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proACTive

Number 221: March 2002

Helen Roberts, our ACTive ALIA president is enjoying a well-earned holiday. In her absence your committee has put together the front page column to highlight recent events and issues.

National Library Peak Forum
The National Library convened a forum of library peak bodies in February. ALIA, CASL, CAUL, FLIN and representatives from public, TAFE, school, special, law and health libraries attended. The event provided an opportunity to discuss a very wide range of library issues, in a positive and open manner. The meeting will be reported in inCite, but ACT readers may be interested to know that the group came up with actions covering:

development of an opt-in/opt-out national site licensing model;
co-operation to develop the national electronic collection of Australian materials;
research into user behaviour;
a national approach to a co-operative store - develop a set of protocols;
defining a service model to ensure that users, wherever they are located, can access information easily;
articulating principles of mutual support.

For all these library groups to come together and agree on actions for the whole industry is a major step forward - as projects progress there should be major benefits for all of us!

Image of librarians
For many years we have discussed the image of library and information workers and been concerned at the stereotype of an older woman with a bun saying 'Shhhh'. Well our image may not be as conservative as you may think - a recent advertisement http://www.hhgproject.org/honda.jpg promotes a car as 'The automotive equivalent of a really hot librarian.' The advertisement goes on to say 'Good-looking, yet intelligent. Fun, yet sophisticated.' A wonderful example of a view of the modern librarian!

Treasures exhibition
The National Library's 'Treasures from the World's Great Libraries' exhibition has proved exceedingly popular. Visitors to the exhibition broke the 100 000 mark on Tuesday 19 February and opening hours were extended to 5:00am for most of the final week. With queues starting from well before midnight during the final days the exhibition has demonstrated a great interest from Australians in libraries and collections. You can still view the website for the exhibition at http://www.nla.gov.au/worldtreasures/ and obtain copies of the catalogue from the National Library's bookshop.

And now for the news.....copyright
The next ALIA ACTive meeting will be on the topic of copyright - providing an opportunity for you all to come and hear Nick Smith (see page 3 and Events), and perhaps more importantly bring forward any questions you have about copyright, particularly digital issues. The complexities of copyright have not gone away in the last 12 months, and some terrific work has been done by Nick in his roles as National Library of Australia's Copyright Officer, Executive Officer for the Australian Digital Alliance, and Copyright Adviser (Law and Policy) for the Australian Libraries Copyright Committee. Helen Roberts is a member of ALIA's expert committee and is a source of great information for us all as well.

What's happening to ALIA numbers in our region?
This is the time of year when our editor looks at how many copies of proACTive he has to mail out, compared with previous years - a good check on membership movements up and down. This month 420 copies will be sent out to addresses in the Canberra region; this figure compares with 421 in the same month of 2001, 464 in 2000, 496 in 1999, 546 in 1998, and 514 in 1997. So numbers are about the same as last year, but still down on earlier years. (And for the first time, 33 copies will be mailed to ACTive ALIA members outside our region.)

Are we perhaps becoming less active in our association? The events column seems rather short this month: only 5 items, no different from the 5 items in March last year - but there were 9 the year before.

The problems of recruitment and retention in ALIA are just as great as ever. We have to be sure that ALIA is known as a lively and exciting body that librarians want to join. That means greater activity and greater participation - and making sure that members and potential members are aware of what you are doing. Your newsletter is ready and willing to publish your news, but it can only tell your colleagues what you tell the editor.

Interlending and Document Delivery benchmarking study
Tom Ruthven gave a fascinating talk on the this landmark study to the ACTive ALIA group last month. In this short article he summarises the main points of that talk, explaining how the study unlocks the door to delivering effective and efficient services to users.

Five key recommendations came from the 25 000 pages of data collected from 97 libraries across Australia:

1. Examine workflows to ensure there are as few steps as possible involved in the ILL/DD process
The most efficient libraries had the least number of steps involved in obtaining an item. Examples are:

patrons creating their own requests electronically,
obtaining over 90 per cent of items from the first library approached, which is related to the training and expertise of staff, and delivery of electronic copies to the patron's desktop.

2. Implement an automation package or include an ILL module in the next tender for a library system
Automation was identified as a decisive factor in every performance criterion. This included the use of utilities such as the Kinetica Document Delivery Service.
The analysis showed that investment in automation is a marginal cost. Large gains in effectiveness and efficiency can be made for a relatively small investment in automation particularly when its implementation is combined with the streamlining of processes.

3. Ensure ILL/DD staff are well-trained in the resources and systems used
Staff are the major cost component of ILL/DD units and maximising their efficiency and competency results in the greatest savings as well improvements in the effectiveness of the service.
Investment in training staff to make them expert searchers and knowledgeable about key resources contributes to a faster and more effective service.

4. Add and maintain holdings on union catalogues, particularly the National Bibliographic Database
Libraries are more efficient suppliers if they minimise the time spent on processing requests for items they do not hold. They are more effective requesters if they have access to up-to-date information about other libraries' collections.

5. Investigate options for co-operative agreements with,key requesting and supplying libraries
Well-regulated co-operative agreements assist efficiency and effectiveness where, for example, there are no fees, there is a joint electronic system to enter and track requests, and members co-operate and share information to ensure the system works smoothly. Benefits include reductions in administrative costs and a greater availability of material for patrons where there are more liberal lending policies in place between libraries.
The main measures used to assess and compare performance were unit cost, fill rate, turnaround time, for both requesting and supplying activities. The average turnaround time varied from 7 calendar days to 19 between the 10th percentile library to the 90th percentile. The ability to find items for users varied from 99 per cent of the time to only 77 per cent. The average cost to obtain one item was 32.10, but it cost the 10th percentile library only $11.72 to obtain an item and $63.96 for the 90th percentile library.
The National Resource Sharing Working Group, which conducted the study, is developing a series of initiatives to help libraries address the outcomes of the study, including:

Training courses for ILL/DD practitioners, focusing on improved work practices, use of tools, and how to obtain knowledge of collections.
Seminars to discuss policy issues aimed at chief librarians and senior executives in organisations to discuss the efficiencies that can be achieved and how to achieve them.
Model workflows, promoting the development and implementation of ILL/DD software, and providing information on equipment to inform libraries of options that are available.
Encouraging libraries in Australia to benchmark their ILL/DD operations against this national and sectoral set of data.

Tom Ruthven

PEARLS
PEARLS (Previously Employed Australian Retired Librarians) met again on 11 February. Eight people attended, including two new members. Following a suggestion earlier this year, we discussed whether PEARLS should become an official ALIA group. It was decided that, for the moment, we would remain informal and unstructured. In this spirit we continued our practice of conversation, coffee and cakes. The food at Backbenches was, as usual, of a high standard. Throughout the afternoon, not one Mortal Sin was committed. Next meeting on Monday 8 April. Contact: Jon Prance, ph 02 6255 1857.

Jon Prance

Conference Reports: VALA and Off Campus Services
For those ACT ALIA members unable to attend two recent conferences - ALIA's Off Campus Library Service Conference, 'Your Time, Your Place, Your Off Campus Library Service' and the VALA conference 'Evolving Information Futures' - I thought a very brief overview might be of interest. I will deal mainly with VALA this month, and return to 'Off Campus' in April.

At VALA keynote speakers such as Howard Besser (UCLA School of Education and Information Studies) and Daniel Greenstein (Digital Library Federation) dealt with the philosophical issues of defining what constitutes a 'digital library'. Greenstein presented a potted history of the first three generations of digital libraries and what the key challenges are in building a 'digital library service environment'. Besser spoke of the services and traditions that are a critical part of the functions libraries serve, and contends that while we have come a long way in the past seven years in building digital collections, 'The collections we build will not truly be digital libraries until they incorporate a significant number of these services and traditions.'

Joan Lippincott, Coalition for Networked Information, went beyond the digital library and looked at concepts of envisioning and building a cyber-infrastructure, a framework for developing inter-relationships between computing, networking, libraries and people. Joan also suggested that in a networked electronic environment librarians should see themselves as co-explorers rather than always being the expert and move towards collaborative learning, particularly with students.

Another keynote speaker, Christopher Chia from the National Library Board of Singapore, made us very envious of the broadband infrastructure in place in Singapore, which has enabled the NLB to develop an inclusive information future for Singapore's citizens. After giving us a picture of the NLB's moves towards a digital library, Chris spoke of the need to prototype and reinvent, but not to spend too long in contemplation. He also recommended that we run fast - before others catch up! - and be able to demonstrate results to attract further funding.

A thought provoking paper on information literacy was provided at VALA by Chris Blackall of the ANU, who discussed some implications and problems of the information literacy standards published in 2001 by the Council of Australian University Librarians. Chris proposed the use of informatics as an inclusive model to overcome barriers to implementing the standards and also thought we should try to find alternative terminology. The concept of literacy in its own right was being lost with its use in relation to information skills, IT skills, visual and graphic skills, etc.

The concept of 'open linking' (for example, linking from within and between journal articles) featured strongly at VALA with a paper by Miriam Blake from the Los Alamos National Research Library on the implementation of the OpenURL and SFX architecture in that library. SFX and an alternative, Linkfinder Plus, were being marketed at VALA, together with associated products to assist in handling the plethora of information sources and attempting to provide a single interface to clients.

Some other items which may be of interest:

NetLibrary is now operating as part of OCLC, the good news being that the minimum number of titles required is now 25 (www.netlibrary.com);
3M and the National Library Board of Singapore have worked together on developing RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) for library materials, which has resulted in a highly automated check out/ check in service (both functions now undertaken by library clients) together with automated sorting of returned material;
TalkingTech demonstrated a very useful phone software facility that hooks into the library circulation system and 'reads' out to a client what's on loan, etc (including titles if wanted). It also enables libraries to send SMS messages to clients.

Unfortunately, the conference papers are not available on the websites for either of the two conferences, but the conference programmes are and you could contact the listed person for details about obtaining paper/s. Go to http://www.vala.org.au/vala2002/prog2002.htm (VALA papers are normally available for purchase), or to: http://www.alia.org.au/groups/off-campus/

As a final, lighter note: at a breakfast hosted by EBSCO, author Monica McInerney owned up to what would have to be an interesting and fairly exclusive inclusion on a CV, when she admitted to having been a scriptwriter for Humphrey B Bear!

Jan Gordon

Copyright for libraries
Once upon a time, libraries were simple affairs. Librarians bought books and other publications, put them on shelves for people to borrow and shushed people who were too noisy. The copyright law rarely interposed itself into this cosy relationship - shelving, lending and reading books were all free of the tangles of copyright law.

These days, the digital library cannot exist, much less operate, without paying attention to an increasingly complex set of copyright laws. And on top of this all come the increasingly difficult dictates of licensing agreements...

Nick Smith will talk about these things to ACTive ALIA at 5:30pm on Wednesday 13 March (see Events), 'hoping to at least open the road map to begin navigating our digital future...' He is the NLA's copyright officer, executive officer for the Australian Digital Alliance, and Copyright Adviser (Law and Policy) for the Australian Libraries Copyright Committee.

Helen Roberts, who will also speak on 13 March, is a member of the ALIA Copyright and Intellectual Property Advisory Group.

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