The Australian Library Journal

The future of the library profession

Writing almost six decades ago Lin Yutang outlined his formula for the ideal mind as three grains of reality, two grain of dreams, three grains of humour and two grains of sensitivity. As we contemplate and orchestrate the future of the library profession we would do well to observe such a balanced approach. We must keep our feet planted firmly on the ground of reason and understanding, develop our vision of what might be, and demonstrate our sensitivity towards divergent cultural, political and economic environments of the nation-states which comprise the modern global community. A sense of humour assists in maintaining our perspective. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said: 'No mind is thoroughly well organised that is deficient in a sense of humour.'

The partnership between the international library and archive communities, which we celebrate today in the form of the Beijing Agenda, represents a critical union of two important arms of the information sector. A certain professional independence, if not introspection, has been a feature of the library and archive worlds in some domains. In Australia each is well organised, has its own distinctive and separate professional associations and education and training courses. With the advent of new information technologies there is no longer a neat delineation between these professions and others beyond. We cannot and will not lose sight of the broader picture and our place within it.

Cyberspace
The evolution of modern information technologies has spawned a new lexicon. Librarians have been called warriors on the information superhighway, cybrarians and navigators in the knowledge economy. While few can legitimately claim such status in cyberspace, all need to aspire to this goal. These new information technologies provide threats and opportunities to the global library community. We must exploit the opportunities or risk our marginalisation in this prevailing world.

Not all information professionals have embraced new technologies willingly. The scarcity of resources coupled with inadequate or inappropriate training has made the choice difficult for many in both the developed and underdeveloped worlds. Some have been swept along on the tide of technological change unsure of where the journey ends. To borrow an expression used by the British war poet Wilfred Owen, they have 'retreated towards the front'. And - to extend the war analogy further - there are land mines out there on the battlefields of cyberspace, and we've already stepped on a few. Copyright, preservation, legal deposit, privacy, content regulation and censorship are all issues which need to be resolved quickly and thoughtfully. We must not become slavish automatons worshipping at the ideological altar of technocracy.

Ideology, says J K Galbraith 'represents an escape from unwelcome thought'. While Galbraith was contemplating a broader political agenda, his observation has application to the ideals we embrace as information professionals. Our adventures in cyberspace are only justified on the basis that they serve the needs of our current and future users. Who are they? What do they want? These are questions we must grasp in order to move forward, in order to convince the influence-holders and resource-providers that information professionals have a central, pivotal, unalienable role in information management and delivery.

To take our place at the centre of the information universe we must move beyond the jargon. The management of digitised library and archival records requires a fundamental shift in our approach to our work. George Nichols, Director General of the Australian Archives summarised the position thus:

... electronic records can be so transient,they can be created and deleted so easily, the media on which they reside can be quite vulnerable, but perhaps worst of all the software allowing access to and use of the records goes out of fashion with alarming speed. This clearly is a shared issue for librarians and archivists.

Content regulation
The regulation of content of on-line information has been a controversial issue around the world in recent times. We are all familiar with the comment about the lack of road signs on the 'information superhighway'. Many stress that the anarchy of the Internet is its strength. But, as the debate about content regulation escalates, the pressure mounts for some form of organisation of the information so that users can predetermine the nature of information which they wish to either view or ignore. Librarians, as access providers, are grappling with the problems of Internet regulation as the push for access to digital information outpaces the development of public policy solutions. How do we deal with so-called 'community standards' when it is a concept much-touted but incapable of definition. There are not only differing 'standards' between nation-states, but within them. Those of us with access to the Internet have had the anxiety-inducing privilege of monitoring the developments in the United States over the information decency provisions in the Telecommunications Act this year. In Australia we have had three inquiries in the last three years into on-line regulation.

In this debate we need all of Lin Yutang's grains of reality, dreams, sensitivity and humour to deal with this complex issue of fighting for the holy grail of freedom of information and access to a broad range of materials while at the same time recognising that specific classes of users should be protected from certain classes of information. The oft-touted claim that technological solutions to technological problems will emerge encourages us to skirt the debate. To the contrary, we should be formulating solutions and forming alliances with related organisations, as is the case in parts of the world, to address this issue. Internationally we must develop partnerships to ensure that there is a global solution to what is, at its core, a global problem.

Copyright
In the international context the mechanisms for dealing with copyright are well established. The Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions provide the model for the development of national rules that govern the granting of these rights. But the development of new technologies is challenging the traditional controls applying to the 'old media'.

As information is converted to, and increasingly created in, digital form the question of copyright protection has become vexed. We have seen in very recent times the emergence of polarised views. On the one hand there are those who argue that copyright is irrelevant. On the other hand there are those who propose new and broader rights, increased protection and greater control for the owners of copyright. As ever, the solution, lies somewhere in the middle.

As we tackle the issues of copyright in the new environment of digitisation, some of the basic rights we have enjoyed have come under serious threat. 'Fair dealing', a right enshrined in copyright law in many parts of the world and which plays a core role in the way libraries distribute information, has been challenged in Australia by the committee established to review the Copyright Act. An earlier report by the Australian Copyright Convergence Group, Highways to change, offers a more balanced view: 'The challenge for copyright law in this new environment is to demonstrate that it can continue to effectively provide a just and acceptable balance between the valid interests of intellectual property rights owners and the public interest in fair and reasonable access to a wide range of information.'

Dealing with copyright today is a complex task. The abundance of legal jargon, multiplicity of international bodies, economic repercussions and political interests all contrive to distract us. Distribution, communication and reproduction rights in the digital universe require a concerted intellectual commitment on the part of librarians around the world and our international associations are an important vehicle in developing acceptable solutions. Copyright problems cannot be solved in a patchwork manner now that information flows are more than ever internationalised. This is a shared issue for archivists and librarians and an area where cooperation between ICA and IFLA can create a powerful alliance in addressing the inadequacies of international treaties and conventions.

Traditional roles
While the information community has demonstrated an obsession with on-line communications technologies in recent years, one only has to step into a suburban library to know that in reality, the provision of traditional library services predominates. Browsers lounge about with magazines and journals, students study, children listen to storytime over in the corner near the cubby house, the unemployed peruse the job vacancies columns in the local papers, mothers grab a few books to take home (and perhaps a CD or video as well). Dependence on traditional paper-based materials is also predominant in university, school and special libraries. Acquisitions, cataloguing and reference services are still provided. Paper-based materials are repaired and maintained. Managers in libraries have to hire and fire staff, develop budgets, draw up strategic plans, search for sponsorship and market their libraries.

However, a 1993 study of papers presented at Australian library conferences and included in library publications identified five areas of interest. It is of little surprise that the survey found electronic services to be the principal area of interest. This was followed by quality and value of services, Australia's Asia-Pacific neighbours, management issues and, finally, the traditional concerns of the library profession (collection development, bibliographic control and the like). The author of this study concluded: 'There is little concern evidenced for the traditional library materials which still form the bulk of our library collections and which are likely to do so for the foreseeable future, that is books and other material printed on paper, nor is there much evidence of concern for the traditional users of information services.'

This traditional role must not be ignored in the rush to employ new technologies.

Libraries in developing countries
It is noteworthy that in the study quoted earlier, Australia's neighbours in the Asia-Pacific rated highly. Libraries in developing countries occupy a special position in the work of library associations in the developed world. We will not enjoy all the advantages of a global information infrastructure until and unless those countries have access to on-line technologies. Australia, for example, following a highly successful initiative in Vietnam, is currently assisting with the installation of networked services in Papua New Guinea. Under the stewardship of Warren Horton, Director General of the National Library of Australia and IFLA Board Member, this project is already underway.

But, as the demand for on-line services in the Third World advances, problems remain with meeting traditional library services at the most basic levels of developing and maintaining collections. Education and training for librarianship is in great demand and, to large measure, depends on the cooperation of the developed world in providing a variety of education programs to ensure the emergence of skilled library workers. The pressure to accommodate traditional library services, education and training courses and to link up to on-line services is beyond the means of these nations. The assistance provided by individual nations and by IFLA should not be categorised as philanthropic but should be seen as essential to the greater good of the global profession and the community it serves. There are benefits for all of us in this transaction.

In its early years of operation IFLA provided the forum for collegiality between like-minded professionals from the developed western nations. It has matured into a truly international body in the years since 1927 and has developed into an organisation which not only identifies the needs of the Third World but also the responsibilities of the First World in providing for those needs. With the development of the Core Program for the Advancement of Librarianship in the Third World (ALP), IFLA has signalled its commitment to those developing nations. The IFLA president, Robert Wedgeworth, and Secretary General, Leo Voogt, are to be congratulated for the priority and support they have given to the ALP Program and commended for the focus they, and others within IFLA, have given to education, training and literacy.

The American economist John Kenneth Galbraith talks again of his concept of private affluence and public squalor in his 1996 publication The good society. His measure of public living standards embraces the quality of schools, parks, libraries, law enforcement and public transport. In developing his 'humane agenda' he seeks to influence economic and political thought to make the future safer and better for all. 'In a good society all of its citizens must have personal liberty, basic well being, racial and ethnic equality, the opportunity for a rewarding life.' In the international community we are all enriched by the opportunity to work together for the common good. Improving the quality of library services is a priority for all of us and a responsibility which must be accepted by those beyond the library profession.

Sense of community
One of the great characteristics of the domestic and international library scene is the impressive sense of community that exists within the profession of librarianship. This collegiality is evident at events we have witnessed over the last week here in Beijing. This sense of community is a source of great strength but, importantly, it must not distract us from the need to develop effective partnerships with other members of the information sector - such as the archivists - and with other organisations beyond our sector which can assist us move our agenda forward into the future.

Libraries do play a fundamental role in the development and maintenance of a good society. They are not an anachronism in the brave new world of cyberspace but balance the demands of maintaining our cultural heritage, assist in the development of literacy, provide an adjunct to education and training, serve as community and recreation centres and are an attraction to tourists. With expanded access to information using digital technology the demand for library services is growing. Librarians cannot ignore the necessity of responding to community and business enthusiasm for more colourful, animated, interactive and timely information. Targeting the right information, developing information literacy and navigating the 'superhighway' will all be done through libraries just as we continue to meet the more traditional demands for library services. There is a risk that present and future demands will create a greater chasm between the information rich and information poor of the local and global community. But there is, as never before, the capacity to bridge this gap.

Conclusion
Lin Yutang wrote that reality + dreams + humour = wisdom. Also writing in the 1930s, Reinhold Niebuhr composed the famous Prayer of Serenity: 'God give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.'

As we develop our vision for the future of our libraries, as we embrace the opportunities and battle the threats, let us have the wisdom to work towards the common good of all our peoples. For, surely, libraries have earned a place at the centre of the universe.