The New York Public Library and Modern Technologies: Part 2: A Russian Perspective

Citation

Kulish, O.N. (2001), "The New York Public Library and Modern Technologies: Part 2: A Russian Perspective", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 18 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2001.23918aab.004

The New York Public Library and Modern Technologies: Part 2: A Russian Perspective

Victoria Spain and Les Pourciau, Column Editors

The New York Public Library and Modern Technologies:Part 2: A Russian Perspective

Olga N. Kulish

Acknowledgement

I was deeply moved by the true kindness and attention shown by members of the Slavic and Baltic Division of the New York Public Library during my visit to America. Special thanks are given to Natalia Zitzelsberger, who prepared the excellent visiting plan. During the autumn of 1999, we welcomed Mrs Zitzelsberger to the National Library of Russia for a review of our mutual acquisition and exchange procedures. Heartfelt thanks are given to Allison Pultz, CEC International Partners Coordinator, for his assistance in solving numerous organizational problems.

Dedication

The heartfelt memory of Natalie Zitzelsberger was present throughout the writing of parts 1 and 2 of this "International Librarianship" column. The authors regret that Natalie's wise counsel could not be drawn upon during the final drafts. She passed from our lives on October 22, 2000. Her kindness and caring manner touched all who knew her. She took the authors under her generous wing. Her wisdom, knowledge, and patience will be remembered forever.

Introduction

Contacts among the library community are essential to increase professional knowledge and communication. During the spring of 1998, I undertook an eight-day working visit to the renowned New York Public Library. My visit was sponsored by the Citizen's Exchange Council International Partners (CEC) as part of the program of cooperation between the New York Public Library (NYPL) and the National Library of Russia (NLR). The purpose of my visit was to study the application of modern information technologies to document processing and reader services. My organizational plan involved intensive work in several of NYPL's research libraries, branch libraries, departments, and divisions, as well as visiting other libraries in the Greater New York City Metropolitan area. As a result, I gained insights into many other aspects of librarianship, in addition to those two areas specified in the original plan.

During my time at NYPL, I studied the library's organizational structure, administrative procedures, project developments, and methods of gathering statistical data. My coordinated activities involved time spent in NYPL's access services, acquisitions and cataloging departments, Andrew Heiskell Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Information Technology Group, Library for the Performing Arts, Oriental Division, Science, Industry and Business Library, and the Slavic and Baltic Division ­ where my visit began.

Although I gathered a great deal of data and impressions, it seems pertinent to focus on those aspects of my visit that seem most important and useful for the National Library of Russia, in view of the current stringent economic environment in Russia.

The National Library of Russia

The National Library of Russia (NLR) is one of the most important examples of Russia's cultural heritage ­ the buildings themselves and their collections (see Figure 1). The NLR is financed from the federal budget. We receive a relatively small amount from the provision of paid services. The NLR maintains a collection of more than 33 million documents, opens its doors annually to approximately 1.5 million users, and hands out annually over 12 million items (printed materials, microforms, and other resources). The materials in our collections do not circulate, except through interlibrary loan. Our outstanding historical collections, in particular, lend themselves well to an extraordinary number of exhibits ­ an activity on which the NLR especially prides itself. We organize yearly approximately 1,500 exhibits. Now that we have celebrated the bicentenary of our founding, and have recently completed the construction of a new building, it is important that we move ahead in the dimensions of the new technologies. Our task is awesome, due to the size of our collection, the number of our card catalogs, and the numerous unusual formats under our domain.

Figure 2.New building of the National Library of Russia, located on Moskovsky Prospekt, St Petersburg

My Visit to the New York Public Library

Organizational/Administrative Structure

The New York Public Library has been amply described both in the American and Russian library literature. Noteworthy is the structure of the New York Public Library, which is a privately-endowed library, with a mandate to serve the public free of charge, and regardless of place of residence. The budget of this major world library is supported by a combination of endowment income, allocations from federal, state, and city budgets, as well as significant amounts of private philanthropy and, to a lesser degree, charged special services (primarily fee-based document delivery, photographic

reproductions and publication usage fees). The administration of the Library itself is governed by a Board of Trustees, with a President ­ currently, Dr Paul LeClerc as the Chief Executive Officer ­ who is in turn supported by a network of administrative units responsible for library and financial management, budgetary and extra-budgetary funding and acquisitions, specialized and general public relations, and in-house publishing and distribution.

Document Cataloging and Processing

The New York Public Library consists of four research centers with non-circulating collections ­ the Research Libraries ­ and 85 neighborhood libraries that circulate materials, known formally as the Branch Libraries. NYPL serves three of the five boroughs that make up New York City ­ Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island ­ while the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens have separate library systems. My observations were based primarily on the cataloging and other operations of the Research Libraries.

The Library determines the cataloging and processing strategies for its new acquisitions. The staff of the Cataloging Division produce bibliographic records of items held in the Humanities and Social Science Library and the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL). In addition, many specialized units, such as Oriental, Jewish, Map, Slavic and Baltic, the Schomburg Center, and the Library for the Performing Arts, as well as the branch libraries, maintain their own independent cataloging units.

Because cataloging is an expensive and labor-intensive process, the availability of existing cataloging copy is the most efficient way to proceed. Unfortunately, this has not been possible in most Russian libraries until recent years. Russian libraries have not been accustomed to partnering their needs or working in collaboration to share their cataloging records with each other. The concept of an integrated approach to library functions is new to Russian libraries. A further deterrent to efficient cataloging has been the well-known lack of automation and updated computer equipment available in Russian libraries.

One of the main benefits of my experience at NYPL was to observe first-hand NYPL's successful working relationships with OCLC and RLIN ­ to learn about their exchange of bibliographic records which are then linked to the integrated library network. Since 1973, NYPL has maintained an electronic catalog, offering its clientele support through automated technologies, bibliographic record exchange, and public access to its electronic resources. From the Russian point of view, NYPL has come far in its application of modern technologies to cataloging concepts and practices. In all libraries, especially those with large collections, a special challenge is represented by retroconversion, i.e. conversion of paper-supported catalogs to an electronic or "online catalog". Retroversion is undertaken either in-house or by enlisting outside services, i.e. "outsourcing". NYPL chose the latter, signing in 1995 a contract with OCLC, with subsequent editing and quality control to be provided by NYPL's cataloging staff. This retrospective conversion project, automating monographic records found in its 800-volume "Black Book" catalogue of pre-1972 acquisitions, was obviously of intense interest to the NLR.

Our most pressing concern in the NLR is the lack of an electronic catalog of our collections. Although we established our "new acquisitions" electronic catalog in 1998, retroconversion of our collections is still in its initial stage. For this reason, I was most impressed with the reader support provided by CATNYP ­ the online catalog of the research libraries of the New York Public Library. This catalog includes materials added to NYPL's collections after 1971, as well as some materials acquired before 1971. On the contrary, the NLR's principal access to its collections is through its system of card catalogs. The concept of a library actively collaborating and cooperating with specialized centers, which produce and supply bibliographic records to reduce duplication, is a fairly new concept in Russian libraries. NYPL's model may be the most useful to us in our work of retroconverting our general card catalog of over eight million records, even though we prefer the in-house method. Due to the huge size of our card catalog, working in a conventional technology, such as scanning followed by digitization, will take too long.

Access to Information Resources and User Services at SIBL

Although many good points can be mentioned with regard to each of the NYPL divisions that I visited, I would like to focus on the Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) http://www.nypl.org/research/sibl/index.html, which in my opinion has attained significant achievements in user and patron services. SIBL is the world's largest public library devoted to science, technology, economics, and business. From my point of view, SIBL brings together in one library numerous kinds of technologies and special facilities that we would like to consider for the NLR.

Noteworthy is SIBL's practical and user-friendly architectural structure and organization of information. Immediately upon entering SIBL, the user faces detailed floor plans and a reference staff ready to provide information. Multiple copies of printed newsletters and bibliographies are freely available. Also available are four online computer displays (IBM kiosks) which offer information about SIBL ­ its resources, services, and current activities.

Another user support facility is the McGraw Information Services Center (ISC). Here, highly qualified library and information specialists assist users with their reference queries and research needs. Also offered are a diverse collection of printed guides describing available resources in various subjects. The NLR could benefit from developing a system of printed publications about its resources. Nearby the ISC and reader seating is an open-access area containing an extensive reference collection of 60,000 volumes. A three-line telephone system handles users' requests, amounting to 35,000 annually.

The NLR receives basic (legal deposit) collections, which we store in a closed-access area. In our library, one half of this area is equipped with compact shelving; however, our compact shelves are manually rather than electronically driven. In both of our libraries, users' requests for closed-stacked books are handled manually. However at the NLR, we plan to purchase single electronic order inputs across our nine floors of stacks. Also noteworthy in SIBL is the automated circulation system. In the future, the NLR plans to implement an automated system for circulation control.

SIBL's section on current and popularly requested resources on business and the sciences is shelved separately with a reading room located nearby. These books are open-stack and classed in broad subject categories. CATNYP and Internet searching facilities are also located in this area. Forty-two computer workstations located near SIBL's reading rooms provide access to CATNYP. SIBL's Microform Center provides mediated access to over one million items, including newspapers, periodicals, government publications, and a complete collection of US and selected international patents.

A unique service within SIBL is the Business Information Wall. The major online business news services are represented here and displayed, along with a daily update of financial information, on 20 computer screens. This quick and useful way to receive current information impressed me. Another specialized facility, the Electronic Resource Center (ERC), consists of 70 computer workstations, with printers, which provide access to a broad variety of electronic resources in business, science, and government information available from electronic databases. Included are index and abstracting services, newspapers, periodicals, financial statistics resources, and full-text electronic journals. The ERC also provides access to CD-ROM databases in a networked environment. In the future, the NLR is considering adopting the model of the ERC by organizing a similar networked center of electronic information for our users. This idea is useful to us in light of our numerous specialized reading rooms, each having its own computers.

A SIBL service that impressed me the most is the Kravis Electronic Training Center. Here, classes are scheduled to introduce library users to the major printed and electronic resources. Some classes focus on specific databases in-depth. The classes are offered free of charge.

It was interesting to note that SIBL rents out Healy Hall ­ an atrium that serves as the main lobby ­ and their Conference Center, as well as the Kravis Electronic Training Center, thereby gaining additional funding. This idea would be quite useful for the NLR, as a method of obtaining additional income to help us implement our needed reforms. Within the past year, the NLR has begun organizing more regular education and training sessions for our staff.

Additional Divisions Visited

Although visits to additional NYPL divisions proved useful, I will dwell on only some. NYPL's Conservation Division and its Conservation Lab has excellent equipment and utilizes some unique preservation and restoration, binding and repair technologies. The NLR can most certainly benefit from closer acquaintance with NYPL's image digitizing program, which I visited briefly in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library on Fifth Avenue. Digitization is widely used now to preserve a library's unique national heritage and at the same time provides public access both in-house and through the Internet.

My brief visit to NYPL's Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped was particularly interesting. This library, in a new building, is a model facility. Noteworthy are the carefully selected collections, which include talking books, and materials in English and foreign languages. A special room for children permits them to read books, play, and communicate with each other. The warmth and personal attention given to the children impressed me. There is a City Library for the Blind in St Petersburg. For this reason, the NLR will provide services to this group of people related only to our own collections. Specially equipped enclosed areas will be built to allow readers and their assistants to work together. Priority service will be provided to these individuals.

My Visit to Two American University Libraries

Prior arrangements were made so that I could visit two universities located in the New York area ­ Butler Library at Columbia University and the libraries at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. My hosts were Robert Scott of Columbia, and Pamela Richards and Peter S. Graham of Rutgers. At both institutions, I was impressed with the collegiality, professionalism, superior technology, and diversity of services offered to their faculty members and research staff.

Results of My Working Visit to the USA

The most important aspects from my working visit to the New York Public Library and the libraries at Columbia University and Rutgers that directly apply to our needs at the National Library of Russia are:

1. 1.

   subscribing to an online bibliographic service that provides an already prepared catalog record, such as with OCLC and RLIN;

2. 2.

   servicing patrons' information needs through electronic databases, both local and remote, as part of a subscription service, through the Internet, or through CD-ROM ­ both stand-alone and networked information;

3. 3.

   providing full-text electronic databases and electronic journals, including printing capabilities;

4. 4.

   the absolute necessity for an online electronic catalog of our collections, with preference for an integrated system that will encompass automation of additional library functions;

5. 5.

   building an electronic classroom for library user training classes about the electronic resources we will subscribe to, and for instructing our users in bibliographic search strategies, and how to use the online catalog;

6. 6.

   scheduling more regular staff training and development, with preference that this take place in an electronic classroom;

7. 7.

   marketing our collections, services, resources, and programs through the creation of electronic and printed reference aids and guides to our library;

8. 8.

   designing special information centers within our library to be staffed with qualified professionals; and

9. 9.

   offering a versatile combination of free and charged services, which will benefit both the user and the library.

Conclusion

My work exchange to libraries in the USA, provided to me through CEC and through the international agreement between our two libraries, the National Library of Russia and the New York Public Library, was an important experience. The knowledge I gained provided me with a yardstick to measure the progress of the NLR. My observations and firsthand experiences in American libraries made clear that, particularly in connection with our new building addition, the NLR should better adapt its structure to the actual information environment and world library management levels. Since 1998, the NLR has made progress towards retroconversion. We have formulated our goals, and, since the end of 1999, begun scanning the catalog records in our General alphabetical catalog, which contains over eight million records. We have completed this project through the P character in the alphabet. We will be turning to commercial firms to assist us with the actual retroconversion. Additionally, we have begun a project on digitizing a portion of our collections. However, we have a long way to go in the realms of computer technology.

Additional changes will involve:

• •

  re-examining our collection accessibility policies; automating our basic library processes;

• •

  offering networked technologies to our users;

• •

  moving from a system of decentralized card catalogs to a centralized electronic information retrieval system, and with computers to be located in each department;

• •

  developing different kinds of services for our users; developing promotional materials;

• •

  updating our professional education by offering more workshops and seminars;

• •

  developing new in-house policies;

• •

  changing some of our work methods and procedures;

• •

  possibly forming new departments or merging existing departments and services;

• •

  updating our equipment of various types; and

• •

  hiring additional technical support.

Change, of course, begins with staff awareness and adopting new attitudes towards our work, which will require time and re-education.

Both history and modern times have proven that Russian and American libraries continue to have a great deal to learn from and offer to each other. The exchange programs now open to us with our international partners serve a dual benefit, in that foreigners can more fully draw upon our unique collections. We can also pair up with our partners in offering international traveling exhibits. Reforms in Russia's libraries are to some extent dependent upon the relationships that we can engender with our neighboring countries and our reciprocal activities. For this reason, it is crucial that staff exchanges between Russian libraries, and in this case the NLR with its international partners, continue without interruption. The NLR has established commendable relationships with our international partners in the realm of collection exchange; however, the day-to-day life of our library work needs improvement that can come about only by further study of model libraries located outside Russia.

Although we maintain international partnerships with libraries in other countries, our relationship with NYPL is unique. American libraries have a strong tradition of open access and a promotional attitude that we would like to adopt. The NLR looks forward to strengthening its international relationships in the future.

Olga N. Kulish is Deputy Director for Librarianship, the National Library of Russia, St Petersburg. o.kulish@nlr.ru.

Victoria Spain is "International Librarianship" co-editor, Library Hi Tech News, and Bibliographic Services Librarian, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts. v.spain@nunet.neu.edu.

Les Pourciau is "International Librarianship" co-editor, Library Hi Tech News, the Director of Libraries (Retired), University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee, and the Vice President of ILIAC, the International Library, Information, and Analytical Center, Washington, DC. pourciau@memphis.edu