PCs and group study space which are appreciated by users but not heavily used.
The library is viewed as valuable historical resource (much like a museum) and user expectations for library services are uniformly low.
Case study 6: The possible world of library consortia
(As written by Solinet/Lyrasis staff. With kind permission of Lyrasis)
These scenarios were drawn up by staff at SOLINET. They are provided here with the kind permission of SOLINET.
Scenario A
The United States of Consortia
Growth in centralised funding for provision of electronic resources and library technology/support services through statewide networks/consortia has increased the power of these organisations in provision of services to both publicly and privately-funded libraries (the latter buying into the network as a more cost-effective means of acquiring resources/services than negotiating directly). Libraries find it easier to go to the statewide consortia than to deal with multiple consortia for different services or to figure out which consortia can provide the best deal on competing services.
As a result, consortia are all state-based and provide services only within their state. Sub-state or local consortia have been consolidated and either gone out of business or operate under the governance of the state consortia (as local ‘field’ offices). Regional consortia are gone, and the state consortia form partnerships with each other as needed on a national level. There is little if any competition between state consortia.
Members or participants within the state consortia cooperate on the pursuit and administration of funding (from the state legislature and other sources, such as LSTA), in support of a statewide agenda of services. Decision-making is centralised, and the consortia often (but not always) exist within a state government agency. Membership is automatic for all libraries in the state. Programmes are defined based on the needs of the libraries within the state, and so vary from state to state; programmes can include licensing, resource-sharing systems, courier and delivery services, shared technology systems (ILS, OPAC, etc.), digitisation, and continuing education. State consortia serve public, K-12, and academic libraries, in some cases with shared and in others with distinct programmes.
Infrastructure: formal organisations, often governed by state agencies
Geographic service area: state level
Membership: all libraries within the state (there is no decision to become or not become a member; it is automatic)
Funding model: state appropriation and federal fund (LSTA) administration
Programmes: statewide resource-sharing, licensing, continuing education, courier/delivery services, and technology implementation/support (shared systems?)
Scenario B
Consortia rationalised
Competing interests among a large number of library consortia and stalled or constricted funding have led libraries to limit their engagement in consortia. While still committed to the value of cooperation, libraries are choosing to be members of only those one or two consortia that provide the most direct benefit. At the same time, consolidation of some activities at the state level, such as basic e-resource acquisition through statewide networks, means that some services libraries used to acquire through independent consortia are now provided through state agencies. As a result, libraries affiliate with consortia in two ways: one is an automatic affiliation through a state group (e.g. state consortia, statewide network, or state agency), the other is an individual affiliation with like organisations for a shared programme/ service that is not provided through the state.
State-based consortia/networks provide specific programmes as mandated and funded by the state. They vary from state to state, but tend to be limited in scope to those activities that are common to libraries throughout the state, are logically handled on a statewide level, and/or are funded by a significant level of state resource (such as e-resource acquisitions or courier services). Affiliation is automatic for libraries within the state, although each state’s engagement of multiple types of libraries varies (academic, public, K-12, private vs. publicly funded, etc.). Services provided through the state organisations are funded by state appropriations.
Programme-based consortia are independent organisations without geographic boundaries. They exist to meet common needs of members, in particular those that are not being met through the locally defined state organisations. Membership is a decision made by an individual library based on their organisation’s need for specific programmes or services (such as shared ILS, digitisation, unique e-resource acquisition, shared collections, etc.). Programmatic consortia have clear and focused missions, services, and benefits for members. They are funded by dues, fees, member-contributed resources, and/or grants. Members drive the agenda of the consortia. Competition among independent consortia for members, and libraries’ inability to belong to multiple consortia, has resulted in a few, strong consortia with limited overlap in focus.
Infrastructure: formal organisations
Geographic service area: some state-based, others programme-based so no geographic focus
Membership: automatic for state-based; individual library decision for programme-based
Funding model: state appropriation/LSTA for state-based; a mix of dues and fees for programme-based
Programmes: state-based consortia focus on those activities funded for all libraries with state appropriations, such as licenses to shared e-resources; programme-based consortia focus on cooperation in a range of areas depending on shared interests of their members, such as digitisation or shared ILS systems.
Scenario C
The Wild World of Consortia (Networked Consortia, or Consortia 2.0)
Consortia proliferate in the Web 2.0 world, where social networking enables the development of relationships among libraries at a grassroots level. Individual staff network with like-minded peers at organisations around the world, forming both formal and informal consortia to address common issues or needs. The consortia environment is extremely fluid, with groups evolving and dissolving as interest waxes and wanes. Most informal consortia mutate rapidly as trends change or directions shift with development of new technologies.
Most consortia are informal. A library’s participation in informal consortia is driven by the interests of individual employees; if the employee leaves, the library’s participation in the consortia is likely to end, too. Informal consortia tend to operate on a volunteer basis. Funding for resources the consortia may want to acquire on behalf of the participants is contributed directly by the participating libraries (for example, a group purchase of a specific e-resource).
Fewer formal consortia exist. Those that do are independent organisations with a great deal of flexibility and adaptability, aggressively engaged in innovation on behalf of library members. Affiliation is at the library level, and funding is dependent on dues, fees, contributions, and/or grants. Members must see direct value in return for participation, and consortia spend resources on member recruitment as well as retention. Competition among formal consortia can be intense in areas of programme overlap. In addition to providing programmes/ products directly to members, formal consortia are valued in part for their infrastructure: the predictable availability of expertise and resources. They may also provide infrastructure support for some informal consortia.
Infrastructure: many informal and a few formal organisations
Geographic service area: generally none
Membership: individual by institution or employee
Funding model: wide variety; many informal are completely supported by volunteers
Programmes: wide array, from product and service provision to information exchange