The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) is the professional association for the Australian library and information sector. ALIA seeks to promote the free flow of information and ideas in the interest of all Australians and a thriving culture, economy and democracy and to improve the services of libraries and other information agencies.
Established in 1937, the Association has 5500 individual and 1300 institutional members. ALIA represents the interests of the library and information sector and its clients, including Australian university libraries and their users, and is the organisation with responsibility for professional recognition of first award programs in library and information studies in Australia. The Association therefore welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations, Small Business and Education References Committee on the capacity of public universities to meet Australia's higher education needs.
This submission has been developed by the Association's Board of Directors and focuses mainly on the first two terms of reference.
(a) the adequacy of current funding arrangements with respect to:
the capacity of universities to manage and serve increasing demand;
and;
(iii) the quality and diversity of teaching and research
Well-resourced libraries are essential to support the teaching and research roles of the university. Universities can only provide quality education when they offer access to scholarly information to students and researchers alike, thus enabling them to increase their knowledge and critically evaluate results of research.
The Association supports the statement by the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) that funding constraints on universities impact directly on the ability of university libraries to meet research and teaching needs. At a time of technological change which is changing the way in which scholarly information is accessed, external influences are also impacting on university libraries and affecting how they provide access to information resources.
All Australian libraries, but especially research libraries (which purchase 80 per cent of their information resources from the US and Europe) have been greatly affected by the reduced value of the $A since 1972. This has an ongoing impact on university libraries because it limits libraries purchasing material or providing access to electronic information resources with consequent implications for the quality of education that the university is able to provide.
The cost of scholarly information, particularly journals, has also risen well above CPI increases worldwide. Some universities have provided part compensatory funding on a regular or more commonly irregular basis. However the severe overall funding constraints on universities has limited their capacity to compensate their libraries on a regular basis. The result has been generally a continuing severe decline in the purchase of books and other print resources, despite the fact that print publishing is not declining and print mediums continue to be a primary resource for many university programs. This decline in print acquisitions has also resulted from the need for university libraries to fund the lease or acquisition of a rapidly expanding range of electronic products to which, unlike other countries such as Canada, there has been no significant contribution by the federal government in the form of support for national site licences, though recent developments following the report of the chief scientist, Robin Batterham, represent a beginning. However, although overall funding may limit the capacity of universities to respond to the difficulties in which their libraries find themselves, more of them could provide for automatic or hedging provision for exchange rate fluctuations in particular.
Recommendation: That universities be required to demonstrate that they have in place financial management policies which minimize the impact of fluctuating exchange rates and inflation on library services.
(b) the effect of increasing reliance on private funding and market behaviour on the sector's ability to meet Australia's education, training and research needs, including its effect on: the quality and diversity of education;
and;
(iii) the adequacy of campus infrastructure and resources
As student numbers increase and academic staff reductions have resulted from rationalisation of departments and schools within universities, librarians have an increasingly significant role in supporting the teaching role of the university. As 'partners in learning' with academic staff, librarians have the capacity to respond to the individual learning and information literacy developmental needs of students. Working together with academic staff, librarians can create an environment in which learning is student centred and resource based and where there is the opportunity for enquiry, evidence based learning and information literacy development.
Increasingly, students from culturally diverse educational backgrounds, some with limited experience within the Australian education system, are enrolling in Australian universities. Further, many universities now engage in entrepreneurial activities to recruit students from overseas. With the increasing internationalisation of campuses greater demands are being placed upon libraries and their staff. The very accessibility of the library encourages overseas students to seek special and sustained assistance from library staff because of the students' lack of familiarity with finding and critically analysing information. The acceptance of overseas students impacts on teaching staff as well as library staff as greater demands are placed on both to inculcate information skills in students from backgrounds where independent work and thought was not required in earlier education.
The importance of enabling students to develop their information literacy skills cannot be overemphasized. Too often, however, from the current federal government down to the institutional level, this key issue of the so called 'information age' is simplistically viewed as information and communications technology and the 'digital divide'.
Information technology is mainly about the movement of data and information through networks, but more information results in 'infoglut' and 'datasmog' which may well interfere with learning and understanding. Sheer abundance of information and technology will not in itself create more informed citizens without a complementary understanding and capacity to use information effectively.
This understanding and capacity is now described worldwide as information literacy, which is defined as any understanding and set of abilities enabling individuals to 'recognise when information is needed and have the capacity to identify, locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information'. An information literate person is a person who has learned how to learn, and is able to:
- recognise a need for information
- determine the extent of information needed
- access the needed information efficiently
- evaluate the information and its sources
- incorporate selected information into their knowledge base
- use information effectively to accomplish a purpose
- understand economic, legal, social and cultural issues in the use of information
- access and use information ethically and legally
- classify, store, manipulate and redraft information collected or generated
- recognize information literacy as a prerequisite for lifelong learning
ALIA strongly supports the information literacy development of all Australians and the conclusion of the 1990 NBEET study Developing lifelong learners through undergraduate education that information literacy
;is consonant with the reform agendas in government, in communications technology and in education;with employers' demands for an adaptable and responsive workforce. It is increasingly multidisciplinary and must be included across the curriculum at whatever level of education or training we are involved in. And finally it is consistent with the notion of lifelong learning and the fact that the only constant is change' (Candy 1994 p139).
It is therefore highly commendable that university libraries have taken a leadership role in this issue, as evidenced by the Information literacy standards published in January 2001 by the Council of Australian University Libraries, copies of which are available from ALIA National Office, and that a number of universities have responded well by emphasising information literacy in their list of generic student attributes, although the emphasis in some cases could be stronger and more specific.
However, taking a leadership role in the development of students' information skills may impact significantly on university libraries' resources and their capacity to provide other services which support the teaching and research role of the university. If the library is to provide leadership in information literacy development and at the same time continue to support teaching and research through services such as, for example, document delivery then this must be recognised in the allocation of resources to the library. Without adequate resourcing libraries will be forced to reconsider their level of support for the development of information literacy skills and/or service provision. The quality and diversity of education can only be maintained where sufficient staff and other resources are available to support both information literacy development and the provision of key library services.
Recommendation: That the importance of information skills for national development be recognized such that the development of information literacy skills becomes funded as part of mainstream services offered by university libraries.
Higher Education Council (1990) Library provision in higher education institutions NBEET Commission report no.7 Canberra, AGPS
Candy, P and others (1994) Developing lifelong learners through undergraduate education NBEET Commission report no.28 Canberra, AGPS
