Attracting, Educating and Serving Remote Users through the Web: A How‐to‐Do‐it Manual for Librarians

Citation

Yeates, R. (2003), "Attracting, Educating and Serving Remote Users through the Web: A How‐to‐Do‐it Manual for Librarians", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 37 No. 1, pp. 61-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330310460626

Ten library professionals have written this guide for libraries to meet the “urgent challenges posed by the expectations of today’s information seekers”. From the point of view of a US academic library the authors consider the whole process of planning and delivering effective, and popular, off‐site services, giving many examples of solutions and encouraging librarians to rethink their priorities in a bout of “significant plate clearing”. What the book suggests is that a whole raft of new methods is required to meet still valid, fundamental goals of supporting users. It then outlines some of those that have been successfully tried so far (mainly in the USA), highlighting trends and pressures for change.

After a high‐level introduction on the library’s role and the new challenges, the guide looks at how to understand remote user target groups and their characteristics, including use of surveys, usage statistics and usability testing. Attracting users by providing suitable Web contexts, such as virtual libraries and portals, is dealt with following consideration of how users are likely to arrive at a library site. Then specific service areas are described, including electronic reference services; current awareness and document delivery; and library instruction. In these chapters, the authors even supply examples of CGI (Common Gateway Interface) scripts that illustrate how simple it can be to implement basic technical functions, once needs are identified and appropriate planning has been carried out.

One chapter addresses the integration of library services with online instruction, including useful material on levels of librarian involvement with “courseware” or virtual learning environments.

The most fascinating aspect of this book is the chapter topics that are included. There is no clear boundary between services that meet the Web‐delivered needs of people within a library building and those that meet needs of others who are physically remote. Many aspects of the service needs remain the same. Thus the usefulness of this work may well lie in its holistic approach to practical guidance, on the one hand, but also in its inclusion of in‐depth discussion on topics that are less familiar to UK librarians. In particular the last two chapters cover authentication, authorisation and access control in relation to support for licensed resources, as well as fundraising and public relations in an electronic environment. The former chapter highlights issues many librarians would like to ignore, such as scalability and proxies, but illustrates how these relate to things they cannot ignore, such as privacy and affordability. The last chapter addresses a set of possible solutions, largely untried in the UK, to two widely acknowledged problems: lack of awareness and take‐up of library‐provided Web services, as Ian Winship’s accompanying Web site notes point out; and lack of political support from users for Web‐based innovation and general library development and sustainability.

Unusually, this manual for librarians appears to be available in two almost identical editions in the UK. Potential readers might be even more confused to discover that the amazon.co.uk Web site shows the wrong number of pages for the US version used for the review. Slightly different synopses are given for the same text from Facet Publishing and Neal‐Schuman Publishers, and there are two accompanying Web site addresses that complement each other for UK [http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/curtis/curtis.html] and US [http://www.library.unr.edu/subjects/guides/remoteusers.html] audiences, although only one address is given on the back of each title page. The Facet UK edition is significantly cheaper. The book is written by staff at the library of the University of Nevada, Reno, USA, so the emphasis is mainly, but not totally, on US academic practice. Nevertheless, the ideas are not restricted to the USA nor to universities and not always just to remote use. A whole team of staff has contributed their experience, in a way that could usefully be copied by others. UK accompanying Web site notes are provided by Ian Winship, Electronic Services Manager, Learning Resources Department, University of Northumbria at Newcastle as at March 2002. They provide context and appropriate resources for readers in the UK and Europe.

According to this manual, the best way to learn about remote access is to do it. This may be true, but staff certainly need to build confidence, knowledge and skills before they are prepared to try things, and this book is a good source of practical suggestions and tips. It is usefully supplemented by the accompanying UK Web site, which has helpful points and links that localise the content and expand on the scope of the work, as well as the US site that provides a useful set of links even for non‐USA based users.

The text is of slightly uneven quality: final editing has not entirely removed duplication and stylistic variations between sections written by the various authors. It does not say much about electronic resources in general, such as e‐books or licensing, but focuses instead mainly on service delivery issues.

Ultimately this is a very worthwhile book, covering a wide range of issues from the increasingly important perspective of remote users, if not always addressing issues that are specific to these users. It gives specific examples of commercial and non‐commercial products and services, projects, and Web pages. It illustrates issues with specific ideas and examples as well as useful references. With the US and UK Web sites, it is sufficiently comprehensive and up to date to provide a valuable resource not just for academic but also for public and other libraries that plan to deliver services via e‐mail or the Web.