ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries December 199 0 / 1045 Science, paraprofessionals, and general faculty and students. Special invited guests were th e assis- tant/associate directors o f public services and heads o f reference departm ents at the University of Texas System libraries. The keynote address was given by Pat Molholt, associate director o f Institute Libraries, Rensse­ laer Polytechnic Institute. H e r remarks were fol­ lowed by responses from Cynthia Kehoe, librar­ ian, Balcones Library Service C enter, and Dennis Trom batore, librarian, Geology Library, both at the University o f Texas at Austin. T heir presenta­ tions w ere followed by a discussion betw een m em bers o f the audience and the panel. The three addresses and a summary o f audience com m ents by John Tongate, 1989/90 chair o f the Reference and Inform ation Services Com m ittee, are p re ­ sented here. The future o f reference III: A paradigm shift for information services By Pat Molholt Associate Director o f Institute Libraries Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Business—but not as usual This will be a talk about walls, not necessarily walls that divide, b u t ones that provide structure, definition, and containm ent. I will talk about learn­ ing to detect them by means other than bashing into them , and I ’ll talk about relocating, repairing, and removing them . I ’m going to begin by throwing up a new wall th at blocks your usual paths. Tomorrow is a new day I have been authorized to make an announce­ ment: W hen those o f you who are reference librari­ ans on this campus leave this m eeting today, I want you to take a good look around this library because it’s the last tim e you’ll see it as an insider. Starting tom orrow you are being relocated to the G raduate School o f Business building. The term s o f your em ploym ent are changed—you are being given three months of salary and the opportunity to becom e an Inform ation E ntrepreneur. T here will no longer be a reference departm ent inside the li­ brary. F or the next three months you will be al­ lowed into the library free. After that an hourly rate will be charged. T he clock will start w hen you en ter the building and stop w hen you exit. The rate will be $100 p e r hour with rate adjustm ents made every six months. You will be charged for loans at $25 p e r item p er day, photocopies will be $10 p e r page plus royal­ ties, and access to the online catalog will be $100 p e r hour. U ndergraduate students will be given electronic pass cards credited with the equivalent o f one free hour p e r day o f classes (if a sem ester is 120 days long, the student will have 120 hours of free library use). It is likely this will more than m eet their needs, since reserve room activities will be entirely restructured; much o f the material will be scanned into online files, the rem ainder will be relocated o u tsid e th e library. U n d e rg ra d u a te s will be charged for loans and photocopies at the above m entioned rates. G raduate students, faculty, researchers, staff, and administration will have to obtain information services from the Information E ntrepreneurs or pay the same rates as you do. T heir inadequate information-seeking skills will come to the fore immediately, creating a quick business opportunity for the displaced reference staff—the Information E ntrepreneurs. By the way, the libraries will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. How did this happen? I, an alumna of 1970, bought the library. In the budget crunch I p ro ­ posed to take the library off the university’s hands and run it like a business— it seem ed like a b etter deal than donating a million dollars. The university, I must say, jum ped at the chance to get rid of this sink hole o f resources. After all, selling the library really only follows patterns already established— grounds keepers, food services, cleaning services, printing services, media services, repairs, and con­ struction services are no longer part o f the univer­ sity’s overhead on many campuses. T heir fees are 1 046/C & R L News charged back to th e units and individuals who use them . You may notice th at a lot o f th em have the w ord “service” in th e ir nam e too. And do n ’t forget th e F ed eral governm ent with its contracting out for library services. And industry— only a few weeks ago R ensselaer’s library was approached by IBM with a suggestion th a t R ensselaer take over four or five o f its libraries th a t are in th e upstate area— they already have such an arrangem ent in Kentucky. Crazy! C an ’t happen! Simply stupid! Actually, I w onder how Steven Jobs or D onald T rum p w ould handle it? At least suspend your skepticism long enough to w ander with m e along this perhaps unusual wall and consider w hat th e effect o f it is. W hy did I set th e scene as I did and p u t substantial prices on library access? O ne im petus was th e concept th a t “fre e ” equates to having no value, or th e designer label syndrom e— if you’re not w earing Reeboks at $75 a pair you may as well not leave th e house. Things th a t cost a lot have m ore credibility, often for good reason. Yet th e re is so m uch confu­ sion in our profession about how to assign value to w hat we do th a t we simply do n ’t assign any. (Even in my own case, w here we charge o th e r cam pus units for program m ing o f files, and for th e input and editing o f data for those files, we d o n ’t charge for th e m ost valuable p art— th e design o f th e file itself.) Librarians are fighting price increases and trying to m aintain th e status quo. O u r problem s ought to be am ple evidence th at we are not in a sustainable situation. But m oney issues, while they contribute, also confuse my real purpose. R efer­ ence is th e key. T he functions o f interpretation, instruction, query form ulation, and needs assess­ m en t serve to unlock doors in th e wall. L e t’s look at some o f th e details o f this crazy new library. T he provision o f th re e m onths o f salary continu­ ation was m eant to have you quickly focus on th e problem , w ithout im m ediately th reaten in g your survival. Your com petitors will be charged from day one; you have some tim e to b an d together, assess y o u r c a p a b ilitie s — b o th s tre n g th s a n d w e a k ­ nesses— and form your own walls around special­ ties and preferences. F re e access gives you a ru n ­ ning start, gives you tim e to establish new work habits and patterns, and allows you to give your custom ers a price break as an en ticem en t or in cen ­ tive during your learning phase. W hy do you n eed a learning period? I w ould be surprised to find a reference librarian today who asks h erself or him ­ self, “W hat effect does w hat I am about to do (have a cup o f coffee, spend half an ho u r paging through Psych Abstracts, spend five m inutes on a phone call to M emphis to a colleague who knows th e inform a­ tion I need) have on what I will earn today?” To me, systematically asking such a question is an exhaust­ ing thought, b u t also an exciting one. Today w hen you “walk into” a BRS or Dialog database you easily pay $100 an hour. W e always com plain about th e feeling th a t th e m e ter is ru n ­ ning— because it is. Real dollars are being spent and th e logoff at th e en d tells you exactly how many real dollars. T he effect is th a t you perform differ­ ently w hen th e m e ter is running— th e same should be tru e w hen th e m e te r is running on your tim e in th e library building, or w hen you’re accessing its online services. Such an attitude will make you a m ore dem anding custom er. T he inefficiencies you now tolerate will cost you, ju st as your inefficiencies will cost others. Loans at $25 a day. This is a coming-to-life o f th at old adage th a t librarians are only happy w hen all th e books are safely on th e shelves. In this scenario I have to justify, in econom ic term s, not having a book on hand since it is th e m aterial on the shelf th a t attracts o th e r custom ers— th a t’s th e only way I can make money. I f one person takes it out, it b e tte r be w orth it to m e to deny access to the others who may n eed it. Today Professor Smith may have dozens o f books out for m onths and m onths— is she really using th em m ost o f th e tim e? O f course not— she would, however, at $25 a day, or even $5 a day. T h e re ’s an interesting problem here. O ne o f th e properties o f inform ation is th at it can be shared sim ultaneously w ith m any users. T he packaging o f th a t inform ation, however, may p re ­ vent th a t from happening. A solid, singular object such as a book confines th e inform ation contained in it so th at sharing follows econom ic principles like those applied to car rentals, ra th e r th an those appropriate to inform ation usage. As for th e $10 a page photocopying— I ’ll get you one way or another, if you sit down to copy it, it’s at $100 an hour; if you check it ou t for reading overnight, o r photocopy it elsew here cheaper, it’s $25. As long as this is a monopoly, and o th e r libraries adhere to th e ir traditional rules, pricing is p re tty easy to determ ine. T he rules I am referring to are those such as: libraries len d to libraries, not to individuals (In fo rm atio n E n tre p re n e u rs w ould purchase th e right to borrow in th e library’s name); patrons who fall outside o n e’s prim ary clientele are severely restricted in th e ir borrow ing privileges (so going to th e library o f an o th er college in th e area will not help m uch), etc. Besides, we have all argued th a t a library system as big and well devel­ oped as th e University oſT exas at Austin is a unique resource th a t simply can’t be found anywhere else in th e region. I f th a t’s tru e it only makes my busi­ ness case stronger. I ’ve trie d to p ro tec t some access for th e u n d e r­ graduates all th e while fearing they have a basic skills problem . F o r them , m ore than anyone cu r­ rently in th e educational system, th e n e e d to b e ­ com e efficient and effective inform ation workers is critical to th e ir success. D aniel Bell’s “post-indus­ trial society” is finally, and seriously, taking root. I t’s not only w hat you know (the traditional role o f December 1990 /1 0 4 7 university training) but how you continue, through­ out your life, to find out m ore— that is critical to our students’ future. G raduate students, on the other hand, have to factor into the cost o f their education the cost of information— as they already do for books, calcula­ tors, and microcomputers. A faculty m em ber at Rensselaer recently calculated that the cost o f a slide rule, in its day, was in the same proportion to the cost o f education as th e m icrocom puter is today. Inform ation access and information “tool kits” (software, expert systems, etc.) are just the next step in transferring costs to the buyer. I t’s unfortunate that information technologies don’t have the same “shelf life” as the slide rule did. As for faculty, we can already observe telltale patterns. Faculty in the sciences and engineering live a different information lifestyle than those in the hum anities and social sciences. Physicists, bi­ ologists, and civil and environm ental engineers use grant money to pay for rem ote database searching; they send graduate students over to find and re ­ trieve relevant information. They, as a group, are the information rich. At the oth er end o f the spec­ trum is th e diligent English professor, th e budding history scholar in the library poring over books and journals. Actually, th e distinction o f information rich and poor is not the correct one. T here is a plethora o f information for all. T he dividing line comes in how it is accessed and by whom. L et’s go back, just briefly, to what happens tom orrow m orning w hen the reference librarians find themselves on the outside. Besides going to the local small business organization for developm ent and start-up funds to buy those things you now take for granted (including the telephone), you will face two major challenges. One will be to learn, and I mean really learn, who your potential clients are. The o th er is to advertise— both what information services you can provide and how good you are. That last one may make you squirm— after all, we are trained to do our jobs quietly, to be self-effac­ ing. The real world doesn’t work that way. Busi­ nesses bom bard you through all available media with information on what they do, and how well they do it, brand nam es included. Even the legal profession is in the act—what they lack in taste, they make up for in enthusiasm — “Been hit by a car? Call me!” A nother o f my purposes with this scenario was to point out how little we know about the tru e needs of our patrons, including th eir preferences and work habits. O n your own you would have to go from office door to office door making personal contact, learning in reasonable detail what patrons/ clients do. W hat can make a difference to them in their work th at provides you with an opening for your service? Many o f them may not even recog­ nize an inform ation problem , even w hen it stops th eir research cold. No more sitting behind a desk waiting for someone to come to you. Ah, b u t you say, you’re busy now, working inside the library. But, I ask, busy doing what? Telling the freshm en w here th e bathroom is, and repeatedly, in serial fashion, helping seniors research a paper— their first paper? Surely th ere is more to life as a refer­ ence librarian than this! It is my perception that very few reference questions involve anything rem otely resem bling the kind o f in-depth refer­ ence assistance we w ere trained to do. W ith the likely exception of branch librarians, we simply don’t know our clients well enough, nor are any o f us working smart enough at handling repetitive functions in more efficient ways. Every tim e we teach another graduate student how to use Social Science Citation Index to track the spread of research ideas, unless the individual is willing to pay for that private tutoring, w e’re wasting time. F o r that sort o f thing we need to use simple expert systems, even HyperCard™ applications, freeing us up for more interesting and cost-effective duties. One o f the issues you will have to deal with as an inform ation en trep ren eu r is that o f overhead—the switch from being part o f it to charging to cover it. As you organize yourselves to share expensive re ­ sources and benefit from economies of scale, you may suddenly decide you need clerical support. Think about what kind o f support you have now— I m ean support you truly have control over to answer your phone, type your letters, etc. I would hazard a guess that such support is thin, if existent at all. As an en trep ren eu r you may need a one-tim e consultant to help you set up a do-it-yourself billing package, rather than a perm anent helper to answer the phone and p u t the letters you have already com pleted on your word processor into their enve­ lopes. While you’re scurrying around outside, w hat’s happening inside the library? The circulation staff is down to two; janitorial staff is cut way back, for obvious reasons; the administration has been cut in half, and most o f the remaining are accountants (which you always suspected was their focus any­ way); technical services is dramatically changed. Not only are there fewer individuals, most o f them have chosen to move up to the more open and spacious quarters once occupied by the reference unit. M ore seriously, however, th eir work has changed. A quarter o f them do acquisition work, a quarter o f them do cataloging— nearly all o f it is copy cataloging; no one does any classification. Although the LC class num bers are listed in the online catalog to facilitate finding materials on related topics, the C u tter line is om itted and all new items are shelved by accession num ber. T he re ­ maining half o f the staff do in-depth subject index­ ing, further justifying the $100 p e r hour of catalog connect time. You see, I, as the owner o f this vast 1 0 4 8 / C&RL News pile o f books, have to enhance th e availability and accessibility o f w hat is in th e collection in o rd e r to b e com petitive with o th e r resources. And you, who are now relying on th e library for a living, will d em an d m ore from it in th e way its services are re p re se n te d and th e value you get for your money. W hile I ’m on th e topic o f th e collection, why do some books never circulate? Some o f it is due to poor selection, certainly, b u t som e o f it is d u e to lack o f discovery—th e lack o f an adequate service orientation w hich w ould make th e co n ten t o f th e books, and o th e r non-electronic resources, acces­ sible. Just providing open access to a million books doesn’t do it. Also, and needless to say, th e re will be trem en d o u s pressure on my p art no t only to ac­ quire m aterials quickly, b u t to get th e m into th e system and on th e shelves. A book on a backlog shelf can ’t earn its keep and is a liability. H ave I m ade any m oney yet? I ’ve cut personnel costs dramatically; I ’ve increased acquisitions and have an o rd e r out for m ore shelving to p u t u p in som e o f th e large study areas; th e b u d g et breaks down to 30% salaries, 50% acquisitions, and 20% investm ent— mostly sunk into research for new m ethods and techniques for access and dissem ina­ tion— my key to success in th e future. Clearly th e re are problem s w ith this scenario. Inform ation becom es scarce, and valuable. Faculty begin to b a rte r inform ation, trying to work around th e large storehouse o f inform ation by finding al­ te rn a te sources. This causes great inefficiencies and eventually th e old adage, “T im e is m oney,” will surface. Users tu rn in g to o th e r libraries will find, however, th a t traditional libraries will not serve th em w ithout th e ir physically going to th e m (if one can even obtain perm ission to get in). U sers will find willing help in com m ercial services, including, o f course, th e ir accom panying fees. T h ere is one o th e r interesting aspect th a t is not insignificant. T h ere will be those individuals who will bem oan th e lack o f “social space for inquiry and analysis,” as th e ASIS 2000 R ep o rt1 described one role o f th e library. I ’d only like to point out th e enorm ous cost o f th a t social space in its c u rre n t form and suggest it is m ore im portant to th e u n d e r­ graduate looking for a date th an th e faculty m em ­ b e r trying to solve a problem in condensed m atter physics. D o I like this “new library?” No, I d o n ’t. It was only an im perfect exercise in im agination in ten d ed to unsettle you, to till up some solid, hard-packed 1Ann E. P re n tic e , “R ep o rts from th e T h in k G roups C reated in Support o f th e ASIS 2000 Project,” Bulletin o f the American Society o f Infor­ m ation Science 16 (O ctober-N ovem ber 1989): 11-29. earth so I could plan t a few seeds o r set down a foundation for a new kind o f wall. Paradigm shifts are painful W hat I ’m actually talking about is a paradigm shift— a situation w here an organism o r an organi­ zation w hich has b e e n functioning at a kind o f equilibrium , building up inertia, changes in a q u an ­ tu m way. C ertainly th e changes I was suggesting w ith th e Inform ation E n tre p re n e u r rep re se n t a paradigm shift. A nother exam ple is th e change being suggested by Sharon Rogers, and others, regarding th e role o f th e scholarly journal in th e academ ic village. H e r “Point o f View” article in th e Chronicle o f H igher E ducation2 a few m onths ago rep resen ts a paradigm shift. T h e article suggests alternative, electronic-based m echanism s for th e delivery o f scholarly inform ation, an d recom m ends enh an cem en ts to th e editorial process, including m ethods o f cap tu rin g re a d e rs’ com m ents, and control by a board o f governors w hich includes universities. This rep resen ts an entirely different environm ent for scholarly “publishing” and its role in th e te n u re and prom otion process. As you m ight im agine, paradigm shifts are painful. T hey result in nearly total change requiring grow th on th e p a rt o f every individual involved. To move through th em successfully requires imaginative leadership, ex­ perim entation, and flexibility. In th e case o f a research library m odel proposed by a group o f my colleagues and me, th e paradigm shift reach e d across traditional boundaries. An article in th e Journal o f Academ ic Librarianship3 last year set out th e basics o f this m odel for th e research library o f th e future. T he basic te n ets o f th e m odel w ere a restru ctu rin g o f th e library into th re e com ponents. T h e first has responsibility for th e existing and fu tu re p rin t-o n -p ap er and m icro­ form collections. It is staffed by high-level support staff, o r paraprofessionals, tra in e d in servicing th o se collections, in cluding p reserv atio n te c h ­ niques. I w ant to skip over for a m om ent th e second, o r m iddle com ponent, and go to th e th ird com ponent. This p iece is staffed by librarians with strong subject backgrounds and train ed in effective interpersonal com m unication skills. T hey will r e ­ side, o r spend th e m ajority o f th e ir tim e, outside th e library assisting clients in fram ing inform ation problem s, in terp retin g inform ation resources, and 2Sharon J. Rogers and C harlene S. H u rt, “H ow Scholarly C om m unication Should W ork in th e 21st C en tu ry ,” Chronicle o f H igher E ducation 36 (O c­ to b e r 18, 1989): A56. 3A nne W oodsw orth e t al., “T he M odel R esearch Library: Planning for th e F u tu re ,” Journal o f Aca­ dem ic Librarianship 15 (July 1989): 132-138. December 1 9 9 0 / 1049 gathering from the field an understanding o f what is needed, both in resources and in im proved ac­ cess techniques to existing resources. I skipped over the middle com ponent because one needs to understand th e two framing com ponents to u n d er­ stand that the middle piece interfaces with both sides, not directly with the users. T he middle com ponent is a systems design function th at is responsible for providing enhanced access to the paper-based collections, on one hand, and to the electronic resources on the other. It is staffed by systems designers, artificial intelligence experts, indexers, linguists, and the like. In addition, I would personally argue that the responsibility o f this tri­ partite group for information in the new academic environm ent in not just a responsibility for tradi­ tional “library” information, b u t for information and information systems campuswide. T here are several dangers to non-conformity, to pushing paradigm shifts, especially w hen they in­ volve new roles and responsibilities. Initially there is a non-acceptance by those in authority. You hear statem ents like: “T hat’s not your jo b ,” or, “Your training doesn’t fit.” Going along with this is a need for the university’s adm inistration to readjust its image of the librarian and its expectation of skills. Librarians have a strong stereotype to overcome— some of which we perpetuate ourselves— so be prepared to be persistent. If we are prom oting change that is m ore than cosmetic there will be a n eed for realignm ent of work distribution; in particular, responsibility for new activities m ust be sorted out betw een units. You can’t just start one Monday m orning by an­ nouncing this is Change Day. Trem endous p rep a­ ration is involved— input from all concerned, vali­ dation of the proposed change, determ ining new protocols, and, finally, the transfer o f duties or the addition o f new activities. The most im portant aspect o f the change proc­ ess is having a vision— preferably one that has been jointly arrived at and is widely shared. Normally an organization starts with developing a plan, and once the plan is done someone is assigned to im ple­ m ent it and everyone walks away feeling, “Well, that jo b ’s done.” T hat’s one big reason plans fail. The last thing you need in a dynamic environm ent is a static plan. If people try to follow it, it causes nothing b u t constant frustration; it’s much easier to pu t it on the shelf and ignore it, only to take it out annually to check w here things have gone o f their own accord, com pared to w here you thought they might go. A vision is different from a plan— it’s something that hangs around in your head, a kind of compass needle to help in navigation. T hat is not to say there are not specific plans and goals, b u t they are bonded together by a grand idea. W hen attem pting to focus on a vision, w hether for a departm ent or an entire organization, you need to take a functional point o f view—in fact, the users’ point o f view. You need to question everything, be suspicious o f state­ m ents like, ‘W ell, o f course we have to do A, B, or C .” Ask what the value of A, B, or C is to the mission o f your institution, or what purpose it serves for the user. Listen for the small voices, those that you may not often hear and, above all, consider everything. W e recently w ent through such an exercise at Rensselaer. Six departm ent heads and two adm in­ istrators m et outside the library for th ree sessions of nearly four hours each. Nothing was sacred; every­ thing was thrown on the table for discussion. The approach was a kind of zero-based plan. Yes, it was threatening to some but we tried hard to have everyone come out understanding that we were a stronger and more viable organization after the process. W e all understood what functions we w ere going to continue, and why; what we had jettisoned, and why; and what new functions we were taking on and how they fit into the vision. T here are tim e­ tables and milestones; people have been moved, tasks reassigned, and in some cases there are totally new job descriptions for existing staff—voluntarily agreed to by negotiation. W e have a vision, b u t we also have a real set of actions and consequences. In six m onths w e’ll do it all over again— reassess, readjust, reconfirm. The process is more im portant than the plan. Tomorrow’s library— a concept not a place In the most simplistic term s there are two as­ pects to a library. One is its collection of inform a­ tion, in all the object-based forms we know. The other aspect is the intellectual “tool set,” the skills em bodied in the staff that sets librarians apart. As access to electronic inform ation resources in ­ creases, the intellectual capabilities o f the staff— th e skills o f collocating, organizing, and making in­ formation accessible and the com plem entary skills o f identifying, locating, and getting inside th e con­ tents o f the information packages— grow in prom i­ nence. As I have said frequently, there will be less on the shelves and more on the wires. This is not to deny the unresolved problem s caused by the rise o f electronic-based information. C om puters heighten inequality; they require spe­ cialized knowledge unique to particular hardware and software. Books, and other print-based re ­ sources, facilitate equality; one has only to pass the barrier o f literacy and information is readily avail­ able. W e are also ham pered by the confusion b e ­ tw een com puters as access vehicles and as delivery vehicles. No one who looks seriously at the use of information technologies is willing to suggest you will be sitting in a dimly lit room reading for hours from a flickering video monitor. The technologies 1050 / C &R L News open up alternative ways to access inform ation and new ways to deliver it— local printing options, and file transfers and merges th at bring subsets o f text u n d e r control for later access. T he problem many libraries are experiencing with “excessive” printing o f C D -R O M inform ation is a good example. No one wants to read a lot o f inform ation on a screen; even downloading it to a floppy disk, as is som e­ tim es suggested, is only an interm ediary step to finding a way to p u t it on paper. O ne can’t rethink one piece o f th e puzzle and assume no changes in th e surrounding pieces. W e n eed to adopt a sys­ tem ic approach. F o r example, as com puters and o th e r technologies becom e truly effective in deliv­ ering instruction, a series o f changes will course through th e academ ic environm ent. N ot only will teaching m ethods and course content change, bu t scheduling, m ethods o f examination, hours o f in ­ struction, and availability o f faculty will all change as well. Change at th e level o f a paradigm shift is not a m atter o f adding a new layer o f bricks to th e wall, b u t m aking new openings, reversing th e flow around it, o r tearing it down altogether. In th e same context, autom ating reference isn’t ju st adding a few term inals at th e delivery site so librarians can do w hat they normally do b u t in a faster way. Change in this area may m ean having evening reference librarians work at hom e, com ­ m unicating with patrons via e-mail and phone, being able to electronically “look over th e shoul­ d e r” o f a patron who is having a problem w ith an online search in th e catalog, o r directing another into an expert system th a t will instruct th em on th e use o f a reference tool. Looking at a library as a concept rath e r than a place begins to open up our thinking. In th e very near te rm it is im portant th at we draw o u r attention away from th e collections, th e objects, and look at th e services, because, in my view, we can already, quite clearly, see change occurring. W hat are some o f th e skills th at can be tu rn e d into m ore service? Librarians n eed to provide deeper, fuller, and m ore accurate intellectual access to all inform a­ tion. T he design and im plem entation o f new index­ ing m ethods is critical in th e m achine-based envi­ ronm ent. Even for th a t inform ation still captive betw een book covers, access is key. F o r some interesting forefront work, read w hat Suzanne H um phrey and h e r colleagues are doing at th e National Library o f M edicine.4 H e r work is not just enhancem ent, b u t represents an exciting rethink­ ing o f long-term problem s from th e perspective o f both th e user and th e indexer. H um phrey has created an expert system called M edlndE x th at 4S u z a n n e M. H um phrey, “A Knowledge-Based Expert System for Com puter-Assisted Indexing,” IEEE Expert 4 (Fall 1989): 25-38. builds indexing around conceptual frames th a t re ­ late concepts and entities to each other. T he result is indexing th at taps into a rich, already existing body o f knowledge based on th e M ESH subject vocabulary. This, in turn, allows both for m ore accurate and consistent indexing and m ore precise and com plete recall. A nother service b rought out in th e opening sce­ nario is th e n eed for a stronger, m ore proactive role in bibliographic instruction. W e n eed m ore than ever to reexam ine our tim e-consum ing one-on-one activities. T he dem ographics o f th e college-age population are changing dramatically, and our universities are taking in a broadening spectrum of students. T he backgrounds and skill levels o f our entering students are m ore varied and, while th at provides a richer mix o f students, it also necessi­ tates a look at how we have provided certain serv­ ices in th e past. Bibliographic instruction is an investm ent, both for th e stu d en t and for th e librar­ ian. T he m ore sophisticated th e user, th e b e tte r th a t person is served in th e long term and th e more interesting ou r work becom es. I do n ’t see why we can’t package some basic inform ation in creative ways on a floppy disk and hand it out at student orientation, for example. W hen a student or a faculty m em b er decides at 10 in th e evening th at they n eed to use th e online catalog, why not let th em pop in th e ir disk and get a tour? Yes, we have help facilities online, b u t you n eed some sophistica­ tion with th e catalog to even get to th e help part. These are not new ideas. Several libraries are using H E A Title II-D m oney to begin such projects. F o r th e rest o f us, every tim e we agree to a private tutorial session, we reinforce expectations for such service. L et’s rethink this and learn to “Just Say N o” while providing some m ore cost-effective and staff- effective m ethods o f delivery. A th ird service area is one th at th e profession has gone around on for a long tim e, and we n eed to fish or cut bait, as th e expression is. I am referring to the neutrality o f librarians in providing inform ation. In tim e we will be puttin g less on th e shelves, and the whole art o f collection developm ent will take on a secondary role. W hat will be n eed ed in its place is a m ore intense effort o f assisting users in finding th e inform ation they want, evaluating it based on th e ir criteria, and repackaging it, perhaps in sum ­ mary form, or analyzed and ready to be incorpo­ rated into th e ir work. T he Inform ation E n tre p re ­ n e u r exists today as th e inform ation broker, i f we look beyond th e ir perhaps irritating profit-m aking use o f o u r collections we see some service areas we n e e d to consider— evaluation and repackaging of inform ation. I believe if you did a survey and evaluation, and repackaging was suggested as a possible new service, you’d have a lot o f interested people. Maybe we d o n ’t w ant to go th e full nine yards on this, b u t w hat’s th e vision and how might December 199 0 1 1051 this work in? Those of us who provide service to area businesses evaluate and repack information as a m atter o f course. T here is an analogy here that might be useful. T he larger departm ent stores have developed a new service— a w ardrobe consultant. There is usually a single individual in a nicely furnished office who, by appointm ent, will devote her entire attention to you, th e custom er, as you spend your money in putting together a few pieces for a fall wardrobe, or whatever. T he counterpart in the library is the individual who has an in-depth reference need and in m eeting that need will also spend money on database searches, interlibrary loan fees, or docum ent delivery services. If we look at pricing these needed services with a profit in mind, we may be able to throw in the consultant free. The last area I will m ention really tears down the walls and crosses sacred boundaries. I have felt for a long tim e that librarians should be playing a significant role in the organization and dissemina­ tion of campuswide information. W e have a host of campus units, from contracts and grants to regis­ trar, holding information critical to the academic process in forms and formats incom patible b e ­ tween systems and unavailable to decision makers. Librarians, with th eir long history o f cooperatively establishing standards and facilitating access, have the exact set o f skills n eed ed to address these problems. This paradigm shift, should we be suc­ cessful in pulling it off, raises all the issues I m en­ tioned earlier— it’s not your job, it’s not my image of your abilities, etc. I t’s interesting territory that is rife with more political problem s than with infor­ mation access problems. T he F ebruary issue of Academic Com puting5 has more o f my view on this issue, if you’d like to pursue it further. I believe there is a critical opportunity here. The environment of change W here does all of this leave us? I ’ve tried to challenge your thinking with regard to old patterns and habits and suggested some service areas we need to pay particular attention to as we move deeper into th e electronic jungle, as it’s been called. I ’d like to emphasize, again, the role o f a vision and downplay hard-core plans. Visionary leadership in the face o f budget cuts can truly turn disasters into assets— it’s not easy bu t it can be done. W e need supervisors who spend m ore of their tim e looking toward th e future and looking for opportunities to move th e unit toward th e vision while spending less tim e focusing on today and the 5Pat Molholt, “Libraries and Cam pus Inform a­ tion: Redrawing the Boundaries,” Academic Com­ puting 4 (February 1990): 20-21, 42-43. close supervision o f employees— although a little ankle biting is ok. Equally im portant, the employ­ ees need to understand w here the organization is going—that, in fact, it is not sitting still, b u t is moving deliberately toward a vision, and what they do m atters a great deal in the progress toward that goal. Not everyone will agree with the direction— and yes, moving a behem oth is not easy—b u t a vision th at translates down to every individual can make it move. The organization within which this will be hap­ pening in the ’90s will be different too. First, the hierarchies, the chain o f command, will be flatter, with increased responsibility and accountability pushed down to those individuals capable o f effect­ ing change. T here will be more negotiation and facilitation in a lateral fashion rath er than move­ m ent up, over, and down. This will be a deregu­ lated, decentralized world w here responsiveness to individual custom er and patron needs is feasible and rewarded. Second, successful organizations will need to be faster in responding to change and absorbing new ideas. The process o f planning will be more im por­ tant than the plan, which will be in constant flux. The ability to p u t together teams, to effect trad e­ offs, to experim ent, to take risks will be im portant. These are not characteristics b red into us in our graduate programs. Finally, th ere is the elem ent o f change itself, the force prodding th e behem oth on. W e need to learn to live with change and anticipate it, not always reacting after having run into it. W iden your sights; look outside the profession for indicators of change in the broader community. Ask “what if?” questions . . . and dream. Local CE Courses in high demand R equests for A C R L ’s Local C on tin u in g Education Presentations are coming in from coast to coast and even from the islands. In addition to the seven classes being p re ­ sented in P uerto Rico at the University o f Puerto Rico, Ponce, Local C E Presentations are being made in Oklahoma, Georgia, W ash­ ington D.C., Minnesota, California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Local Presentations are professional devel­ opm ent opportunities that are brought directly to your campus. W ith the increase in requests comes an increasing need for skilled instruc­ tors. If you are interested in joining our Profes­ sional D evelopm ent Training Team please call Mattye Nelson, (312) 280-2519 or Reggie Prim (312) 280-2526.