Columns

Abstract

The effect that a computer can have on your daily life as a library worker can be, if you're lucky, as little or as much as you like. Or so you'd like to think. How many senior managers in public and academic libraries have a computer terminal or personal computer in their offices? How many have it on their desks? Would somebody at the next meeting of the Society of County Librarians, Metropolitan Librarians, University Librarians or whatever please ask for a show of hands — which of you personally use a computer at work? My guess is less than half. Perhaps. On the other hand, how many readers' advisers, reference librarians, subject specialists, administrative officers, circulation desk or Saturday casual staff use one every day of their working lives? No doubt a majority where issues, orders and the catalogue are controlled by a computer. As far as the bread and butter is concerned, their view of information technology is likely to be coloured as much by its reliability as by what it can do. In a profession dedicated to information skills, why then do the benefits of office automation — communications, data, information and the organisation of knowledge — seem so thinly spread? Do the libraries and their parent organisations lack the funds, the vision or the will to grasp the new technologies in order to improve the way libraries are managed and therefore presumably enhance the services they offer? One information systems manager I know speaks of introducing office automation in order to get managers to speak to each other! Librarians I'd have thought would have been quite good at that and would welcome another, electronic way of doing it. Or is the implication of a decision support system, that decisions based on facts might actually have to be made, too difficult a concept for our library leaders? As an editorial in Computer Weekly said: “in exploring executive's information needs, you are exploring their mental model of the business. The result can be to challenge long held assumptions and provoke radical change”. Perhaps the information professional can have a key organisational role in the development, regulation and promotion of information systems technology, through applying his/her skills in information handling and the organisation of knowledge; and if this be the case, what evidence do you see at work of planning for this role? A terminal on every chief's desk might be a start.

Citation

Holdall, L., Day, S., Fleming, E. and Bunch, A. (1989), "Columns", New Library World, Vol. 90 No. 12, pp. 230-235. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb038813