The Internet, Networking and the Public Library

Citation

Muirhead, G. (1998), "The Internet, Networking and the Public Library", Library Review, Vol. 47 No. 1, pp. 53-53. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.1998.47.1.53.11

No one working in the public library sector in the UK can fail to be aware of (or affected by) the collective gloom that hangs over this sector. It is easy to list reasons for the low morale ‐ local government reorganisation, downsizing, lack of leadership and vision, two failed millennium bids, insufficient funding to sustain core services let alone invest in the emerging new technologies that many of our customers expect. It is more difficult to disentangle cause and effect, or devise effective strategies to enable public libraries to meet the challenges of the new millennium. This eagerly awaited volume provides a conspectus of current public library initiatives to develop networked information services; but rather like a partly consumed bottle that can be seen as either half full or half empty, this overview will encourage some readers because of the range and imagination of the projects underway, while other readers will ask themselves why only 24 projects are listed in the directory section, why only 3 per cent of all UK public libraries have Internet access (compared with 45 per cent of American libraries), and why funding such projects requires so much energy and ingenuity, effort which could be channelled into providing and managing better services.

The book is in three parts. The first part, “Context”, includes among others a paper by Geoffrey Hare and a comparison of public library Internet connectivity in the UK and the USA based on recent surveys. Part 2 consists of an overview of UK public library networking projects of all kinds by Sarah Ormes of UKOLN, followed by a directory section with 24 entries describing the various projects and in each case providing mission statement, source of funding, budget, project length, and partners. The last part of the book contains results and experiences from some of these projects written by participants. The projects included are Croydon Libraries’ Internet Project (CLIP), Project EARL, Edinburgh’s Capital Information Service, Input Output Centres Ltd., Solihull’s IT POINT, LOIS (Library Online Information Service ‐ a development of Hereford and Worcester’s Golden Valley Information Project), and the MOBILE Project.

More than ever before public libraries need to “hang together” or we will “hang separately”. This is a welcome and much needed publication which, by disseminating ideas and information, contributes to the collaborative effort necessary if public libraries are to have any kind of future. I would like to see the directory section updated periodically and published electronically and/or in print, perhaps incorporated into Chris Batt’s Information Technology in Public Libraries, which it complements and which comes from the same publisher.