IS554: Public Library Management & Services

Bharat MehraSchool of Information Sciences

14 March, 2006

Culture, Globalization, and PLs

Agenda for the Day• Student Presentations

Topics Covered: Library Governance, Library Identity, Marketplace Dynamics/Advertising, Personnel Management, Finances, Policy Development, Collection Development, Library Products/Customer Services, Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright, Technological Infrastructure, Technical Services and Cataloging + Classification, User Involvement/Evaluation + Assessment

• Website Critique: Design, Layout, Aesthetics, and Content

• “Lesson Plan” Discussion

• Readings for today (PLs in a Multicultural Society) plus past readings (if there is time!)

Tips for a Better PL Website

• What is the purpose of the website supposed to be?

• Decide what you want to include (KISS principle: keep it short and simple)

Tips for a Better PL Website

• Good things to have on a website

– Brief description of your PL, its products, and philosophy– Library hours and location– Major library services (statement of subjects covered): link

to collection development policy– Short circulation/use policy– Charges for services– Tricks– Notes for special software or add-ins– Copyright regulations – Attractive design

How many of these are applicable to your PL’s website?

Essential Elements of a PL Website

• URL Persistence

• URL Simplicity

• Contacting the Library

• Don’t Overlook the Basic Facts– Official name of the PL; Complete street and mailing

address; Phone numbers; E-mail address; Hours of service; Link to OPAC; Description of facilities/collections

“All the Better” Elements of a PL Website

• Findings aids or electronic gateways

• Directory of library staff

• Site index of all pages within the website

• Search box for finding information within the site

Does your PL website fulfill these expectations?

Avoid unnecessary frills: Flash animations; Sound backgrounds; Special effects transitions

Website Design and Content Design Mistake Violation Score

• Slow download times 84%• Non-standard link colors 17%• Long scrolling navigation pages 15%• Scrolling text or looping animation 12%• Frames 11%• Orphan pages 10%• Bleeding-edge technology 7%• Complex URLs 6%• Lack of navigation support 4%• Outdated information 1%

URL: Who Commits The "Top Ten Mistakes" of Web Design? http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990516.html

Website Design and Content • Avoid cliches

• HTML standards

• Novelties

• Get to the point

• Overdoing it

• Keep it fresh

• Layout design

• Browser neutral

• Graphics quality

• Total page size

Website Design Tips• Website Tips http://www.websitetips.com/

• Web Design Tips http://www.colin.mackenzie.org/webdesign/

• Great Web Design Tipshttp://www.great-web-design-tips.com/

• Web PaGE Design and Layouthttp://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Design_Arts/Graphic_Design/Web_Page_Design_and_Layout/

“Lesson Plan” Discussion

URL: http://www.sis.utk.edu/~bmehra/IS554/PMPtemplate.html

• Content Flow of ideas Aesthetics

• Presentation Writing style Design and layout

The goal is to make the “lesson plan” concise and sharp (aesthetically and incontent) that another reader may enjoy and provide relevant information aboutthat topic in their own PL to the IS 554 author as case-study material for theauthor’s “lesson plan.”

Thomas Moseley: Library Identity Karen Carty & Jessica Piper: Marketplace Dynamics and Advertising Allison Andrews & Kathy Grimenstein: Personnel Management Martha Hendricks & Sharon McDaniel: Finances Kathleen Dolan & Amy Adams: Policy Development Lisa Bannister & David Anderson: Collection Development Rebecca Brock and Anna Joujan: Library Products/Customer Services Susan Fisher & Herschel Pollard: Intellectual Property Rights and Copyright: Shari Clayman, Rachel Kirkland, Greg Miller: Technical Services and Cataloging and Classification Jennifer Anielski & Christina Tracy: User Involvement/Evaluation and Assessment Nadine Hawke and Marsha Griffith: Library Govenance

OPL Readings pp. 1-9; 127-154 Issues and Perspectives • 21 new Nordic research papers on PL issues from a seminar held at

the Royal School of LIS in Copenhagen on 10-11 December, 2001

• LIS education, research, and practice (AL, PL, LIS Schools) long-standing tradition of cooperation: Do you perceive the same in the United States? What are issues that are the same and/or different in terms of planning and management? In terms of the three themes?

• Cooperation implies: Joint meetings and conferences Meetings for heads and managers of libraries to develop joint research

and development projects Funds for research available through national library bodies and

governmental agencies as well as internal academic and public library institutions

Student research and practicum Institutionalization of LIS research Some topics: IR, info. Seeking, IS paradigms, informetrics, knowledge

organization, domain analysis, intellectual substance of LIS PL research in “soft fields”: social and cultural contexts, collection

development, media and information resources

Content and Contextual Determinants

• 12 articles by Danish authors, 3 Norwegian contributors, 2 Swedish authors, 1 Finnish scholar

• Determine areas and topics that have received high and no attention; which areas of attention are changing

• Topics of Interest– Digital public libraries: Internet issues, virtual reference, digital

community information services, Closer links between traditional library functions and learning resources and processes

– PL Management: Change, leadership styles, development of leadership tools enabling PLs to represent value and outcomes in socioeconomic terms

– Challenges related to multicultural PL issues: Integrate ethnic minorities in PL contexts

– PL history (tradition) and change: Innovative theoretical approaches

– PL Identity: theory-practice interface

Methodological Perspectives

• Classic positivist perspective is losing ground; research designs seem to be more rigorous and reflect greater maturity and sophistication

• Greater interest in mainstream (universal) theoretical perspectives adapted from social science and humanities contexts

• Hermeneutic approaches, social constructivist perspectives, discourse analysis (Foucault and Bourdieu’s sociological theory of culture, Wenger’s learning theory)

• Increased focus on qualitative studies and interpretative approaches

• Interdisciplinary analytical perspectives and theoretical constructs (anthropology, art history, cultural studies, philosophy, history and sociology, economics)

• Challenge “information paradigm”: Significance, role, and meaning of PL in everyday life

Missing Gaps

• Dearth of macro-level studies of PL development and cross-country studies of PLs

• Few scenarios and projects that examine the role, identity, and tasks of PL in the knowledge society, dream society, postmodernist society (contemporary context)

• Lack of projects exploring library finance themes and issues in information economics and PLs role in life-long learning

• Challenges for PLs and development of ICTs: access, maintenance of freedom of information in the face of dominating telecom monopolies, media conglomerates and data transmission companies, re-signing of Patriot Act like laws

• PL practitioner’s viewpoint: Theory vs. practice debate

Research Concerns of PL Community Members and LIS faculty are the Same: Do you agree?

• Role and function of Danish PL county libraries of concern in the face of establishing regional resource centers: Is the debate relevant in the United States?

• Development of national digital infrastructures for libraries (web-based access to national union catalogs) issues of concern

• Marked collective focus on products and services, new systems and facilities. Does this leave less room for the user in PL environment?

• How does the library staff respond to various new challenges and changes? Blurred demarcation line between professionals and semi professionals, PL librarians and professionals from other disciplines

• Is there a joint Nordic understanding in the PL field? Does Nordic PL have a distinct profile of identity? Can you relate it this statement about PLs in the United States? Are there any threads of common grounds in the context of US PLs?

Future Directions of PL Research

• Meetings between LIS educators, PL practitioners, and researchers

• PLs as consumers of research produced in LIS academic settings

• Research spread amongst the academic community and the PL community gets left out

• Tap into media communication via oral media, publication outlets (journals, professional magazines, newsletters, books, reports, web presentations and mailing lists)

• Center to bridge gap between LIS research and practice, Series of lectures

• Positive climate for research in Nordic LIS academy on PLs, Negative aspects is that Nordic PLs are fragmented and parochial in dissemination of results in other countries. Is this applicable to PLs in the United States?

Usability Studies and Focus Groups as Methods for Developing Digital Public Library Services in a Multiethnic Society (Agot Berger)

• Surveys show that web-based library services are preferred by immigrants

• Paper shows how different types of user surveys approaches—focus groups and usability studies—might be combined to optimize targeted web-based library services

• Trends in changing character of migration: globalization, acceleration, differentiation, feminization, politicizing

• Reasons for migration: access to modern ICTs, Uneven economic development, Political and religious repression and civil unrest

Topics for Discussion

• Immigrant users’ needs: Results from Refuge for Integration

• Different approaches to study user needs

• Methods used in Refuge for Integration

• Usability tests in developing a portal for minority women

• Conclusion: Different methods, different influence

National Identity as Cultural Policy with Emphasis on the Library as an Institution (Andrew Cranfield)

• Role and character of national identity when seen in conjunction with national cultural policy

• Danish Minister of Culture (Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen) stressed importance of renewed debate about national values in an effort to strengthen lost feelings of community

• Paper outlines Minister’s policy statements on national identity and her attempt to bridge the gap between national and global perspective: Does it sound relevant to the United States?

• Three theoretical perspectives on national identity that form three-tiered model to support Minister’s political standpoint

Key Points

• National identity as cultural policy

• Few, if any, would claim that cultural institutions (museums, theatres, libraries, archives) “are in any way specifically insular in their understanding of society or that their preservation of thoughts, writings and artistic impressions of a society could be construed as problematic.” Do you agree?

• Usual definition of culture: synonymous with art and artistic production; Williams’ definition: a whole way of life, material, intellectual and spiritual

• Question: To what extent can a society continue to exist without some kind of consensus on the common values and common culture on which that society is built?

• Does this mean a loss of national identity to a nation of subcultures? Sociological, cultural, and political threats

• National/global hybrid discourse: national identity is a “decisive factor for being able to meet other cultures with respect. We must work out who we are and who we wish to become—i.e., to be able to carry something with us into a future global context.”

• How can PLs play a role in such a new policy initiative?

National Library and Local PLs in Australia: A Portal for the People based on New Access Paradigm

• National Library of Australia plus 5 PLs

• InformationAustralia: 12 month pilot web portal for Australians

• Integrated approach based on inter-institutional collaborations

• September 2003, Australian Bureau of Statistics reveal increase in Internet access (5 M Australians subscribed through ISPs end of March 2003: increase in 11%)

• Increased library Internet service: catalogues, subscribed services, electronic journal collections, reference services, technical infrastructure for authentication to support access to digital library services to the desktop

Moloney, Missingham, and MacKenzie, 2004” http://vala.org.au/vala2004/2004pdfs/64MoMiMa.PDF

National Library and Local PLs in Australia: A Portal for the People based on New Access Paradigm

• Goal: Easy to use access, relevant and timely, integrated services extend targeted access to defined sets of resources owing to maturity of technology: a single "Google-style" approach to a range of Australian print and electronic resources

• Need for a user-friendly interface that enabled simultaneous searching of several different databases. T

• Portal aims to enhance access to quality information resources using federated searching of Kinetica’s National Bibliographic Database, Australian Public Affairs Full Text (APAIS FULL TEXT) and PictureAustralia.

• Can this be possible in the United States? Why or why not?

Moloney, Missingham, and MacKenzie, 2004” http://vala.org.au/vala2004/2004pdfs/64MoMiMa.PDF

Objectives• Develop better access to Australian print and online

resources for community across thenation through an Internet based portal

• Develop a new business and funding model for access to these resources and the materialfrom the National Library’s collection to support public library needs;

• Enable document delivery through direct access to online resources or via the Australianinterlibrary resource sharing network; and

• Evaluate the service and the needs of Australians for access to online resources and collections in the nations’ libraries.

Deliverables • Working portal supporting access to a

range of Z39.50 compliant data sources and inter-lending workflows;

• Research into the information needs of Australians including interface and content issues;

• Development of a business model applicable to a range of Australian public libraries.

Technological Issues • InformationAustralia was developed using the National Library’s standard in-

houseapplication development framework, based on the Java programming language, the Apache web server, the Tomcat servlet container and the WebMacro scripting environment

• InformationAustralia searches several different standard formats, MARC (NBD and APAIS Full Text), Dublin Core (PictureAustralia) and index (APAIS Full Text) format simultaneously

• The portal distributes the query to multiple Z39.50 targets in parallel, searching keyword searches on author, title and subject fields. It then waits for the results, which are formatted and sent back to the user as they arrive

• Hence, results from Z39.50 targets, which complete their search quickly, are visible to the user even though some targets have yet to return their results

• The upside of parallel and asynchronous searching is that the user gets some results quicker. The downside is that results from the targets are returned in an unpredictable order.

Customer In-Reach and Library Strategic Systems: The Case of ILLiad

• Libraries have walls

• Interlibrary Loan Department at Virginia Tech is creating systems and services that enable customers to cross walls at anytime and from anywhere

• Immediate delivery of services 24-7 H. M. Kriz, 2002, http://www.ill.vt.edu/ILLiadDocs/CustomerInReach.pdf

Lessons Learnt• Understand nature of the walls

• Customer service goals first, technology second

• Twist your metaphors: “Outreach” and “in-reach”

• Think big and have a holistic understanding

• Think small in contextual responses

• Do it now

TRENDS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: LIBRARY AUTOMATION CEOs SURVEY

Functionality

• Unicode: Vendors with more powerful codes will increase their viability (especially in the context of other languages)

• Content enhancements: add book covers to OPACs

• Digital libraries: What software to use?

• Metadata: MARC records for all sorts of media

• Portals and content management: most portals aggregate, not select or filter

Connect these to User-Centered Issues

Trends in Information Technology: Library Automation CEOs Survey

Seven Ps of the Information Age (Shaffer)

• Privacy

• Property (intellectual or tangible)

• Personalization

• Preservation

• Protection (security)

• “Pretty good” validity

• Propriety (pornography and mores)

How do these matter in providing user-centered services?

Trends in Information Technology: Library Automation CEOs Survey

• Consolidation of information

• Cost of information

• Control and hearing from different viewpoints

• Development into marketing and sales

How do these play a role in providing user-centered services?

Trends in Information Technology: Library Automation CEOs Survey

Focus on individual and usability “Your job is not envision the future but to enable.” Do you agree?

Impacts on Technology and Vice-Versa

• Patrons• Libraries as collections• Staff• Caring about knowledge and information

Security vs. Accessibility

Can we restrict or monitor access without complicating accessibility or infringing on people’s rights?

Fundamental Principles

• Security and accessibility are not antithetical, but are necessarily antagonistic. You cant do both at the same time: Know what the limits are in your setting

• Decide what risks you can live with and making technology perform towards those expectations

• Information and awareness are our only defense—the right information, and only the right information, to the right people at the right time

Security vs. Accessibility

• Ledbetter’s three principles of accessibility

– Obviousness: Information is not accessible unless it is obvious how to find it: “Intuitively obvious” Know your users to know what is obvious to them

– Simplicity: Information is not available unless its easy to get at

– Veracity: Information is not useful… unless its true and we know that its true: Authenticity, Accuracy, and Authority

Advantages and Disadvantages of Weblogs

Advantages

• Web becomes a two-way medium (reading and writing)

• Staff weblogs become insights into organizational culture

• Relationships can be nurtured between service providers and patrons

• Collective weblogs as rich resource for peer learning• Voice to marginalized groups

Advantages and Disadvantages of Weblogs

Disadvantages

• Difficult to impose control

• Requirement for regular updating

• Tendency towards vanity publishing

Libraries Today and Tomorrow: Local Automation

Automation can provide library operations (circulation, cataloging) achieve real efficiencies

Acquiring MARC records is at the heart of the automation process: Does this conflict with user-centered issues?

Determining the best way to acquire MARC records through various retro conversion options is the most critical decision when planning for automation

Libraries Today and Tomorrow

• Broader and far-reaching concerns when PLs incorporate access to national electronic databases

• Digital reference services: what type?

Question: Whether your library is automated or not, if you had to make a decision about buying an automated system, what features would you look for?

Cataloging and Organization

Cataloging accomplishes provision of systematic access to the PL’s collections

Cataloging materials in all formats and then logically organizing materials on the shelves, providing access to documents via author, title, and subject

How will this impact user-centered services in small libraries in the context of: digitization, culture-specific materials?

Cataloging and Organization: Questions

• Describe your library’s procedures for cataloging in terms of: amount of original cataloging done; whether AACR2 and Sears are used and to what extent?

• Approximately how much does it cost the library in staff time and dollars to create an original cataloging record? If you purchased most of your catalog records instead of creating your own, how would you use the extra time?

• How do you account for user-centered issues in these processes?

Cataloging and Organization: Questions • What difficulties do your customers have in

using the catalog?

• What do you do to teach people how to use the catalog?

• What library materials should circulate? What should remain in-house?

• Should any library materials be labeled or restricted in any way?