Attracting, Educating and Serving Remote Users through the Web

Citation

Neill, S. (2003), "Attracting, Educating and Serving Remote Users through the Web", Library Review, Vol. 52 No. 2, pp. 84-84. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530310462170

This book does exactly what it says on the cover – a “how‐to‐do‐it manual for librarians”. Attracting, Educating and Serving Remote Users through the Web is timely (just‐in‐time) and practical, challenging the traditional role of the librarian, combining roles which until recently would have been carried out by a Web designer, IT specialist or educator. Written by library and faculty staff at the University of Nevada, Reno, this manual shares a valuable insight into their future strategy of building a new virtual but integrated library for the remote user, the user who increasingly expects to receive information at their fingertips whether they are sitting at a computer in the library, across town, or in another country or continent.

Coverage includes practical information on:

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  naming and designing the virtual library interface;

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  electronic‐ and tutor‐led education of remote users to library services;

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  potential electronic reference service technologies;

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  content and document delivery;

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  access and authentication issues of licensed resources.

Each chapter is carefully structured, balancing literature review and ideas with practical advice and guidance. Examples are provided throughout of online library services, and various technologies, such as software, agentware, and courseware, are critically reviewed. Although examples given are mainly of US institutions and services (from which we can learn many lessons), UK and European readers will be pleased to know that there is a “companion Web site” which gives background and resources pertinent to libraries, organizations and institutions this side of the pond (www.facetpublishing.co.uk/curtis).

The final chapter is one which librarians in the UK should take particular notice of. “Fundraising and public relations in an electronic environment” discusses how the virtual library can be used to identify potential financial donors. It offers some useful suggestions on niche marketing, promotion and maintaining an e‐presence. Had the manual been published in the UK, it is quite likely that this chapter would not have been written!

It should be noted that while all chapters are directly relevant in practical terms to academic libraries, all types of library could greatly benefit from reading and thinking about the issues raised. These issues may not seem important now but encourage librarians to think ahead, to develop the necessary skills required to in turn employ an online strategy to serve remote users.

In essence, this is a straightforward read, tackling areas that the profession may have considered but which few have had solid advice and guidance to act on. It is chatty and in places anecdotal but in other parts necessarily forthright, articulating issues which some in the profession may not be comfortable with, but which librarians need to implement in order to guarantee their evolving role in the future. “The library is dead; long live the library.”