Understanding the Needs of Tomorrow's Library User: Rethinking Library Services for the New Age
2000; Volume: 13; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1839-2466
Autores Tópico(s)Library Science and Administration
ResumoMarion Wilson Resource Management Coordinator University of Newcastle Received April 2000 To provide the services people want and need, librarians need to know what those services are. Providing facilities and services simply because they can be, has never been good business practice. Technology is merely a tool to enable delivery, not an end in itself. The digital or hybrid library is a white elephant if it exists only because it is digital. People must want what libraries deliver, or libraries become irrelevant. Librarians need to make sure they know what it is that people want. Edited version of a paper presented to the QPLA conference Maroochydore March 2000 Libraries have traditionally provided their readers with what librarians thought they should have. In the modern industrial world, the public library movement was largely engendered by the establishment of schools of arts and mechanics' institutes, so that the working class could better themselves. Thus libraries supplied worthy texts and moral tracts, designed to make people better fit the world as the Victorian ruling classes wanted it to be. People were to better themselves, but only within their class distinctions `The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate, God made them high and lowly and ordered their estate'. This form of library arrogance, that `we know what's best for people, and that's what we'll give them' continued, to some degree, until relatively recent times. It is only in the past couple of decades that we have actually begun to ask people what their wants and needs are, and what should libraries be doing for their clients. Of course this indicates that over time there has been a major shift in the public perception of the role of libraries. Where once libraries and librarians were seen as providing what was a generic good for people, now there is an expectation that people have a right, particularly in public libraries, to the services available--and those services should continually adapt to meet individual as well as societal needs. Finding out what clients want and need Different types of libraries provide for different types of clientele. Corporate and academic libraries have very specific demands in the type of service and material they provide; public libraries are often forced to cast a wide net in an attempt to be all things to all people. Yet all libraries must know whether what they are providing is relevant, timely, readily accessible and convenient. They must also know where they are going next. Finding out what clients want and need from their libraries is the foundation stone of planning, delivery and staying alive. A wide range of mechanisms is available to establish client needs. Surveys, focus groups and seeking direct feedback from clients are popular. So, what do people want? Consistently, clients of academic libraries report their most pressing need is that their materials--texts, recommended readings--are available at all times. This is probably an expected response from academic library clients. Yet the availability of materials appears as a top need for public libraries as well.[1] Perhaps the clients of different types of libraries are not as divergent as we commonly believe them to be. Technology Technology can assist traditional methods of readily providing some materials, via digital collections of books and journals, with many legal constraints such as copyright and licensing, already being negotiated or currently under review. The Digital Agenda Bill will attempt to address many of the copyright provisions which affect digital resources, although it is having a rocky road. The services we want to provide are increasingly affected by legislative or other external requirements. However, the availability of required readings is only one example and relatively, not a very exciting one, of what we can offer with the electronic world. …
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