Libraries without Walls. Part 6: Evaluating the Distributed Delivery of Library Services

Citation

James, S. (2007), "Libraries without Walls. Part 6: Evaluating the Distributed Delivery of Library Services", Library Review, Vol. 56 No. 5, pp. 418-419. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530710750608

It was quite a few years ago now that the Library's walls effectively came tumbling down; although to mix the metaphor, a number of significant drawbridges were also raised, but with time these too are for the most part being lowered. We have long been, certainly in the UK, a very collaborative profession, so that the removal of barriers has often been pursued, even if for various reasons not always achieved. Distance learning is at the centre of this series of conferences, although that is only one aspect of a library without walls: widening access, community involvement, collaboration between (in the UK) further and higher education, regional and national planning and initiatives, all contribute to a true library without walls. One dimension that distance learning emphasises, and which is especially covered in these conferences, is the international dimension.

This sixth conference deliberately took a step back to assess “just how robust the evidence base is for the continued relevance of the ‘library without walls”’. Naturally that process involved papers on user involvement and on evaluation: just what do users want, what do they use, and how are they using it? Sue McKnight, as keynote speaker, challenged librarians to allow users direct input into library decision making within a true customer focus. Bo Öhrström from Denmark, followed by Jenny Craven from England, looked at two different projects evaluating electronic and distributed services from the user's perspective.

Several papers looked at evaluating online services, two in Greece and others in the UK, and Dawn McLoughlin and Ruth Wilson discussed strategic approaches to supporting distance learners. Evaluation in different sectors (health, higher education and public libraries) featured in several papers, and José‐Marie Griffiths reported on the latest outcomes from her economic evaluation studies of the impact of libraries. And then there was still time for another nine papers, looking at projects involving new media.

This conference was held in Manchester in September 2005 at the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management, Manchester Metropolitan University. Facet Publishing are to be congratulated on producing the printed record in a reasonable timescale. The undoubted strengths of this series of conferences, repeated in this latest manifestation, lie in their international coverage and in their review of the latest cutting‐edge projects. This volume reveals once again a profession around the world that continues to lead in the provision of information to users across boundaries, and across borders. There are many exciting developments recounted here, and with the papers on evaluation all of them placed by definition in a user‐focussed context.

Any librarian involved, however tenuously, in any similar service delivery, and perhaps especially any librarian not so involved but who ought to be, needs to be aware both of the work reported here, and of the user and strategic implications of that work for their own libraries. The barriers are coming down not just geographically, but administratively too: the issues raised here are in many cases common to education and specialist libraries at all levels, and to public libraries. Proper consideration of the issues involved, and knowledge of the work being undertaken, help us all define and deliver our broadening services.