The Ultimate Digital Library: Where the New Information Players Meet

Citation

Goh, J. (2004), "The Ultimate Digital Library: Where the New Information Players Meet", Library Management, Vol. 25 No. 1/2, pp. 81-82. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120410510337

The relationship between librarians and their vendors has always been a complicated one. It has been a partnership based on mutual dependence; librarians having expert knowledge and skills in information management and delivery while relying heavily on vendors to provide the technology to achieve this end; vendors having the technological expertise to develop the products librarians need, being dependent on libraries to purchase them. There is little doubt that rapid advances in technology, the Internet boom and the emergence of online library service providers have further complicated this relationship as libraries face the possibility of being bypassed in this new digital environment.

In this book, Andrew Pace advocates that librarians need to learn from the successes and failures of their dot‐com counterparts, adapt their business models and develop more collaborative partnerships with vendors to stay competitive. The challenge lies in not sacrificing their professional integrity in “championing the freedom of information in an economy and culture where hardly anything of value is free”.

The text explains the history of co‐dependence between libraries and vendors and their relationship in the current environment. It examines reasons behind the success, failure and popularity of Internet companies such as Yahoo!, Amazon.com and Contentville. Although these businesses have been modelled on traditional library services, they have provided value‐added interfaces, e.g. enabling browsing through broad subject headings, keyword searching using natural language and access to and delivery of full‐text material 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The strategic marketing of these products to users seeking and expecting instant gratification has also contributed to their success and popularity. The author proposes the notion that libraries should consider collaborating with vendors to incorporate these value‐added features into their catalogues. Although he acknowledges the potential difficulties in doing this, he stresses that efforts to keep up to date with current trends will help position them as competitive market players.

Pace suggests that, as information becomes more of a commodity, librarians should adopt and apply successful business practices in acquiring and developing online services and collections. By applying the principles of project/product development and management, librarians can ensure the efficient running of services as well as ensuring that products and services remain relevant to the goals and missions of the library. This would help minimize failure as in the case of Contentville.

The author also suggests ways in which librarians can remain competitive by breaking down traditionally held stereotypes of the profession. As more technologically dependent products flood the market, librarians are being relied on more and more to provide user education services. Although current trends in professional training involve the provision of courses that seek to marry the traditional principles of information management with information technology, the author feels that other options should be considered. In redefining and reshaping the curriculum, library schools should consider initiating student placements with vendors. This collaboration could move towards creating a win‐win situation for both parties as they work towards creating better products and services.

The author concludes with the suggestion that librarians need to reposition themselves as information brokers of digital services and resources, while maintaining concern over issues of privacy, access, licensing, fair use, ownership and preservation. It is his hope that vendors will be able to support libraries in developing technology that will assist librarians to deliver valuable content that is not bound by restrictive licences and price monopolies.

This easy‐to‐read book is well structured and integrated and the intentions and purpose of the text are very clear. Pace writes informatively, having worked previously for a vendor and currently as a librarian. I thought his rather creative chapter titles and headings were very succinct and pithy, e.g. “Strange bedfellows: libraries and their vendors”; “Sheep in wolves’ clothing: working inside and outside the library”.

Both the bibliography and index appear adequate for a text of this length. However, I did find one instance where reference was made to a play on the words of S.R. Ranganathan (p. 36), but there were no footnotes offering more information.

I particularly appreciated Pace’s use of screen dumps when describing the features of various Web sites examined. It gives readers a better understanding of his arguments and saves them from having to log onto the Web sites in order to grasp the ideas being conveyed in the text.

The chapter relating to privacy provides a list of online resources and includes privacy guidelines put forward by the US Department of Commerce. These do not necessarily apply equally outside the USA. International readers may want to bear this in mind when reading this chapter.

In the appendix, Pace includes a list of all vendors, dot‐com companies and organizations cited in the text that have a stake in the information industry. Although by no means a comprehensive list, it does serve to emphasize his argument that librarians need to position themselves as competitive players in an industry flooded with a plethora of online services and products.

Throughout the text, the author has presented notions that are either currently being adopted or that could be adopted by libraries in future to improve customer satisfaction. He acknowledges that he does not have the answers to the challenges the industry currently faces, but hopes that these notions will become the “cliched responses … of tomorrow’s informed, technically savvy and business‐minded … librarians”.

This book is likely to be of interest to anyone working in the field of library and information provision, to students and to those responsible for their professional training.