Digital Consumers: Reshaping the Information Profession

Citation

Ellis‐Barrett, L. (2010), "Digital Consumers: Reshaping the Information Profession", Library Review, Vol. 59 No. 3, pp. 226-227. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531011031205

The information professions, which include librarianship, archives, publishing and even journalism, have been shaken to their core by the information revolution. The process of change has created a steep learning curve and has meant that many have struggled to keep up with the latest technologies constantly being thrust at the consumer. The availability of information has seen a manifold growth providing easy access and a wealth of choice that is bewildering for the professional and the consumer alike. Those trained in information are being forced to use their professional skills outside their natural context and at times with little apparent rationale or understanding. Information has moved from being a resource to a commodity and those who provide it are numerous and increasingly diverse. Information professionals, so the editors believe, need to recognise these facts in order to survive. It is they believe the lack of awareness of recognition from certain professionals that explains many of the difficulties they are facing.

In Digital Consumers the contributors argue that information professionals need training as well as a new belief system in order to survive and engage in what is fast becoming an ever‐present information environment. They continue that information professionals are no longer considered to be the primary players or even first choice of supplier for information needs. Their aim is to provide a vision that will help and encourage those working in the fields of information provision to re‐position themselves in the mind of the consumer as a relevant and helpful intermediary.

Considering issues from the philosophy and psychology of the digital consumer to the growth of the e‐shopper, subjects covered also include the library in the digital age, the information seeking behaviour of the digital consumer, the Google generation and trends in digital consumption, before proposing where to go next.

After eight years spent researching the impact of the digital transition on information providers the editors of this book have brought together academics and researchers to expand their thoughts and ideas about the way in which information professionals can continue to hold relevance and meaning for the modern consumer. With a particular focus, it would seem, on the e‐shopper and user as a consumer, each of the chapters focuses on the behaviour of information consumers, their particular requirements and the way in which, currently, information professionals could be seen to be underachieving. Suggestions for change are embedded within the discussions as a whole leaving the reader with a sense of overwhelming helplessness at times.

Although the authors intend to help information professionals to understand their users, the constant barrage of criticism that they are not doing enough to ensure their relevance is particularly hard to digest at a time when many services are spending money on ensuring they are relevant and accessible to all.

This book does focus on those people who may not ever have a need for an intermediary in their relationship with digital technology for it is discussing consumers who are adept at using technology whether for research or shopping – this does not allow for the multitude who are afraid of, and unfamiliar with, many forms of technological development, or indeed those who have no access, limited access and limited understanding. Information professionals, particularly those in library and archive services, are perhaps even busier than ever ensuring that their users have access not only to new technologies but also the skills to use them.

Publishers, the other information profession addressed by the authors, are increasingly using digital technologies to enhance their work and that of their authors, but what is perhaps overlooked is the fact that the public as a whole love to have the ability to turn to an information professional when they need one.

I believe that whilst this book does pose some important and thought‐provoking questions, consider matters of importance and offer an interesting insight into modern consumerism it does not actually recognise the work that many information professionals actually carry out on a daily basis and the efforts that they have made and continue to make to ensure that they remain relevant to their consumer market. Upon finishing my reading of it I felt that the authors were doing a disservice to their own profession. I can see that to academic this title is likely to be of great use in provoking students, lecturers and researchers to ask important questions but for those who are working, so to speak, on the coal‐face, I believe the book will have a negative impact, detracting as it does, from the hard work and commitment they strive to maintain.

The information profession has never been without obstacles, learning opportunities and new developments. The digital consumer is a new development, that, along with many other developments, the information profession will, I believe, assess and take on board once it has fully understood the associated impact and chosen the most appropriate course of action. The lack of suggestions for the future from the contributors, numbering only six, is I believe a reflection of their lack of foresight and fuller understanding of the way in which the information profession can and does work. It is a shame for this is a thought‐provoking and interesting book that has a lot to offer the reader. I do not agree that the current situation has left the information profession, in the words of David Nicholas “between a rock (Google) and a hard place (the e‐shopper)” but that is has opened new avenues of opportunity to be explored, exploited, learnt from and built upon. Readers will come to their own conclusions and this is certainly a title that provides some valuable food for thought.