ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


285

Continuing Education

CE and the Information Environment
Since the publication of M. V. Porat’s The In ­

form ation Economy in 1977, there has been a 
growing concern about the role librarians will 
play in th e  em erg en c e of inform ation-rich 
societies. During this decade, as Edwin Parker 
notes, “the focus of attention will be on the in­
formation technologies In that respect, librar­
ians are doing quite well in learning about new 
information media and systems, such as teletext 
communication, microelectronics and computer 
graphics. The result of the advances in informa­
tion technologies will be a new information infra­
structure for the 1990s, in which libraries will be 
competing with a vast constellation of institutions 
and organizations which will be utilizing a much 
larger array of information services and goods.

Consequently, if librarians are going to be skil­
led professionals of the future, who possess spe­
cialized expertise about the information infra­
structure, they are going to have to understand 
the relationships between the social structure of 
knowledge and “knowledge managem ent,” i.e. 
the linkages between the creation, production, 
diffusion, application and u tilizatio n  of 
knowledge.2 In order to prepare for the informa­

tion environment of the future, librarians need 
to, as Pauline Wilson has argued, enlarge and en­
rich the “knowledge base of librarianship. ”3 Spe­
cifically, librarians need to be recognized as hav­
ing a specialized knowledge of information re­
source management and policy analysis.

The challenge to professional education, both 
w ithin academic institutions and through con­
tinuing education, will be to master the body of 
know ledge necessary to fill th e inform ation 
occupations of the future.4 Other professionals, 
such as policy sc ien tists, econom ists, public 
administrators and R&D specialists, have already 
re-emphasized the study of knowledge and are 
becom ing inform ation scientists in th e ir own 
right, analysing the creation, dissemination, reg­
ulation and management of knowledge.5 At the 
same time that librarians learn about the new in­
formation technologies, they need to know how 
to use the information infrastructure to design 
new institutional and organizational arrangements 
that will change academic libraries into informa­
tion and research management centers.

For example, the development and manage­
m ent of social science data archives at most



286

academic institutions has taken place outside the 
library, yet such archives are an integral part of 
the social science information system. With the 
availability of non-bibliographic online database 
services, the lack of an interface betw een re­
search and data libraries will have a profound 
effect on social science researchers. Ideally, social 
scientists would benefit by having a social science 
information system which incorporated machine 
readable data files and num erical online data 
bases with other sources of information. In order 
for there to be a data library in the research li­
brary, librarians would have to learn new skills of 
data librarianship. Additionally, the creation of a 
data center/research library might require the re­
designing of institutional arrangements that allow 
for a variety of individuals, including librarians, 
computer scientists, etc., who share a combina­
tion of skills.

Consequently, librarians need to think beyond 
continuing education that focuses on interperson­
al skills, such as developing supervisory tech­
niques, and even library-bound concerns, such as 
collection management. This means concentrating 
on the economics, control, analysis and evaluation 
of information policies within society as a whole 
and being familiar with the growth of an entirely 
different social stratification of knowledge work­
ers.

While it is much easier to conjecture about the 
future than to offer specific proposals for today, I 
would like to suggest some ideas for thought. 
First, I would like to see greater cooperation be­
tween ALA and other associations, such as SLA 
and ASIS in developing mutual workshops, con­
ferences and educational opportunities. One pos­
sibility might be the establishm ent of regular 
summer institutes or Chautauqua-type courses, 
lasting two or three weeks each, at academic in­
stitutions. Secondly, librarians need the oppor­
tunity to work in other sectors of the information 
industry, both within their own institutions and

outside. The opportunity to work in a computing 
center, research institute, data archive or with 
the office of research and development at one’s 
own institution would prove invaluable. Outside 
the university, there is myriad of possible work 
experiences one could find in the information in­
dustries.

Finally, if the above suggestions are to be 
possible, it would require greater funding support 
for educational and research opportunities than is 
presently available. In comparison to other mem­
bers of an academic institution, for whom fel­
lowships, development and research grants, etc. 
are a vital part of their continuing education, 
funding sources and institutional opportunities for 
librarians are quite meager. This is generally the 
case locally, as well as nationally. Correcting this 
situation will not be easy, but it is crucial that we 
begin. -Robert Goehlert.

Editor’s Note: Robert Goehlert is librarian fo r  
economics and political science at Indiana Uni­
versity, Rloomington, and is currently chair o f 
ACRL’s Continuing Education Committee.

1Edwin B. Parker, “Information Services and 
Economic Growth,” The Information Society 1 
(1981):77.

2Nicholas L. Henry, “Knowledge Management: 
a New Concern For Public Administration,” Pub­
lic A d m in istra tio n  R eview  34 (M ay/June 
1974): 189.

3Pauline Wilson, “Librarianship and ALA in a 
P ost-Industrial Society,” Am erican Libraries, 
March 1978, p. 128.

4See Robert S. Taylor, “Reminiscing About the 
Future: Professional Education and the Informa­
tion Environm ent,” Library Journal, Sept. 15, 
1979, pp. 1871-1875.

5R obert F. Rich. “ E d ito r’s I n tro d u c tio n ,” 
Knowledge: Creation, D iffusion, Utilization 1 
(Sept. 1979), p. 3.

Copyright Controversy
The Association of American Publishers issued 

a working docum ent earlier this year entitled 
D raft College and University Policy Statement 
Concerning Photocopying by Faculty and S ta ff to 
be d istrib u te d  to u n iv ersity  legal counsels 
throughout the United States. The AAP issued 
the document in the wake of litigation with “cam­
pus copy mills” that allegedly were producing 
anthologies beyond the guidelines of fair use.

At its annual meeting in San Francisco, the 
ACRL Board of Directors endorsed a statement 
by the ACRL Ad Hoc Committee on Copyright 
which addressed and criticized the AAP docu­
ment.

For the benefit of C&RL News readers who 
may be unfamiliar with the AAP document, por­
tions of it are reprinted below. The Ad Hoc Com­
mittee on Copyright statement follows.

AAP Draft Policy Statement
It is the policy of [name of institution] that, in 

the absence of permission from the copyright 
owner, m ultiple copies of copyrighted books, 
periodicals, or parts of such works should gener­
ally not be made by or for faculty or staff unless 
th e copying is p e rm itte d  by th e  guid elin es 
attached as Appendix A to this memorandum.* It 
is possible that, in some cases, the copying of a