Editorial
The Nordic region was the first area in Europe to appreciate fully the benefits of applying ICT to the provision of public services, and public library services were given strong leadership by central government. Also, resources were made available to set up national electronic networks. In 2000, the Lighthouse project was established by a consortium of libraries in Denmark with an aim of training 10,000 local people in the basic use of IT. The skills of more than 100 librarians were used in this project, backed by extensive staff training and support from the Danish Library Centre (Pateman and Newby, 2004). In his article, Pors refers to the distinctive changes in the Danish public library system due to innovative employment of technology and changes in the political and economic environment. He presents findings from two surveys regarding changes in library managers’ outlooks and attitudes resulting in a higher degree of professionalism linked to comprehensive educational programmes.
ICT training at Medway Libraries, UK, has brought more than new skills. It has empowered staff, been successful in team building, helped users, altered the culture of the service and raised the profile of the library service. IT skills are now vital for today’s library service, and many jobs are specifically advertised for electronic/IT positions. Recent examples include “Electronic Resources Librarian” “to continue development of library websites,networked systems and access to e-resources”, “E-Librarian”“to focus on the development of and access to electronic information resources”, and “Web Information Architect” “with knowledge of content management systems and strong skills in designing site navigation, content models and user interfaces”. Bergman, in her article,points out that little has been written about the librarians working in the speciality of electronic resources. She reports on a survey to investigate gender, salary and other demographic information about librarians working in this speciality (mainly in the USA) and links it to a review of gender inequality in libraries and an outline of salary issues in libraries.
The winner of the 2004 Libraries Save Lives Awards was Essex County Libraries’service to traveller sites. The Traveller Education Service wanted to look at ways of offering better access to books for children whilst continuing to maintain its policy of encouraging travellers to use mainstream services rather than provide special services. The mobile library service seemed to be the answer, as its aim is to provide a full range of services for users who have difficulty in accessing library buildings for any reason. However, a variety of issues had to be considered – identification of appropriate sites and establishing a relationship with the site manager, choosing and training the right staff, making available appropriate bookstock, and reviewing the timetable to determine the best stopping times. Stock was an important issue: as well as focusing non-fiction (both children’s and adult) to topics that would be of interest, traveller heritage books, videos and DVDs proved popular. Focusing on another special user group for libraries, Jonsson-Lanevska reports on an investigation into special services offered by Swedish libraries to immigrants. She considers different types of libraries in terms of Herlitz’s guiding theory, and outlines the many considerations involved in selecting the right literature and the role of the librarian as guide and assistant during the complicated process of adaptation.
Open access publishing has been a hot topic for debate. In early 2004, the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee had four days of hearings when they could collect evidence and opinions from both supporters and opponents of open access publishing. Their report Scientific Publications: Free for All? (www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmsctech.htm#reports)has endorsed further efforts to develop the open access, author-pays, model that is appearing alongside the traditional subscription based model, so backing concerns of the library sector about journal pricing and inadequacy of library budgets. The paper by Chan and Costa provides a review of recent trends in the open access movement and discusses their significance for access to information in developing countries. Significance is highlighted in the areas of medicine,agricultural and environmental sciences and development literature. They note opportunities for libraries and publishers in developing countries to disseminate local research and also the need for true collaboration.
Requests for access to EU documents have increased greatly since an openness regulation was introduced in December 2001. However, a report indicates that specialists have comprised the majority of the beneficiaries, and EU institutions have been criticised for a lack of transparency (http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgc/acc_doc/index_en.htm). Another report (www.creativeclass.org)considers policies which restrict the flow of scientific information. Its findings suggest that tolerance is valued more highly in Europe than the US, and this gives Europe the potential to attract the best to its most dynamic regions. Two articles in this issue relate to the EU. Hubregtse considers the digital divide and the extent of Internet connectivity within the EU. His focus is on the enlargement of the EU in 2004 from 15 to 25 member states. He comments that the digital divide in the EU has widened substantially since the enlargement,caused by regional lack of technological infrastructure together with cultural and psychological factors. Juznic and Badovinac also consider the enlargement of the EU, but in terms of library and information science (LIS) education and the new members and other applicant countries. The results of their analysis show that the long history of traditional library education in these schools was not a great obstacle to new professional and political standards, as curricula have generally been changed to those of modern LIS schools, and EU outlines regarding higher education have been embraced.
Linda Ashcroft
