AARL

Conference report: 11th Information Online Conference and Exhibition, January 2003

Roxanne Missingham
National Library of Australia

Once again the biennial Information Online Conference in Sydney drew crowds to discuss new developments and issues for digital library services and collections. The 2003 event was a bumper conference in many ways, with a record breaking crowd of 1500 attending, of whom 1200 were delegates. Speakers came from far and wide, from all points in Australia and many from around the world, primarily the US. The Information Specialists Group of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) should be pleased with the success of the conference - it raised many significant issues. It also provided an opportunity for a conversation among librarians, information technologists and developers that is part of the revitalisation of information services in the internet era.

One major new topic emerged at the conference: virtual reference services. The development of interactive online reference services together with developments in portals are the two major areas where new products and services have occurred. This year without doubt the virtual reference service had its day - with presentations at the conference and publicity of the Asknow! service reaching a much wider audience through print media and Ms Megabite on the Today show!

Fundamental questions were asked about the revaluation of traditional library services through digital looking glasses. Steve Coffman, vice-president for Product Development with LSSI (Library Systems and Services Inc), started this conversation well in his opening address. He suggested that we should all take as a challenge the conversion of the library from a traditional friendly physically oriented space to a dynamic presence in the online world, to avoid becoming an endangered species. With such a challenge, he then noted that over the past two decades there has been an explosion on the production of books and journals (US book publishing figures show that 1.3 million titles were published between 1880 and 1980 and 2 million between 1980 and 2002), and there has also been an explosion in the production of digital information. So what must we do to revitalise libraries in an era of increasing information production and access? Coffman proposed two major approaches - firstly that we need to investigate means of saving money in the provision of services, using mechanisms such as peer comparison, benchmarking, better use of new technology and fundamentally rethinking our services in the digital age. Secondly, he recommended that libraries turn to investigate new ways of making money to invest in the development of services and collections. He used the US National Public Radio (NPR) as an example. NPR moved from core public to core private revenue in a relatively short period, through a range of approaches to see new funding models. One of the strong underlying messages from Steve was that library collections were fundamental to the provision of access to accurate quality information, a prime reason why surveys found that libraries were trusted information access institutions.

If Virtual Reference was 'King' in terms of new development at Online what would the other components of a 'full house' reading of the Online conference be? Starting with a 10 card, I think a common and important thread was the development of niche services and special projects. Beverley Forner, managing director, Thiri Pty Ltd, described an innovative new service enabling small amounts to be paid electronically. Heather Layton, manager, library and information services, DSTO, and Vicki Nicholson, EBSCO Australia, described their project which sought to turn the John Cox model licence for subscribing to electronic journals into reality. Their paper gave some excellent lessons learnt in working with a vendor to obtain a digital collection in line with a library's needs. While the project resulted in adoption of the model licence for a relatively modest proportion of e-journals (5 per cent as I recall from the slides), raising awareness with publishers will, I am sure, have long term benefits to all libraries. There were many papers in this category which I encourage all to read.

The 'Jack' in our full house can be given to the presentations on the increase in production of digital information. The production of digital information increases as does print, not just in quantity, but also in the range of material available. Two presentations on digital production I found particularly interesting. Bruce Heterick, director for Library Relations, JSTOR, covered the issues discovered in the development of an online archive for journals. The early development concentrated on a core of technical and data issues. As time has passed new economic models are developing and JSTOR's aim of creating a sustainable archive appears to be an achievable goal. The significant funding, through Mellon grants, is something Australian libraries may wish were available for similar projects here. Dr Donald Hawkins gave an excellent paper on development of electronic books. E-books have been on the horizon for almost a decade now, with much hype. Hawkins noted that there has been much confusion between reading devices and content in discussions on e-books; and that the range of user interfaces has generally been poor with a range of competing standards making any significant investment by libraries complex. He gave an excellent summary of current work by publishing companies and forecast that the shakeout in the e-book market and replacement of overly optimistic predictions with more realistic ones will give e-books a much better chance for survival and development.

Interestingly the next provocative range of papers, 'Queen' in our hand of cards, concentrated on the need to develop new modes of working together and providing leadership through partnerships in digital projects. A number of speakers from outside the profession, perhaps best represented by Ross Dawson, the founder and chief executive officer of Advanced Human Technologies, called on libraries to take a stronger and more community focused role in working collaboratively to address national needs. Technical developments can be most successful when they are both well managed and focused on priorities. Papers delivered at Online provided a useful reminder about the need to address digital developments strategically.

Virtual reference was definitely the King of our deck. The Council of Australian State Libraries collaborative online reference service Asknow! was launched at the conference, attracting much attention. In a joint presentation with Diane Kresh from the Library of Congress, Elizabeth Dracoulis, National Library of Australia, highlighted the need for such a service, which went live in August 2002. Research on use of Asknow! found that most users are between the ages of 35 and 49, and that 91 per cent of those who used the service would use it again. People in rural Australian have found the service particularly useful, overcoming problems of distance, limited local resources and saving time for information seekers. Diane Kresh discussed LC's collaborative reference project 'Questionpoint', which provide access to information services 'anytime, anywhere, through a collaborative web based network of libraries'. While a library mediated service at present, it has significantly increased access to special information services across the globe.

Finally, the 'Ace' in the hand, to me, was an increasing emphasis on the importance of collections. Barbara Lewincamp from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies gave an excellent paper on digitising material from library collections, including funding issues and the importance of selecting themes that enable relevant material to be made available. The invisible web, which includes a range of digital collections, was well described by Chris Sherman, president of Searchwise. In the closing panel a range of speakers identified the importance of libraries not just in terms of purchasing digital materials, but in building collections which include digital material, taking forward well established skills of selection of material, descriptions to enable access and support services. They also identified the importance of offering traditional library services such as reference and information literacy online. The collections libraries have built over thousands of years remain a core to the development of better digital libraries for the future.

The conference papers will shortly be published online - keep a watch on http://conferences.alia.org.au/online2003/ - I recommend the papers to you.