Format
This free event was organised by SLA Europe and took place in the NLS Boardroom in Edinburgh on 3 October. It comprised of around ten minute addresses by each of three speakers followed by questions from the floor. There was also a general introduction to SLA Europe and drinks reception after the main event. Fairly good turnout in audience for mid-week too.
Speakers
The Speakers were:
Louise Laidlaw (law firm sector)
Susan Mansfield (government sector)
John MacColl (academic sector)
Louise Laidlaw –
Was discussing that mastering technology was important, we were all doing the same things but in extremely different ways from the past through technology. Technology had meant that there were increasingly specialist roles on offer within the profession. But it also meant that things like current awareness monitoring with the explosion of electronically accessible content had become nightmarish meaning there was much need for filtering. Huge hardcopy libraries still existed with many materials not being available online or not commercially worthwhile to publishers to make available. She believed that special libraries had undergone evolution in the way they delivered services and what they delivered, but we were still there to help our users.
Susan Mansfield –
Talked about how government had decentralised hugely and the move to knowledge hubs. There was increasing scrutiny and transparency as an agenda and citizen expectations of information had changed. There was no money and technology was being used to make information available. This meant integration between Information Technology and Information Services. There was a move towards discussion of ‘Big Data’. Those libraries that still existed were embedded within other teams it at all and not seen as important to be physical places. It was about managing internal content and the digitisation agenda (e.g. layering content to add value, making it available through all existing channels). This had meant a step change in skills had been required with emphasis on transferable skills and roles such as collaborative working and change management. Many new technical skills had become important in area’s such as Information Assurance. Thus a flexible and agile approach was needed as often people were part of different teams or embedded in business units as part of a matrix working style. This meant there was a need for cpd and lifelong learning to adapt and change to the needs of jobs and organisations. People needed to take a broader responsibility in leadership to align services to organisational values and priorities. There was a culture of shared services and national procurement. Many staff were seconded or moved so necessary to do scenario planning on ‘what if’ situations so could adapt to new circumstances quickly if necessary. We needed to think like the customer. It was important to have skill sets that could be used in different roles and bear in mind disaggregated staff. Networking was important, but not just within the profession, but also outwith it to those who could influence and inform wider agendas of which the service was part. It was necessary to take risks, and to have a Plan B.
John MacColl –
Noted that academic libraries had a conservative culture and that despite the digital age there was still high importance on the library as physical space. Emphasis on giving good quality study space with long opening hours and self-issue at unstaffed times. The library was a provider of learning materials, many of which could be accessed digitally from anywhere. Expertise had been developed in electronic environments and issues relating to that had led to things like SHEDL. The library was a sustainer of collections, it could no longer hope to be complete in everything, but it was still important that it be seen to embody the knowledge of each domain it served and also to collect its own material internally through repositories as this fed into both wider reputation and intellectual property rights of the institution. The library was also important in terms of preservation of holdings and in terms of institutional brand where it was often a focus point as a service that served everyone. Some libraries also had very historic or distinctive buildings that acted as a draw and / or wonderful collections which also fed into promoting the uniqueness of their own university outwith the institution. So despite pressure on costs and staffing academic libraries were still important.
Questions
Perhaps the most interesting of these related to the use of ‘library’ and ‘librarian’ as a term and whether it was felt to be a help or a hindrance in service provision and whether it was still current helpful terminology. Of a straw poll about a third of the room had some mention of librarian in their job title, the rest did not. However there was no overwhelming agreement on whether the term was a good thing as a universal known trusted brand value or a bad thing as a limiting factor in people’s minds of what we did. Several people acknowledged they had in fact changed their minds on the subject multiple times down the years. So it remains a fluid debate.
Comment
I think the most interesting thing for me was comparing and contrasting the views of the Speakers as they were based on their own sector knowledge and experience. It was interesting to note that law librarianship was very much the middle ground between the three sectors represented. In law libraries there is lots of electronic provision but still physical libraries are still important too as many older and / or more esoteric materials aren’t available in digital format or affordable that way, and as often as not the physical space is still called the library (despite a move away from this several years ago, but it seems to have returned). The academic library context was far more traditional where buildings and collections have pride of place still. Whereas in the government context physical libraries had disappeared and the knowledge and roles of information specialists were embedded and often disaggregated in very differently called teams across government and concentrated on the government digital agenda.
I also found myself grinning when the importance of drinking a lot of coffee if people you want to nab are in common area's making some was discussed. I suspect there is a high prevalence of folk who take advantage of people who happen to be in the lift or at the water machine or making a coffee as a way to oh so casually 'nab' people. Not something that can be diarised or planned, but it certainly can cut a lot of corners and come in very useful when the opportunity arises.
