AARL

Measuring the Performance of Libraries in the Knowledge Economy and Society

Jo Bryson

ABSTRACT Infrastructure, lifelong learning, a knowledge culture, innovation, and information renewal and reinvestment are key components of a knowledge economy and society. This paper explores the value of libraries and information services in enabling a global knowledge economy and society, and how their performance can be measured.

In the future 'people will be doing three things, buying, selling, and freely exchanging two things, information, and information services'.[1]

On the surface, this statement typifies what a large number of people believe the knowledge economy and society to be. That is, an information market in which knowledge products and services are aggressively sold. However, the knowledge economy and society is much more: it is one in which business enterprises, academic institutions and industry sectors are enabled to collaborate in the sharing and transformation of their information and knowledge into a multitude of ideas, opportunities and solutions that create economic and social wealth.

More specifically from the viewpoint of libraries, a knowledge economy and society is one in which:

• Distance and location pose no obstacles to economic development, social intercourse, learning, business success and full participation in society (infrastructure and access)
• Knowledge is increasingly available to everyone, and everyone is skilled to make wiser decisions in all aspects of life (people and lifelong learning)
• A knowledge culture enables new thinking, linkages and abstract thoughts (culture and ideas generation)
• Innovation enables good ideas to be realised into intellectual and social capital to create wealth and social good (innovation, intellectual and social capital), and
• Information renewal is brought about through personal, social and corporate re-investment in information and its related technologies (information renewal and reinvestment).

Libraries and information services have a critical role in this environment. They are not just an information purchaser and provider, they are enablers in a knowledge economy and society. The following explores the various roles and contributions that libraries and information services can make to each of the five key areas mentioned above, and offers suggestions on how their performance can be measured.

Infrastructure and Access

Critical to a knowledge economy and society is the ability for anyone, anywhere to access information in a manner that is convenient, affordable and reliable. The availability of infrastructure, physical and virtual, enables information and knowledge to be drawn from anywhere; and the resulting product or service to be exported anywhere. It also supports social, research and business interaction at any time and in any place.

The knowledge economy and society exists in a multi-network, multi-device environment. In addition to PCs and wireless technologies, access devices include digital TV set-top boxes, digital assistants and consumer appliances such as microwave ovens, refrigerators, and in-vehicle devices such as road navigation systems. Through these devices individuals can choose different ways to access information. Libraries are just one of these channels. They add to the distribution channels, they do not replace them.

To remain competitive in this 'always on' multi-dimensional knowledge marketspace, more efficient and effective mechanisms for creating an 'informed' and competitive organisation or society must be explored. A major difference in service delivery in this environment is in enabling clients' connectivity to an ever-increasing variety of information sources rather than holding the resources in-house. This is achieved by:

• identifying and enabling access to important sources of information that will make the critical difference, and
• utilising telecommunications and other infrastructure to make this information available to their clients through the most appropriate device.

Different ways of inter-linking internal and external collections of electronic information are necessary in order to meet the multi-faceted demands of the different types of user encountered within the knowledge-based economy and society. The ability to weave information and knowledge into flexible and adaptable structures is the key to keeping the library and information service in a competitive position. However, this task is technically and financially challenging, particularly as wireless and mobile applications are introduced. Performance will be demonstrated by the extent to which services integrate all knowledge transmission and knowledge sharing agents so that information access is appropriate in format, convenient, affordable and reliable.

Indicative of this integrated environment, the traditional stovepipe disciplines of librarianship, information technology and telecommunications have already started to merge their expertise to be multi-skilled information enablers. This is happening as aspects of information technology, media and telecommunications converge; and as librarians incorporate technology skills and the technocrats identify content as an important part of service delivery. Wireless and mobile technology require further convergence of expertise in an environment where collectively everyone has a growing responsibility for managing various aspects of electronic information provision to their clients.

In accessing content, convergence is also occurring between telecommunications, new media and traditional methods of publishing. New partnerships are being forged between content providers in the mobile commerce marketspace, database vendors, document delivery agents and publishers of electronic documents. Libraries and information services either complement or compete in this environment, depending on their viewpoint and actions. A considerable amount of energy is needed to understand this new marketspace, its potential offerings and opportunities. For this is the area most likely to pay-off economically in designing appropriate future client services.

The customer now has a choice of information outlets, and an expectation that relevant and accurate information will be available 24 hours by seven days, to the home, desktop and when mobile. Measuring true performance is about understanding, from the customer's viewpoint, the merits, usefulness and value status of the library's services compared with other information outlets, and constantly looking for ways to improve these. This requires:

• understanding the new marketspace, suppliers' and competitors' potential offerings and the opportunities that flow from these
• focussing on knowing the existing and latent customer information needs
• managing and measuring the rate of organisational and technological change to ensure these needs are met, and
• shifting priorities from managing and measuring efficiencies in internal processes to enabling and measuring new tailored services to customers.

Whilst internal efficiencies remain important, organisational prosperity and survival today is based on keeping the customer loyal by enhancing the value of the service in a highly competitive environment. As an example, where increasing majorities of people have a mobile phone, SMS text messages can deliver simple information services or reminder notices to customers at any place, any time. This seemingly simple introduction of mobile tele-communications to deliver customised services to people on the move, may require quite complex changes to organisational processes and mindsets, integrating new technologies with existing ones and the learning of new skills. The performance to be measured in this example is not just the worth or usefulness of the new text messaging service, but the extent to which the new service added value because it was seamlessly integrated into the customer environment.

People and Lifelong Learning

Work, social communication, and the ways in which these and the quest for information are carried out, have all changed significantly in the past decade. Changes in the work and social environment also mean that people must learn constantly and differently to adapt and progress. Learning is no longer limited to formal education; it is part of the experience of life.

Constant changes in technology and the social and economic environment will present lifelong challenges that will be met by the need for changed individual capacities. For example, individuals will need to learn how to stimulate new thinking and be comfortable with change. The finding and keeping of jobs will also depend upon access to lifelong learning opportunities to upgrade skills and knowledge.

Librarians can be key players in the lifelong learning process that enables people to acquire knowledge and become acquainted with issues and use these to their advantage. Individuals faced with a multitude of learning and information outlets need the skills and understanding of how to use these to best advantage. Public libraries in particular can provide access to facilities and training situations in which people can become skilled in the use of different information technologies and in finding information using different media. However, to be most effective in this area, public libraries will need to link with other community access facilities and other education institutions to build a network of learning centres. Collectively, these institutions will build learning environments that enable formal and informal learning.

In addition to the education component, there is a cultural value attached to the learning experience. Past experiences and cultural heritage influence current and future thoughts and shape courses of action, at national, community and individual levels. Culture is defined by distinctive customs, achievements, outlooks and ways of life. It is represented and passed on through oral tradition, pictures, paintings, as well as works of literature. Cultural identity can be found in organisational, community and national records and archives, as well as arts and museum collections. National libraries and public libraries also offer cultural value as a developer of minds and thoughts.

The convergence of some aspects of records management, archives, library, art gallery and museum collections will provide a rich tapestry of cultural heritage to support lifelong learning. For true cultural value, as expressed through importance and usefulness, results from the integration of the collections from all these institutions to provide a complete perspective of the nation's or region's distinctive art forms, achievements, outlooks and ways of life at different stages of its development. The quality and worth of such a cultural collection is in the ability to bring together oral tradition, pictures, objects, paintings, public records, archives, scientific findings and literary works to form a multi-dimensional source of information about ways of looking at things. As with the SMS text messaging example, usefulness and worth comes at a price. In this case it means the breaking down of institutional stovepipes and disciplines that have been governed by the materials they housed rather than people's use.

Libraries also provide a valued contribution to intellectual and artistic development that is not just through their collections. Along with other cultural institutions, they add value in developing individual and collective minds through other programs and activities. Their performance in this area can be demonstrated by the extent to which they:

• create a sense of belonging by being a national or community icon
• enable the sharing of common interests, skills and knowledge through being a gathering place of reference and intellectual stimulation
• uphold the artistic and intellectual side of civilisation through exhibitions and other activities
• conduct learning programs and activities for the further development of minds, and
• enable the continuation of diverse cultures and interests by offering different societies and groups access to meeting rooms and functions.

The value in all these activities has traditionally been seen as a social value that has rarely been quantified in an environment driven by economic rationalism. However, they can be worth much more. Personal experience, access to information and the knowledge gained through the lifelong learning process, can produce new and bright ideas that, given the right innovative environment, deliver economic and social wealth.

Culture and Ideas Generation

The creation of good ideas through the application of knowledge depends upon there being the right cultural environment. Knowledge cultures can be fostered at national, community or organisational level. They exist where people feel comfortable with change and new thinking, are attracted to creative thought, and linkages and abstract thoughts take place through learning and sharing.

At the national and community level, there is a strong community awareness of the importance and contribution that science, technology and innovation can make to the economy and society. Learning and ideas generation are encouraged across the whole community, not just in industry, universities or government funded research agencies. There are also champions at the highest levels in government and industry who understand, and generate an understanding in others of the need for investment in information, education, research and innovation.

The generation of new ideas depends upon there being a supportive community environment that includes opportunities for people to collaborate, share their learning, and collectively use their brainpower and experiences to create new ideas. The most successful of these occur if they operate at both global and local levels. For good ideas to flourish there needs to be either physical or virtual infrastructure where bright people and experts can gather, learn, work and succeed. Scientists, entrepreneurs and free thinkers need both collaborative international linkages and a local space in which they can be clustered or drawn together.

Increasingly research and ideas generation activities are taking place in institutions that are linked with others. An example is the Cooperative Research Centres, which under the Innovation Action Plan are encouraged to form linkages internationally and with small to medium sized businesses (SMEs). Furthermore, it is recognised that the SMEs will want to move in and out of the cooperative relationship. In this scenario, libraries will enable research, knowledge and learning in institutional environments that are international and cross sectoral in nature. Managing these library and information services that are multi-channeled, have international collaboration and changing partners between universities, government research agencies and industry will require new measures of performance, structures and management skills.[2]

Flexibility in the provision of services will be desirable, as the institutions will have various levels of sufficiency in their research capabilities. The ideas generating environment requires the seamless integration of electronic networks into research and work practices, where information is managed and valued by everyone as a key ingredient of success. The value proposition for libraries will be in assisting and enabling everyone to use the multiple delivery channels so that good ideas prevail and knowledge can be shared across a research consortium that may include very large and small organisations. Performance in the area of enabling research and international collaboration can be demonstrated by the extent to which:

• there is a level of fit between all knowledge transmission agents, including people, electronic and intelligent networks, and work practices associated with the organisational culture and research and development strategy, and
• management skills, structures and services are flexible and adaptable in enabling information to be shared in different ways to different types of users in many different locations.

Internally, libraries with strong cultures that value good ideas typically exhibit a number of features. They have a senior management team in place that views the organisation as a community capable of providing diverse solutions. They are willing to let go of 'the old ways'. They provide visible leadership, demonstrate trust in their people and actively support organisational learning.[3] However, they also recognise that in breaking with the past and consciously destroying the old, internal chaos can result. This is minimised by sharing and using corporate knowledge to assess and manage critical issues and incidences from multiple perspectives.

Ideas are more frequently generated when motivation and reward systems encourage the sharing of information and knowledge, as well as participation and contribution in the development of new ideas and innovation. Strong knowledge and ideas cultures create ongoing opportunities for personal development and the learning of new skills, as well as social activities and professional opportunities for people to explore and share new knowledge. For unlike information, knowledge is embedded in people and occurs through social interaction.[4]

Innovation, Intellectual and Social Capital

Innovation is the process that turns good ideas and opportunities into intellectual and social capital, from which new products and services are created. New products and services create new jobs and economic growth. They can rejuvenate traditional industries and create new ones. An example is the Internet, which has rejuvenated the electronic data interchange (EDI) industry into the e-commerce industry and spawned a vast new industry of web designers, web hosts and Internet service providers. Social capital is found in improvements in preventative health care, in better understanding and managing a sustainable environment, cleaner, more energy efficient transport systems, renewable energy, protecting biodiversity, or understanding climate change.

The Chief Scientist has indicated that a key to such innovation is the flow of ideas, creativity, skills and people between the generation of knowledge in our universities and public research institutions and private companies which create most of Australia's wealth.[5] He also recognised that there is a high level of collaboration amongst research and educational institutions, government and commercial entities in fostering innovation and ideas.

In addition to collaborative research effort, commercial knowledge and a feel for consumer preferences are also needed. Innovation and entrepreneurship rely heavily on the interaction between users, producers and the science and research system, in order to translate pure research into a project with a commercial focus. For the process of innovation to flourish, a culture of commercialisation is needed with people skilled in identifying quick failures as well as quick wins, and a secure legislative and procedural infrastructure to quickly enable scientific and technological research to be translated into products and wealth, whilst protecting intellectual property.[6]

Libraries can assist in the innovation process by linking researchers with information about potential users, public and private sector grants and investment schemes that turn a good idea into a commercial product. By constantly scanning the environment, libraries can also:

• provide early warning of developments about competitors, technology, economic or legislative change that could adversely affect the development of the new products or services, and ultimately the business success of the organisation
• identify new markets or business opportunities, by making connections and identifying latent needs, by scanning trade publications or market analysts' reports
• source new suppliers or provide SDI and specific research services to support the innovation process.

Their value in these activities can be measured by the extent to which they add value to the quality and quantity of intellectual capital in the organisation through:

• the provision of early and reliable intelligence about new product and service developments in the competitive marketplace
• support for the innovation process, and
• assistance in research and development for a new products or services.

However, the value of the information service or product must ultimately be judged in terms of the beneficial effects accruing from its use as viewed by those who sustain the costs. Burk and Horton[7] rank or rate the information resource according to its:

• effectiveness in supporting the activity it was designed to support
• strategic importance of the information resource (or service) to the activities of the parent organisation (stakeholder)
• strategic importance of the activities being supported to the parent organisation (stakeholder).

Information Renewal and Reinvestment

For continued wealth to be created, part of the new wealth has to be reinvested in individuals, organisations and society. For the individual this means a commitment to lifelong learning, to progress and change, and to continually upgrading and learning new skills and knowledge.

For corporate environments, a continued investment in renewing information sources and systems is essential for continued growth and prosperity. New ways of sharing and using corporate knowledge, taking advantage of emerging technologies and convergence need to be found. There also needs to be a strong investment in the organisation's most critical resource, its people. Whilst access to information is important, ideas come from people sharing their knowledge. Consequently, there needs to be continued investment in personal development, knowledge generation and knowledge sharing activities.

At the national and community level, continued reinvestment is required in upgrading the knowledge-based infrastructure of educational institutions, libraries and research institutions, content, information technology and telecommunications systems. In addition to this physical infrastructure, there also needs to be an investment in the more intangible processes needed to create an ideas-generating culture, in incentives for research exploitation and the innovation process, in order to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the knowledge economy and society.

At each level, libraries have a key contribution in both a service delivery and advocacy role to ensure information renewal that is essential for continued growth and prosperity. Information, transformed into shared knowledge and intellectual capital, is changing the face of work, education and every other aspect of life. Its effect is felt in changing business relationships and global markets, leading to a new form of 'coorpetition', cooperating with the competition; and in profound transformations of industry structures and international cartels.

The knowledge economy and society is not a telecommunications or technology issue, it is a content issue, and therefore one in which the skills of librarians, information and knowledge professionals can play a part. After centuries of lying dormant, information is now considered to be a wealth generator, not just in terms of contributing to economic performance of the organisation, but as a major contributor to new service-based and knowledge based industries. The information economy now creates one out of four new jobs and the number of job vacancies is increasing. Growth in this area can only be sustained if there is continued renewal and reinvestment in information and its related technologies.

The key performance indicators for libraries in this area will be determined by their perceived worth and importance, and the user's consideration of the quality of service. For if they are perceived to be worth less or of lesser importance than other information services, or the user considers services to be of low quality, then budgets will determine that less is spent on reinvestment.

Conclusion

The information economy and society is ripe with opportunity and challenge for libraries and information services. The creative future will be in doing different things in new ways, in selling new services, forming new alliances and recreating new value propositions in a complex, changing, demanding and interactive world of multiple delivery channels. Collections and disciplines will converge and new management techniques and organisational structures emerge to manage the internationally linked, multi-channel services.

In the knowledge economy libraries can play a strong role in facilitating access to information, in sustaining lifelong learning, strengthening the knowledge culture, enabling research and international collaboration, supporting innovation and the commercialisation of research, and in advocating to ensure information renewal. Libraries also contribute to sustaining social change in the knowledge society. They assist people communicate and interact with each other, learn new skills and ways of abstract thinking, entertain and share cultural experiences in the changing social environment.

The successful libraries in this market space will be those that can differentiate their services from others in terms of personalised, localised, specialised or customised services. They will have to develop new economic strategies, better understand user needs and demands, develop skills of staff and users, converge in new ways and develop new services. The research priorities will reside in the fields of integrated access to distributed and diverse resources, large repositories and preservation and access strategies. Strong political and advocacy skills will be required to assist libraries and information services meet these challenges and opportunities in the global knowledge environment.

In order to retain their current customers, librarians and information and knowledge professionals will need to find the answers to the following challenges:

• how to engage with customers to maintain market position
• how to develop trust relationships with customers
• what is unique that keeps the customer in the service's market space and is not lost to others
• where is value added in services, and
• what is needed to further enhance this value.

Notes

1. Attributed to Michael Dertouzos, Director, Laboratory for Computer Science, MIT

2. J Bryson 'Enabling a Knowledge Economy and Society' Information Management Report August 2001 p2

3. J Bryson 'Putting the K back into the Organizational Equation' Information Management Report January 2000 p1

4. K-E Sveiby The New Organizational Wealth: Managing and Measuring Knowledge-Based Assets Berrett Koehler 1997

5. R Batterham The Chance to Change: Discussion Paper by the Chief Scientist Canberra Commonwealth Government 2000 p9

6. J Bryson 'Enabling a Knowledge Economy and Society' Information Management Report August 2001 p3

7. C F Burk & F W Horton InfoMap: A Complete Guide to Discovering Corporate Resources New Jersey Prentice Hall 1988

Treasures from the World's Great Libraries: A Celebration of Libraries and Human Endeavour

The National Library of Australia has opened a new international exhibition, Treasures from the World's Great Libraries. 'This free entry exhibition is our gift to the nation at the conclusion of the Centenary of Federation and the National Library's 100th birthday. Many of the items in the exhibition are national treasures and have never left their country of origin,' said Jan Fullerton, Director-General, National Library of Australia.

Some of the items include:

• A priceless Gutenberg Bible c.1455 - the first book ever printed in the Western world using movable type
• Alexander Graham Bell's early drawings produced for the first telephone
• Pages from Charles Darwin's manuscript On the Origin of the Species - the theory of evolution
• The failed Olive Branch petition to King George III, signed by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, which sought to avoid the American War of Independence
• The conclusion to the typescript of Martin Luther King's celebration I have a Dream speech
• The famous E=mc2 manuscript (special theory of relativity) handwritten by Albert Einstein
• A highly significant Dead Sea Scroll containing the Ten Commandments (touring for the first time)
• JRR Tolkien's original watercolour illustration for the cover of The Hobbit
• Chester Carlson's notebook describing the making of the first permanent 'XEROX' copies in October 1938
• Extremely rare and precious 3000-year-old examples of oracle bones from China
• A letter from Mahatma Gandhi to Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru dated 1932 indicating Gandhi's attempts to communicate with the British government
• A 1792 manuscript of La Marseillaise, the French national anthem
• Jules Verne's manuscript of Around the World in 80 Days
• Charles Dickens' manuscript of Nicholas Nickleby, and his walking stick and folding cutlery kit
• Jane Austen's manuscript of Persuasion
• Charlotte Bronte's travelling desk and manuscript of Villette
• The first printing of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by Willian Caxton
• Edward Lear's illustrated version of the nursery rhyme High Diddle Diddle.

There is also an online exhibition at http://www.nla.gov.au/worldtreasures/

Countries contributing to the exhibition include Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the United States as well as Vatican City. Australian collections will be represented by extraordinary items from the National Library of Australia and from the State Libraries of New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria.

The exhibition is open from 9-5pm daily until 24 February 2002, except for Christmas Day.

Jo Bryson, acting chief executive officer, Office of Communications, Science and Advanced Technology, Northern Territory Government. From 2002 she wil be principal of Jo Bryson: Making the Knowledge Age Work for You. E-mail: vicjofaz@tpg.com.au.nospam (please remove the '.nospam' from the address).