Libraries in the early 21st century, volume 1: An international perspective 9783110270631, 9783110270563

Table of contents :
Foreword
Introduction
Part 1 International Librarianship
1.1 Let’s Peal the Onion Together: Exploration of the Outer Limits of International Librarianship
1.2 ALA and its International Relations Programs
1.3 Technology and Academic Libraries in East Asia: An Overview
Part 2 Countries A–Z
2.1 Australia. Early Adopters Down Under: Technology in Australian Libraries
2.2 Azerbaijan. Libraries in Azerbaijan Today
2.3 Canada. Building Canadian Electronic Libraries: The Experience in Ontario Public Libraries, 1960–2010
2.4 China. Technologies and Chinese Librarianship
2.5 Croatia. Technology Based Services in Croatian Libraries: Developments, Challenges and Prospective
2.6 France. Libraries in France: From One Century to the Next One
2.7 Germany. Libraries in Germany
2.8 Hungary. Development of Libraries in Hungary
2.9 Japan. Libraries and Librarianship in Japan
2.10 Morocco. The New Era of Moroccan Libraries: Perceptions of a Fulbrighter
2.11 New Zealand. New Zealand: Innovation in a Small Country
2.12 Nigeria. The Development of Information and Communication Technologies in Nigerian Libraries
2.13 Russia. Russian Archives and Libraries: Their Development Since the Introduction of Technology
2.14 Serbia. Development of Libraries in Serbia in the New Millennium
2.15 South Africa. “Take The Vision to the People”: The Development and Transformation of Libraries and Information Services in South Africa
2.16 Spain. Libraries and Technologies in Spain: Past, Present and Future
2.17 Turkey. Turkish Libraries and Technology in the Early Twenty-first Century
2.18 United Kingdom. The History of Library Automation in the United Kingdom
2.19 Uzbekistan. Libraries in Uzbekistan: Past, Present and Future
About the Contributors
About the Editor

Citation preview

Libraries in the Early 21st Century Vol. 1

Libraries in the Early 21st Century

De Gruyter Saur

Libraries in the Early 21st Century Volume 1 An International Perspective

Edited on behalf of IFLA by Ravindra N. Sharma

De Gruyter Saur

ISBN 978-3-11-027056-3 e-ISBN 978-3-11-027063-1 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche 1DWLRQDOELEOLRJUD¿HGHWDLOHGELEOLRJUDSKLFGDWDDUHDYDLODEOHLQWKH,QWHUQHW at http://dnb.d-nb.de. © 2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston Typesetting: Michael Peschke, Berlin Printing: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ’3ULQWHGRQDFLGIUHHSDSHU Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com

Foreword At no time in the history of librarianship has technology had such a significant impact. The exponential growth of technology and its concomitant impact has transformed the way in which information is created, stored, and, more importantly, shared. This technology has also heightened the expectations of library users to be connected to information from all corners of the world, increasing the impetus for the globalization of information. Globalization must be seen in the context of access to information that is produced or held across all of the continents. The current IFLA presidential theme of “Libraries driving access to knowledge” becomes a growing reality when access to information is just a click away. It is not debatable that in the current information world, the most efficient conduit to making the world one small information global village is the commensurate technology. This book, edited by Dr. R. N. Sharma, is a collection of contributions by leading international experts on the utilization of technology in the development of libraries. There are contributions, including those of past presidents of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), which make this publication a valuable contribution to the body of knowledge, especially in the library and information science (LIS) discipline. The book is exhaustive both in geographic and substance coverage. The authors discuss the development of libraries in their respective countries, with the emphasis on the influence of technology on that development. The authors interrogate the problems they face when introducing technology because of the lack of funds, leadership, planning, software, hardware, training, and equipment. Another feature of the book is the prediction of how libraries will develop in the next 15 years (2010–2025) in their countries. Dr. Sharma is eminently qualified to edit this crucial publication, as he has an exceptional background in international librarianship which began in the early 1980s. He has an exemplary authorship profile, having published 11 books and over 250 articles and book reviews. His leadership within the LIS discipline includes presentations of papers at more than 30 national and international conferences, including many as keynote addresses. Dr Sharma has served on 35 committees of ALA, ACRL, and other professional associations and has served as chair of many committees, including the International Relations Committee/ACRL (2008–2010), Asian, African and the Middle Eastern Section of ACRL, and President of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association. His contribution to international librarianship has earned him, in 2005, the ACRL honor of Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award.

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Foreword

IFLA, being the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users, is proud to be associated with this essential publication. The globalization of information for the growth and development of the world is what underpins IFLA as an internationally representative organization. This is an exciting and absorbing publication. Ellen R. Tise President 2009–2011, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). Senior Director, Library and Information Services, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

Table of Contents Foreword Ellen R. Tise ....................................................................................................

v

Introduction ....................................................................................................

1

Part 1 International Librarianship 1.1

Ellen R. Tise and Reggie Raju Let’s Peal the Onion Together: Exploration of the Outer Limits of International Librarianship .......

7

1.2

Beverly P. Lynch ALA and its International Relations Programs ................................. 17

1.3

Anchi Hoh and Peter R. Young Technology and Academic Libraries in East Asia: An Overview ....................................................................................... 27

Part 2 Countries A௅Z 2.1

Australia Alex Byrne Early Adopters Down Under: Technology in Australian Libraries ................................................... 51

2.2

Azerbaijan Liladhar R. Pendse and Altay Goyushov Libraries in Azerbaijan Today ........................................................... 63

2.3

Canada Lorne D. Bruce Building Canadian Electronic Libraries: The Experience in Ontario Public Libraries, 1960௅2010 ................. 91

2.4

China Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan Technologies and Chinese Librarianship .......................................... 105

2.5

Croatia Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina Technology Based Services in Croatian Libraries: Developments, Challenges and Prospective ...................................... 139

viii Table of Contents 2.6

France Anne-Marie Bertrand Libraries in France: From One Century to the Next One ................. 161

2.7

Germany Claudia Lux Libraries in Germany .......................................................................... 173

2.8

Hungary Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga Development of Libraries in Hungary ............................................... 183

2.9

Japan Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige Libraries and Librarianship in Japan ................................................. 203

2.10 Morocco Heather Lea Moulaison The New Era of Moroccan Libraries: Perceptions of a Fulbrighter ............................................................... 225 2.11 New Zealand Philip Calvert New Zealand: Innovation in a Small Country ................................... 241 2.12 Nigeria Martha A. Speirs The Development of Information and Communication Technologies in Nigerian Libraries ................................................... 253 2.13 Russia Kelly Ann Kolar Russian Archives and Libraries: Their Development Since the Introduction of Technology .............. 269 2.14 Serbia Stela Filipi Matutionovic and Biljana Kosanovic Development of Libraries in Serbia in the New Millennium ........... 281 2.15 South Africa Christine Stilwell “Take The Vision to the People”: The Development and Transformation of Libraries and Information Services in South Africa ......................................... 293

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2.16 Spain Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez Libraries and Technologies in Spain: Past, Present and Future ....... 323 2.17 Turkey Selma Alpay Aslan Turkish Libraries and Technology in the Early Twenty-first Century ...................................................... 341 2.18 United Kingdom Hazel Woodward and Fytton Rowland The History of Library Automation in the United Kingdom ........... 361 2.19 Uzbekistan Marat Rahmatullaev and Akram Khabibullaev Libraries in Uzbekistan: Past, Present and Future ............................ 375 About the Contributors .................................................................................. 387 About the Editor ............................................................................................. 397

Introduction R.N. Sharma, Ph.D. The late Dr. S. R. Ranganathan (1892–1972), a well-known brilliant librarian and a library educator from India, was the first person in the world to predict in the 1950s, during one of his trips to Europe, that online catalogs will replace card catalogs in libraries and technology will play an important and an effective role in shaping libraries. His prediction has certainly come true. Technology was introduced in libraries in the 1960s and has now become an integral part of the profession of librarianship. It is dominating libraries, especially in the developed countries of the world. During the last 45 years libraries and librarianship have changed tremendously. Libraries have changed from storing and retrieving information from the four walls of library buildings, to online storage methods, including online databases on the World Wide Web, to accessing the information, including e-books though mobile technology, and retrieving books from stacks with robot assistance. At present, information is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week from libraries of many nations, and not only from libraries, but also from homes, offices, and even remote areas through computers as well as mobile phones, in many languages. Thus, libraries truly have become virtual for the benefit of all scholars, students, faculty, researchers, and others who are interested in finding information. But this progress is more visible in developed nations and a few developing countries of the world. According to the United Nations, “In common practice, Japan in Asia, Canada and the United States of America, Australia and New Zealand in Oceania, and most European countries are considered developed regions or areas.”1 Many countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America are trying to introduce technology in their libraries, but a majority of them are still behind because of lack of funds and initiative from their rulers and political leaders, poverty, hunger, illiteracy, war, famines, and poor planning. I have been interested in international librarianship for a long time and have been disappointed at the slow progress of libraries in the developing and undeveloped nations. In spite of the fact that libraries in the developed nations have progressed at a faster rate in the information age, the gap between rich and poor countries libraries has widened. Therefore, I decided to edit a book on libraries in the early twenty-first century and invited many well 1

“Developed Country” in Wikipedia, p.2. http://en.wikiPedia.org/wiki/developed-country. (1. Aug. 2011).

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R.N. Sharma

known librarians and library educators from selected countries to write about their libraries. The authors were selected through the library databases, Google, personal contacts, help from IFLA and its various committees, and a call for papers on the websites of a few library associations. Fifty authors were selected to write chapters on the history and development of libraries in their countries with an emphasis on the development during the last 30 years from 1980 to 2010. It was during the 1980s, 1990s and the first decade of the present century that many important changes were introduced in the field of library and information science through technology. The changes have certainly made a difference in the profession and brought libraries and librarians closer to each other. All contributors were instructed to give a clear picture of the status of libraries with achievements, barriers, and hurdles, and how libraries will develop in their countries during the next 15 years. The writing style of all contributors is very different because of their education systems, backgrounds, cultures, nationalities and languages. They have done an excellent job of writing their chapters and giving their honest views of the development of libraries in their countries including difficulties. Libraries have been part of the world for centuries, but there was no international library association until 1927. The International Federation of Library Association (IFLA) was formed in Edinburgh, United Kingdom by a few European and American librarians led by Gabriel Henriot of France. It was a small beginning with a bright future. In 1976 libraries were allowed to become institutional members of the association and its name was changed to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). In 1979 IFLA elected its first woman President, Else Granheim of Norway, and it started holding conferences outside Europe in Asia, Africa, North and South America, Australia and other pars of the world. Since 1980 IFLA has paid attention to many important aspects of international librarianship including copyright matters, freedom of access to information, interlibrary loan lending, preservation and conservation, and standardization of bibliographic activities. A new program “Advancement for Librarianship in the Third World” was introduced in 1986. IFLA has done an excellent job of bringing libraries and librarians of the world together to discuss various issues of international librarianship and to address the needs of the profession. IFLA is still a small association with only 1,700 members from 150 countries, but it is the global voice of the profession of library and information science. The introduction of technology has certainly helped to bring the professionals and the profession closer in the global village of the information age. IFLA, with its headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, has led the profession in an effective manner. Therefore, I want to dedicate this book to IFLA for its contributions, leadership, and guidance to International Librarianship. It is the first time in history of IFLA and library literature that all living presidents of IFLA have contributed chapters on librarianship in one book. Thus, history has been created in the field of international librarianship. It is my hope that it will help to pro-

Introduction

3

mote the profession. I want to thank all living Presidents of IFLA for their contributions and congratulate them for this rare feat and achievement in international librarianship. It has been an excellent and rewarding experience to work with all authors. The response to my invitation was overwhelming. My sincere thanks goes to all authors who took the time from their busy schedules to write their chapters. Their hard work has been rewarded with the publication of the book with a “Forward” by Ms. Ellen Tise, President of IFLA from 2009௅2011. I also want to thank the publisher and Dr. Alice Keller, Editorial Director of the De Gruyter/Saur for their guidance and for providing the finishing touches to the manuscript and preparing it for publication in two volumes. It is a comprehensive book with first hand and up-to-date information on libraries of many countries from all continents. It will help students and faculty of library schools all over the world to learn, understand, and gain knowledge about the development of libraries in many countries. It will help librarians to learn more about libraries in other nations, their strengths, and weaknesses. It will also help leaders of the profession to know more about the problems and major gaps between the libraries of developed, developing, and underdeveloped countries. Finally, it will help library leaders and library associations including IFLA to work as a team to solve the problems and bridge the gap between the rich and poor nations and to improve libraries in the information age of the Twenty-first Century for the benefit of their citizens, scholars, and visitors through a dialog with the leaders of many countries.

References “Developed Country” in Wikipedia, p.2. http://en.wikiPedia.org/wiki/developed-country. (1. Aug. 2011).

Part 1 International Librarianship

1.1 Let’s Peal the Onion Together: Exploration of the Outer Limits of International Librarianship Ellen R. Tise and Reggie Raju Introduction The discourse on international librarianship has not, over the decades, deviated substantially from the core principles of collaborative and cooperative practices at an international level. This is corroborated by Lor (2008) who quotes Harvard-Williams as stating that librarians have a long and honorable tradition of cooperation. Thus, international librarianship has been and continues to be characterized by cooperation in respect of document supply, bibliographic standards, preservation and other technical areas. The significant element in this characterization is the role of libraries – libraries in different countries. However, libraries have grown much broader and are now inclusive of any medium that makes access to knowledge and information possible, given the ubiquitous nature of knowledge and information. Libraries, by driving access to knowledge and innovation, are bringing the world together to enhance innovation, growth and development. The world is now being referred to as a single entity, that is, the global village. As indicated by Lor (2008), because of rapid developments in information and communication technologies and the accompanying phenomena of globalization and disintermediation, efficient cooperation among librarians worldwide is needed to participate effectively in global forums such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). It is at these forums that far-reaching decisions are made that affect free and fair access to information resources in libraries that serve the peoples of the world.

The Whole Onion: International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) The focus of this chapter is on identifying and developing methods to bring the world together and to etch out ways of breaking down barriers and eradicating any form of elitism. The fundamental principle is that developed countries are dependent on developing countries even if it is just for their natural resources, human resources or space. On the other hand, developing countries are dependent on the developed countries for their finances and infrastructure.

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The reality is that the world is a conglomeration of developed and developing countries with a great sense of interdependence. Librarians, through their years of cooperation, collaboration and sharing, have contributed to bringing the world together by making accessible the most essential commodity for growth and development, and that is information and knowledge. Libraries drive access to knowledge. Therefore, it is imperative that there is an international body to bring librarians together to make accessible this critical commodity of information and knowledge. This embodiment of international librarianship, is IFLA. IFLA, the trusted global voice of libraries world-wide, has a strong commitment to enabling library associations and institutions, and their staff, throughout the world, to participate in the work of the Federation regardless of geographical location. IFLA is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) based in The Hague, Netherlands, and has been active since 1927. It is a member-based organization and the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. IFLA has over 1450 members in 151 countries (126 in Africa; 260 in Asia and Oceania; 705 in Europe; 89 in Latin America; 279 in North America) of which 123 are National Associations and 1059 are Institutions. Its purpose is to promote high standards of provision and delivery of library and information services, encourage widespread understanding of the value of good library and information services and to represent the interest of its members throughout the world. The Federation has three regional offices: IFLA Africa based in Pretoria, South Africa; IFLA Asia and Oceania (including the five sub-regions of Asia and Oceania: West Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania) based in Singapore; and IFLA Latin America and Caribbean, based in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to these IFLA has four language centers, one for Arabic in Egypt, French for Africa in Senegal, Russian in the Russian Federation and Chinese in China. IFLA is, amongst others, the thread that pulls together the continents in the endeavor to promote international librarianship enroute to the global village.

International Librarianship: The Concept Librarianship has always been international. However, the concept “international librarianship” gained momentum when discourse in librarianship was guided by geographical affiliation. Newly developed ideas were representative of a region or country. These new ideas where then passed from one country to another by librarians to make the librarian’s world more global and the community in which the librarian works more understandable for local people. The technology that accompanied this transfer of information heightened the expectations. This exportation and importation invariably meant an understanding of what was currently available in a specific region or country. In this context,

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comparative librarianship became a significant factor in international librarianship as there was a need to understand the level of librarianship in the region before importing new ideas to that region. Reinforcing this argument is the view of Kajberg (2009) who points out that comparative librarianship is a study of the development in many countries to discover what developments have been successful and can be copied elsewhere. Some years earlier Harvey (1973) stated that comparative librarianship is essentially or predominantly international in that it involves comparisons across borders. Thus, it is incumbent on librarians to constrict the world and merge the borders of the different countries into one global village. There has been significant activity and development within the Library and Information Science (LIS) profession that facilitates the merging process, and the rapid advances in technology have drastically enhanced dissemination mechanisms. Further, the growth of open access on the back of open source software has positively impacted on dissemination of information. Therefore, it is safe to argue that open access and technology, among other developments, have played a significant role in bridging the information gap between the haves and have-nots. The much freer flow of information brings some relief to the poverty stricken countries of the global community.

The Onion Metaphor and Broadening of the Concept Malone and Yohe (2002) quote the economic historian David Landes stating that, “the greatest single-problem and danger facing the world of the third millennium … is the gap in wealth and health that separates rich and poor”. One response to this dilemma is unified learning, universal sharing of knowledge and information to make accurate choices and to enhance innovation. There are a number of hypotheses attached to this response and one of those hypotheses is that access to knowledge and information is a critical resource in leveling the playing field, that information is critical for innovation and growth. Therefore, international librarianship is becoming much broader than the interaction of traditional libraries across borders. The authors use the onion metaphor to demonstrate the growing need for new and relevant layers beyond an already established core. The fundamental principles of international librarianship still remain at the crux of information provision with newer influential issues such as technology and open access contributing to the development of outer layers. However, these outer layers are neither more nor less significant to the inner layers, but they contribute to a more comprehensive whole. The existence and growth of the outer layers will remove tunnel vision, and in fact will allow for greater provision of information through a broader lens. This in no way detracts from the role of the traditional library, but rather radically expands the metaphorical walls of the library into virtual realms. The

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critical issue is for information to become more accessible to the citizens of the world, to help the citizens of the world to find solutions to their problems, and to help find innovative and creative ways to deal with issues that are unique to specific communities. Libraries need to drive access to knowledge to every member of the global village including those that are accessing information from a remote area using mobile technology. This equitable dissemination of information will ensure that information is not the monopoly of the rich. The constriction of the world and the linking of communities within the global village become significant issues for a “broader-lensed” international librarian.

The Synergy between Knowledge Society and International Librarianship The challenge for libraries in this expanded age of international librarianship is to discover, integrate, disseminate and apply the exponentially growing wealth of human knowledge. The furtherance of a knowledge-based society is a critical ambition of international librarianship. The strategy for a knowledgebased society calls for new kinds of knowledge partnerships among all the producers and disseminators of knowledge and information. As indicated at the WSIS conference in 2005, a rich public domain is an essential element for the growth of the knowledge society, creating multiple benefits such as educated public, new jobs, innovation, business opportunities, and the advancement of sciences. Information in the public domain should be easily accessible to support the knowledge based society. Public institutions such as libraries and archives, museums, cultural collections and other community-based access points should be strengthened in order to promote the preservation of documentary records and free and equitable access to information. Contemporary technology is enhancing the dissemination of knowledge and information. Lor (2008) states that “modern information and communications technologies (ICTs) are bringing about profound transformation in the information and knowledge landscape, affecting the creation, distribution, dissemination and repackaging of information as well as the interactive sharing of knowledge”. Modern ICTs allow information to be carried swiftly and unobtrusively across national boundaries.

What Is It that We Can Share with Each Other? Lor (2008) quotes Miles Jackson who talks about library development in developing countries and poses the question of what developing countries can do to contribute to developed countries in terms of contemporary advancements in librarianship. However, what needs to be pointed out is that the world of

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information must be seen through a broader lens. The role of finding and sharing information (which is the core business of libraries) will contribute to new innovations for the continued growth of developed countries. Given that there are practices that have been tried and tested in developed countries, it is understandable that developing countries are ready to adopt and adapt rather than reinvent the wheel. However, it must also be pointed out that processed information converted into innovation is dependent on a variety of contributors, including resources that are located in developing countries. The symbiotic relationship between developed and developing countries is critical for the growth and advancement of the global village. Further, it must be noted that there is a two-way flow of scholarly information between the developed and developing worlds. Knowledge production is not the monopoly of developed countries. For example, Africa has a rich scholarly heritage, as demonstrated by the rediscovery of centers of learning such as Timbuktu, where the Sankore Mosque once housed one of the largest universities of the Muslim world. Further, there is growing appreciation for Africa’s indigenous knowledge.

Indigenous Knowledge Africa has a strong oral culture. However, this strong oral culture is on the decline given the systematic process, by the colonial governments, to relegate that culture to a status of inferiority and of no value. This allegation is corroborated by Kawooya (2006) who quotes Beyaraza as stating that colonialists systematically dismissed African cultures and indigenous knowledge. Exacerbating the demise of the oral culture is the low preservation rate of the rich cultural heritage of Africa which must be viewed in consideration of an aging population and the potential loss of knowledge with the death of these elders. Raseroka (2008) draws an analogy from the death of these elders stating that, “in Africa, each time an old person dies, it’s a library that burns down.” The dominance of Africa’s oral culture is rapidly waning with very little effort to collect, preserve and organize this rich culture. Mchombu (1991) says that the one institution most qualified to collect, preserve and organize this rich culture is the library. However, African libraries have found it very difficult to draw nourishment from their own rich environment. Instead, the libraries have remained aloof and isolated and have been content to serve the minority communities at the expense of developing innovative services and forming alliances or partnerships with skilled librarians to ensure that the rich culture becomes the commodity of the world (Mchombu 1991). The lack of conviction to collect, preserve and organize the rich oral culture contributes to the deprivation of this tradition not only for Africans but also the rest of the world. Significant opportunities to save Africa from being a marginal player in the global knowledge exchange are lost. This neglect contributes to the “evaporation” of Africa’s historical oral culture (Kawooya 2006). This lack of com-

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mitment to collect and disseminate the rich African oral culture will do very little to dispel the notion that information flow is a one-way process from developed countries to developing countries. It is imperative that libraries and librarians come together to collect, preserve and disseminate this rich culture in the spirit of developing a new layer. This would bring Africa into the core of the global village.

Open Access There is substantial cooperation among libraries across borders, but higher education institutions in particular seem to thrive on cooperation and are very often leaders in advocating collaboration. Hammond (2009) states that the education of “global citizens” has become a standard goal for many higher education institutions. Numerous universities have also joined international university consortia or nurtured bilateral institutional relationships to facilitate international partnerships and networking. Cooperation at institutional level often is cascaded down to divisions such as the library. Cooperation in terms of exchanging information via Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is fast being superseded by placing high quality research findings into institutional repositories which are directly accessible to researchers. The opening of access to scholarly research material removes the substantial barrier of cost. Research materials that normally would be published in journals with high annual subscription rates are now available to the informationseeking research communities across the world via institutional repositories. The open access movement which is international in nature addresses the cost barrier by arguing for the “free availability of literature on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute” The only barrier is gaining access to the internet itself. This opening of access to information is driven by the libraries’ core business of making information available to their user communities. Libraries have been in the forefront of this open access movement, and they are now using alternate forums to drive access to knowledge and information. The realms of international librarianship are now being expanded to include non-traditional roles, including acting as a publisher (via repositories).

Bridging the Digital Divide: A New Layer In teasing out the metaphor, it becomes evident that the growth of the outer layers on an established core enhances the constriction of the world. Cooperation, collaboration and sharing, at a local, national and international level, have for decades underpinned sound library practice. However, in more recent decades technology has radically improved the capacity to collaborate and

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share information for the benefit of the different information seeking communities. However, technology could also have the converse effect of breaking down the global village through the creation of a new set of barriers, that is, the digital divide. The rapid development of technology has undoubtedly contributed significantly to improving access to information and expediting growth and development. However, although technology has the magnetic capacity to bring the world’s information together and to break geographic boundaries, it has created the contrary effect of forming new boundaries and exacerbating information poverty. Furthermore, technology has created communities within communities and widened the information gap between developed and developing countries. The divide between the information rich, that is, those that have unhindered access to information, and the information poor, that is, those that do not have access to information, is by no means decreasing as technology advances. This divide between the information rich and information poor, is arguably one of the most challenging issues that librarians have to come to terms with in the current technological age. It goes to the core of what libraries and librarians do, which is to make information accessible utilizing contemporary technology. However, there are numerous other elements of the digital divide in addition to the issue of access. As indicated by authors such as Chowdhury (2001) and Moe (2004), the crux of the chasm is the capacity to use technology to improve the lives of people. If technology is not used effectively to improve the lives of people, then it will have the opposite effect of widening the divide. This assertion is supported by Fink and Kenny (2003), who add to the issue of access to technology other elements such as the ability to use technology, actual use of technology and the impact of its use. It is acknowledged that the expansion of technology has stimulated productivity (including intellectual output), driven the economic growth of countries, diminished the importance of distance, and globalized markets and economies. Further, technology has linked markets, institutions, and people all over the globe and has radically altered people’s lives and how they have performed at work. It has had a significant impact on scientific output and the sharing of that output within the global village. Therefore, as much as technology has created a divide among and between communities, its outcomes have exponentially enhanced the functioning of the global village. Further, it is important for libraries to convert the negatives of the digital divide into positives, and in their roles as information providers they are presented with the inherent capacity to add value to this conversion process. Moe (2004) emphasizes the fact that librarians and libraries have a significant role to play in addressing this fast-growing new outer layer called “bridging the digital divide”. Some of the roles that librarians can play include providing the policy makers with information needed for making effective decisions related to technology use in libraries, using the technology to promote

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literacy and free access to information, designing road maps for better serving their user communities and enhancing the impact of library services in addressing growth and development imperatives of individual countries and the world. Cullen (2001) reinforces Moe’s (2004) views by stating that libraries’ commitment to freedom of access to information and the promotion of lifelong learning positions them as a significant role-player in closing the digital divide and nurturing the principle of a global village. Libraries have been the force behind many initiatives to increase reading literacy and access to information in the past, from the very foundation of public libraries as selfeducation resources for workers, to the mobile libraries found in some form in most library cultures, and to adult literacy and community education programs. Libraries still need to take a more active part in the promotion of information literacy, including technological and internet skills, and initiativerelevant training to bridge the gap. It is an international phenomenon and must be addressed as such. One of many ways in which the digital divide can be addressed is through digital inclusion. Albernaz (2002) makes the point that if the digital divide is a problem, then the most logical step would be to correct it through an inclusion process, that is, the promotion of “digital inclusion.” Such a process would create opportunities for the excluded communities. Albernaz (2002) argues the point that the most common association with the concept “digital inclusion” is its influence on economic progress or growth. There is an assumption that basic computer and Internet skills would provide the necessary stimulus for people living on society’s “margins” to find work more easily (or to find higher-paying work) and help break the cycle of poverty. Albernaz (2002) goes on to state that for nearly a decade, non-governmental organizations in Brazil and throughout the rest of Latin America have been establishing free or low-cost computer skills courses in impoverished areas. Although studies have shown that those who do find better jobs after completing these courses are rare, the exposure to computers and the Internet has, for all intents and purposes, achieved the goal of ‘digital inclusion’. As libraries move forward in this new outer layer as a profession, as a core driver of access to knowledge globally, libraries and librarians should reengineer their skills and expertise of the worldwide profession to ensure that the world’s citizens have access to the world’s knowledge. Such an approach is appropriate for a profession that values freedom, equity and inclusion, and has a long tradition of expressing this through cooperation and sharing. Providing access to information for all through libraries empowers every citizen and embraces the notion of social inclusion and of librarians becoming active change agents in society.

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Conclusion The authors hope that they were able to demonstrate the synergy that exists between the knowledge society and international librarianship. If librarianship in the current era is going to survive, then it must be expanded to allow for greater provision of information through a broader lens as indicated. The Internet has provided librarians with a golden opportunity to achieve this. Balas (2000) makes the point that the Internet has contributed to the constricting of the world. The Internet has brought people together and has “made it easier to communicate over long distances so people who have never met each other can share common interests and concerns”. He also makes the point that, “while the internet does bring people together with common concerns and interests together, it can also reveal fascinating diversity of viewpoints, customs and experiences. The web is a good place to expand our views of our profession”. The Internet has not only allowed librarians to expand the pool of resources they can offer to library patrons, but also it has expanded their access to resources for their own profession. Librarians can learn from colleagues from all over the world and bring new ideas and perspectives to their own work environments. While there are some who are critical of the “shrinking of the world” as a result of technology, it is this technology that could have the opposite effect in that it provides exciting opportunities to explore diversity of viewpoints and experiences. The new layers that are added to the core will change over time as new opportunities present themselves. It is incumbent on libraries to continuously add to the tried and tested layers. International librarianship has grown to take on new perspectives in the quest to constrict the world into a global village.

References Albernaz, A. 2002. The Internet in Brazil: From Digital Divide to Democracy? Available at http://www.aaplac.org/library/AlbernazAmi03.pdf Balas, J. I. 2000. How to visit the libraries of the world without leaving home. Computers in libraries, Nov/Dec: 58௅60. Chowdhury, G.C. 2001. Digital divide: how can digital libraries bridge the gap. Available at http://www.aaplac.org/library/AlbernazAmi03.pdf Cullen, R. 2001. Addressing the digital divide. Available at http://www.eric.ed.gov/ ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/19/90/93.pdf Fink, C. and Kenny, C.J. 2003. W(h)ither the digital divide? Available at http://www. emeraldinsight.com/1463-6697.htm Hammond, E.H. 2009. Internationalization in higher education and global access in a digital age. Library management, Vol. 30 (12): 88௅98. Harvey, J. 1973. Towards a definition of international and comparative library science. International library review, Vol. 5: 296.

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Kajberg, L. 2009. Whither international LIS education? Some reflections on the pertinence, problems and applicability of cross-country and cross-continental analysis. AsiaPacific conference on library and information education and practice. Kawooya, D. 2006. Copyright, indigenous knowledge and Africa’s university libraries: the case study of Uganda. Paper presented at IFLA conference, Seoul. Lor, P.J. 2008. Critical reflections on international librarianship. Mousaion, Vol 25(1): 1௅15. Malone, T.F. and Yohe, G.W. 2002. Knowledge partnerships for a sustainable, equitable and stable society. Journal of knowledge management, Vol. 6(4): 368௅378. Mchombu, K. 1991. Which way African librarianship? International library review, Vol. 23. Moe, T. 2004. Bridging the digital divide in Colorado libraries: survey results from the Colorado Public Libraries and the digital divide 2002 study. Public libraries, July/August. Available at http://www.lrs.org/documents/DD_2002/moefeature.pdf Raseroka, K. 2008. Information transformation Africa: indigenous knowledge - securing space in the knowledge society. International information and library review, Vol. 40: 243-250.

1.2 ALA and its International Relations Program Beverly P. Lynch Introduction The definitive history of the role of the American Library Association (ALA) in international library development has yet to be written, although there have been several historical reviews over the years,1 and a number of important studies have been published on the influence U.S. librarians have had in the development of the field in various countries.2 The history is extraordinarily complex, including as it does the work ALA has carried out overseas for the U.S. government, foreign governments, and international agencies such as UNESCO; the assignments various private foundations have made to the ALA to undertake overseas assistance of interest to the foundations; records of American librarians working abroad; and the enthusiasm and leadership of some of the most prominent members of the American library community who have worked to provide assistance to libraries, library associations, library education, and consultations in countries around the world. Most of these activities have been carried out with financial support from agencies outside of the association. The International Relations Office within ALA, funded by the foundations and the various governmental agencies in order to administer a particular program, has been influenced heavily by the particular program it was assigned to administer. Within the association, international programs have competed with other programs more popular with ALA’s membership and so the defense and explanation of the spending of membership monies for international activities has been difficult. Recently, as the ALA has worked to draft its strategic plan for 2010௅15, the results of a survey of the association’s membership showed that international work was valued at 33rd out of 37 values.3 So even as the library world 1 2

3

Peggy Sullivan, “The International Relations Program of the American Library Association,” Library Trends 20, no. 3 (January 1972): 577௅591; Peggy Sullivan, Carl H. Milam and the American Library Association (New York: The H.W. Wilson Co, 1976) 195௅237. M.B. Konnur, Transnational Library Relations; the Indo-American Experience (New Delhi, Concept Publication Company, 1990); J. Periam Danton, United States Influence on Norwegian Librarianship, 1890࣓1940 (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1957); Yukihisa Suzuka, American Influence on the Development of Library Services in Japan, 1860࣓1941 (Ph.D. thesis, University of Michigan, 1974); Ming-Yueh Tsay, “The Influence of the American Library Association on Modern Chinese Librarianship, 1924௅1949,” Asian Libraries 8, no. 8 (1999) 275௅288. www.ala.org. Ahead to 2010 Value Proposition Gap Analysis, 2004௅2009. (14. Aug., 2009).

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becomes more global in all of its aspects, finding financial support and institutional capability for international programs within the ALA remains a challenge.

International Relations Committee (IRC) The association has had committees responsible for various international activities for many years. Frank K. Walter, in a 1919 review of ALA’s international activities, commented that ALA then had six committees dealing with international affairs, and that one committee might be preferable. The name of the ALA committee has varied, sometimes called the International Relations Committee and sometimes the Board on International Relations. The International Relations Committee was established in 1923 at the request of the ALA Council and it continues as a Council committee. The current charge to the committee is a broad one: to have full responsibility for the association’s international relations programs and initiatives; to work with the International Relations Round Table, division international relations committees and other units of the association in promoting the exchange of professional information, techniques and knowledge, as well as personnel and literature between and among libraries and individuals throughout the world; to advocate the recognition of the international aspects of the library profession and its priority within ALA; to recommend international relations policy for Council approval and to take the necessary steps for implementation; to make recommendations to the ALA Executive Board for appointments or nominations to international organizations and other agencies concerned with international library and information services; to administer programs of the association focused on international relations (awards, etc); to promote program and publications activities on international relations by the association and its divisions and committees; to maintain communication, when appropriate, with other library and information services organizations concerned with international relations; to represent the association’s view to organizations and agencies outside the ALA that are concerned with international relations of libraries; and to encourage active participation by U.S. Librarians in the work of international organizations.4 The assignment is a large one for a relatively small committee of twelve appointed for two year terms. The committee is well-served by six subcommittees representing geographical regions: Africa, the Americas, the East Asia and the Pacific, the Eurasia and Central Asia, Europe, Near East and South Asia. Two subcommittees work on awards and one subcommittee works on the Guadalajara Book Fair. Members of these subcommittees are appointed by the IRC chair. Special subcommittees are appointed from time to time to work on special concerns. Within the 4

www.ala.org.

1.2 ALA and its International Relations Program

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complex organizational structure of ALA, other committees within the divisions and elsewhere emerge with an international focus, and the International Relations Committee makes every effort to coordinate all of these efforts.

International Relations Round Table This is the membership group within the ALA which has program responsibility. Its officers are elected annually from its membership. Among its activities, the Round Table supports programs related to international exchanges, and International Sister Libraries. At the annual conference of the ALA the Round Table supports a poster session, an international papers session, and a reception for visitors to the conference from others countries. The IRRT publishes a newsletter, International Leads, reporting on various activities of the Round Table and its members. The IRC itself emphasizes policy. That is, the IRC does not mount programs at the annual conference, as this is the work of the IRRT. But there sometimes is overlap.

The International Relations Office ALA’s first international relations office was established in 1941 at the insistence of Carl H. Milan, the Executive Secretary of the ALA.5. The funding for the office came from external sources assigned to the ALA for various library programs around the world. The choice of the first head of the office, was fortuitous: Harry M. Lydenberg, retired director of the New York Public Library, and ALA president 1932௅33, came to the post from the directorship of the Benjamin Franklin Library in Mexico City. The International Relations Office was housed in the Library of Congress in Washington, enabling a good and close working relationship between the Library and ALA. Some of the finest leaders in American librarianship have been ALA’s International Relations Officer. They have contributed much to the development of libraries around the world and have built a solid base for international relations within the association. Their published works offer fine advice to those librarians who have undertaken foreign assignments as well as to the U.S. government, various foundations such as the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and other agencies interested in supporting the development and improvement of libraries worldwide. Lester Asheim headed the IRO from 1961 to 1971 (full time in the IRO at first, then sharing his time with the Committee on Education). In 1966 Asheim’s Phineas L. Windsor lectures on Librarianship in the Developing

5

Sullivan. Carl H. Milam. 204.

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Countries were published by the University of Illinois Press6. In this important work Asheim carefully comments on the differences the American librarian confronts abroad. He calls this “culture shock.” What he means and then describes are the differences the American librarian finds as he goes into other countries: absence of public libraries as they are in the U.S.; no service to children; a national library in name but not as we would know it. University libraries in other countries are likely to be more similar to what U.S. librarians know, but there still are major differences which he describes. Asheim’s book is about 45 years old and yet it still offers important insights. Rayward Swank, International Relations Officer from 1959௅1961, on leave from Stanford University, identified six characteristics of American librarianship he felt were “suitable for export”.7 These characteristics are 1) the conception of the library as an organization of books; 2) the evolution of a library profession; 3) the attitude of service; 4) the function of the library as an educational institution; 5) the role of the library in the advancement of intellectual freedom; and 6) the conception of organized information as a public resource and responsibility. I will comment on just one characteristic Swank identified as being “suitable for export,” the one related to intellectual freedom. Under the leadership of Robert Wedgeworth, past Executive Director of the ALA and president of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, 1991௅1997, IFLA embraced the policy of intellectual freedom. Intellectual freedom has emerged as one of the important policy areas and continuing programs of IFLA, and is a direct result of the influence of the ALA. Over the years the ALA’s international relations program has changed as the world of librarianship has changed, and it continues to do so. The Library Fellows program, funded by the United States Information Agency and administered by the International Relations Office of ALA, was initiated in 1986 and continued through 1998 when the funding ceased. It was the last formal project funded outside of the association but managed by the ALA that provided expertise and assistance to colleagues in 83 countries. It also enabled 41 librarians from 35 countries to participate in an exchange opportunity in the U.S. to learn first-hand how libraries in the U.S. function. ALA no longer plays a formal role in consulting for libraries and governments abroad as it once did, although many of its members are called upon to do this. ALA has, among its members, extraordinary librarians with special subject and language skills who continue to work with libraries and governments all over the world. ALA does continue to promote the exchange of professional information, techniques and knowledge, and to promote program and 6 7

Lester Asheim, Librarianship in the Developing Countries. (Urbana, Il, University of Illinois Press, 1966). Raynard C. Swank, “International Values in American Librarianship,” The Cornell Library Conference, papers read at the dedication of the Central Libraries, October 1962. (Ithaca, NY Cornell University Library, 1964) 115௅129.

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publication activities on international relations by the association and its members. Let me comment on three international activities of the ALA in which I have been engaged over the last fifteen to twenty years. Each of these has antecedents in past international activities of the ALA.

First American/South Asian Libraries Conference, August 27௅28, 1992 New Delhi, India Ravi Sharma, then of the University of Evansville, Indiana, chaired the IRC Subcommittee for this conference, and Professor P.B. Mangla, University of Delhi and Vice President of IFLA, coordinated the Indian program and local arrangements. The impetus for the conference was the IFLA meeting scheduled for New Delhi to which many American librarians would be going. This enabled the leadership of ALA in the early 1990s to meet the leaders of the Indian library community, to share information and ideas, and seek agreement on various topics and policies. Library education was the focus of the papers and the discussions which followed. No conference followed this one, but there has been much interchange between the librarians from the countries. M.R. Konnur has ably documented much of the early relations between American and Indian Librarians.8

Japan-United States Conference on Libraries and Information Science in Higher Education There have been five conferences in this series and the papers from each of them have been published. The first conference was held in Tokyo in May 1969. This was a joint conference with the Japan Library Association on the role of libraries in higher education and research and came about because of the work of Thomas R. Buckman, who had been Director of ALA’s International Relations Office following Lester Asheim, and who served as a consultant on international programs for the International Relations Office of the ALA from November 1, 1966, through May 31, 1967.9 47 American and 8 See above: M.K. Konnur. 9 Sullivan, “The International Relations Program of the American Library Association,” 589. 10 University and Research Libraries in Japan and the United States. Proceedings of the First Japan-United States Conference on Libraries and Information Science in Higher Education. Edited by Thomas R. Buckman, Yukihisa Suzuki, Warren M. Tsuneishi. Tokyo, 15௅19 1969. (Chicago, American Library Association, 1972); Issues in Library Administration; papers presented at the Second United States-Japan Conference on Libraries and Information Science in Higher Education. Edited by Warren M. Tsuneishi, Thomas R. Buckman, Yukihisa Suzuk. (New York, Columbia University Press, 1974); Japanese and U.S. Re-

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Japanese librarians, educators and scholars explored the various issues related to the flow of information across national borders. The ensuing publication provides a benchmark against which subsequent work can be measured.10 The first paper in the volume, by Buckman provides a succinct history of the development of the Japan-U.S. collaboration on libraries which followed World War II. The Proceedings also identifies some of the activities, visits, consultations important to the collaboration and the various proposals to the ALA that it undertake a formal program. The International Relations Committee appointed an Advisory Committee for Liaison with Japanese Libraries. All members of this committee had visited Japan in a professional capacity on one or more occasions and had developed a growing knowledge of the Japanese library world. This committee continued the joint work with the Japanese Library Community. The second conference was held in Racine Wisconsin in 1974. Its papers also were published. Three more conferences were held: the third in Kyoto, 1975; the fourth held in Racine Wisconsin in October 1988; and the most recent, the fifth, held in Tokyo in 1992.The committee provided continuity throughout this series. Warren Tsuneishi, Chief of the Orientalia Division, Library of Conference, was central to the planning of all the conferences and was a co-editor of each of the five proceedings. Everyone participating agreed that the conference series served the central purpose of sharing information and techniques, emphasizing the importance of university library collections in the vernacular languages being so central to the work of the scholars in these universities.

China-U.S. Conferences The ALA has jointly organized and supported four China-U.S. conferences and planning for a fifth is underway. The first joint conference was held in Beijing in 1996, immediately before the 1996 IFLA meeting. It was modeled on the 1992 Delhi conference, taking advantage of the attendance of many of the leaders of the ALA who would be in China for the IFLA meeting. The second was held in Queens, New York City, and Washington D.C., immediately before the 2001 IFLA conference in Boston. Again the purpose was to have a small invitation conference of the library leaders from China and the U.S. who would be attending the IFLA meeting. The attendees found these search Libraries at the Turning Point. Proceedings of the third Japan-U.S. Conference on Libraries and Information Science in Higher Education, Kyoto, Japan, October 28௅31, 1975. (Metuchen, N.J. Scarecrow Press, 1977); Strengthening the U.S. – Japan Library Partnership in the Global Information Flow Fourth U,.S. – Japan Conference on Library and Information Science in Higher Education, Racine, WI, October 1988. (Chicago, American Library Association and Tokyo Maruzen International Co. 1990); Japan-U.S. Collaboration in Enhancing International Access to Scholarly Information: Looking Toward the 21st Century (Tokyo, Universal Academy Press, 1993).

1.2 ALA and its International Relations Program

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conferences to be extraordinary in furthering the purpose of exchanging information and exploring important issues in international librarianship. The attendees at the second conference adopted a resolution calling for the continuing of the series. The third invitational conference was held in Shanghai in 2005 and the fourth, the most recent was held in Dublin, Ohio, in 2007 and was hosted by OCLC (Online Computer Library Center). The Chinese have invited us to jointly sponsor the fifth conference in this series. The Chinese government has been very supportive of this series and American sponsors and participants have been as well. As with the Japan-U.S. conferences continuity has been essential. HwaWei Lee, then of Ohio University, was in 1996 chair of the IRC’s Committee on East Asia and made the initial contacts with China. I was chairing the ALA’s International Relations Office at the time, had attended the Delhi invitation conference and observed the importance of that meeting, and asked Hwa-Wei to explore the idea with his Chinese colleagues. In addition to the presence of Dr. Lee, the U.S. organizing committee has been remarkably stable. Several new people are added regularly, but the core continues. One cannot overestimate the efforts that go into mounting an international conference. Leadership, of course, strong interest in the conference theme, and money are all required. The ALA should take great pride in these conferences series. They meet exactly the purpose of the international relations agenda and have furthered ALA’s international activities in these countries.

Other Activities I have emphasized these conference series for I believe they have contributed much to ALA’s relationships with India, Japan, and China. They directly support the IRC’s responsibility to promote the exchange of professional information, technology, and knowledge between and among libraries and individuals throughout the world. The conferences provide good models for future activities and have built on past efforts going back many decades. There are many more activities in the areas of international relations that are carried out throughout the year. ALA is large and complex and embraces the growing numbers of specializations in librarianship. ALA also is able to draw upon the talents and the knowledge, skills, and abilities of its members. IFLA and its activities as well are an important part of ALA’s work. Seventy-five ALA members are currently representing ALA on forty IFLA Section Committees. Elections for the 2009௅2013 terms have just been completed. ALA continues to be well represented. ALA also is represented at many other conferences and meetings around the world, such as the Crimea conference, the Sophia conference, and, of course, the meetings of national library associations. We have long known, really since the founding of ALA in 1876, that libraries and information tran-

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scend national boundaries. Our programming is designed to enhance the globalization of our field. Other international activities include representation at international books fairs. These include the Guadalajara Book Fair in which over 100 ALA librarians participate each year and consult with librarians and book sellers in Mexico, as well as other book fairs such as those in Hong Kong, Frankfurt, and Jerusalem. Furthermore, the Campaign for the World’s Libraries is a joint effort between ALA and IFLA. It is an educational campaign designed to showcase the unique and vital roles played by libraries worldwide. In 2007 ALA joined the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, which is concerned with the destruction of cultural property worldwide. The Committee of the Blue Shield and the ALA worked long and hard to get the U.S. government to ratify the 1954 “Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property”. The U.S. government ratified the Hague Convention in 2008.

Closing Comment Five ALA divisions, including ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries), have international relations committees. Each of these emphasizes its own special interests and mounts programs of interest to its members at the annual ALA conference. In 2005 ACRL endorsed a declaration encouraging institutions to explore sister-library partnerships and to build relationships with libraries in other cultures. This is a long-standing objective of the ALA, and this ACRL initiative was led by Camila Alire, then ACRL president and ALA president for 2009௅2010. Although the general membership of the ALA does not value international work to the extent that it should in terms of staff and office support, as seen in the recent survey of values the members support, the dedication of the association’s leadership over the years, the quality of the contributions made to international librarianship by the leadership and the members, and the importance governmental agencies and foundations have attached to ALA’s efforts, its activities, and its administration of major programs over many decades, have resulted in major contributions to the development of librarianship worldwide. It has been a pleasure to describe some of the work to you.

References Asheim, Lester, Librarianship in the Developing Countries. (Urbana, Il, University of Illinois Press, 1966). Konnur, M.B., Transnational Library Relations; the Indo-American Experience (New Delhi, Concept Publication Company, 1990); J. Periam Danton, United States Influence on Norwegian Librarianship, 1890࣓1940 (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1957); Yukihisa Suzuka, American Influence on the Development of Library

1.2 ALA and its International Relations Program

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Services in Japan, 1860࣓1941 (Ph.D. thesis, University of Michigan, 1974); MingYueh Tsay, “The Influence of the American Library Association on Modern Chinese Librarianship, 1924௅1949,” Asian Libraries 8, no. 8 (1999) 275௅288. Issues in Library Administration; papers presented at the Second United States-Japan Conference on Libraries and Information Science in Higher Education. Edited by Warren M. Tsuneishi, Thomas R. Buckman, Yukihisa Suzuk. (New York, Columbia University Press, 1974). Japanese and U.S. Research Libraries at the Turning Point. Proceedings of the third Japan-U.S. Conference on Libraries and Information Science in Higher Education, Kyoto, Japan, October 28௅31, 1975. (Metuchen, N.J. Scarecrow Press, 1977). Sullivan, Peggy, “The International Relations Program of the American Library Association,” Library Trends 20, no. 3 (January 1972): 577௅591. Sullivan, Peggy, Carl H. Milam and the American Library Association (New York: The H.W. Wilson Co, 1976) 195௅237. Swank, Raynard C., “International Values in American Librarianship,” The Cornell Library Conference, papers read at the dedication of the Central Libraries, October 1962. (Ithaca, NY Cornell University Library, 1964) 115௅129. University and Research Libraries in Japan and the United States. Proceedings of the First Japan-United States Conference on Libraries and Information Science in Higher Education. Edited by Thomas R. Buckman, Yukihisa Suzuki, Warren M. Tsuneishi. Tokyo, 15௅19 1969. (Chicago, American Library Association, 1972).

1.3 Technology and Academic Libraries in East Asia: An Overview* Anchi Hoh and Peter R. Young Introduction Over the past several decades, the rapid and growing global economic development and progress of East Asia nations have attracted the attention of scholars, researchers, and policy makers. This growth lends support for characterizing the twenty-first century as the “Pacific Century.” During this time frame, library and information studies publications note steady progress in the adoption of digital networking technologies in East Asian academic and research libraries. An increased number of published professional and scholarly articles describing system development and digital content services in support of Asian higher education initiatives over the last decade reveal a trend that is approaching a transformation in scholarly communication, driven by the adoption and integration of digital repositories and networking technology into the Asian academic library environment. In short, the development of digital libraries in East Asia is progressing significantly. Despite the challenges of vernacular Asian language conventions and the historic dominance of English-language-based system development, East Asian academic libraries are experiencing a rapid advancement toward a future dominated by digital content, services, and learning through the development and implementation of digital repositories. Rather than attempt to be a comprehensive and detailed survey of the current status and development trajectory for digital technology in East Asian academic libraries, this chapter assumes that the development of digital content repositories in these institutions reflects a certain degree of progress and development. Digital collections available through institutional and discipline-based digital content repositories reflect a growing and dynamic indication of the migration of scholarly, academic and scientific research communications to digital venues. For the purpose of this study, the focus will be on the development of digital libraries in China, Japan, and South Korea. According to William Y. Arms, Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University and author of Digital Libraries, the goal of a digital library is to adopt advanced technology to collect, store, organize, and access knowledge *

This article reflects the personal views and observations of the authors. Views and opinions included in this article do not represent official policies or positions of the Library of Congress or the U.S. Federal government

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resources in different content and types stored, in a variety of electronic forms. Digital library technology performs the finding, processing, sorting, storing, archiving, transmission and management of digital resources. Digital libraries offer information services that are always available and are not limited by time or location. In a narrower sense, a digital library is a specific organization that uses information, computer and network technology to search, collect, sort, store, and retrieve informational resources.1 In Arms’ view, the term “repository” is related to archiving. “A repository is any computer system whose primary function is to store digital material for use in a library. Repositories are the book shelves of digital libraries.”2 However, the terms “digital library “and “digital repository” are frequently used interchangeably by library and information science professionals. This convention is adopted in this overview. To sum up, an informal definition of digital libraries is “a managed collection of information, with associated services, where the information is stored in digital formats and accessible over a network.”3 With respect to academic libraries, this study examines the libraries in China, Japan, and South Korea affiliated with higher education institutions and research organizations. The role of the academic libraries in the establishment of digital libraries has been as facilitators and implementers. The advent of digital libraries indeed has suggested a revolutionary transition in the roles and functions of traditional academic libraries, as well as their interaction with each other and their constituents. One example is that it has been frequently remarked that academic libraries in these East Asian countries were traditionally less involved with inter-institutional cooperation in the areas of cataloging, acquisitions, and in resources sharing. Limited funding, staff shortages, and the lack of management support were traditionally the primary concerns. As technology advances and the construction of digital libraries becomes a social, political and economic priority, government has played a key role in passing laws, appropriating funds, and mandating the establishment of digital information resources centers to implement digital initiatives and to conduct research on related issues such as digital library standards and specifications, preservation, as well as policies related to intellectual property. Academic libraries, as the traditional hub of cultural, academic, and scholarly affairs, now assume the front and center role, to provide leadership and assistance in building digital libraries, either collaboratively or locally. This study surveys the progress that national libraries have made in the evolution of digital libraries. The national libraries in China, Japan, and South Korea, have long provided library professional and information service leadership. In all three cases, the national libraries are key players, instigating and 1 2 3

William Y. Arms, Digital Libraries, London: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001. William Y. Arms, Digital Libraries (1999 Edition), http://www.cs.cornell.edu/wya/DigLib/ MS1999/Chapter13.html (11. Apr. 2010). Leye Yao and Ping Zhao, “Digital Libraries in China: Progress and Prospects,” The Electronic Library 27, no. 2 (2009): 308௅309.

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implementing their respective national governments’ digital initiatives. Thus, it is important to note the contribution and efforts the national libraries have made in the overall development of digital libraries, both at the national level and in the international arena. The development of academic digital repositories in China, Japan, and South Korea reflect similarities with respect to funding, planning strategies, and service development. But there are also distinctive characteristics specific to each country, depending on factors such as how the library profession is positioned in relation to academia, the various strategies adopted in digital repository construction, and collaboration patterns. The following offers a closer look at each country’s achievements and challenges in digital repository development.

China Academic Digital Library and Technology According to the China Internet Information Network Center (CIINC), by the end of 2009, China had reached 384 million Internet users, which makes it one of the few countries with the largest Internet populations in the world.4 Based on the Ministry of Education in China, in 2008 there were in total 8,819 higher education institutions.5 The number of electronic library resources at these higher education institutions, including electronic books and magazines, amounts to 153.2 billion items, which accounts for 30% of the total library resources of both print and electronic formats and indicates a rapid increase of 587% since 2004.6 The fast growth of electronic resources together with the rising number of Internet users in China combine to fuel significant changes in scholarly communication and research patterns. This development projects the unavoidable transition of academic libraries’ functions in terms of services, collection acquisitions and development, and cooperation models. As technology and higher education advance, the traditional role of academic libraries in China functioning at a small scale has been undergoing unprecedented transformation in the areas of staffing, collections and services. At the same time, these academic libraries are faced by new challenges and opportunities, which dictate new roles and functions for identifying and retaining audiences and users, and re-strategizing technical approach and coopera-

4 5 6

“Statistical Survey Report on Internet Development in China,” China Internet Network Information Center, http://www.cnnic.net.cn/uploadfiles/pdf/2010/3/15/142705.pdf (9. Apr. 2010). “Number of Schools by Level and Type,” Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, http://www.moe.gov.cn/edoas/website18/96/info1261474691589796.htm (9. Apr. 2010). “Condition of Fixed Assets and teaching Resources,” Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, http://www.moe.gov.cn/edoas/website18/78/info1261560388091178. htm (9. Apr. 2010).

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tion patterns.7 In order to retain audiences and enhance services, China’s academic libraries are incorporating existing services, such as online catalogs and virtual reference services, with newer and more effective digital technologies, such as online search engines, instant messaging, and social networking media. While communications technologies are undergoing enhancement, the quality and quantity of digital library content deserves no less attention. Along with the acquisitions of electronic resources, as proven by the sizable statistical increase of 587% from 2004 to 2008, university libraries have been focusing on collection digitization and the improvement of bibliographic databases. It is in this context that the construction of digital repositories becomes more important than ever, because it aims at providing integrated services to a broader audience by striving to be “an online, searchable, web-accessible database containing works of research deposited by scholars… [with] both increased access to scholarship and long-term preservation.”8 The construction of digital libraries in China has been proceeding simultaneously at three levels: individual institutional, cross-institutional, and national. The latter two types of development are often mandated by a government agency, such as the Ministry of Education or the State Council of China, and require a larger scale of cooperation and involvement of university libraries across the country. In regard to progress made by individual institutions in digital library construction, many digital repository projects have been initiated and implemented. A group of scholars conducted an investigation in 2009 of digital library development and improvement in China by examining the websites of the top ten ranked university libraries nationwide.9 They highlighted three areas: virtual reference services, library academic information resources portals, and integrated searching systems or platforms. This study identified measurement targets such as content arrangement, digital resources, mainstream modes, subject navigation systems that implement resource selection/organization/retrieval and service/feedback systems, locally-developed database constructions, and user instruction programs. In the area of digital resources, the authors noted that generally digital resources consist of two types: locally-owned digitized information resource databases and commercial databases. Digital content includes master and doctoral dissertations, digitized collections, library cataloging systems, and virtual reference services/reader feedback mechanisms. Purchased databases include those fee-based e-resources provided by vendors, Chinese full-text databases residing in local networks or campuses, and CD-ROM databases. Moreover, Open Access (OA) resources are increasingly incorporated into various types of libraries. In 7 8 9

Ping Ke, “Toward Continual Reform: Progress in Academic Libraries in China,” College & Research Libraries 63, no. 2 (March 2002): 164௅170. “Glossary: Digital Repository,” University Library, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, http://www.library.illinois.edu/scholcomm/glossary.html#d (10. Apr. 2010). Leye Yao and Ping Zhao, “Digital Libraries in China: Progress and Prospects.”

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the perspective of mainstream modes, the study commented that despite the fact that library portals are equipped with integrated search functions, they still lack some form of standardization and are in need of cross-database retrieval platform and navigation system construction.10 Cross-institutional cooperation in Chinese academic and research digital library construction is a predictable development rooted in libraries’ existing practices concerning cooperative acquisitions/cataloging, interlibrary loan, reference services, and other areas. Currently, large scale digital cooperative projects are developing at a rapid speed. An excellent example is the National Science Technology Library (NSTL) (http://www.nstl.gov.cn/index.html) digital development program. Founded in 2000 with the approval of the State Council of China, the NSTL is a virtual institution comprised of four key founding members: the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Library (www.caas.net.cn/), the Library of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (www.library.imicams.ac.cn/), the Library of Chinese Academy of Sciences (www.las.ac.cn/index.jsp), and the National Engineering and Technology Library (NETL) (www.metalinfo.net.cn/). Under NETL, which is also a virtual agency, are four other institutes, namely, China’s Machinery Industry Information Institute (www.machineinfo.gov.cn), China’s Metallurgical Information & Standardization Research Institute (www.mmi.gov.cn), China’s National Chemical Information Center (www.cncic.gov.cn), and the Institute of Scientific and Technological Information of China (www.istic.ac.cn/Eng/ index_en.html). NSTL is charged with the following goals: 1) to coordinate a collective effort in acquiring comprehensively from all available resources documentation and information in natural sciences, engineering and technologies, agricultural sciences, and medical sciences, in order to meet the needs of national development; 2) to contribute to the establishment of data processing standards and specifications; 3) to provide in-depth processing of information and diversified services and to promote information resource sharing to the science and technology community nationwide; 4) to develop international cooperation and exchange. Based on the principles of “Unified programming, Standard processing, Associated constructing and Resource sharing,” the functions of the NSTL are to acquire, organize and share documents and information in the areas of technology, agriculture, engineering, physics, and medicine.11 NSTL’s National Internet-based Sci-tech Information Service System (NISS) provides a major service navigation focal point, equipped with the capabilities of full-text search and delivery, and subject/journal title browsing. The NISS is open to the public free of charge with the exception of the fulltext delivery service. The main features in its services include: 1) Information retrieval services in two areas - document retrieval/full-text delivery, and title 10 Ibid., 309௅318. 11 “About Us,” National Science and Technology Library, http://www.nstl.gov.cn/index.html (10. Apr. 2010).

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retrieval. Contents cover journal articles and conference papers in Chinese and Western languages, Chinese dissertations, the full texts and abstracts of foreign sci-tech reports, research reports, patents, technical examination regulations, and information on domestic and foreign standardization; 2) Document delivery service; 3) Web-edition full-text journal service, which includes Web-edition full-text English journals as the result of negotiation between NSTL and publishers; 4) Contents of over 10,000 foreign sci-tech journals via subscription; 5) An information research report database that covers collections of specialized subjects, science and technology progress research reports, and consultation reports.12 In addition to the above mentioned services, the NSTL also offers common features like union catalog searching, an online navigation service that links to other important scientific and technological institutions and information institutions, and virtual reference service. The following chart provides a general idea of the NSTL’s collection scope by using the abstract collection as an example. Based on data collected in 2005 by Xue-Ming Bao, Digital Librarian/Associate Professor at Seton Hall University Libraries, the NSTL had a total of 15,744,614 abstracts, dating back as early as 1979, in Chinese and other foreign languages.

Figure 1: NSTL Collection Statistics of Abstract Items 2004. Source: Xue-Ming Bao, “The National Science and Technology Library: A Chinese Model of Collaboration,” Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, http://www.istl.org/05summer/article4.html (18, Apr. 2010).

Since the early 1990s, China has been paving the way technologically for the advent of digital libraries. In 1996, following the 62nd International Federation 12 Liansheng Meng and Yan Quan Liu, “The Present and Future of China’s National Science and Technology Library: A New Paradigm of Sci-Tech Information Resource Sharing,” New Library World 106, no. 1214/1215 (2005): 343௅351.

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of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Conference, the Chinese government began investing considerable financial and human resources in coordinating a national effort of building digital repositories.13 As a result, the construction of digital libraries in China is conducted at a much larger and more complex scale and is developing at a rapid pace, compared with other East Asian countries. Over the past two decades, China has launched a nationally-coordinated massive movement involving universities’ and research institutions’ libraries across the country. Such a collaborative effort has resulted in the sequential launch of China Academic Digital Library (CADL) / China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS. http://www.calis.edu. cn/calisnew/), China Academic Digital Library and Information System (CADLIS), China-America Digital Academic Library (CADAL) and China Academic Humanities and Social Sciences Library (CASHL). According to a study by Xangxing Shen, Zhong Zheng, and Shuguan Han, the evolution of digital repositories in China may be divided into phases. The first phase was the founding of China Education and Research Network Project (CERNET) in 1994. It was a nationwide computer network system, established by Tsinghua University under the aegis of the Ministry of Education as part of the Chinese government’s 1993௅1998 technology developmental blueprints. As of 2008, CERNET connected over 1,500 universities, educational institutions and scientific research organizations, serving more than 15,000 end-user communities.14 The CERNET project was followed by the establishment of the China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS) in 1998, mandated by the National Planning Commission. Intended as a nationwide academic library consortium, “the mission of CALIS is to promote, maintain and improve library resource-sharing among Chinese universities, between academic libraries and other libraries and information institutions.”15 CALIS marked the beginning of China’s academic digital library construction. The end of 2005 witnessed the completion of an open access Chinese academic digital library, namely, CALIS. Based on CERNET, the infrastructure of CALIS is a comprehensive digital information service environment that performs “content acquisitions, reference services, teaching assistance, scientific research, and training and personal-oriented services.” CALIS offers the following services: cataloging, collections sharing, electronic content licensing, electronic content loading/presentation, interlibrary loan/document delivery, storage facilities, training, union lists/shared online catalogs, and other services such as consortium subscription and resource development. University libraries that are involved in the construction of CALIS include Jilin Uni13 Xiangxing Shen, Zhong Zheng, and Shuguang Han, “A Review of the Major Projects Constituting the China Academic Digital Library,” The Electronic Library 26, no. 1 (2008): 40. 14 Ibid., 41. 15 Longji Dai, Ling Chen, and Hongyang Zhang, “China Academic Library and Information System: An Academic Library Consortium in China,” Information Technology and Libraries 19, no. 2 (June 2000): 66௅70.

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versity Library, Nanjing University Library, Shanghai Jiaotong University Library, Sun Yat-sen University Library, Wuhan University Library, Sichuan University Library, Xi’an Jiaotong University Library, and Harbin Institute of Technology Library. One way for university libraries to be involved is to assign a specific sub-project. Some examples are: 1) Database on the history of science technology in China, whose construction department is Tsinghua University Library; 2) Yangtze River repository, whose construction department is Wuhan University Library; 3) The database of Chinese architectural culture, whose construction department is Tianjin University Library; 4) Chinese national music database system, whose construction department is Shanghai Jiaotong University Library; 5) Classical literature of Chinese University database, whose construction department is Peking University Library; 6) Knowledge portal of economics, whose construction department is Library of Renmin University of China.16 In 2008 almost 800 universities and scientific research organizations contributed to the CALIS purchasing group, which dealt with a total amount of RMB 270,000,000 ($35 million) expenditure.17 The CALIS project involves a large number of university libraries. The project management center is located at Peking University. Also, four national information centers and their corresponding responsible libraries are: the Science, Social Science and Humanities Center (Peking University Library), Engineering Technology Center (Tsinghua University Library), Agricultural Center (China Agricultural University Library), and Medicine Center (Peking University Medicine Library).18 Over the years, the success of CALIS has resulted in more support from local governments and leading universities. To ensure the continuous success of CALIS and further develop a digital library for higher education, the China Academic Digital Library Alliance (CADLA) was formed in 2002. The purposes are: 1) to meet socio-economic and educational needs; and 2) to promote the establishment of digital libraries among higher education institutions. CADLA is established as a crossregional system, aiming at overall planning, developing standards and specifications, joint construction, and resource sharing. The founding members are CALIS as well as twenty-two university libraries, including Peking University Libraries, Peking University Medical Library, Being Normal University Libraries, the Libraries of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Southeast University Libraries, Fudan University Libraries, Harbin Institute of Technology, the Libraries of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Jilin University Libraries, Nanjing University Libraries, Qinghua University Libraries, Shanghai Jiaotong University Libraries, Sichuan Univer16 Xiangxing Shen, Zhong Zheng, and Shuguang Han, “A Review of the Major Projects,” 43௅45. 17 Ibid., 41. 18 China Academic Library & Information System, http://www.calis.edu.cn/calisnew/ (10. Apr. 2010).

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sity Libraries, Tianjin University Libraries, Wuhan University Libraries, Xi’an Jiaotong University Libraries, Xiamen University Libraries, Zhejiang University Libraries, the Libraries of the University of Science and Technology of China, China Agricultural University Libraries, the Libraries of Renmin University of China, and Zhongshan University Libraries. Through this Alliance, member libraries are able to participate in the construction of the China’s Digital Library for Higher Education; use the resources and services provided by China’s Digital Library of Higher Education; participate in workshops and symposia organized by CADLA; and keep updated with the standards established by the CADLA.19 Following the China Academic Digital Library was the construction of China-America Digital Academic Library (CADAL), a cooperation plan also known as the China Academic Digital Library Information System (CADLIS). The CADAL project has one objective, which is to supply millions of volumes of scanned books in Chinese and foreign languages for the CADLIS system, in addition to the enrichment of existing digital resources residing on the CALIS network. CADAL was jointly proposed by Chinese and American information technology scientists and scholars. The American counterparts involve the National Science Foundation, Carnegie Mellon University, Simmons College, and the Digital Library Alliance, contributing software and hardware worth $10 million and providing technical support. The Chinese participating academic institutions are each self-sponsored with moderate financial assistance from the national government. The book scanning project was scheduled to complete in 2006. A total of 500,000 Chinese books had been digitized, including masters and doctoral dissertations, science and technology, specialized subjects, modern Chinese history, classics, and other rare books. Based on the success of this project, more digital projects have been planned, aiming at improving and constructing more advanced and effective digital libraries and promoting internet-based research on information services. The current CADAL project management center is located at Zhejiang University. The project has two sub-centers and 14 digital resource centers across China. An interesting development under this project has been the formation of groups for the purpose of examining the issues of specifications and standards, copyright affairs, and quality control, which all play an important role in the future development of digital libraries.20 China Academic Humanities and Social Sciences Library (CASHL) is another major milestone in the development of digital libraries in China. Founded by the Ministry of Education and launched in March 2004, CASHL aims to facilitate an academic information resource center that specializes in humanities and social sciences. With the full-text document delivery function, CASHL covers approximately 12,000 journals, 2,528 of which are core jour19 China Academic Digital Library Alliance, http://www.cadla.edu.cn/ (9. Apr. 2010). 20 Xiangxing Shen, Zhong Zheng, and Shuguang Han, “A Review of the Major Projects,” 46௅47.

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nals listed in the Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Index. Peking University and Fudan University serve as the two national centers for this project. Like other projects, there are regional centers and key subject centers located at different university libraries to help coordinate and implement this project.21 It would be impossible to overlook the role the National Library of China in the development of digital libraries in China. The National Library of China offers remote-access services for users to its extensive collections and digital resources on the Internet. In addition to its multiple functions as a research library, a national repository of domestic publications, a national bibliographic center, a national hub of library information networks, and the library research and development center, the National Library of China (http://www.nlc.gov. cn/en/indexen.htm) launched the National Digital Library of China in 2008 with the goal of making it “an online knowledge center and information database, with the scope of virtual services extended beyond physical time and space limitations.” The new National Digital Library of China provides information retrieval, reference services and document delivery. The digital resources available online include: non-copyrighted digital resources, over 10,000 e-books, full-text journal articles and newspapers, dissertations, statistics, indexes, and multimedia resources. Additionally, online reading and online exhibitions and seminars are also important program services. An significant development is that a wireless network has been established to cover the entire NLC site for users to easily access digital resources by using modern technologies, such as portable mobile electronic readers.22 One important responsibility of the NLC is to implement official cultural agreements and to conduct communication and cooperation with libraries both at home and abroad.23 This function enables the NLC to take part in international collaborative efforts in digital library construction, such as the World Digital Library (http://www.wdl.org/en/), a cooperative project of the Library of Congress, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and partner libraries, archives, and educational and cultural institutions from the United States and around the world.

Japanese Academic Library Digital Technology The university system in Japan is a mixture of some 87 national universities, over 500 private universities, and 86 local public universities. According to 2002 statistics, there were 1,257 university libraries and 324 college libraries 21 Ibid., 48௅49. 22 National Library of China, National Digital Library of China, http://www.nlc.gov.cn/ (13. Apr. 2010). 23 “The National Library of China in Brief,” National Library of China, http://www.nlc. gov.cn/old/old/newpages/english/situation/index.htm (12. Apr. 2010).

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in Japan. The count for librarians was 13,000, half of whom were full-time employees. The collection size was 260 million books and over 3,500 journal titles. The budget for library materials was about 74 billion yen, equal to less than 2% of total institutional costs.24 Although academic libraries are seen as essential resources for supporting teaching and research activities in their parent organizations, whether or not an academic library thrives is at the mercy of its parent organization. In general, national universities’ library collections are more research-oriented and more comprehensive than their counterparts at private universities.25 Digital repositories in Japan are constructed both at individual institutional and cross-institutional levels, with the endorsement and funding support from a number of key government agencies. At the institutional level, many university libraries conduct digitization projects to preserve unique literary treasures and rare manuscripts held in both national and private university libraries.26 Moreover, beginning in the 1990s, universities formed consortia that negotiated with commercial publishers to access electronic journals.27 Approximately 90% of academic libraries in Japan employ online public catalogs. Most university libraries contribute bibliographic and holdings data to the national database operated by the National Institute of Informatics (NII), known as NACSIS-CAT. NACSIS stands for the National Center for Science Information System. NACSIS-CAT has over eight million bibliographic records for monographs and over 300,000 bibliographic records for journals. NII was established in April 2000. Prior to its existence, an entity called the Core Institution for Scientific Research in the Information Field, established in 1997 by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, was mandated by the Science Council of Japan to serve as an inter-university research institute. From 1998 to 2000 the Core Institute issued a series of reports by its Coordinating Committee and Preparatory Committee on the subject of information networking systems and standards. The establishment of the NII involved the reorganization of NACSIS and assumption of its functions.28 Since its establishment, NII has played a key role in coordinating collaborative digital library construction in Japan. Its objectives are to “foster Japanese research into informatics and the provision of service operations related to academic infrastructure to support academic activity in Japan and beyond... Future developments include the Cyber Science Infrastructure, which aims at

24 “Brief Information on Libraries in Japan,” http://www.jla.or.jp/libraries-e.html (30. Mar. 2010). 25 Zensei Oshiro, “Cooperative Programmes and Networking in Japanese Academic Libraries,” Library Review 49, no. 8 (2000): 371. 26 Rowena Cullen and Haruki Nagata, “International Perspectives… Academic Libraries in Japan.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 34, no. 2 (March 2008): 166. 27 “Brief Information on Libraries in Japan.” 28 “About NII,” National Institute of Informatics, http://www.nii.ac.jp/en/about/history/ (31. Mar. 2010).

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linking all major Japanese research institutions through a new national and international superband network, SINET.”29 Currently, there are 119 Institutional Repositories on the NII website, echoing the initiative launched by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to “encourage Japanese university libraries to develop institutional repositories to promote sharing of knowledge throughout Japan and internationally.”30 The full list can be accessed on the NII Institutional Repositories Program webpage, http://www.nii.ac.jp/irp/info/list-e.html. Another database under the NII, is the NII Repository of Electronic Journals and Online Publications (NII-REO). Providing access to approx. 1,600 major scientific journals to member universities, NII-REO is a storage and access system constructed by university libraries “… as a means of ensuring continuous and reliable access to journal data.”31 Interestingly, the National Center for Science Information System (NACSIS) came into existence much earlier than the NII. The Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan designed a scholarly information system in 1978 and subsequently established the Foreign Periodical Centres and the NACSIS in order to implement this national scholarly information system. The mission of NACSIS was to construct the Science Information Network (SINET), help the production and dissemination of shared cataloging systems and databases, and provide online library services. SINET is a telecommunication network that links universities throughout Japan. Academic libraries use this network to access the online shared cataloging system (NACSIS-CAT), search other databases, and perform ILL services (NACSIS-ILL).32 In addition to NACSIS-CAT and NACSIS-ILL, several other systems have played key roles in cooperative programs and networking in Japanese academic libraries. They are the Information Retrieval Service (NACSIS-IR) and Electronic Library Services (NACSIS-ELS).33 NACSIS-IR is a fee-based information retrieval service. As of 2002, more than 50 million records in the fields of humanities, social sciences and natural sciences were available in the system. The NACSIS-IR system includes fulltext, index and abstract databases. The system is capable of searching across multiple databases. NACSIS created more than 15 databases, some of which were developed in collaboration with academic library partners. In addition, NACSIS acquired large databases such as COMPENDEX PLUS, EMBASE, SciSerach, Social ScieSearch, and A&H Search. Grey literature databases created by scholars are also included.34 The Electronic Library Services 29 Rowena Cullen and Haruki Nagata, 165. 30 Ibid., 166. 31 Rowena Cullen and Haruki Nagata, 164௅1655. See also “National Institute of Informatics, 2009௅2010,” http://www.nii.ac.jp/userdata/publications/nii-leaflet/gaiyou_e_2009.pdf (31. Mar. 2010). 32 Oshiro, 373௅374. 33 Ibid., 370. 34 Ibid., 376௅377.

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(NACSIS-ELS) integrates bibliographic databases and electronic document delivery of Japanese academic journals available via the Internet. Journal articles are stored in image format. As of June 1999, NACSIS-ELS provided access to more than 150 journals published by academic societies in the fields of humanities and social sciences, pure sciences, engineering, agriculture, and biomedical sciences.35 In April 2002, NACSIS-IR and NACSIS-ELS were incorporated under the name of Global Environment for Networked Intellectual Information (GeNii), a portal site providing five content services: academic papers (CiNii), books/journals (webcast plus), reports on Grants-in-aid research (KAKEN), database repository (NII-DBR), and the Japanese Institutional Repositories Online (JAIRO). JAIRO is a system with cross-search capability that contains journal articles, theses or dissertations, departmental bulleting papers, research papers, etc., distributed by universities and academic institutions in Japan.36 Regarding the field of science and technology, Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), formerly known as the Japan Information Center of Science and Technology (JICST), is one of the key organizations for collecting and disseminating science and technology-related information and research and for implementing policies of the Science and Technology Agency (STA) under the Prime Minister’s Office. Founded in 1957, and for almost 20 years, JICST served as a central organization for science and technology information activities in Japan. After being incorporated with the Research Development Corporation of Japan (JRDC) and renamed in 1996, this entity was succeeded by Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST, http://www. jst.go.jp/EN/about/index.html).37 In 2003, JST was reorganized into the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), an independent administrative institution. In terms of promoting dissemination of scientific and technological information, as of 2006, JST has constructed five major databases of “scientific and technological information by collecting them from around the world and offers them to contribute to the dissemination of information expected to support scientific and technological activities in Japan.” Currently, some 16,000 titles of periodicals, technical reports, proceedings, and public data in the board fields of science and technology are included.38 The JST database consists of 26,810,000 records. In addition, JST provides the following online services: 1) 35 Ibid., 377௅378. 36 “JAIRO: Japanese Institutional Repositories Online,” http://jairo.nii.ac.jp/en/ (10. Apr. 2010). 37 Ching-chih Chen, “Technology Use and Its Impact, and Digital Library Developments in the Asian Pacific Region: Looking at the Flowers from the Horseback,” http://www.memorynet. org/archives/gmnet/data/p9908463.pdf (1 Apr. 2010): p. 466. For its mission, see also Japan Science and Technology Agency, http://www.jst.go.jp/EN/about/ index.html (1. Apr. 2010). 38 Japan Science and Technology Agency, http://www.jst.go.jp/EN/menu3/01.html (10. Apr. 2010).

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JDream II: a JST Document Retrieval System for Academic and Medical Fields (http://pr.jst.go.jp/jdream2); 2) Medical and Pharmaceutical Proceedings Full Text Database (http://service.jst.go.jp/med-proc/); 3) CBST (Current Bibliography on Science and Technology) (http://pr.jst.go.jp/pub/pubindex. html#bunken), both in print and CD-ROM forms; 4) Journal of Information Processing and Management (http://pr.jst.go.jp/pub/pubindex.html#kanri).39 The National Diet Library (NDL. http://www.ndl.go.jp), the national library of Japan, was established in 1948 under the National Diet Library Law. Although the NDL’s primary function is to serve the Parliamentary members, its constituents also include the executive and judicial branches of the national government, and the general public. NDL has made significant contributions in promoting digital library projects. In addition to digitization projects of its own collections such as the Digital Library from the Meiji Era and the Rare Books Image Database, which are provided on its website, the NDL has been engaged in two digital projects – Database Navigation Service (Dnavi. http://dnavi.da.ndl.go.jp/bnnv/servlet/bnnv_user_top.jsp) and the Web Archiving Project (WARP. http://warp.da.ndl.go.jp/search/). Dnavi archives information on the Internet on selected subjects and provides public access, whereas WARP collects and preserves selected websites and web-based periodicals.

Korean Academic Library Digital Technology In South Korea the number of broadband subscribers grew dramatically from 370,000 in 1999, to 4.02 million in 2000, to 7.81 million in 2001, and 10 million in 2002. The 10 million broadband subscribers made this country the “No. 1 Internet nation” in the world for that year.40 Foreseeing the needs of its technologically advanced population, South Korea began constructing digital libraries in the mid 1990s. Since then, the building activity of digital libraries in South Korea has developed rapidly. As in the case of China and Japan, the digital library construction in South Korea has been developing both at the local and national levels simultaneously.41 At the individual institutional level, the first Internet-based digital library service was provided by the LG Sangnam Library in 1996. Founded for the public good, the LG Sangnam Library’s mission is to “undertake challenges and innovations in the digital age.” Although the LG Sangnam Library is not affiliated with a specific university, its importance lies in its leadership “in full-scale development of a digital library in South Korea proposing the proto-

39 Ibid. 40 Sungjin Yang, “Korea Boasts 10 Mil. Broadband Users,” The Korea Herald Newspaper, 7 November, 2002. 41 Wontae Choi, “The Development of Digital Libraries in South Korea,” Libri 53 (2003): 130௅141, http://www.librijournal.org/pdf/2003-2pp130-141.pdf (1. Apr.2010).

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type of Korean digital library.”42 As of 2000, the LG Sangnam Library had digitized 1.68 million articles in the fields of science and technology and had made them accessible online free of charge.43 As the construction of digital library in South Korea continues, the diversity in subject coverage and content format has been enhanced. Some projects cover subject areas such as science and culture, while others cover various categories of materials such as journals, rare books, and reports. It is noteworthy that many projects directly relate to the issues and challenges concerning digital libraries, such as standards and specifications, intellectual property, and other technological issues.44 The development of the Korean academic digital library has not proceeded without challenges. As some studies point out, some of the ordeals facing the academic libraries in South Korea are innately rooted in the library professional system. For instance, one of the challenges is the lack of subject expertise. To become a library professional in South Korea, one is required to have an undergraduate degree in library science and then obtain a library certificate. This uniform professional background and resulting lack of diverse subject expertise may lead to poor service quality. Another challenge is the low degree of cooperation in cataloging and collection development.45 While the restructuring of the Korean academic libraries and the advocacy for more collaboration seem necessary, the digital library construction has naturally called for closer coordination and cooperation among academic libraries. At the national level, the far-sighted South Korean government has been improving national competitiveness in the information society of the twentyfirst century by enhancing information sharing and by working with major libraries and research institutions to develop a national information resources sharing system. It was in this context the Knowledge and Information Resource Management (KIRM) was developed under the aegis of several laws and regulations on the management of knowledge and information resources, all enacted in 2000. The KIRM is tasked to construct an electronic sharing system of selected diverse information resources to reflect the nation’s values of preservation and heritage. Currently the KIRM initiative comprises over 150 projects, dating from 1999 to 2007. By 2005 some 908 organizations have been involved, most of which are national and local government agencies as well as research organizations and public institutions, in collaboration with 42 Kyung-Jae Bae, Yoon-Seok Jeon,g Woo-Sub Shim, Kyoung-Geun Oh, Ji-Hei Kang, HyeYeon Hann, Seung-Jin Kwak , “The Ubiquitous Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped – A Case Study of the LG Sangnam Library, Korea,” IFLA 2006 Seoul, http://archive.ifla.org/IV/ifla72/papers/140-Bae-en.pdf (11. Apr. 2010): 1. 43 LG Sangnam Library, http://www.lg.or.kr/servlet/main (11. Apr. 2010). 44 Wontae Choi, “The Development of Digital Libraries in South Korea,” Libri 53 (2003): 130௅141. http://www.librijournal.org/pdf/2003-2pp130-141.pdf (1. Apr. 2010). 45 Eun-Ja Shin and Young-Seok Kim, “Restructuring Library Organizations for the Twentyfirst Century: the Future of User-Oriented Services in Korean Academic Libraries,” Aslib Proceedings 54 no. 4 (2002). P. 260௅266.

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universities and academic institutions. Subjects range from culture, maritime affairs, history, industry, science, education and law, to information and communication.46 The following table provides an overview of some of the projects with the involvement of universities and academic institutions. Table 1: Knowledge and Information Resources Management Projects Year

Field

Project Name

Organization in Charge

Contents

2007

Industry, Economy Others

Korean Studies Classics Original Text Digitization Project

Seoul National University, Gyujanggak Library, Academia Koreana

Digitized rare books and maps

2007

Industry, Economy Others

Honam region Old Documents Digitization project

Chonbuk National University Museum, Suncheon National University Museum

Old documents

2006

Science & Technology

Building Information Information System of Scientific Research on National Defense

Digital Library of Korean National Defense University

Research reports and academic papers

2006

Education Information of & Academy Education for the Disabled and Rehabilitation Science DB Construction project

Institute of Special Education & Rehabilitation Science, Daegu University

Sound and Braille books, images and moving images

2006

Culture

Buddhist culture DB Construction project

Dongguk University Library

Rare books including texts and images

2006

History

Korea’s Chinese Jongyeonggak Library of Classics Data and Sungkyunkwan University Genealogy DB Construction Project

Chinese classics data and genealogy data before 1910

2006

History

Old books related to Korea in the West DB Construction project

Rare books

Myongji University Academic Coreana

46 Korean Knowledge Portal, http://www.knowledge.go.kr/html/english/sub1.html (11. Apr. 2010). See also Choi, “The Development of Digital Libraries in South Korea,” 130௅141.

1.3 Technology and Academic Libraries in East Asia 2006

History

Digitizing Original Classics of Korean Studies

Gyujang gak Archives of the Seoul National University modern times,

43

old maps from Joseon dynasty to the government texts and images, rare books.

Source: “Knowledge and Information Resources Management Projects,” Korea Knowledge Portal, http://www.knowledge.go.kr/html/english/sub2_2006.html (11. Apr. 2010).

The Research Information Service System (RISS. http://www.riss4u.net), a major project of the Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS), was founded in 1998 and is the national research information sharing service system that provides access to information and the full text of published journal articles and dissertations both in Korea and foreign countries for over 400 universities and research institutions. Founded in 1999 as a government-funded institution under the Act of Korea Education and Research Information Service, KERIS’s mission is to promote education via e-learning, build a foundation for a knowledge and information based society, and strengthen higher education and research competitiveness through e-learning.47 All KERIS-operated projects call for collaboration, cooperation and partnering among academic institutions and universities. RISS focuses its objectives both within the country and abroad. In Korea, RISS is responsible for: enhancing full-text services for dissertations and journal articles; promoting and distributing knowledge and information management systems at universities; developing content size through cooperation; and organizing fairs and seminars on library science at the national level. In the area of reaching out to other countries, RISS negotiates licensing for online information and promotes joint purchases among university libraries; acquires full-text dissertations databases, e-books, and journal articles; and assembles and disseminates conference information, lecture notes from overseas universities, and calls for publications.48 In the area of science and technology, it is worth mentioning the Korea Institute of Industry and Technology Information (KINITI), established in 1990, and after reorganization and merger, in 2001, succeeded by the Korean Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI. http://www.kisti.re.kr/ english/index.jsp). KINITI was a governmental research institute, spun off from the Korea Institute of Industrial Economics and Technology (KIET), which was the successor of the Korea Scientific & Technological Information Center (KORSTIC), established in 1962. KINITI was affiliated with the Of47 “KERIS (Korea Education and Research Information Service),” Wikipedia, http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/KERIS_%28Korea_Education_and_Research_Information_Service%29 (11. Apr. 2010). 48 “Project Areas,” Korea Education & Research Information Service, http://english.keris. or.kr/es_prj_area/es_pj_rsrc/es_pj_rsrc.html (11. Apr. 2010).

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fice of the Prime Minister, whereas the contemporary KISTI is affiliated with the Ministry of Information and Communications.49 The former Korea Institute of Industry and Technology Information (KINITI) was mandated to facilitate the establishment of a nationwide information dissemination system to support industrial and technological development in Korea. Thus, it conducted the following three major activities: collecting industrial and technical information resources, operating an online information service system (KINITI-IR), and processing information and creating databases. KINITI provided the following web-based services: 1) KINITI-IR; Regional Information System, which was a web-based information system offering regional industrial information; 2) Inno-NET, which was a business service network which provided information for technology innovation and linked information agencies; and 3) digital library - the KINITI was a part of the national digital library.50 The current KISTI’s development strategy reinforces the former KINITI’s mission, which is to “secure customer-oriented service system and knowledge information infrastructure; to promote national science and technology knowledge information; to focus on core and high-value research and development; and to establish next generation knowledge information infrastructure and intensify international cooperation.” One of its research areas, information resource, aims to continue to develop information resources and establish a national portal system, keeping, collecting, and securing domestic and foreign sci-tech information and building a global information dissemination infrastructure with high quality content, and finally establishing an integrated scitech information system for foreign and domestic R&D information resources.51 The National Library of Korea (NLK) first initiated library automation in 1979. It later was known for its KOLAS - Korean Library Automation System.52 Through this system, the NLK had over the years provided other libraries with the national bibliographic database in the form of magnetic tapes, CDROMs, and online, in accordance with the advancement of technology. The NLK later established the National Electronic Library in collaboration with major Korean libraries, while continuing to expand its digital collections by establishing content databases. The National Electronic Library later was renamed the National Digital Library (www.dlibrary.go.kr). Currently, the par49 “History,” Korean Institute of Science and Technology Information, http://www.kisti.re. kr/english/sub/sub00/sub00_01.jsp?htxt_cms=002&htxt_code=12505921733125295515851 983179893&htxt_nm=History (11. Apr. 2010). 50 Chen, “Technology Use and Its Impact,” 478, 483. 51 Korean Institute of Science and Technology Information, http://www.kisti.re.kr/english/ sub/sub00/sub00_01.jsp?htxt_cms=002&htxt_code=1250656175671105744785415612607 04&htxt_nm=Information%20Resource (11. Apr. 2010). 52 Chi-Ju Lee, “The Role of the National Library of Korea in the Competitiveness Enhancement of Libraries” (Paper presented at the annual meeting of IFLA, Seoul, Korea, August 2006).

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ticipating libraries include the National Library of Korea, the National Assembly Library, Supreme Court Library, KISTI, KERIS, Kaist Digital Science Library, as well as Korea Agricultural Science Digital Library. The NLK has also played a key role in contributing content to the Korean Knowledge Portal, operated under KIRM. According to a study in 2003, many Korean digital library projects have continually been constructed, individually and cooperatively.53 This phenomenon will persist as digital libraries continue to evolve along with information and communication technologies.

Conclusion An article by Donald J. Waters which appeared in the 1998 issue of the CLIR Issues of the Council on Library and Information Resources, pointed out a number of challenges in creating digital libraries that remain in discussion today in the U.S. as well as Asia. First, in terms of technical architecture, the problem is that each digital library holds a diversity of different data structures, search engines, interfaces, taxonomies, and content formats. Thus, to amalgamate multiple digital libraries or repositories into a single system is almost impossible. The second challenge is building and maintaining digital collections. Digital collections come from different venues: digitization, acquisition of born digital publications, and purchasing/acquiring access to external materials. The issue of ownership comes into view because of institutions’ interest in obtaining local control of collections and establishing longterm access and preservation. The third issue is copyright. Since libraries only function as caretakers of information, they will not be able to freely digitize and provide access to the copyrighted materials.54 All the above-mentioned challenges are faced by academic libraries in China, Japan, and South Korea. In regard to the specific issues facing Chinese digital libraries and their construction, there are several concerns. First, there is a call for pursuing a specific digital library model that reflects Chinese history, technological and cultural achievements, instead of adopting a Western model. This task involves the Chinese government instituting a national unified program or instructive proposal to formulate a cohesive policy implementation methodology. In addition, there is also a request for digital library standards and specifications for the purpose of enhancing resource sharing and system cooperation and reducing construction costs. In response to this demand, the Chinese Digital Library Standard (CDLS), established in 2004, has

53 Choi, “The Development of Digital Libraries in South Korea,” 138. For a list of digital library initiatives, see Table 2 - The Core Examples of Digital Library Projects. 54 D.J. Waters, “What Are Digital Libraries?,” CLIR Issues, no. 4 (July/August 1998), http:// www.clir.org/pubs/issues/issues04.HTML (13. Apr. 2010).

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recently set up digital library standards, rules, developmental strategies, frames and core criteria systems.55 Regarding the issue of intellectual property rights, some efforts have been made based on the Ordinance on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information, issued by the National Copyright Bureau in 2006.56 The Ordinance offers guidelines for digital resource sharing within the digital library environment and enables libraries to share a limited number of materials without the copyright law infringement.57 In the case of Japan, the concerns are two-fold. First, the issues of budget cuts, reduced staffing, and lack of professional knowledge and appropriate staff skills may hinder the development of digital libraries. Furthermore, it is believed that government intervention in the areas of national infrastructure and involvement in other essential areas where academic libraries have less autonomy, may actually discourage innovation and even service quality.58 Despite that, as this study shows, the development of digital library standards and specifications is an area that receives much attention and has been addressed by a number of Japanese research institutions as special research projects. Close attention should be paid to the progress in this area in the future development of Japanese digital libraries. In South Korea, the common constraints to digital library development lie primarily with academic libraries. These include: manpower shortages, lack of subject expertise which affects collection acquisitions and development strategies, lack of attention from management, limited funds, and most of all, the lack of cooperation among departmental libraries. In a sense, the construction of digital libraries actually promotes departmental and institutional cooperation because it is not limited by location or time, and requires collective effort to reach high quality. Other challenging elements directly related to the current digital library development in South Korea include: standards and specifications in technical infrastructure and archiving/preservation, funding, collaborative management, intellectual property rights, and integrated infrastructures that incorporate new and existing frameworks.59 While the construction and development of digital libraries in China, Japan and South Korea have advanced significantly over the last decade and achieved great success, the concept of digital libraries will continue to evolve 55 Leye Yao and Ping Zhao, “Digital Libraries in China,” 315௅316. 56 “Ordinance on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information,” http://www.fdi.gov.cn/pub/FDI_EN/Laws/GeneralLawsandRegulations/AdministrativeReg ulations/P020060713308299373030.pdf (13 Apr. 2010). See also, “Ordinance on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information,” Intellectual Property Protection in China, http://www.chinaipr.gov.cn/laws/laws/others/235897.shtml (13. Apr. 2010). 57 Xiangxing Shen, Zhong Zheng, and Shuguang Han, “A Review of the Major Projects,” 51௅52. 58 Rowena Cullen and Haruki Nagata, “International Perspectives,” 166. 59 Choi, “The Development of Digital Libraries in South Korea,” 138.

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and improve as digital technologies and communications networking advance in the future. This study shows that while all three countries share a great many similarities in the creation of digital libraries in terms of funding, government involvement and diverse information services, they also share common challenges such as the lack of standards and specifications, data maintenance and ownership, intellectual property rights, the continuity of data access and the lack of coordination. Each of these challenges continues to be carefully researched and studied at both institutional and national level and each provides the potential for further advancement in the future. These lessons provide important indications for future collaborative activities involving the academic and research libraries of East Asia and the United States.

Part 2 Countries A௅Z

2.1 Australia Early Adopters Down Under: Technology in Australian Libraries Alex Byrne Australian libraries are enthusiastic users of technology. Rapid adoption of new ideas and consolidation of older technologies have enabled the provision of high-quality library services across the “wide brown land” which is as large as Western Europe and almost equals the extent of the contiguous states of the United States. That pattern of technological innovation has been sustained for at least half a century thanks to leadership and collaboration among professional librarians rather than central direction or governmental programs. Independent but cooperative leadership perhaps reflects the national character of the 22 million Australians as well as the practicalities of living on an “island continent”. Australia’s history has been shaped by the exigencies of distance, transport and communications from the establishment of the first colonial outpost in Sydney in 1788 to today’s diversified twenty-first century economy. The construction of the Overland Telegraph which linked the then colonial capital cities in Australia’s southeast across Asia to the European capitals in 1872 brought news and commercial information in hours rather than weeks, a revolution in information access as dramatic, if smaller in scale, as that wrought by the World Wide Web. But travelers and goods, including books and periodicals, still had to go by sea before mass air transportation eased the 17,000 km voyage from Melbourne to London and the 13,000 km distance to Los Angeles a century later. These considerations are central to an understanding of library development in Australia. Right up to today, most printed books and journals – some 80%௅90% for academic libraries – have to be imported and almost all digital services have to be accessed from distant data centers in North America or Europe. For those reasons, Australian libraries have been quick to adopt and adapt new library technologies, living up to the national reputation of being “early adopters” which was confirmed recently when Australian cities were included in the first wave of markets outside the USA for Apple’s much hailed iPad tablet1.

1

“iPad clone, the iPed, goes on sale”, Australian IT, 2 June 2010, http://www.theaustralian. com.au/australian-it/ipad-clone-the-iped-goes-on-sale/story-e6frgakx-1225874425976 (3. June 2010).

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The Impact of Technology In writing about technology in libraries, it is difficult to know where to begin or end. As in other workplaces, technology has transformed the work of libraries. This chapter focuses on the information and communication technologies (ICT) which have been applied to the storage and retrieval of knowledge, information and data, which are the core activities for libraries. But the use and impact of technology isn’t restricted to ICT. From the beginning of European settlement in Australia, the established uses of writing, books, bookcases and so on were introduced along with the development of libraries, archives and museums. In due course they were elaborated and transformed through innovation coupled with the growth of manufacturing technologies and use of new materials. Today’s libraries can draw on a huge range of “library, mobile and storage shelving, end panels, tables, chairs, children’s furniture, security systems and signage systems … security systems, returns chutes or bins, patron self loans systems or returns and sorting systems”, to quote a major Australian library supplier (Queensland Library Supplies, http:// www.qls.net.au). In addition to library-specific technologies, libraries have adopted office and communication technologies that have revolutionized all workplaces. They have traveled the trajectory from typewriters for creating catalogue cards and documents to microcomputers, laptops and smartphones which offer “anywhere, anytime” mobile connectivity and an enormous range of applications. Telephone, telegram and telex services facilitated interlibrary loans and acquisitions up to the 1970s when online services began to replace them and were in turn extended by the Internet and the World Wide Web. Copying technologies have evolved from spirit duplicators to multi-function combined printer-copier-scanner devices, some operating at the scale of a small printing company. Library buildings have changed from the early, occasionally grand, brick and stone construction and now employ concrete, steel, glass and new materials, such as carbon-fiber and polycarbonates. They are heavily wired for power and ICT and almost all use wireless communications, responding to the demand for ubiquitous connectivity. In response to environmental concerns, sustainability has become a central concern in the design of new buildings, such as the new public library in the inner Sydney district of Surry Hills (http:// www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/library/branches/SurryHillsLibrary.asp) which is proudly presented to be “green”. Modern transport has facilitated the introduction of mobile libraries to serve scattered and thin populations as in other countries. It has also facilitated the development of cooperative resource sharing schemes such as the Bonus+ program in which nine Australian and New Zealand university libraries participate to make their combined book collections available to all of their clients via unmediated requesting and prompt delivery.

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Microforms Regarding library-specific technologies, one of the earliest applications of new technologies in Australia was the Australian Joint Copying Project which was first proposed by the Commonwealth National Library and the Public Library of New South Wales in 19392. It was designed to use the then recently invented microform technology to secure copies of the foundation documentation of Australia. Delayed by the Second World War, the project was initiated immediately after the cessation of hostilities in 1945 and continued until 1993. Although the technology of microforms now seems anachronistic, the project was innovative at the time and crucial to the expansion of research into the settlement and development of Australia. Copies of the documentation held in the United Kingdom’s Public Record Office (now The National Archives), various ministries and smaller archives were made and delivered to national, state, university and other research libraries over the decades, during which Australian universities grew and multiplied and research in the humanities and social sciences came of age. Microforms were subsequently employed to build major research collections of journals, newspapers, technical reports and other documentation. Much was sourced from overseas, including the vast collections compiled by the Educational Resources Information Clearinghouse (ERIC) and National Technical Information System (NTIS) in the United States, and various republishing initiatives in Europe. But a significant industry developed in Australia as well, to provide microfilmed runs of journals and newspapers, such as the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s Age, for research purposes. Higher degree theses were routinely photo-reduced for provision of copies via interlibrary loan, although some universities chose to use the services of Dissertation Abstracts in the USA. Much technical documentation was also acquired in microfiche, including the national standards produced by Standards Australia. State and public libraries acquired extensive collections of genealogical material in microform to feed the growing interest in family history. Many larger libraries continue to hold extensive microform resources for that purpose and to support research. However, some, especially backfiles of research journals, are being replaced by digitized versions. Following the implementation of computerized library management systems, “comfiche”, computer generated microfiche, were employed to rapidly and cheaply reproduce catalogue entries and other aids, such as serials lists, in a more convenient format than paper print-outs. These were phased out when online public access catalogues (OPACs) were introduced.

2.

Margaret E Phillips & Ekarestini O’Brien, comps., Australian Join Copying Project: handbook part 6, 2nd ed., (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1995), vii௅viii.

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Audiovisual Technologies As in other countries, Australian public libraries include film and sound or image recordings in their collections with some libraries specializing in such formats while others have developed limited collections for borrowing and to support print handicapped readers. The National Film and Sound Archive is the national audiovisual archive. It collects, preserves, promotes and shares a rich heritage extending from early silent films and wax recordings to digital records of Australian life and culture. The State and National Libraries also have rich audiovisual collections, as do some university libraries. The extensive and diverse Indigenous materials held by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies are worthy of particular note because they include unique records of Indigenous culture. All of these collections face the serious challenge of format obsolescence as earlier technologies are replaced. Reflecting the global cycle of audiovisual technology in recent decades, vinyl disks have given way to compact disks and now to MP3 files, while film has been superseded by videotape formats such as U-matic, followed by Beta and VHS videotapes and then DVD, and so forth. For libraries, this technological succession has presented enormous problems. As recording and playback equipment has disappeared from the market, devices have become difficult to maintain in working order, and the materials themselves have begun to deteriorate. Although the Copyright Act permits reformatting for preservation, for most libraries the need for special equipment and labor-intensive processes have precluded significant digitization initiatives. Most have simply, if expensively, replaced the titles with versions in new formats where possible and relied on the major collections for archival copies. Many of the institutions holding these major collections have initiated programs to digitize the most vulnerable and most precious recordings, but progress has generally been slow, hampered by an absence of the requisite national vision to fund digitization programs.

MARC and Library Management Systems Australian libraries enthusiastically adopted Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) as they began to implement library management systems and develop shared cataloguing networks following the success of the North American cooperative ventures, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) and the Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN). That led to the creation of AUSMARC, an “Australianized” version of MARC which was ultimately abandoned when Australian libraries decided that internationally standardsbased systems were preferable. Many other standards also were employed as systems developed. Australian librarians participated in the development and

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adaptation of these standards, some of which became Australian standards while others remained in their native international or North American forms. In large part library management systems were imported, initially from the United States, and more recently from elsewhere. To note a few examples, early implementations of the CLSI Libs 100 system were supplanted by the more integrated GEAC system, followed by such systems as VTLS and Dynix, which then were superseded by others, including Innovative Interfaces Incorporated’s Innopaq and, more recently, Ex Libris from Israel. An exception is the URICA system which was developed in Australia from a core system imported from South Africa by an electronics and communications company, AWA Computer Services. During the late 1980s and early 1990s URICA was one of the most successful integrated library management systems with a very active users’ group but, ultimately, it could not compete with newer systems. As elsewhere, in Australia library management systems became popular in waves as they gained market share. One of two or three systems dominated and then lost favor. Although this may in part reflect the size of the Australian library marketplace and the influence of a limited number of consultants to advise on system selection and implementation, it more likely demonstrates the continuing drive of Australian librarians to introduce optimal technologies and provide the best possible services to their clients by employing the latest library technologies.

Bibliographic Utilities Shared systems have offered ways to achieve efficiencies by supporting services across a number of smaller public, school and college or university libraries, sometimes with the inclusion of special libraries among the participants. They have enabled the sharing of bibliographic data, cataloguing effort, systems expertise and other services. Although most university libraries now operate their own integrated library management systems, shared systems continue to be important, demonstrated by UNILINC (www.unilinc.edu.au), for example, which provides services to three university libraries and several tertiary colleges and schools. The earliest bibliographic network in Australia was the Victorian Library Technical Services Centre (Technilib), established in 1975 as a centralized service for public libraries. The first shared cataloguing network was the College Libraries Activity Network (CLANN, now UNILINC) in 1978, which was soon followed by Cooperative Action by Victorian Academic Libraries Limited (CAVAL). Both still exist although their roles have changed significantly over the decades. Initiatives in other states were supplanted by the establishment of the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) in 1981.

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An earlier proposal to establish a national bibliographic utility, BIBDATA, failed due to concerns over the adoption of a centralized operating model and a lack of suitable software. So, the National Library proposed in 1979 that it establish a shared system, the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN), employing the Washington Library Network (WLN) software3. Despite skepticism, especially from some university librarians, this initiative proved to be critically important for Australian libraries. Its success gave Australia one of the few almost comprehensive national union catalogues in the world and provided a sound foundation for the development of many shared services, including the automation of the long-standing national cooperative interlibrary loans system, which is very important for a large and thinly populated nation. Now known as Libraries Australia, it has moved to a quasicommercial form of operation but continues to form the backbone for library cooperation in Australia.

Resource Sharing This technological achievement has provided a strong basis for resource sharing through interlibrary loans, reciprocal lending schemes and shared stores for lesser used materials. The national interlibrary loan network is coordinated by the National Library which makes available items from its own collections and maintains the system which enables requests to be directed to holding libraries. It is complemented by state-based public library networks coordinated by the state libraries and various networks of special libraries such as those of federal government libraries and those among health and law libraries. All Australian university libraries participate in a national reciprocal borrowing agreement which enables faculty and students from any university to borrow materials in person from the libraries of other universities. This not only extends the accessibility of desired materials and increases the use of the collections but also supports distance education, a long-standing feature of Australian universities. It is not facilitated by technology but simply by creating patron records for those who can produce requisite identification. In contrast, the Bonus+ program builds on local systems to create an unmediated automatic system across participating university libraries in Australia and New Zealand, enabling students and faculty to cascade from searching their own library’s catalogue to searching the shared catalogues and requesting items for delivery in a few days. Its operation depends on implementation of the SIP2 protocol to allow data sharing. Due to inconsistent application of the protocol, this currently only works effectively for those libraries using Innovative’s Millennium system. 3.

Peter Biskup, Libraries in Australia (Wagga Wagga: Centre for Information Studies, 1995), 469 ff.

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Book Handling and Storage Systems The near universal usage of library management systems by Australian libraries is assisted by the use of barcode identification of patrons and items, as well as security provided through electromagnetic systems such as 3M’s Tattletape™. Both have been employed for nearly three decades but are beginning to be replaced by Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, especially in public libraries. Both barcodes and RFID support the introduction of automatic book sorting systems, smart shelving and similar functions. Although somewhat behind northern European libraries, Australian libraries are now implementing such systems with local agents for European and North American suppliers. To achieve denser storage, many Australian libraries have employed compactus shelving, manual or mechanized, for several decades. However, the first implementation of automatic storage and retrieval systems is now occurring, applying robotic crane technologies from the logistics industry to achieve high density storage of lesser used stack materials. The first, supplied by HK Systems from the United States, is under construction at Macquarie University in Sydney, and a second is being planned for implementation at the University of Technology, Sydney. Until these recent projects, there has been no impetus to implement such expensive systems. This is because most universities have had the space to construct conventional library stacks and because of the successful operation of several shared stores, most notably the CARM store operated by CAVAL on the grounds of La Trobe University in Melbourne.

Scientific and Technological Library Services Scientific and technological information services have provided a continuing contribution to the project of nation building in Australia. From the investigations of the continent’s unique flora and fauna to the provision of agricultural extension services and geological exploration, colonial (state after federation in 1901) governments have supported scientific inquiry and the provision of information to foster industry. At the national level, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) was established in 1916 and gained its current name in 1949. Its library network came to be regarded as the de facto national science and technology library, complementing the National Library’s emphasis on the humanities and social sciences and Australian publications. This role effectively ended when, following the report of the Scientific and Technological Information Services Enquiry Committee

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(STISEC)4, the National Library established an arm called the Australian National Scientific and Technological Library (ANSTEL) in 1974. ANSTEL failed to develop the status and functions of its counterparts in other countries and was abandoned in 1981. However, CSIRO made it clear that it did not consider resumption of the role to be part of its mission, which was to focus on applied research relevant to Australia’s industries. As a result, Australia has continued to be a significant generator of research in science and technology internationally without having a corresponding national library service. Nevertheless, the work of the CSIRO libraries made a major contribution to the use of technology by Australian libraries and information services. Their development of selective dissemination of information (SDI) services laid the foundation for the exploitation of bibliographic databases. They contributed to the development of Australian databases and, through the organization’s national computer network, CSIRONET, they provided services across the continent and in collaboration with the university and special libraries as well as the National Library.

Online Bibliographic Databases Use of international bibliographical databases began in 1969 when the National Library of Australia launched the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval Service (MEDLARS) in conjunction with the Commonwealth Department of Health and the US National Library of Medicine, which had established MEDLINE in 19645. Search services were extended to other international databases, and in 1977 Australian Information Network (AUSINET) was established by a partnership of major libraries together with a computer services company, ACI. The network offered access to locally produced bibliographic databases and overseas resources such as Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) and National Technical Information Service (NTIS). However, the introduction two years later of cheaper overseas data services made direct access services, such as DIALOG and ORBIT, more attractive, at least initially. AUSINET refocused on Australian bibliographic databases, and it subsequently became a commercial information service operated by ACI Computer Services, progressively shifting its emphasis to business and financial information. Access to the overseas databases served Australia well. For example, in support of a major element of Australia’s economy, CAB Abstracts and Agricola offered quick access to international agricultural literature. Other services enabled more rapid access to citations for research literature than the printed 4. 5.

The STISEC Report: Report to the Council of the National Library of Australia by the Scientific and Technological Information Services Enquiry Committee, May 1973 (Canberra: National Library of Australia), 1973. Peter Biskup, Libraries in Australia, 467 ff.

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and mailed indexes and abstracts could, and progressively obviated the need to maintain the print subscriptions. Their use raised expectations and paved the way for the rapid take up of the Internet and then the World Wide Web. But Australian libraries were not simply importers of overseas information. Efforts were made to ensure that Australian research literatures were represented adequately in overseas databases. More significantly, many Australian databases were initiated by individual libraries or consortia. Examples included Australian Bibliography of Agriculture (ABOA), Australian Earth Sciences Information System (AESIS), Australian Criminology Database (CINCH) and Australasian Medical Index (AMI). They prospered due to the imagination and energy of librarians, especially in special libraries, but were generally maintained with limited resources and were vulnerable to organizational stringency. Many ceased when AUSINET was ultimately pulled back in the face of declining revenues and competition from the growing number of web-accessible resources. Some of the databases continue to be made available through the Informit service, operated as a subsidiary of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University6. This began in 1990 as AUSTROM, a cooperative venture with the National Library and eleven other database producers to provide bibliographic records and abstracts on CD-ROM. The convenience and inexpensiveness of CD-ROM made it possible to extend that availability to public and school libraries. From the late 1980s, it became relatively commonplace for school libraries to offer extensive high-quality resources and complementary information literacy programs to high school students. It has since moved to online provision of such services together with an extensive range of full-text Australian journals, magazines and conference proceedings. The development of this service has been critical to the continued availability of online Australian content.

Online Content Some researchers at Australian universities were early users of ARPANET, the predecessor of the Internet, and advocated the establishment of an Australian domain when the Internet originated. It was initially established as the Australian Academic and Research Network (AARNet), with users restricted to members of universities and other research-related bodies. However, it soon became necessary to extend membership to .gov, .com and other domains, leading to the division of the service into the public Internet and AARNet2, a high speed network for universities and research institutions. University libraries were quick to take advantage of the potential of the new network as a cheaper way to access online bibliographic databases and to 6.

Peter Biskup, Libraries in Australia, 201௅202.

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support collaborative ventures. A number of university librarians contributed to the development of AARNet and its associated services. They, other Australian librarians and the professional body, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), became strong advocates for freedom of access to information via the Internet and opposed various government initiatives to censor access, including contemporary attempts to filter all Internet traffic. Mosaic was adopted with the invention of the World Wide Web and was subsequently replaced by other browsers and search engines. The focus soon moved to web-accessible content, including library catalogues, informative pages and aids for clients, as information literacy became a major area of emphasis and responsibility. As the World Wide Web developed, libraries saw its potential to provide direct access to resources rather than just to bibliographic entries. The National and State Libraries banded together to create Picture Australia (www.pictureaustralia.org), to expose the wonderful image collections which had previously only been accessible within the libraries, usually under stringent conditions. The inspired decision to link Picture Australia to Flickr™ further exposed the heritage images and allowed contemporary images to be imported, sometimes within moments of an event taking place. Picture Australia has been followed by other specialist services, including Music Australia and Australia Dancing. Together, with the content contributed by other organizations such as the Australian War Memorial (www.awm. gov.au), these initiatives have created an extensive public commons on the Internet, to share Australian history and culture. Australian libraries have also been vigorous in supporting the open access movement. As in the United States and elsewhere, university librarians were initially interested in destabilizing the high-cost commoditized journal market which had developed through the corporatization and consolidation of scholarly publishing. While this continues to be a motivation, the development of repository systems such as DSpace and Fedora, and journal publishing systems, such as Online Journal Systems (OJS) and associated technologies, has permitted libraries to be in the forefront of reinventing the scholarly press. UTSePress at the University of Technology, Sydney, for example, is specializing in publishing peer-reviewed journals, while the Australian National University’s ANU E-Press favors reviving the publication of scholarly monograph, which have all but expired in the commoditized marketplace. The consequence of the creation of so much online content by university, research and public organizations, as well as by private organizations and individuals, has been a burgeoning online representation of Australia. The National Library saw the need to extend its national collecting responsibilities by “catching the rainbow” of the World Wide Web and instituted a service, Pandora, which captures and stores slices of the Australian web space. It endeavors to maintain the verisimilitude and usability of the stored content. The professional responsibility to preserve online content has also been taken by some university libraries which participate in CLOCKSS and other initiatives.

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Although the methods of long-term digital preservation are not yet clear, Australian libraries feel that they should continue to play a part in ensuring this preservation.

Web 2.0 and Beyond Web 2.0, or the semantic web, has spawned the creation of social media, including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others. Australian public libraries rapidly saw the potential to use these new media to connect with patrons and potential patrons. University libraries have followed with many experiments. At the University of Technology, Sydney Library, for example, strategic planning was re-conceptualized to employ a number of tools, including Twitter, YouTube, Prezi and Google Documents. Web 2.0 technologies are also being used to support repatriation of Indigenous information resources to Australian Indigenous communities through the development of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Archive. Although it is too early to say which of the tools will survive, it is clear that the creation of more “conversational” media represents a sea-change in our understanding of online content, with profound implications for collecting institutions such as libraries and museums. Australian libraries have grasped that implication and are working to take advantage of the new media. Effective exploitation of technology in all its various forms, from kickstools to Web 2.0 and beyond, is central to the provision of first class library services. Early adoption, adaptation and localization have characterized the use of technology by Australian libraries over the past fifty and more years. It is clear that they will continue to be quick to respond in a distinctive Australian fashion. They will show leadership in taking advantage of new technologies – and sometimes in creating them – to provide ever improved information services for their clients and to preserve the record for the nation.

2.2 Azerbaijan Libraries of Azerbaijan Today Liladhar R. Pendse and Altay Goyushov Introduction The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the fall of the socialist economic system with market liberalization in the fifteen constituent republics of the USSR also meant the end of an era of subsidized and centrally driven planned publishing. The democratization of the societies coupled with the transition to free market-based societies has reflected differently on diverse social institutions in these societies. Archives, libraries and museums, along with various other educational institutions, such as schools and universities, haven’t been an exception to the effects of the economic transition. Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union twenty years ago. In this article we will survey the history and structure of Azerbaijani libraries and their current state, from the fall of the Soviet Union to the present day. We will address the following questions in this article: What role is played by the libraries as information centers in Azerbaijani society? What types of libraries function today in the territory of Azerbaijan? We will survey the existing library information network in Azerbaijan. We will also address the following questions: How are the libraries organized in modern day Azerbaijan? How is Library and Information Studies education organized in Azerbaijan? What are the current publishing trends in Azerbaijan? How do the current publishing trends reflect upon the functioning of the libraries? If and how the functioning of the libraries has changed within the framework of the independent Azerbaijan? The history of libraries and librarianship in Azerbaijan has been traced back to the Avestan period by Azerbaijani scholar AbuzΩr XΩlΩfov in his book, AzΩerbaycanda Kitabxana iúinin tarixi, published in BakÕ in 2004.1 Nominally, the history of Azerbaijani libraries is traditionally traced back to a prominent thirteenth-century CE Islamic scholar-philosopher, Na‫ٿ‬Ưr al-DƯn Abnj Jafar TnjsƯ, who was born in Tus, an ancient Iranian city. Tusi’s contribution is considered to be essential for several reasons. Firstly, Tusi, under Hulagu in 1259 CE, established an observatory in Maragheh, and this observatory had a library that possessed books on various different scientific topics. Secondly, in the introduction to his work “Kitaljb-i Akhlaljq-i Naljৢirilj”, Tusi in1

Khălăfov, Abuzăr. Azärbaycanda Kitabxana Iúinin Tarixi: Därslik (iki Hissädä). BakÕ: BakÕ Universiteti NäúriyyatÕ, 2004. Print.

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troduces the concept of classification for sciences (Shephenson, 1923).2 Thirdly, according to Brockelmann in his 1898 work Geschichte der Arabischen Literatur, Tusi wrote 56 works on different topics including mathematics, philosophy, and so forth. For many Azerbaijani scholars, Tusi serves as a source of inspiration and historical continuity (Alakbarli, 2006).3 Before proceeding to address questions about the history and current status of Azerbaijani libraries, a brief review of the background of Azerbaijan is important. The Republic of Azerbaijan is situated in the trans-Caucasian region of Eurasia. It borders with Armenia on its west, Russian Federation and Georgia on its north, and with Iran and Turkey on its south, through the autonomous region of Naxçivan. The Caspian Sea is located to the east of Azerbaijan. A short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) was founded on May 28, 1918, as a consequence of the demise of the Russian Empire and the February Russian Revolution of 1917. ADR’s parliament granted suffrage to women in 1918, and the ADR established Baku State University. In 1920 Azerbaijan was established as a Soviet Republic, and in 1936 became a full union republic of the USSR. In 1991 the Azerbaijan Supreme Soviet voted to restore the country's independence. The first post-Soviet legislative elections, held in 1995, demonstrated widespread support for President Heydar Aliyev and his New Azerbaijan Party. Heydar Aliyev’s son, ølham Aliyev, succeeded him as President, following a presidential election in late 2003. He then was elected to a further term in 2008. Azerbaijan's conflict with Armenia over the disputed enclave of Nagornyi Karabakh remained unresolved in the early twenty-first century. Baku is Azerbaijan's capital, and the official language is Azerbaijani.

A Brief Overview of Current Library Statistical Trends According to the UNESCO Institute for statistics data, in 2007 Azerbaijan boasted 99.1% adult male and 99.4% adult literacy.4 The population of Azerbaijan is estimated to be 8,730,0005 according to the official figures, and there were 4,035 libraries under the administration of the Ministry of Culture and

2 3 4 5

Shephenson, J. "The Classification of the Sciences According to Nasiruddin Tusi." Isis. 5.2 (1923): 329௅338. Print. Alakbarli, Farid. Azerbaijan: Medieval Manuscripts History of Medicine Medicinal Plants. BakÕ: Nurlan, 2006. Print. "UNESCO Institute for Statistics." National Adult Literacy Rates (15+). UNESCO, 2011. http://stats.uis.unesco.org/unesco/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?Report Id=210 (29. Sep. 2011). “Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat,” World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision, http://esa.un.org/ unpp (23. Jan. 2010).

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Tourism as of 2008. 6 The total area of the Republic of Azerbaijan is approximately 53,811 square miles (86,600 sq. km), and the population density is 98.8 per sq. km. Based on this data, we can note that on average there is one library per each 21 sq. km and that per every 2,164 Azerbaijani citizens there is one library. However, what is more interesting is to see how the libraries are situated throughout the republic. In 2007 there were 4,033 libraries, out of which 622 of the libraries were located in cities (approximately 16% of the total libraries). In 2008 there were 4,035 libraries and 633 libraries were located in the cities (again approximately 16% of the total libraries). If we look at the population spread of Azerbaijan, we realize that 2,966,700 people live in 10 large cities, namely: BakÕ, Ganca, Sumqayit, Minaçevir, ùirvan, Naxçivan, Yevlakh, Xankandi (Stepanakert), Lankaran and A÷dam.7 Thus, approximately 29.42% of the urban population has 16% of the libraries in the republic. Although this particular representation of the quantitative data does not speak of the quality of the collections, working hours of the libraries, distance from other urban and rural centers in the republic, age of the readers and/or the academic achievements of the patrons, or number of librarians and qualified paraprofessionals working in these institutions, it is a very telling fact that in the urban centers there is one library for every 4,687 patrons. Table 1: The number of libraries and collection sizes in Azerbaijan at the yearend.

Public Library Statistics8 Total number of Public Libraries City Village Public Library holdings (in millions) City Villages Volumes per 1000 residents City Village

6 7 8

2000

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

4374

4124

4090

4004

4021

4033

4035

660 3714

661 3463

643 3447

624 3380

622 3399

632 3401

633 3402

38,7

36,5

35,3

36.6

36.4

36.8

36.9

19,9 18,8

18,3 18,2

17,5 17,8

17.9 18.7

17.9 18.5

17.9 18.9

17.9 19

4867

4483

4287

4401

4286

4320

4286

4922 4811

4358 4615

4120 4464

4172 4645

4089 4504

4056 4603

4016 4575

"The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan." Education, science and culture: Main Indicators. The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 2011, http://www.azstat.org/statinfo/education/en/index.shtml (29. Sep. 2011). "The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan." Population of Azerbaijan: Demographic Indicators. The State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 2011, http://www.azstat.org/statinfo/demoqraphic/en/AP_1.shtml (29. Sep. 2011). "The Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan." Azerbaijan in Figures. 30Dec2009. AZSTAT, http://www.azstat.org/publications/azfigures/2009/az/007.shtml (23. Jan. 2010).

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The Post-Soviet Space and Library-Information Network in Azerbaijan The library network of independent Azerbaijan has remained layered as it was during Soviet times, with one exception. Azerbaijan now has its own national library. Some scholars, such as Airapetian, Ismailov and Shatirishvilli in their 2003 work on the libraries of the Southern Caucasus, have argued that there are two national libraries in Azerbaijan. These libraries are the National Library of Azerbaijan and the library of the Azerbaijani Parliament.9 However, based on its function the library of the Azerbaijani Parliament cannot be classified as a national library, as it serves only the Milli Majlis or the Parliament of Azerbaijan. The layered nature of the Library and Information Studies network (LIS) is not peculiarly a remnant of the Soviet librarianship, but it is mandated by the varying audiences these institutions have to serve in a democratic society. Currently in Azerbaijan, there are seven republican, and over 40 academic libraries. The republican libraries typically serve their specific audiences all over the republic of Azerbaijan. The academic libraries usually serve their faculty, and students. The Baku State University has the only college that prepares future librarians and information studies professionals in the republic. The public libraries network in Azerbaijan is also under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and it serves the population of the local districts where these libraries are located. In the post-Soviet period it is interesting to see how the modernization of the library and information network in Azerbaijan was envisioned by the executive branch of the Azerbaijani government. The quest for modernization began with the realization that Azerbaijan must enter the modern information society as envisioned by the then Azerbaijani President, Heydar Aliyev. In 1996 the government of Azerbaijan adopted a resolution “On the status of librarianship in the Azerbaijan Republic and measures for its improvement,” and in 1999, the resolution entered into force in the Law of Azerbaijan Republic, “On Libraries". On April 20, 2007, the current president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, issued a decree pertaining to the improvement of the library activities in Azerbaijan.10 According to this decree, Azerbaijani libraries were declared to be a national heritage of the Azerbaijani people. This particular decree, if examined as an independent text, does not necessarily show an effort to re-write the history of the Azerbaijan republic, but it does contain the omission of certain facts. One can hypothesize that these omissions were mandated by the country’s focus on asserting its own independence from its Soviet past, and that the purpose of the decree is to focus on the current situation and the future. For 9 Biblioteki Iuzhnogo Kavkaza I Kto Est’ Kto V Bibliotechnoi Sfere. Erevan: Armianskaia bibliotechnaia assotsiatsia, 2003. 10 Aliyev, Ilham. Rasporiazhenie Prezidenta, Natsional'naia Biblioteka. 20 Apr 2007. National Library of Azerbaijan, http://www.anl.az/rp1.html (10. Jan. 2010).

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example, the decree states, “Strengthening the educational movement in Azerbaijan in the [nineteenth] century, the unprecedented rise in the petroleum industry and changes in social and political life have led to the creation and expansion of libraries in the cities, known as the scientific and cultural centers of our country”.11 Then the decree proceeds to describe the role of the twentieth century in the history of Azerbaijan as follows, “In the twentieth century in the history of the national library culture there were memorable events. The largest library book depositories in the republic were created, a centralized wide network of libraries that encompassed all regions was created. Scientific and material base of the libraries was strengthened and a national Book Chamber was organized”. It is interesting to note that there was a total omission of the words such as “Soviet past” in this decree. The changes that happened in Azerbaijani librarianship and information networks in the context of the Sovietization of Azerbaijan in the twentieth century are unmentioned.12 This particular decree is of an interest to us for several reasons. Firstly, the decree reaffirms the 2004 legal commitment to transition and use of Latin script for Azerbaijani language. Secondly, the decree sets in motion a process for cooperation between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan. This cooperation can be interpreted as evidence of the fact that the both ministries will coordinate their efforts to bring about a modern information society and access modern information technologies in the library sphere and Azerbaijani society. Thirdly, this decree mandates a two-month plan with concrete steps to modernize the National Library of Azerbaijan and other district libraries, which must be sent to the President. Fourthly, the decree mandates that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, within three months after the promulgation of the decree, must prepare and present to the cabinet ministers a program that will 11 Aliyev, Ilham. “Rasporiazhenie Prezidenta.” Natsional'naia Biblioteka. 20 Apr 2007. National Library of Azerbaijan, http://www.anl.az/rp1.html (10. Jan. 2010). Here President Ilham Aliyev states, “Strengthening the educational movement in Azerbaijan in the XIX century, the unprecedented rise in the petroleum industry and changes in social and political life have led to the creation and expansion of libraries in the cities, known as the scientific and cultural centers of our country”. “ɍɫɢɥɟɧɢɟ ɩɪɨɫɜɟɬɢɬɟɥɶɫɤɨɝɨ ɞɜɢɠɟɧɢɹ ɜ Ⱥɡɟɪɛɚɣɞɠɚɧɟ ɜ XIX ɜɟɤɟ, ɧɟɜɢɞɚɧɧɵɣ ɩɨɞɴɟɦ ɧɟɮɬɹɧɨɣ ɩɪɨɦɵɲɥɟɧɧɨɫɬɢ ɢ ɩɟɪɟɦɟɧɵ ɜ ɨɛɳɟɫɬɜɟɧɧɨ-ɩɨɥɢɬɢɱɟɫɤɨɣ ɠɢɡɧɢ ɩɪɢɜɟɥɢ ɤ ɫɨɡɞɚɧɢɸ ɢ ɪɚɫɲɢɪɟɧɢɸ ɫɟɬɢ ɛɢɛɥɢɨɬɟɤ ɜ ɝɨɪɨɞɚɯ, ɢɡɜɟɫɬɧɵɯ ɤɚɤ ɧɚɭɱɧɵɟ ɢ ɤɭɥɶɬɭɪɧɵɟ ɰɟɧɬɪɵ ɧɚɲɟɣ ɫɬɪɚɧɵ”. 12 Ibid. The President further states, “During the twentieth-century in the history of national library culture occurred commemorative events, the biggest library depositories have been set up and a centralized, wide network of libraries, covering all regions, strengthened the material base of libraries has been set up along with the Book Chamber” “ɏɏ ɜɟɤɟ ɜ ɢɫɬɨɪɢɢ ɧɚɰɢɨɧɚɥɶɧɨɣ ɛɢɛɥɢɨɬɟɱɧɨɣ ɤɭɥɶɬɭɪɵ ɩɪɨɢɡɨɲɥɢ ɩɚɦɹɬɧɵɟ ɫɨɛɵɬɢɹ, ɛɵɥɢ ɫɨɡɞɚɧɵ ɤɪɭɩɧɟɣɲɢɟ ɤɧɢɝɨɯɪɚɧɢɥɢɳɚ ɪɟɫɩɭɛɥɢɤɢ, ɧɚɥɚɠɟɧɚ ɢ ɰɟɧɬɪɚɥɢɡɨɜɚɧɚ ɲɢɪɨɤɚɹ ɫɟɬɶ ɛɢɛɥɢɨɬɟɤ, ɨɯɜɚɬɵɜɚɸɳɚɹ ɜɫɟ ɪɟɝɢɨɧɵ, ɭɤɪɟɩɥɟɧɚ ɦɚɬɟɪɢɚɥɶɧɨ-ɬɟɯɧɢɱɟɫɤɚɹ ɛɚɡɚ ɛɢɛɥɢɨɬɟɤ, ɨɪɝɚɧɢɡɨɜɚɧɚ Ʉɧɢɠɧɚɹ ɩɚɥɚɬɚ”(Ilham Aliyev-Decree).

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define and direct the development of the library and information sphere in the Republic of Azerbaijan for a five-year period starting 2008.13

Principle State Library Institutions The National Library of Azerbaijan The National Library of Azerbaijan (Azerbaycan Milli Kitabxanasi, M.F.Axundov adina) was founded in 1922 and officially opened on May 23, 1923. The library was named after the famous Azerbaijani playwright and philosopher, Mirza Fatali Akhundov (Mirzԥ Fԥtԥli Axundov, 1812௅1878), in 1939. The current building of the library was constructed in the 1960s based, on the architectural plans of M.Useynov. According to the library’s own website there are currently 4,513,000 items in its collection.14 The library is organizationally placed under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Although Azerbaijan became an independent nation-state in 1991, the status of national library was bestowed on the Akhundov Library in 2005. The Internet hall was introduced in 2000, and it allows multiple users to surf and perform basic searches on the Internet. The transition from a traditional card-catalog to an integrated automated library system was a lengthy process. In 2003 the National Library adapted VTLS- Virtua platform for its integrated library system. 15 The library is a member of the International Organization of the European National Libraries Conference (CENL). However, as of 2009 the catalog of the library remained unsearchable through the European Library interface. Currently, the electronic catalog of the National Library can be searched to retrieve holdings and bibliographic records. This catalog allows users to change the interface and perform searches in five languages, namely Arabic,

13 http://www.science.az/ru/index.php?id=1339. # 2. Ɇɢɧɢɫɬɟɪɫɬɜɭ ɤɭɥɶɬɭɪɵ ɢ ɬɭɪɢɡɦɚ Ⱥɡɟɪɛɚɣɞɠɚɧɫɤɨɣ Ɋɟɫɩɭɛɥɢɤɢ ɫɨɜɦɟɫɬɧɨ ɫ ɫɨɨɬɜɟɬɫɬɜɭɸɳɢɦɢ ɫɬɪɭɤɬɭɪɚɦɢ ɜ ɬɪɟɯɦɟɫɹɱɧɵɣ ɫɪɨɤ ɩɨɞɝɨɬɨɜɢɬɶ ɢ ɩɪɟɞɫɬɚɜɢɬɶ Ʉɚɛɢɧɟɬɭ Ɇɢɧɢɫɬɪɨɜ Ⱥɡɟɪɛɚɣɞɠɚɧɫɤɨɣ Ɋɟɫɩɭɛɥɢɤɢ «Ƚɨɫɭɞɚɪɫɬɜɟɧɧɭɸ ɩɪɨɝɪɚɦɦɭ ɩɨ ɪɚɡɜɢɬɢɸ ɛɢɛɥɢɨɬɟɱɧɨ-ɢɧɮɨɪɦɚɰɢɨɧɧɨɣ ɫɮɟɪɵ ɜ Ⱥɡɟɪɛɚɣɞɠɚɧɫɤɨɣ Ɋɟɫɩɭɛɥɢɤɟ ɜ 2008௅2013 ɝɨɞɚɯ». 14 “From the history of the National Library named after M.F.Akhundov.” National Library of Azerbaijan. ND. National Library of Azerbaijan, http://www.anl.az/tarix_e.php?hash =468043508 (10. Jan. 2010). 15 “Company Profiles.” Library Journal (2006): n. pag. http://www. libraryjournal.com/article/ CA6321189.html (10. Jan. 2010). VTLS began as a for profit branch of Virginia Tech. “Consistent with the open source culture, VTLS also released a number of components it developed into the open source domain, including tools for extracting metadata and exposing the content of a repository or archive to web crawlers, an SRW/SRU interface for Fedora, a utility for managing Handles for digital objects, and a configuration utility for Fedora”.

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Azerbaijani, English, French and Russian. 16 According to the UNESCO Statistics there were 3,684,000 volumes in the library holdings in 1995, and in the year 1999, the library added an additional 10, 625 volumes. The National Library serves as an archival repository for the materials that are published in Azerbaijan whereby a copy of every book published in Azerbaijan is deposited in the library holdings.

As a national repository, the library receives 245 titles of Azerbaijani language newspapers and 88 journal titles.17 The concerted acquisition of these titles represents a strong commitment by the Azerbaijani National Library to give voice to all different political thoughts within the republic. These titles include: AzΩrbaycan dili vΩ ΩdΩbiyyat tΩdrisi, AzΩrbaycan vΩ dünya, DΩdΩQorqud, and so forth. In addition to Azerbaijani language periodicals, the library receives 31 Russian language newspapers that are published in Azerbaijan. Some examples of these titles are Ⱥɡɟɪɛɚɣɞɠɚɧɫɤɢɟ ɂɡɜɟɫɬɢɹ , Ƚɨɥɨɫ Ʉɚɪɚɛɚɯɚ and Ȼɚɤɢɧɫɤɢɣ Ɋɚɛɨɱɢɣ. According to the UNESCO Data Centre 1990 statistics, there were 8,767 volumes added to the collections. 18 According to the same statistics there were 26,078 registered users in 1995, and in 1996 there were 26,536 users. Three-quarters of library workers hold library science degrees.

16 “VTLS Chameleon iPortal Electron Catalog.” National Library of Azerbaijan. 2003. Azerbaijan National Library, http://89.147.202.134:8000/cgi-bin/gw_43_3/chameleon?lng =en&skin=default (10. Jan. 2010). 17 “Azԥrbaycan Milli Kitabxanasi.” QΩzet vΩ Jurnallar. National Library of Azerbaijan, http://www.anl.az/jurnal.php?hash=1104021 (10. Jan. 2010). 18 “Data Centre.” UNESCO Institute for Statistics. UNESCO, http://stats.uis.unesco.org/ unesco/TableViewer/document.aspx?ReportId=143&IF_Language=eng (10. Jan. 2010).

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In addition to serving as the repository for both books and periodicals published in Azerbaijan, the library has its own publishing department. This department publishes books in multiple languages. According to data collected from the library’s official website on December 21, 2009, in 2004, the publishing department published only a single 52 paged book that was titled, Kitabxana iúinΩ dair normativ aktlar: Qanun vΩ qanun qüvvΩli normativ hüquqlu sΩnΩdlΩr toplusu. This book was edited by K. Tahirov. In 2005 the library published six titles all of which were in Azerbaijani. However, in 2006 there was a 183% increase in the amount of titles that were published, and there were 11 Azerbaijani language titles published. This trend is continuing to present. In 2007 the National Libary published 27 titles in Azerbaijani language19, and in 2008 there were 31 titles.20 The subject breakdown of the 31 titles that were published in 2009 is as follows: 25 titles can be classfied as bibliographies; one title as ecology; two titles can be classifed as history; and three are in the area of political sciences. The National Library, while reaffirming the open-access website, offers all its publications in pdf format as a free download.21

The Library of Azerbaijani Parliament (Milli MΩclisin kitabxanasÕ): Milli MΩclisin kitabxanasÕ was founded in 1997 as the library of the legislative branch of the Azerbaijani government.22 The library was the gift of the Turk19 “Azԥrbaycan Milli Kitabxanasi.” KitabxanamÕzÕn Nԥúrlԥri. National Library of Azerbaijan, http://www.anl.az/yenin2007.php?hash=121331385 (10. Jan. 2010). 20 “Azԥrbaycan Milli Kitabxanasi.” KitabxanamÕzÕn Nԥúrlԥri. National Library of Azerbaijan, http://www.anl.az/yenin2009.php?hash=756166654 (10. Jan. 2010). In 2009, the library published 30 titles. All of these titles in Azerbaijani language. 21 “Azԥrbaycan Milli Kitabxanasi.” KitabxanamÕzÕn Nԥúrlԥri. National Library of Azerbaijan, http://www.anl.az/yenin2009.php?hash=834071282 (10. Jan. 2010). 22 Namazov, M. “Milli Mԥclis of the Azerbaijan Republic.” Library. UNESCO, http://www. parliament.az/?/en/content/36 (10. Jan. 2010).

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ish Grand National Library (TGNL) to the parliament. The TGNL initially donated all of the computers and books. Currently, the library collection consists of 3,500 titles in the Azerbaijan language, and 2,200 titles in Russian. In 2009, the library subscribed to 42 newspaper titles and 77 journal titles.23 The majority of the collection is made up of law books, but it is interesting to note that the library collection also has a section on fiction. The user community of the library is primarily made up of Azerbaijani lawmakers, their assistants and the staff of the parliament. The library also organizes various exhibitions related to laws of the republic, and provides Internet access to its users. The library employs four staff members, and it has extensive exchange agreements with the other parliamentary libraries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). According to the 2007 preliminary report to USAID on the Milli Mejlis library by Ewa Nawrocka, the library does not prepare a written operating budget, but requests for purchases are passed orally to the parliament’s financial department.24 The library has open stacks, and since its foundation, the library’s director has been Mehman Namazov. According to the legislation, the library is also a depository library whereby Azerbaijani publishers must send two copies of each book published in Azerbaijan. The above-mentioned preliminary report also notes that not all publishers in the territory of the republic follow this rule. As of the end of 2009, the library did not have a functioning website, despite the fact that the 2007 report envisioned such a website, in addition to the Integrated Library System Software IRBIS 64.25

The Presidential Library of Azerbaijan

26

The Presidential Library was founded in 2003 by merging two of the oldest Baku city libraries, that is, the Central City Library in Baku, and the former library of the Political Education House. After the independence from the Soviet Union, the library of the Political Education House became part of the general services section of the presidential administration. Today the library serves the staff of the Executive Office, as well as that of the President’s Administrative Department and the staff of the central and local executive bodies with their reference and bibliographic needs. The library has rare book copies in various languages published from the eighth through the nineteenth centuries and up through the beginning of the 23 In 2007, the library subscribed to 31 Azerbaijani and 13 foreign newspapers. 24 Nawrocka, Ewa. “Parliamentary Program in Azerbaijan.” USAID PDF Docs.. 19 Dec 2007. USAID, http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACL344.pdf (10. Jan. 2010). 25 Nawrocka, Ewa. “Parliamentary Program in Azerbaijan.” USAID PDF Docs.. 19 Dec 2007. USAID, http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACL344.pdf (10. Jan. 2010). 26 “Presidential Library.” Administrative Department of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan: Presidential Library. 2008. Presidential Library of Azerbaijan, http://www.preslib. az/en/common/ (10. Jan. 2010).

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twentieth century. Books on economy and politics, as well as public, social, and popular literature and fiction, in various languages, make up majority of the collection. The periodical collection receives 230 items of magazines, newspapers and other periodicals published in Azerbaijan and abroad. The library provides wireless Internet access to its users, and the latest issue of the Automated Library System IRBIS, IRBIS 64, is installed in the Library.27 This system provides automation of all library processes, from acquisition to book delivery. In addition, the system gives readers an opportunity to use full-text databases compiled in the library. Furthermore, every Internet user can enter the library’s website and use its e-catalog and other electronic resources.

The Library of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan28 This library was founded in 1924 as a department of bibliographic services for the scientists and the staff members of the Academy. The library began its work with 432 titles in its collection, and according to the library’s website, today the collection consists of over 3.5 million copies. Currently, the library has 13 functional departments. That is, each department of the library fulfills a specific function. Regarding the principle department of National Bibliography, as the website explains, engages in “The department of National literature (chief) realizes the formation and conducting of alphabetical and systematic catalogs, scientific completing of the literature (scientific working and classifying) in the Azerbaijan language. The first time Central Scientific Library of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences realizes the formation of electronic 27 “Presidential Library.” Presidential Library E Catalog. 2008. Presidential Library of Azerbaijan, http://www.elibrary.az/cgi/enirbis64r/cgiirbis_64.exe?C21COM=F&I21DBN=BMT &P21DBN=BMT&S21FMT=&S21ALL=&Z21ID= (10. Jan. 2010). 28 http://www.science.az/en/presidium/library/index.htm.

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catalogs of the literature in the Azerbaijan language. It conducts in the direction of studying efficiency use of catalog-files system and connected with the matters of creating electronic catalogue.”29 The Library of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan is also responsible for the maintenance of the digital library of the academy. This digital library provides access to the doctoral dissertations of the country. Also, the website provides its readers with information about new publications of the academy.

Web-based Open-access Scholarly Projects in Azerbaijan Currently, there are various important web-based academic projects that merit attention for several reasons. Firstly, these projects demonstrate not only the willingness of the Azerbaijani information professionals and librarians to adapt the new technologies in their work, but also they indicate a sustainable capacity for these information professionals to carry on various web-based projects using indigenous means. The level of the cooperation among participants is especially noteworthy. These projects include: the Union Catalog Project of Azerbaijan, The Azerbaijani Literature Portal Project, and the Azerbaijani Biography Portal that is called Adam.az.30

29 Central Scientific library of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, “Central Scientific library of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.” 2004. http://www.csl-az.com/ en/structure.html (8. Feb. 2010). 30 http://www.lit.az.

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The Union Catalog Project of Azerbaijan

This project is sponsored by the Exxon Azerbaijan Operating Company, and its main purpose is to provide open access to bibliographic records of the holdings in the libraries of higher education institutions in Azerbaijan. In addition to providing the user with the ability to carry out federated searches, this project provides access to the electronic libraries of the participating institutions. The project was made possible by the support of the Azerbaijani Economic University, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Tourism and the International Research and Exchanges-IATP.32 Currently there are 19 institutions that participate in this program. These institutions are Baku State University, French Center in Baku, DövlΩt Neft AkademiyasÕ, AzΩrbaycan DillΩr Universiteti, GNøT üzrΩ Kitabxana, øqtisadiyyat üzrΩ Kitabxana, Tibb Universiteti, HeydΩr Ψliyev KitabxanasÕ, GΩncliyΩ YardÕm Fondu, Milli ElmlΩr AkademiyasÕ, Hüquq Resurs MΩrkΩzi, British Council in Baku, MingΩçevir Politexnik ønstitutu, NaxçÕvan DövlΩt Universiteti, Pedaqoji Universitet, Texniki Universitet, DövlΩt øqtisad Universiteti, øqtisadi øslahatlar MΩrkΩzi, and BakÕ Biznes Universiteti.

31 “Kitab.Az.” Kitab.Az: The Union Catalog Project. 2002௅2004. http:// www.kitab.az/ru/ (10. Jan. 2010). 32 “IREX: Internet Access and Training Program (IATP).” International Research and Exchanges Board. IREX, http://www.irex.org/programs/iatp/index.asp (10. Jan. 2010). International Research and Exchanges is a non-profit organization that was established in 1968 by leading US Universities to exchanges with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. According to the IREX-IATP program description, “Since June 2007, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been funding the Internet Access and Training Program (IATP)in Eurasia. IREX has administered IATP since 1995. The program was initially supported by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA)”.

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Lit.az: An Azerbaijani Literature Portal

This portal can be described as a one-click gateway to Azerbaijani literature today. The portal consists of various literary works of scholarly interest from modern Azerbaijan. It also contains translated works of various prominent foreign authors, and there are brief biographical notes about Nobel Prize winners in the field of literature. The portal unfortunately does not allow its users access to information in English or Russian.

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Azerbaijani Republican Libraries Republican Youth Library of Azerbaijan named after Cafar Cabbarly 33 (RYL) The RYL was founded in 1928 and its primary audience consists of school students and teachers. The RYL of Azerbaijan is located in Baku, and in 2006 it had 114,685 books with 11,100 users. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the library had three computer terminals with one dedicated to Internet access. The library registered 131, 350 visitors with the circulation exceeding 200,000. Cafar Cabbarly, also known as Jafar Jabbarli, was a famous Azerbaijani playwright, poet and film director. The library currently does not have a website. 34

Republican Children’s Library Named after Firidun Kocharali

Firidun Kocharali was a famous Azerbaijani pedagogue and educator. The library was founded in 1965, and it serves all Azerbaijani children up to the age of 17. It has 205,300 books, primarily dedicated to Azerbaijani children’s literature. In a 2006 interview with a Russian language newspaper Vyshka oil, Latifa Mamedova, then the head of the library sector under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the chief librarian of Azerbaijan, stated that the Azerbaijani government wanted to take full advantage of globalization and the epoch of information revolution in the world. One of the first priorities of the ministry was to fund scientific and technical work in the republican libraries, and the Children’s Library was included in this initiative. Besides the Republican Children’s Library named after Kocharali, Baku city’s Children’s Central Library, named after Seidzade, supplants and supports the role of the Republican Children’s Library. In January 2009 the Children’s Central Library became the first Library-Shop in the republic. 35 The

33 “Republican Youth Library of Azerbaijan named after C.Cabbarly.” The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan. 2007. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan, http://www.mct.gov.az/?/en/ med/view/104 (10. Jan. 2010). 34 Gasangyzy, Nilufiar. “ɁɇȺɇɂə, ɉɈɑȿɊɉɇɍɌɕȿ ɂɁ ɄɇɂȽ, ȾȺȾɍɌ ɋȼɈɂ ɉɅɈȾɕ.” Vyshka 43.27 Oct. 2006 (2006): n. pag. http://vyshka.azeurotel.com/arxiv/2006/43/3.htm (10. Jan. 2010). 35 “ɉȿɊȼɕɃ ɉɊɈȿɄɌ ȼ ȺɁȿɊȻȺɃȾɀȺɇȿ: ɈɌɄɊɕɌɂȿ ȻɂȻɅɂɈɌȿɄɂ-ɆȺȽȺɁɂɇȺ.” Vyshka 43.19751 (2009): n. pag. http://vyshka.azeurotel.com/arxiv/2009/03/index.htm (10. Jan. 2010). ȼɕɒɄȺ ʋ 3 (19751) ɨɬ 23 ɹɧɜɚɪɹ 2009 ɝɨɞɚ Abulfas Karaev (Abulfas Garaev), the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan in 2009 during the opening ceremonies noted the following, “the opening of the library- book shop- is an important event in the life of the republic. This project took in consideration the

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purpose of this Library-Shop, as explained in an issue of the Azerbaijani newspaper, Vyshka, is to support modernization, as reflected upon in the Presidential decree that mandated a five-year modernization plan of Azerbaijani libraries. 36

Republican Library of Sciences and Medicine

This library collects scientific and medical literature published in Azerbaijan, CIS, and the rest of the world. The decision to create this library was taken in November of 1939 by the Azerbaijan State Committee on Healthcare, and it opened its doors to users in 1940. It is primarily used by physicians and other workers in the healthcare system. From January 2007 through December 2007, the library acquired 1,080 monographs. The acquisition included 540 journal titles in Russian and 583 journal items in foreign languages, along with 111 dissertations. In January 2008 the library’s collection held 472,494 items in different formats. The library’s special collections hold rare manuscripts on medicine in Turkish, Arabic and Azerbaijani languages.

Republican Library of Agriculture The function of this library since its foundation in 1921 has been to serve information needs regarding agricultural sciences in Azerbaijan. Primarily, this library is used by specialists in agricultural sciences. The library currently does not have a web presence. In 2003 the library had 1,379,326 items in its collections. There were 35 library staff members and 45,212 readers. The library had a closed stacks system and the reading room had capacity for 100 readers.37

increasing demands of the population for the brand-new editions of the socio-political, scientific-popular, educational, art related, and children’s literature. “— Ɉɬɤɪɵɬɢɟ ɛɢɛɥɢɨɬɟɤɢ- ɤɧɢɠɧɨɝɨ ɦɚɝɚɡɢɧɚ — ɷɬɨ ɨɱɟɧɶ ɜɚɠɧɨɟ ɫɨɛɵɬɢɟ ɜ ɠɢɡɧɢ ɪɟɫɩɭɛɥɢɤɢ. ɉɪɨɟɤɬ ɨɫɭɳɟɫɬɜɥɟɧ ɫ ɭɱɟɬɨɦ ɜɨɡɪɨɫɲɢɯ ɬɪɟɛɨɜɚɧɢɣ ɧɚɫɟɥɟɧɢɹ ɜ ɧɨɜɟɣɲɢɯ ɢɡɞɚɧɢɹɯ ɨɛɳɟɫɬɜɟɧɧɨ-ɩɨɥɢɬɢɱɟɫɤɨɣ, ɧɚɭɱɧɨ-ɩɨɩɭɥɹɪɧɨɣ, ɭɱɟɛɧɨɩɟɞɚɝɨɝɢɱɟɫɤɨɣ, ɯɭɞɨɠɟɫɬɜɟɧɧɨɣ ɢ ɞɟɬɫɤɨɣ ɥɢɬɟɪɚɬɭɪɵ, — ɫɤɚɡɚɥ, ɨɬɤɪɵɜɚɹ ɦɟɪɨɩɪɢɹɬɢɟ, ɦɢɧɢɫɬɪ ɤɭɥɶɬɭɪɵ ɢ ɬɭɪɢɡɦɚ Ⱥɛɭɥɶɮɚɫ Ʉɚɪɚɟɜ:“ 36 “Azԥrbaycan Dövlԥt Respublika Elmi Tibb KitabxanasÕ- Ԥsas sԥhifԥ .” AzΩrbaycan DövlΩt Respublika Elmi Tibb KitabxanasÕ. Republican Library of Sciences and Medicine, http:// azdretk.ucoz.net/ (10. Jan. 2010). ଋ zhnogo Kavkaza i kto est‘ kto v bibliotechnoƱ sfere. Erevan: Armiଊ aଋ nskaiଊ aଋ 37 Biblioteki Iଊ U bibliotechnaiଊ aଋ assotଊ sଋ iatଊ sଋ ଊiaଋ , 2003. (The Libraries of the Southern Caucasus: Who is who in the library field).

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Republican Library of Pedagogical Sciences This is the newest library in the category of the republican libraries. It was established in 1982 in order to be able to meet the information needs of the pedagogues and educators of the republic. The main audience of this library is primarily made up of students of education, administrators of educational institutions, and teachers. This library is the smallest library among the republican libraries, due to its narrow audience.

Republican Library of Sciences and Technology This library primarily collects monographs and journals and provides access to electronic databases related to sciences and technology. The library was established in 1930 in Baku, and its audience has been primarily engineers, scientific workers and students of sciences.

Library and Information Studies in Azerbaijan Today Libraries serve as a repository of cultural production of a particular nation, and the Azerbaijani libraries are not an exception to this rule. The repository function of Azerbaijani libraries may be examined in the context of the ability of Azerbaijan to provide its society with qualified librarians and information professionals. Baku State University (BakÕ Dövlԥt Universiteti) is a public university located in Baku. The university was established in 1919 by an act of parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. Today, the Baku State University (BSU) is a major educational institution in Azerbaijan. According the BSU website there are 16 faculties (departments) in the University.38

38 “Baku State University (BSU): Faculties.” Baku State University. 2009. BSU, http://bsu. edu.az/en/content/faculties (10. Jan. 2010). Baku State University began its activity with four faculties: history-philology, physicsmathematics, law and medical faculties. Today, University has professionals graduated from16 faculties with 55 bachelor and 153 master degree specialties.

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The faculty of Library Science and Information (LIS) of the BSU is the only educational establishment in Azerbaijan that trains librarians and information professionals in the republic. This faculty was established over 60 years ago in 1947–1948, with the goal to supply Azerbaijan with qualified and trained information professionals. In the beginning the faculty was part of the department of Philology. In 1955 the distance learning program in the form of a correspondence program was introduced, and in 1958 the library science program was transferred to the faculty of oriental studies. Finally, in 1962, a separate independent department of LIS was established.

According to the website of the LIS faculty, three different specializations related to Information Studies are offered. These specializations are, “bibliographer, expert on bibliology and editor”39 The admitted undergraduate students are trained in two principal directions, that is, either the students can choose the “Librarian-bibliographer” track, or they can choose the “Publishing and editing” track. The faculty offers both bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, as well as the distance learning program. Graduate students are usually trained in one of the following four tracks: Library Science, Bibliography, Formation and use of library fund, or Publishing and editing. The faculty itself is divided into four different departments. These departments are: the Department of Library Science, of Bibliographic Sciences, of Library Resources and Information Research Systems, and the department of Bibliology and Publishing.

39 “Faculty of Library science – information (KitabxanaçÕlÕq-informasiya fakültԥsi).” Baku State University. 2009. BSU, http://libinfo.bsu.edu.az/en/content/about_the_faculty_551 (10. Jan. 2010).

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The Department of Library Science The Department of Library Science primarily trains general librarians for Azerbaijan. The department has a total of 10 faculty and staff members. It is interesting to remark that all of the faculty members are trained in different disciplines, such as Philology, or Pedagogical Sciences (Education), rather than in Library Sciences. 40

However, the lack of formal education in Library Science does not necessarily mean lack of experience in teaching about the various aspects of librarianship and libraries. For example, the current head of the Department of Library Science is Dr. Abuzar Ali Oglu Khalafov, who has been teaching in the department of Library Science since 1955. He has trained more than 20 different graduate and post-graduate students and has created several different bibliographies relating to librarianship in Azerbaijan.41 Within the last five years, Dr. Khalafov has written four books on various aspects of librarianship.42 The department as a whole has produced within the same past five years, 15 titles. 40 “Faculty of Library science – information (KitabxanaçÕlÕq-informasiya fakültԥsi).” Baku State University. 2009. BSU, http://libinfo.bsu.edu.az/en/content/the_departament_of_library_ science_515 (10. Jan. 2010). 41 “Faculty of Library science – information (KitabxanaçÕlÕq-informasiya fakültԥsi) .” Baku State University. 2009. BSU, http://libinfo.bsu.edu.az/en/content/the_department_of_library_ science_517 (10. Jan. 2010). 42 The titles of these books are. Khălăfov, Abuzăr. XXI äsrin ävvällärindä Azärbaycanda kitabxana iúinin äsas inkiúaf istiqamätläri: (mülahizälär, täkliflär vä proqnozlar). BakÕ: Azärbaycan Milli Elmlär AkademiyasÕ, Märkäzi Elmi Kitabxana, 2006. (The history of Azerbaijani library work before the 21st century: Development) 2. Khălăfov, Abuzăr. XXI äsrin ävvällärindä Azärbaycanda kitabxana iúinin äsas inkiúaf istiqamätläri: (mülahizälär,

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The Department of Bibliographic Sciences The Department of Bibliographic Sciences has been in some form a part of the Department of Library Science since 1947. However, due to increased need for university-wide bibliographic instructions, a separate department for bibliography was created in 1968. This department was renamed in 1998 as the Department of Bibliographic Sciences. The main goal of this department is to train and produce library and information professionals that specialize in research on the history, theory, organization and methodology of the national bibliography. According to the departmental website, “The main objects of this research are to study pressing problems of development of bibliographic practices in Azerbaijan and to make recommendations for further improvements in the development of bibliographic practice. In this regard, extensive bibliographic work undertaken by the National Library named after M. F. Akhundov, by the Central Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences and other libraries and institutions engaged in bibliographic work is at the center of scientific attention of the Chair”.43 Some of the courses that are taught by this department are as follows: Cross-Branch Bibliography; Bibliographic Information: Theoretical and Methodical Basics of Bibliographical Science; Bibliographic Activity and Bibliographic Search; Technical Means of Bibliographic Processes and Automated Information Retrieval Systems; Bibliography of the Azerbaijani Fiction, and of Literary Criticism; Organization of Bibliographic Service to Scientific Specialists in the Special Scientific Libraries; Bibliography of Arts; and Bibliography of Pedagogical Literature.

The Department of Library Resources and Information Research Systems This department was formerly known as the Cataloguing department and taught courses in classification, indexing, and subject and descriptive cataloging. The department was organized in 1990, and in 2007 it changed its name to the present form. Besides focusing on various aspects of pedagogy of cataloging of different format materials in libraries, the department also specializes in teaching about various aspects of preservation activities in libraries. The departmental web page states the following, “The basic object of these researches is studying of actual problems of development of library practice in the field of formation of funds in Azerbaijan and development of the recomtäkliflär vä proqnozlar) (The history of Azerbaijani library work before the 21st century: problems, solutions and prognosis) . BakÕ: Azärbaycan Milli Elmlär AkademiyasÕ, Märkäzi Elmi Kitabxana, 2006. 3.Khalafov A., Gurbanov A. Computer basis of libraries (Textbook). – B.: Baku University Press, 2006. - 205p 4. Khălăfov, Abuzăr. Azärbaycanda kitabxana iúinin tarixi: därslik (iki hissädä). BakÕ: BakÕ Universiteti NäúriyyatÕ, 2007. 43 “Baku State University: Chair of Bibliographic Sciences.” Chair of Bibliographic Sciences. BSU, http://libinfo.bsu.edu.az/en/content/chair_of_bibliographic_sciences_555 (11. Jan. 2010).

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mendation for the further improvement on development of library practice. In this connection, wide library activity the Central Scientific library, National library of a name of M.F.Ahundova, Scientific library of the Baku State University and other libraries and establishments-carrying out library activity, are in the centre of scientific attention of chair(department).”44 45

The Department of Bibliology (Book Science) and Publishing

This is the newest of all four departments in the faculty for LIS education. It was organized primarily in the post-independence period with a goal of creating qualified cadres who are familiar with publishing trends and book trade organization in Azerbaijan.46 The department also focused on the challenges faced by various educational institutions around Azerbaijan when it came to the preparation of standardized textbooks required for teaching various subject disciplines. The department engages in providing recommendations on improving efficiency of publishing practices. Examples of graduate level courses taught in the department are as follows: Historical theory of Book Science and principle of methods; Books in the social and mass-communication systems; Content theory; Theory of Editing and Practice of Editing; Information technology in editing-publishing work; Typology of Book, and so forth.

Some Publishing Trends in Modern Azerbaijan Publishing is traditionally considered a part of the cultural production of a nation. In Azerbaijan, in the post-Soviet era, there is no evidence of significant changes in the publishing patterns of books when compared to the established practices of past Soviet regularized publishing. The indicators that aid understanding of the general tendencies that characterize current publishing practice in Azerbaijan can be divided into several broad categories. The first category is the number of titles that were published on a yearly basis in Azerbaijan. This first category can be further broken down using the broad subject catego44 “Baku State University: Information Search Systems.” Information Search Systems. BSU, http://libinfo.bsu.edu.az/en/content/chair_library_resources_also_it_is_information_search_ systems__538 (11. Jan. 2010). 45 The Azerbaijani name of the department is “KøTABùÜNASLIQ VԤ NԤùRøYYAT øùø KAFEDRASI”. It is interesting to translate the term KøTABùÜNASLIQ. In Russian it is Knigovedenie. The name book science is appropriate in English translation of the Russian word ɤɧɢɝɨɜɟɞɟɧɢe. The Department on its English web-page has chosen to use the titleBibliology. This can be quite confusing to modern English readers. Bibliology is generally understood as the science of study of the Bible. 46 “Baku State University: Bibliology and Publishing Chair.” Bibliology and Publishing Chair. BSU, http://libinfo.bsu.edu.az/en/content/bibliology_and_publishing_chair_539 (11. Jan. 2010).

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ries following the Universal Decimal System (UDC). The second category is the language of publication. It is interesting to compare the number of books published in Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic with the number produced in the aftermath in Azerbaijan. For the North American context, the third category is to note which of the latest publications were published in Azerbaijan. The data that is available from the UNESCO Data Centre is current up to 1999.47 For comparison, the data from Armenia and Georgia is included, as these countries, along with Azerbaijan, form the Trans-Caucasian region. Table 2: Annual Book Production in Trans-Caucasian Countries Year/Country Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia

1995 ... 498 1104

1996 396 542 581

1997 387 496 ...

1998 535 444 ...

1999 516 ... 697

According to the data compiled by the UNESCO Data Centre, for a four year period from 1995 through 1998, on average there were 495 books published in Azerbaijan. There was a slight decline (10.48%) in publishing over the year 1997. If we look at the subject breakdown for 1998, out of 444 books, 102 belonged to Social Sciences category and 196 were in Literature. Thus, Social Sciences and Literature together represented 67.11% of books published. If we analyze this trend further for the years 1995, 1996, and 1997, we see the following results: Table 3: Percentage breakdown of books in Literature and Social Sciences in Azerbaijan from 1995௅1998. Year Literature Social Sciences Total Books

1995 176 (35.34%) 144(28.91%) 498 (100%)

1996 209 (38.56%) 167 (30.81%) 542(100%)

1997 235 (47.37%) 112 (22.58%) 496 (100%)

1998 196 (44.14%) 102 (22.97%) 444 (100%)

The data above shows that the relative volume of books published on Literature and Social Sciences has remained stable in relation to the total number of books published in Azerbaijan. In 2002, under the premises of the Open Society Initiative, a training seminar for publishers and various vendors was organized in Baku. The main purpose of this seminar was to gauge the possible establishment of a democratic and viable book market in Azerbaijan. This seminar served as a precursor to the establishment of the Kitab Klubu (a book club) project in 2003. According to the website of the project, the main purpose of this club is as follows:

47 “Beyond 20/20 WDS Report Folders.” UNESCO Data Centre. UNESCO, http://stats.uis. unesco.org/unesco/ReportFolders/ReportFolders.aspx (11. Jan. 2010).

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“The basic purpose of the Project is assistance to formation of the civilized book market in Azerbaijan. For achievement of this purpose the Club uses following modes of work: 1. Creation and updating of the information bank reflecting a condition of the book market; 2. Creation of distributor network of Club in territory of Republic and abroad; 3. Issuing of the quarterly book catalog under the name The Azerbaijan editions 4. Creation of daily updated Internet - site of Club; 5. Education of booksellers - distributors of books; 6. Organization of book fairs and conferences;”48 48 “Kitab Klubu.” Kitab Klubu. Open Society, http://www.kitabklubu.org/ (11. Jan. 2010).

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According to the annual catalog that was published in December of 2009, there were 445 titles published in Azerbaijani language and 63 titles published in Russian language. The website displays the catalogs from 2003. From 2003 to 2008, there were two catalogs published each year, and then one catalog released each year. Table 4: Language of published books as listed in Kitab Klubu catalog Year Books in Azerbaijani Books in Russian Total

2006 553 113 666

2007 588 83 671

2008 326 46 372

2009 446 55 501

The above data extracted using the annual Kitab Klubu catalogs allows us to extrapolate information regarding publishing trends in Azerbaijan. Publishing on average for the past four years has remained relatively stable with a small dip in 2008. On average, there were 553 books released each year, with 479 books in Azerbaijani and 74 books in Russian languages. There has been a slow decline in the relative volume of Russian language books published compared to that of Azerbaijani releases over the period of the past four years. Of course, this decline may not be indicative of a definitive trend of gradual decline of publishing in Russian language in Azerbaijan today. According to the 1999 census, Russians as an ethnic group comprised only 1.8% of the total population of the country. Russian language books comprised approximately 11% of total books published in Azerbaijan in 2009. Thus, we can state that although the ethnic Russian population of Azerbaijan remains small, the amount of publication in Russian language continues to occupy a relatively important position in the Azerbaijani publishing arena. These publications also continue to serve bilingual Azerbaijani citizens from non-Russian ethnic backgrounds. One of the limitations of this publishing trend analysis is the fact that there is virtually no data to tell us about the publishing of linguistic minorities in Azerbaijan. These minorities include Armenians, Lezgins, Kurds, and so forth. The disputed status of Nagorno-Karabagh, in addition to the missing publication statistics and the difficulty of access to the region, further preclude us from more detailed analysis of the publishing trends in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan National Literary Award After its independence, Azerbaijan did not have its own Book Prize. However, the situation changed in 2009. In November of 2009, Nigar Kocharali, the owner of Ali and Nino book and café stores in Azerbaijan, founded the Azerbaijan National Literary Award. In her interview to News.Az agency she was asked the following question, “Do you think the West has an idea about Azer-

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baijan, its culture and literature?” She answered the question as follows, “Azerbaijan is a country with a rich literary and cultural heritage. But, unfortunately, the names of our cultural giants are not always known beyond the borders of Azerbaijan. I hope that the National Book Award will open up new names and do much to ensure that Azerbaijani writers become famous in the West. Europe has long seen high demand for eastern literature. Works by Iranian, Afghan, and Turkish authors top the bestseller lists. I would really like to see our authors popular abroad”. 49 It is interesting to see that the National Book Award prize was declared on a private platform rather than with the state involvement. The main sponsors for the 2010 award were Azercell Telecom, Azersun Holding and Garant Sighorta. It is also interesting to remark that the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Abulfas Garaev, at the same forum announced that the ministry will continue to improve the condition of library science in the country. However, he did not state how the planned improvement would take place. The National Book Award amounts are 3,000 manats (about 3,737 United States dollars according to the exchange rate on February 13, 2010). In February 2010 the National Book Prize committee announced the shortlist of 10 titles out of 265 entries that were received. It is interesting to see that there were 60 titles that were written in Russian. Thus, approximately 23% of the entries that were submitted for the 2010 award were in Russian language. The shortlist of titles announced were as follows: Sharif Agayar, The BrickMaker's Tale; Alabbas Bagirov, The Rebels; Nariman Abdulrahmanli, Alone; Samit Aliyev, Seven Steps Towards Sunset (in Russian); Eyvaz Allazoglu, Return of the Woodcutter; Elkhan Qaraqan, A; Kamran Nazirli, Collected Stories; Ajdar Ol, Story Portrait; Rafiq Tagi, Collected Stories; and Fakhri Ugurlu, Collected Stories.50 In the shortlist there was only one title in Russian, written by an Azerbaijani author Samit Aliyev, called, Seven Steps towards Sunset. The Russian language title thus represents 10% of the shortlist. It might be too early to predict the trend based on this early data, but we can project that as time passes, the Russian language eventually will be replaced increasingly by publishing in Azerbaijani.

Some Projections for 2010–2025 for the State of Libraries and Library and Information Studies in Azerbaijan The sustainable development of information infrastructure, such as libraries and archives, in Azerbaijan will be one of many indicators of the success or failure of the democratic reforms that have been implemented under the guid49 Hasanov, Akper. “National Book Award founder: Not all Azerbaijan's best authors are known abroad.” November 5, 2009. http://www.news.az/articles/1652 (13. Feb. 2010). 50 “Shortlist announced for Azerbaijan's National Book Award.” 10 February 2010. http:// www.news.az/articles/8775 (13. Feb. 2010).

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ance of the current President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. The free market transition is by itself not sufficient to sustain public services such as libraries. Azerbaijan today lacks its own book chamber, and this, in our opinion, has added a layer of complexity to bibliographic work in the country. The other difficulty that Azerbaijan faces is that of the appropriation and repurposing of strategically placed library properties in Baku. For example, two important cultural institutions in the center of Baku city were moved elsewhere, and their properties were allotted to two banks, that is, the Baku Bank and Standard Bank. The latest trend of closing village libraries, as declared by the Minister of Tourism and Culture, is quite disturbing, for libraries have continued to serve village populations with information sources that not only have a cultural component to them but also an educational component. On one hand, it is quite understandable that the question of how to handle the legacy collections in the village libraries is acute, as there has been the script change, the transition to a Latin-based script from Cyrillic script. On the other hand, it is quite impossible to understand the logic that lies behind the process by which the village libraries will be chosen for closure. The news report by the Azerbaijani newspaper, Bizim Yol, on the closure does not tell us about the nature of the financial emergency that has mandated these closures.51 Furthermore, there was no clear statement on which libraries would be closed and which would be spared. We project that in coming years, the sustainable development of libraries in Azerbaijan will continue to depend on the constraints imposed by regional politics and various ad hoc policy recommendations. In order to overcome the above mentioned challenges, a recommendation to create an intra-ministry agency that would oversee planning and cooperation of library and archival matters between both the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the Ministry of Higher Education, is a possibility. This agency could function in a setting devoid of political interference from local government officials. Transparency of the public policy implementation compounded with modernization of infrastructure, with respect to the public and academic libraries, would significantly improve conditions and functionality of libraries as a cultural institution of the country in coming years. Currently, we do see selective and directed efforts to modernize the existing Azerbaijani libraries. However, for example, on February 11, 2010, the Barda district electronic library (Bԥrdԥ rayon Mԥrkԥzi Kitabxana Sistemi) was inaugurated.52 The digital/electronic library provides full-text access to many

51 “Kԥnd kitabxanalarÕ ba÷lanÕr Bizim Yol (2010), http://www.bizimyol.az/?mod=news&act= view&nid=34243 (12. Feb. 2010). 52 1 news.az, “Azerbaijan opens first regional electronic library 2010,” http://www.news.az/ articles/8861 (13. Feb. 2010).

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important Azerbaijani Humanities and Social Sciences works via the openaccess model.53

The open-access model that the government-sponsored libraries are advocating in the long run may come into conflict with the intellectual property rights advocated by the independent publishing houses in the country. One interesting factor will be how the government of Azerbaijan continues to deal with the 53 Bԥrdԥ rayon Mԥrkԥzi Kitabxana Sistemi, http://barda-mks.az/a.html (14. Feb. 2010).

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National Book Award founded by the independent publishing houses of the country. Whether the independent publishing houses continue to control the process, or whether it will be closely controlled by the government ministry remains to be seen. How this control will reflect on a library’s ability to develop collections under the free-market reforms is difficult to predict.

Final Thoughts It has been 19 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union. These relatively long years have been defining for Azerbaijan as it continues to build its free market-based democratic society. One of the essential properties of the successful democratic governance is the transparency and access to relevant information by its citizens. The libraries in Azerbaijan continue to play an important role in providing access to and dissemination of information for its population. The libraries, as the repositories of cultural memories of the nation, continue to constantly interact not only with the public at large, but also with academics and students. One suggestion that would enhance the ability of libraries to provide information literacy related instructions to their audiences effectively would be to modernize the library information infrastructure. The modernization of the library information infrastructure also should be coupled with an aggressive continuing education program for librarians by the Library and Information Studies faculty of the Baku State University. The LIS faculty should take a leading role in conjunction with lawmakers to define and debate the position of open-access in publishing and the modern metadata standards that seem to be lacking currently. The government of Azerbaijan should continue to foster and support library and information studies education and modernization efforts of libraries as it has done in the past under President Heydar Aliyev.

2.3 Canada Building Canadian Electronic Libraries: The Experience in Ontario Public Libraries, 1960௅2010 Lorne D. Bruce The August 1945 issue of Atlantic Monthly featured an article by Vannevar Bush, “As We May Think,” predicting the automatic storage and retrieval of information from books, records, and communications in a memex device, a microfilm technology with a screen and keyboard controls. The desktop library Bush envisaged was one propelled by technology in pursuit of information. In Canada, C.D. Kent, who joined the London Public Library in 1948, expanded on Bush’s ideas in a 1946 article printed in the Ontario Library Review, “…many libraries in the future will photograph complete books in the back of an ordinary 5” x 3” catalogue card. The face of the card will hold the normal and usual amount of information written as we have it today, but the reverse side will reveal the secrets of a complete book to us through the medium of a reading machine, similar to the microfilm reading machine …”1

Kent’s speculation was a visionary prospect, not a reality. He was one of the few prominent Canadian librarians interested in automated applications in the immediate post-war decade.2 Canadian librarians and information specialists were eager to engage technological change at an early stage. In January 1958 the Canadian Library Association (CLA) hosted a seminar at McGill University on documentation – the collection, storage, and distribution of documents – featuring Dr. Ralph Shaw, an acknowledged expert from Rutgers University. At this time, when a new building for Canada’s National Library at Ottawa was still a decade in the future (1967), research, university, and larger public library systems naturally took the lead in electronic machine techniques. C.D. Kent spoke about the potential use of notched or punched cards to keep track of 750,000 circulations and 36,000 registered readers in London. Harry Campbell, chief librarian of Toronto Public Library (TPL), Canada’s largest public library, addressed the 1 2

Charles D. Kent, “Libraries of the Future,” OLR 30, no. 4 (Nov. 1946): 349–51. This period is covered in detail by Basil Stuart-Stubbs, “Learning to Love the Computer: Canadian Librarians and New Technology, 1945–1965,” in Peter McNally, ed., Readings in Canadian Library History 2 (Ottawa: CLA, 1996), 275–301.

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potential to enhance public access by indexing and data retrieval systems.3 A few years later, he offered to share a Toronto bibliographic databank as a provincial Ontario resource by sketching the costs of potential systems and staffing for a pilot project. TPL also proposed the formation of a Co-Operative Library Book Processing Centre using mechanical equipment and Library of Congress catalog slips to order, process, and distribute books to participating libraries. The prospect of improved Anglo-American cataloging principles, electronic record formats, and computer applications with the development of Machine-Readable Cataloging, offered the potential for internal efficiencies and laborsaving applications as well as cooperative projects by the mid1960s.4 A practical, cooperative acquisition application at TPL and other Toronto libraries, computer ordering of replacements and paperbacks, signaled the advent of computer automation in Ontario’s public libraries.5 By the time of CLA’s national conferences in 1964–1965–1966, sessions on data processing were becoming more prominent, and discussions about innovative ideas, such as the “Library 21,” a futuristic exhibit of an “electronic library” highlighted by a UNIVAC computer at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962, were more common.6 There were predictions about 24-hour access to collections by remote terminals from user’s homes or offices linked with professional assistance to pursue complex requests.7 The term “Global Village” coined by Marshall McLuhan, University of Toronto communication theorist, suggested the world would become a single community connected by electronic media that would supplant print culture, “Instead of tending towards a vast Alexandrian library the world has become a computer, an electronic brain.”8 Already, the University of Toronto Library was administering an innovative project, ONULP, the Ontario New Universities Library Project. Three new university libraries (Trent, Guelph, and Brock) and two Toronto regional campuses (Scarborough and Erindale) were participating in computerized acquisitions, cataloging, and processing schemes to provide each library

3

4 5 6 7 8

New Methods and Techniques for the Communication of Knowledge; Proceedings of the Documentation Seminar at McGill University (Ottawa: CLA, 1958), p 74–76; and Henry C. Campbell, Application of New Documentation Methods at Toronto Public Library (Toronto: Toronto Public Library, 1958), 1–32. Henry C. Campbell, “A Proposal for a Bibliographic Bank for the Province of Ontario," Feliciter 11 (Dec. 1965): 7–12; and A.W. Bowron, “Central Processing for Ontario Libraries,” OLR 45, no. 2 (May 1961): 100–103. Marguerite Bagshaw, “Enter Computer: Book-ordering Practice and Procedure of the Toronto Public Library,” Top of the News 23 (Nov. 1966): 39–42. Don R. Swanson, Library Service with or without Automation (Ottawa: CLA, 1965), 10–11. Marjorie Griffin, “Automation in Libraries: a Projection,” Canadian Library 23 (1967): 360–367; and Library Automation Projects; A Collection of Papers by Canadian Librarians (Ottawa: CLA, 1965). Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press; 1962), 32.

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with books and book catalogs.9 The ONULP project was so successful that by 1973, the Library’s systems unit, now entitled the University of Toronto Library Automated System (UTLAS), was becoming a de facto national bibliographic utility. Although technical functions were the frequent subject of discussions, the prospect of improving reference service with computerized retrieval methods was under consideration as well.10 In many ways libraries were receptive to technological change, for example, an extensive 1970 North American study revealed that Metro Toronto librarians ranked quite high in positive accommodation to technological innovation and change.11

Initial Library Computerization As automation reached Canadian libraries in earnest in the 1960s, references to the “electronic library” were invoked to conceptualize the future, based on the introduction of new knowledge, hardware, and software programs; the impact of automation; and potential network structures aided by advances in telecommunications. While this terminology would not become mainstream until the 1980s and 1990s, for example with the launch of the journal, The Electronic Library in 1983, or publication of William Birdsall’s The Myth of the Electronic Library in 1994, the phrase does effectively capture the nature of the general transition from print to digital over the fifty years span from 1960–2010. During the period under study, public libraries in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, advanced from employing automated systems in circulation, cataloging, and acquisitions, to the provision of new services enabled by the benefits of automation, for example, remote access to catalogs, improved resource sharing, and database searching and reference via the Internet. These stages of development are generally representative of the experience of other Canadian libraries, that is, an initial shift from manual techniques to automated processes, then to provision of new user services and eventually to re-conceptualization of services and community roles. In Ontario, for a variety of jurisdictional reasons, technological change in schools, municipalities, colleges, universities, and special libraries, occurred mostly on separate courses after 1965. Library automation, networking, and the adoption of new information technology did not occur under a centralized, coordinated authority or funding. For example, there was no creation of a provincial union catalog of holdings. With the expansion of post-secondary 9 Ritvars Bregzis, “The Ontario New Universities Library Project – An Automated Bibliographic Data Control System,” College and Research Libraries 26 (Nov. 1965): 495–508. 10 R. G. Prodrick, “Automation Can Transform Reference Services,” OLR 51, no. 3 (Sept. 1967): 145–150. 11 Robert V. Presthus, Technological Changes and Occupational Responses: A Study of Librarians; Final Report (Washington: U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1970), 92–107.

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community colleges and new universities and the development of fourteen regional library systems in Ontario, automation activities spread to various parts of the province on an ad hoc and “type of library” basis for two decades after 1965. Consequently, before the early 1990s Ontario public libraries responded to automation independently, depending on size or on a regional basis. For example, by the early 1970s the Tri-Regional Catalog, the computerized holdings of northern Ontario libraries housed at Sudbury, came into existence with an initial provincial grant of $5,000. It could be printed inexpensively and then distributed to all libraries for inter-loan use or coordinated collection development.12 By the mid-1970s, centralized cataloging processing was available in two regions, Midwestern and Niagara, which expanded beyond their own borders to achieve greater economies of scale. As well, UTLAS began to extend its catalog support for online searching of its database to other Ontario university, college, and larger public libraries. North York, Metro Toronto, Scarborough, and Mississauga were early adopters of UTLAS services realizing the benefits of sharing and contributing cataloging data.13 While maximizing internal efficiencies and workflow was important, this rationale was not paramount. Throughout the 1970s public libraries across Canada sought services that could be supported by the National Library (NL) and the new national science library erected in 1974, Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI). The National Library continued to plan a Canadian library network based on national bibliographic standards for machine-readable records. By 1975 it reasoned that active, cooperative library systems and networks were on the “verge of realization.”14 CISTI was particularly active in providing an online enquiry system, CAN/OLE, and extending scientific databases to universities and larger public library systems. When the New York Times became available in a searchable databank, libraries such as North York became subscribers to expand their range of online information. By November 1977 the complete text of Toronto’s Globe and Mail was being published online as “Info Globe,” which also became immediately available for online searching and retrieval by subscribers.15 By the end of the 1970s, planners and futurists were speaking at library conferences about the “wired city” declaring, “what’s coming is a Canadian Electronic Highway Network.”16 Industry experts realized cable optical fiber 12 Peter Hallsworth, “Tri-Regional Computer Produced Book Catalogue,” OLR 57, no. 1 (March 1973): 18–20. 13 William Ready and Tom Drynan, Library Automation: A View from Ontario (Halifax: Dalhousie University School of Library Service, 1977), 26–31. 14 Hope E.A. Clement, The State of Planning of Automation Projects in the Libraries of Canada (Ottawa: National Library of Canada, Nov. 1974), 3–13. 15 Dennis Oliver and Jennifer Arbuckle, “New York Times Information Bank in the North York Public Library,” Canadian Library Journal 34 (1977): 17–20; and Mary M. Nash, “The Globe and Mail Database – A Canadian First,” Online Review 3, (Dec. 1979): 367– 371. 16 Bernard Ostry, “The Wiring of Canada; a Danger, a Challenge, a Certainty,” Focus (OLA) 5 (Aug. 1979): 3.

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presented the opportunity to carry vastly increased amounts of information. Thomas Ide, executive director of the Ontario Educational Communications Authority (now TVOntario), speculated on future library capabilities, “It may well be, then, that some time in the not too distant future, instead of the individual coming to the library for films, records, tapes, video cartridges and facsimiles, the library will be able to send these directly to the individual.”17 Both TPL and Mississauga experimented with the new Telidon videotextteletex technology for orientation, lists of community services, and library current events.18 By this time, computerized online searching at larger libraries and computer produced microform catalogs were available to the public. Mississauga, for example, a multiple branch system, had an integrated on-line acquisitions system based on the UTLAS bibliographic utility that allowed consolidated orders from its branches to be completed in a minimum of time.19 Increasingly, commercial turnkey systems were becoming available, in particular, a Canadian company, GEAC Computers, was developing libraryautomated products that enjoyed worldwide sales. In Ontario, London Public Library first installed a GEAC Computer Corp. circulation system from 1979௅81.

Planning Automation In 1978, to plan change, the Ontario government began funding a small Network Development Office (NDO) in Toronto, to aid existing systems and to determine future public library data processing requirements for bibliographic utilities, circulation and inter-loan, acquisitions and processing, and resource sharing. The NDO’s initial assessment was to develop local networks utilizing circulation systems by means of mini-computers.20 Afterwards, the NDO began a series of studies on public library automation:

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It recommended Metro Toronto’s Library systems unit produce, print, and distribute regional catalogs; It studied options for utilizing database facilities at the London Public Library on a cost-sharing basis by participants in the Lake Erie region;

17 Thomas R. Ide, “Lending Library, Fibre Optics and Your Living Room,” Canadian Library Journal 32 (1975): 289–292. 18 “Toronto Plugs Libraries into Huge Videotext Utility,” American Libraries 13 (April 1982) 266; and Mary M. Nash and Janice M. Pereira, “The Canadian Scene: Telidon and Library Applications,” Canadian Library Journal 39 (Aug. 1982): 249–254. 19 Helen MacIntosh, “The Mississauga Library System: a Case Study,” Journal of Library Automation 13 (Dec. 1980): 240–243. 20 Network Development Office, A Plan for Network Development; Working Paper #1 (Toronto: Metropolitan Toronto Library, 1978), 4–6; and A Planning Guide for Local Networking Based on a Library Mini-Computer System (Toronto: NDO, 1980), 2–7.

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It reported on vendors for Ottawa’s half-million dollar automated circulation system; It recognized the feasibility of using microcomputers for collection management in smaller and medium-sized libraries under 100,000.

More importantly, a 1982 NDO report on coordinated networking emphasized the regional basis for telecommunications and surface transport, a policy the provincial government adopted for future development.21 The NDO’s final publication, in May 1984, Yes or No; What You Need to Know about Automation, guided libraries contemplating an automation project. Automation of circulation and then online catalogs was a principal concern in individual Ontario public libraries during the 1980s.22 On a regional basis, resource sharing was the primary focus. For libraries in the South Central system around Hamilton, the proposed network solution was progression to an integrated system model, anchored by a single regional database of holdings providing catalogs, acquisitions, and circulation.23 All Central Ontario system libraries received a terminal, printer and high-speed modem to access a computer operated system, the CORLS “automated info network,” for resource sharing before the end of 1982.24 With the onset of regional networks, in 1984, the Province announced $1,215,000 in funding for library automated resource sharing and equipment upgrades through the government’s Library Co-Operative Automation Program. A year later, a demonstration by twentysix southern public libraries using UTLAS International and Canadian National-Canadian Pacific electronic mail to search resource locations commenced. This project eventually formed the basis of OPLIN, the Ontario Public Library Information Network.25 With the appearance of TRS-80, Commodore 64, and Apple microcomputers by 1980, librarians began enhancing public services using the power of computing in innovative ways. Oakville began combining computers and children in 1979, at half-hour sessions that expanded to include special assistance for disabled and mentally challenged adults. Later, Oakville launched an ambitious computer learning facility with three dozen computers in April 1983. 21 Network Development Office, Networking of Interlibrary Loan, Telecommunictions, and Surface Communication Service for the Ontario Public Library Community: Preliminary Study and Analysis (Toronto: NDO, 1982). 22 Dennis Steen, “Computerizing Circulation Systems,” OLR 65, no 1 (March 1981): 4–26. 23 A.J.S. Ball, South Central Regional Library System Network Study: Technical Report (Regina: BDC Library and Automation Consultants, 1983), 109–114. 24 Central Ontario Regional Library System, Computerization Feasibility and Planning Study (Richmond Hill: CORLS, 1983), 76–81; and Rosemary Kavanagh and Paul Clarke, Designing a System for Sharing Resources Among a Group of Diverse and Autonomous Libraries (Richmond Hill: CORLS, 1983). 25 Ontario Libraries and Community Information Branch, Telecommunications Pilot Project: Evaluation Report (Toronto: Oct. 1986), 71–81; and Bonnie Campbell, “OPLIN: the Ontario Public Library Information Network,” Canadian Library Journal 45 (Oct. 1988): 277– 279.

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Grimsby’s free computer literacy classes began in 1982, with a “Computers for Kids” program that evolved into a full-scale offering with equipment in 1983 funded with federal and province assistance.26 Library microcomputers for public use – children, adults, and seniors – had arrived to stay in Ontario by the mid-1980s. At relatively low cost, new programs could be introduced to satisfy local needs for computer literacy activities and educational purposes. At mid-decade the Ontario government funded two important technological-related library conferences. The first, a futures symposium, “Libraries 2000,” was held in Toronto in 1985. Speakers explored the society, economy, and technology that Canadians would likely experience in the years ahead. Frank Feather, who elaborated the theme “Thinking Globally, Acting Locally,” spoke to the need to transition to an electronic environment. The American futurist, Marvin Cetron, predicted that information would become more expensive and possibly the preserve of large corporations charging fees. However, he was optimistic about the public library’s future. To put it in very simple terms, the library industry is going to grow. It’s going to become more powerful. The library is going to become a community centre. It will be where you go for retraining, for information. It will be the access place you use to get data instead of going back and forth to work.27

For 1987, the Province planned another conference at Toronto, “The Electronic Library,” a deliberation on “second-generation” products. The era for upgrading or purchasing more sophisticated, integrated successors to outdated equipment had arrived. Conference topics were quite technical, and one speaker talked about the intelligent catalog of the future, one that could perform a search and offer a suggestion for the searcher to consider, “Give me more like this!”28 The success of “Libraries 2000” and “The Electronic Library” served to highlight the current concepts of “paperless systems” or “information age.” A theme inherent in the two conferences was the need for an effective system to organize information on a community basis, with a view to free electronic retrieval and distribution. Information was becoming a ubiquitous term, used interchangeably with concepts long associated with print culture, that is, knowledge and ideas. There were divergent views from librarians about the possible effects of information. Advocates insisted that it could empower people by providing direct access and by supplying resources for better decision making.29 Pessimists believed that the global economic structure which infor26 Christine Mander, “An Oakville Enterprise: Computers Teach Pre-Schoolers to Read and Write,” Canadian Library Journal 39 (Feb. 1982): 17–18; and Barry Church, “Microcomputers: Responding to Community Interest,” Focus (OLA) 10 (Feb. 1984): 14. 27 Libraries 2000, a Futures Symposium; Proceedings Toronto 1985 (Toronto: 1985), 26. 28 The Electronic Library: Moving to the Year 2000; Proceedings of a Conference (Toronto: 1988), 33. 29 Maureen Cubberley and Stan Skrzeszewski, “Empowering the Individual in the Information Age,” Policy Options 13 (March 1992): 9–15.

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mation supported could ultimately displace individuals and communities with authoritarian capitalist structures. The capacity to strengthen both administrative centralization and decentralized production of content seemed to be taking place. New groups and audiences were in the process of creation, for example, electronic mail groups or cable television subscribers, the MTV generation. The late 1980s witnessed an upsurge in the number of studies by individual public libraries on computerized activities. Automation reports included 83 feasibility studies, 27 database creation projects, 80 system implementation reports, 3 computer upgrades, 171 networking sites, and 130 office automation installations.30 North of Metro Toronto the York Public Libraries Network came into operation in 1986. Five of the eight libraries in the Region of York purchased a GEAC 8000 computer, created a database of holdings, and began to share costs and management on a basis of equal ownership. Integrated systems, such as MultiLIS (produced by a Canadian firm, Sobeco Group), DRA, ULISYS (another Canadian product), and Dynix were popular installation purchases in Ontario.31 Increasingly, Ontario public libraries were abandoning telex in favor of electronic mail requests, because inter-loan borrowing and lending reached more than 300,000 transactions annually by the mid-1980s. To assist smaller libraries, a new group, the Ontario Library Cooperative, formed with fifteen counties and nine municipalities to prepare a suitable database of holdings. By mid-1988, almost a million records were available for searching by member libraries on the new technology, CD-ROM. The Cooperative was so successful that it incorporated as the Ontario Library Consortium in 1987 to plan future automation projects.32 Towards the end of the 1980s, librarians and trustees from local municipal boards and the Ontario Library Association (OLA) began to think in terms of devising a strategic plan for all Ontario. It was now possible to think realistically about the creation of a provincial database – an inventory of public library holdings for access and use which could be used directly by patrons with minimal assistance from staff. Thus the concept of One Place to Look, a plan published in 1990 by the Ontario Strategic Directions Council (SDC) shortly before the Internet’s rapid development, talked about regional library clusters becoming part of a larger “information grid.” The SDC, organized in 1990 to provide provincial leadership for public libraries, knew some Ontario library groupings were already in existence: “Halinet” (Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton, and Oakville); “Multicat” (Toronto area libraries); and “Ontario Li30 Rosemary Kavanagh, Automating Libraries; Strategies for the 1990’s (Toronto: 1990), 7. 31 Jane Horrocks, Penny McKee, and Betty Rowland, “The York Public Libraries Network: a Unique Model for Co-Operative Automation,” Canadian Library Journal 43 (Feb. 1986): 31–34.; and Bobbie Merilees, “A Survey of the 1986 Canadian Library Systems Marketplace,” Canadian Library Journal 44 (June 1987): 135–139. 32 Ronald Baker, “OLC: the Ontario Library Consortium; a Study in Cooperation,” Focus (OLA) 13 (Autumn 1988): 31–33; and Advanced Strategic Management Consultants, The ‘Connected’ Public Library: A New Vision for the Ontario Library Consortium (OLC) (Ottawa: ASM, 3 June 1996), 8–15.

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brary Consortium” (15 counties). These clusters could facilitate sharing and serve as test sites for potential Internet connectivity.

The Information Society and the Internet When the word-wide “network of networks,” the Information Highway, came into prominence in the early 1990s, it revolutionized global high-speed communications systems. The Internet included computer networks, electronic mail and data files, fiber-optic cable television systems, the World Wide Web, Gopher searching, newsgroups, bulletin board systems, relay chat, and many interactive features. In Canada the Canadian Advanced Network and Research for Industry and Education provided the national infrastructure for networking. In 1993 a federal agency, Industry Canada, began funding for “SchoolNet,” a program to connect schools and classrooms to the Internet. Three years later, “LibraryNet” was initiated for linkage of all public libraries. The federal government’s presence, plus the Internet’s exponential growth and the rapid evolution of new information technologies, effectively marked a new era of for networked activities by public libraries in Ontario. Public access moved to the forefront of planning. To extend its role, the federal government established its Community Access Program (CAP) for rural Canadians, “Connecting Canadians,” beginning in 1994. One of the aims of these programs was to eliminate a “digital divide” in Canada by permitting rural electronic access to government services and online learning resources. Typically, during this transition, a public library would first connect to the Internet through program-sponsored computers and eventually launch its own website. Ottawa Public Library became the first library in Canada to offer its catalog via a regional public network in 1993.33 It arranged to have three terminals available at its central library to access the National Capital FreeNet. Three years later, Ottawa unveiled its own website and installed additional access stations with a $400,000 boost from Bill Gates’ “Libraries Online” program, which donated cash and grants in kind for hardware, software, Internet hook-up, and staff training. “Connecting Canadians” and CAP was ambitious planning, but eventually, by 2000, more than 18,000 schools and libraries were on the Internet. A 2001 survey measured the success of the program for smaller libraries in Canadian county and regional systems, and 93% of the respondents (64) reported that at least some part of their system connected to “the Net,” while five others were in the process of connecting.34 33 Barbara Clubb, “Ottawa Public Library: a Window on the World,” Electronic Information Partnerships 5 (Jan – March 1997): 16–17. 34 Ann Curry and Alison Curtis, “Connecting to the Internet: The Challenge for Canada’s County and Regional Libraries,” Library & Information Science Research 22 (2000): 77– 103.

100 Lorne D. Bruce To develop a public response to the new market-oriented electronic environment, the Ontario Library Association created an initiative in November 1993, the Coalition for Public Information. CPI’s goal was to serve the public interest by advocating freely available universal access to information. The Coalition issued two publications in 1995, Canada's Public Libraries and the Information Highway and Future-Knowledge: the Report. CPI presented a national vision of the Information Highway that counterbalanced market concerns. Future-Knowledge advocated a national information access plan, universal access, freedom of expression and right to privacy, protection of intellectual property, and training for employment. Canada’s Public Libraries outlined library networking and costs for a networked library infrastructure. Major issues were connectivity, FreeNet access, content provision, network standards, interoperability using the new Z39.50 protocol standard, security, and the roles of the federal government and National Library. Although it brought a non-market related agenda to federal policy and represented a significant number of libraries, CPI’s small membership, and limited resources often left it at the periphery of government officialdom and the private sector.35 The SDC realized that information technology was crucial to achieve public library goals in Ontario. Collaborative work with library and non-library partners provided an opportunity to position the library firmly in the mainstream of information provision. “Think Globally, Act Locally” was an appealing concept for many public librarians and trustees, but finding ways and means to achieve the rhetoric required working with many unfamiliar organizations. Formal partnerships and collaboration were touted as a key to success. The development of regional or metropolitan FreeNets permitting access to the Internet was a good case in point. The library aim was to reach as many people as possible and encourage the concept of end-user empowerment. Newer circulation and catalog systems were allowing users to place their own holds, receive e-mail notices, and allow recall and reserve for materials they could access via the Internet. Permitting users to locate and control their own information at their own convenience from home or office outside the traditional 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. timeframe was encouraged. Many librarians viewed the creation of virtual reference libraries as the next evolutionary step. The SDC included electronic resources and Internet provision when it published standardized services for small, medium, and county libraries in 1996.36 As libraries broadened their range of electronic services and online public access catalogs (OPAC), it became more than a matter of collecting and mak35 Cheryl C. Buchwald, “A Case Study of Canada's Coalition for Public information in the Information Highway Policy-making Process,” Library & Information Science Research 22 (2000): 123–144; and Daniel G. Dorner, “The Essential Services Policy Network: Organizational Influence in Canada's Information Highway Policy Development Process,” Library Quarterly 72 (Jan. 2002): 27–84. 36 Strategic Directions Council, Ontario Public Library Guidelines: a Developmental Tool for Small, Medium and County Libraries (Sudbury, Ont.: OLS-North, 1997).

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ing electronic resources available, such as NetLibrary. It was a matter of transitioning to commercial web-based catalogs that seamlessly weaved the generational changes in cataloging, such as streamlined workflow, easy exchange of data, uniformity of catalog records, and conversion from card sets, into advanced Boolean search and hyperlinked screen displays with links to other catalogs and reference databases. To improve services in Canada, OCLC opened a Canadian office in 1997 and began to attract new members, such as Windsor Public Library. Electronic document delivery systems began to supplant the traditional concept of interlibrary loans. Computer literacy became a busy library activity. One example, Alpha Ontario, initially assisted by Metro Library, had a database of programs and organizations involved in adult literacy and language training in Ontario as well as a reference and information service available by fax, phone, or e-mail.37 In public services a Collaborative Digital Reference Service, a plan to create an international network of reference service that all types of libraries could participate in, led by the Library of Congress, eventually was expected to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.38 This type of organizational response, led in Canada by the National Library, demonstrated that libraries had a vital role in providing an Internet environment and helped facilitate human resource sharing between types of libraries. Recognizing that the idea of an electronic learning center needed integration with the library's long-standing commitment to literacy and provision of educational and recreational resources, Canadian planners conceived “Network 2000” as a potential solution for infrastructure needs and a platform to publicize libraries as electronic gateways to information. The Network 2000 Virtual Library Initiative was a proposal to formalize Ontario’s library accessed electronic materials for education and employment needs in a rapidly restructuring international economy. Assistance for job seekers and information for businesses, as well as creation of an “information infrastructure” for Ontarians to be competitive in a global economy, became facets of public library work. Network 2000 was part of the national program, “Connecting Canadians,” an initiative with private sector partners.39 Five southern public libraries commenced a successful pilot project in early 1997. Judging the success of libraries in the crucial transformational period of the late 1990s is a complex process because responses varied greatly by community and region. The Ontario Strategic Directions Council commissioned one consumer-based survey in 2000. Using an interview process, Market

37 Thora Gislason, “Alpha Ontario: an Innovative Provincial Literacy Resource,” Feliciter 42 (Sept. 1996): 24–28. 38 Kathleen Sibley, “Libraries Test E-mail Reference Services: Canada to Participate in Pilot Project for Global Network,” Quill & Quire 66 (July 2000): 8. 39 Dianne Craig, “Virtual Library Created in Ontario – Network 2000,” Feliciter 43 (June 1997): 34–35; and C.K. Tan, “Ontario Virtual Library: New Millennium Library,” The Electronic Library 17 (June 1999): 139–142.

102 Lorne D. Bruce Probe researchers asked respondents about various future scenarios for libraries. Frequently endorsed scenarios were:

– – –

Libraries will play an essential role in training residents to access information through computers (79% likely; 44% very likely); Most Ontario residents will need the library to help find information where information is available from many sources (72% likely; 35% very likely); The library will be the focal point for the community, a safe and comfortable meeting place (71% likely; 35% very likely).40

Generally, the Ontario survey found that about one-third of Internet users said they were making less frequent use of the library and the same number said the library could help them use the Internet more effectively. Overall, an equal number thought the role of the library would grow as thought it would decrease, and Ontario residents supported positive future directions. On a related front, one that governments at all levels examine carefully, contemporary studies indicated that Ontario’s medium-sized businesses made productive use of public libraries.41 Of course, in the globalized environment driven by neoliberal philosophy, libraries are expected to have economic benefits.

Digital Libraries The Market Probe findings supported claims for further work on the “digital library” of the twenty-first century. The difficult task of populating sites and developing collaborative digital projects could begin in earnest. In 1997 the federal government formed the Canadian Initiative on Digital Libraries to facilitate the development of Canadian digital collections and services in an organized way. Two years later, the Ontario government provided money for 10 digital library projects worth $250,000 from its Library Strategic Development Fund.42 TPL’s “Virtual Reference Library” commenced in October 1999, and it offered packaged Internet resources, such as “Science Net” for students, and e-mail service for requests beyond the Metro area. The Toronto Star also assisted TPL with a long-term $2.5-million donation for a significant expansion of its newspaper reading room and installation of computer terminals and microfilm reader-scanners. Creating a “digital library” required building new 40 Market Probe Canada, Ontario Public Library Strategic Plan Research (Toronto: Market Probe, Nov. 2000), p. 40–44. 41 Rod Sawyer, “The Economic and Job Creation Benefits of Ontario Public Libraries,” The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances 9, no. 4 (1996): 14–26; and Liwen Vaughan, “The Impact of the Public Library on Business Success: an Analysis Based on Mediumsized Businesses in Ontario,” Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science 22 (July 1997): 16–29. 42 “The Digitization of Public Library Collections,” Access (OLA) 5 (Winter 1999): 47: and Emily Atkins, “Let's Get Digital,” Quill & Quire 65 (June 1999): 22.

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expertise for an organized collection of resources and services made accessible to users via electronic means. One useful method to purchase resources was to develop library sector agreements and, in 1998, the Consortium of Ontario Libraries (COOL) officially formed. Over the next decade, COOL expanded its membership to university, college, public, and school library authorities. When the term “Library 2.0” gained currency after 2000, the provincial government offered further support for consortia. “Library 2.0” was technically new, but underlying its concepts lay traditional ideas about user-centered change, community participation, and adoption of new technologies. In 2005 the provincial government provided funding to implement a new province-wide framework, “Knowledge Ontario.” With funding of $8 million, Knowledge Ontario expanded to include “Our Ontario,” “Resource Ontario,” “Ask Ontario” and “Connect Ontario” projects.43 This new arrangement confirmed the success and potential of consortia activities. Over the next years, 2006–2007, “Resources Ontario,” an aggregation of over 2,000 public, university, college, school, and government libraries, contracted with major database vendors to allow equal access to licensed electronic resources for all Ontarians, free of charge. After 2008, “AskON,” a virtual service allowing library staff to chat one-on-one to anyone in English or French using instant messaging regardless of whether they have a library account or card, quickly grew to include Ontario’s public, college and university libraries. Another venture, “Connect Ontario,” began to transform library catalogs into a “discovery experience,” enabling users to interact with resources and each other. By 2010, it had developed partnerships to deliver a “next generation” OPAC and social networking space in public libraries. When Ontario strategic library planners reflected on current conditions after 2000, it was obvious the public library was a very different institution from the one that had existed at the time of the “Libraries 2000” symposium in 1985 or the “Electronic Library” in 1987. Electronic-virtual-digital library concepts were no longer visionary statements, but they were tangible manifestations of what was currently occurring across the province, for example through the utilization and provision of wireless access. Terminology was also in transition, for example, there was a preference to use “digital” rather than “electronic” to describe library activities, because there was more emphasis on content and less on the means of communication. From the perspective of the user, the twenty-first century “digital library” was a place where resources were available without recourse to visiting a library, service was 24 hours, 7 days a week, staff members could offer assistance in a virtual environment, and personal library accounts were accessible electronically.44 The Internet’s impact on public libraries was far-reaching after the mid1990s, and newer technologies, such as the wireless smartphone, would con43 “It’s a KNOCK OUT,” Access (OLA) 13, no. 2 (Winter 2007): 36–38. 44 Building Value Together: a Strategy for Change for Ontario Public Libraries (Toronto: SDC, 2002).

104 Lorne D. Bruce tinue to revolutionize the way information was distributed and formatted. The Ontario Strategic Directions Council, in Building Value Together, published in 2002, advocated formation of a single agency, the “Ontario Public Library,” as the primary agency to lead public libraries into the future. This Library could provide province-wide licensing of electronic resources, conduct market research, plan consortia purchases, develop partnerships, and provide effective central leadership to harness the collective capacity of the public library community. Yet, technological (not administrative) concepts are now more persuasive than organizational ones. The notion of a “Third Generation Library,” partly adapted from third generation library automated systems that organized and distributed internal-external resources and private-sector 3G networks that allowed faster and larger transfers of data by wide-area cellular networks, came into prominence after 2008. It seems that the “Third Generation” and “Library 3.0” concepts will prevail in the forthcoming decade. Looking forward a decade to 2020, in Ontario, public library planners envisage third generation libraries as adaptive services and flexible structures, designed with a community’s involvement and delivered with the participation of library staff and unmediated community contributions.45 For example, virtual users might contribute tags, recommend and review resources, or offer “more materials like this” directly to other users. Key components of this community-based vision are infrastructure, broadband distribution, and Knowledge Ontario, which fosters innovation, provides information services, and allows collaboration. Now, through the mechanism of COOL, it is possible for public libraries to ally with schools, colleges, and post-secondary institutions in a more formal relationship. Technical infrastructure and broadband access remain important to achieving the long-term goal of equity of access via a full range of technology. It is too early to predict the future course of “Library 3.0” or the “Third Generation Library” in Ontario, or whether governmental economic-policy concerns will reduce or eliminate funding for Knowledge Ontario. Recovery from the economic downturn of 2008–2009 will likely require reduced government funding for many projects, perhaps leaving libraries dependent on their own local tax-bases and private partnerships. Nonetheless, it does appear that technological developments will continue to foster collaborative efforts. The potential for multi-type library consortia may continue, as a positive outcome for Ontario library users. Integration of public libraries with other public sector heritage and information institutions – public, school, government, post-secondary, and special libraries as well as archives and museums – in virtual linkages, would ultimately benefit Canadians wishing to invest in an information-rich universe.

45 Wendy Newman, Third Generation Public Libraries; Visionary Thinking and Service Development in Public Libraries (to 2020) and Potential Application in Ontario (Toronto, 2008).

2.4 China Technologies and Chinese Librarianship Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan Background Librarianship is associated with technologies from the very beginning. To take Chinese librarianship as an example, the first library (塞⃵㰋, literally meaning a building for books), Tianlu Ge, was founded in Han Dynasty (around 190 BC) to collect books and archive government documents. The first Chinese bibliography covering 33,090 volumes of the Tianlu Ge collection was compiled by two imperial designated “librarians.” To preserve these 33,090 volumes of material, two major ancient technologies, fine ventilated architectural structure and insect-proof book cases, were used. Since then, Chinese librarianship has received great attention and effort, benefiting largely from new technologies (e.g., mass printing) throughout history with a few exceptions. The most recent disaster occurred to Chinese librarianship during the 10 years of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). While libraries in the western world were taking advantage of the third technological revolution brought by computing and network advances, many Chinese libraries were forced to close. Numerous library collections were regarded as harmful, “feudalistic, capitalistic and revisionist”, and were consequently restricted or damaged. Monograph acquisitions were ended and serial subscriptions, especially western language serials, were cancelled. Library buildings were used for revolutionary purposes. Meanwhile, the quality of librarianship professionals declined greatly because countless librarians were sent off to the countryside or other places. Inevitably, overall library collections and services were severely impaired, making the 10 years the darkest era in Chinese librarianship history. After the Cultural Revolution, it took Chinese libraries 30 years in two periods to essentially catch up with the rest of the world. The two periods are Recovery (1977–1991) and Thriving (1992– present).1 The Recovery of Chinese librarianship was focused on bringing order out of the chaos caused by the 10-year catastrophe. The period is marked by: (1) the regeneration of the significant value of library and librarianship in the 1  䲚䎤㠖, “䤍㄃㼶㫠₥儹◝䵯—20₥儹₼⦌⦍⃵氕ℚ₩⥭欍₝⻤㦪,” (“Years backward and forward: the retrospection and projection of the 20th century Chinese librarianship, ”) ⦍⃵氕ㆉ幍(Library Development) 6, no.1 (2004): 1.

106 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan society; (2) the expansion and improvement of library buildings and facilities; (3) the transformation of libraries from traditional to modern; (4) the initial adoption of modern technologies; (5) the enhancement of library professional education; and (6) the reestablishment of professional exchange programs with international peers.2 All these activities could not be effective without a series of powerful policies and strategic plans promulgated by the government. In August 1978 the Ministry of Education issued a notice reinforcing library and information services in higher education institutions. The “Provisional Regulations on Library and Information Services at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Preliminary)” (₼⦌䱠ⷵ棱⦍⃵㍔㔴ぴ⇫㤑嫛㧰√幤嫛嗘㫗) released two months later, assured guiding principles and missions for libraries and information centers in the system. In 1980 the Librarianship Administration Bureau, a newly established subdivision under the Ministry of Culture, enacted the “Outlines of Library Service Report” (⦍⃵氕ぴ⇫㻖㔴㙟允) and encouraged administrations at different levels to improve their functions in subordinating libraries. The 6th National Five-Year Strategic Plan (1982) affirmed the goal of building libraries in all counties by the end of 1985. The government’s macroreinforcement played a significant role in advancing Chinese librarianship, especially in the areas of budgetary allocation, staffing, library building and facilities, and initial adoption of technologies. In 1987 the central government took a further step by recommending a nationwide distribution and implementation of “the State Proposition for Improving and Strengthening Library Service” (␂ℝ㟈扪✛┯㇉⦍⃵氕ぴ⇫䤓㔴⛙) via the mediation of the Ministries of Propaganda, Culture, Education, and Chinese Academy of Sciences. The government also paid ample attention to library assessments. Funded by National Social Science Foundation, the State Inter-Ministry Information Resource Coordination Council surveyed the nationwide distribution of library and information resources from 1987 to1990. This survey was the first intersystem assessment at such a large scale in Chinese librarianship history, and the report served as a basis for later library development in different geographic areas and administrative systems. Since the early 1990s, library assessments have gradually become routine activities, and standard evaluation metrics have been formed. All these government policies, strategic plans, and activities propelled the speedy and healthy progresses of Chinese librarianship while greatly affirming the value of libraries in the society. Firstly, during the recovery period, the expansion of Chinese libraries occurred several times faster than in the earlier years from 1950 to 1979.3 By the late 1990s, the total number of libraries of all types climbed to around 350,000. The figure had been about 286,000 in 2 3

Jingli Chu, “Librarianship in China: the Spread of Western Influences,” Library Management, 22 no.4/5 (2001): 178. 煓⸦㉯, “㠿₼⦌⦍⃵氕ℚ₩50㄃,” ( “Fifty Years of Chinese Librarianship in the New China,”) ₼⦌⦍⃵氕㄃攃(Chinese Library Yearbook) (1999): 29.

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1987. In addition, the “Library Building Design Standard” (⦍⃵氕ㆉ䷠幍帰屓喒) proposed by China Librarianship Association (1987), played a significant role in guiding the new library building and renovation boom. Secondly, prior to 1976, Chinese libraries had adopted a hybrid structure – a mixture of traditional Chinese and a former Soviet-style library model. During the recovery period, the structure was changed to a unified but also decentralized library system composed of different types which targeted diverse user communities. Specifically, five major library systems were formed: public library, national library, university/college library, research library, and specialized library. These years also witnessed the adoption of new library operation and service models, including: (1) a shift from closed stacks to open or semi-open stacks; (2) a transformation from print-based collections to hybrid collections with various formats; (3) a turn from stereotyped traditional collection-based to a use-oriented pattern; and (4) a switch from passive to active library service framework (e.g., compiling subject-based bibliographies, and providing synthesized updates in a given research area on a routine basis). In the meantime, professional ranks and reviews improved, and the requirements for different ranks and review criteria were standardized. Thirdly, Chinese libraries started an initial adoption of technologies. Two highlighted achievements include the use of microfilm technology to preserve and distribute valued cultural heritages and the introduction of computerassisted library technical service and information retrieval. In July 1984 the Ministry of Culture established the State Microfilm Service Center in the National Library of China coordinating the reproduction of microfilms from old publications. By the end of 1994, 15 microfilm production offices were established in the National Library of China and 14 provincial, municipal and autonomous regional libraries were created across the nation. The microfilm project was later expanded to other library systems. In terms of the adoption of computing technologies, university/college libraries were successful pioneers. The 1980s witnessed a rapid development of automation in libraries. By 1993, 682 university libraries had in total 3,300 computers, among which 64 were midrange computers and minicomputers. Meanwhile, around 160 libraries adopted integrated library systems (ILS), including the most popular ILAS system developed by Shenzhen University Library under a special government grant. Additionally, some university libraries started to develop local bibliographic databases and launched intermediated information retrieval services, such as DIALOG and STN. Several years later, the libraries of the Chinese Academy of Sciences library system and public libraries were able to catch up with their advancement. Meanwhile, other new technologies introduced during the period were photocopy machines, microfilm readers and copiers, audio and visual materials/facilities, and anti-fire and anti-theft equipment.

108 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan Fourthly, to solve the problem of the shortage of qualified library professionals caused by the ten years of Cultural Revolution, two improvements in library and information science education were made, including: (1) the increase of library science programs and teaching faculty members, and (2) the reinforcement of continuing education for library professionals. Nationwide, the number of library science programs rocketed from two before 1978, to 58 in 1987. Student enrollments increased six-fold from 1,074 in 1979, to 6,300 in 1987. Program distribution was expanded from general university to normal colleges and subject-specific higher education institutions, such as poly-tech universities, agricultural and medical schools. In addition to four-year undergraduate and three-year college education, library education programs were also expanded to graduate schools and vocational schools. In a short span of two years (1983–1985), 20 library science vocational schools were founded and had 2,000 student enrollments. Besides the regular full-time programs, part-time library education opportunities were also created for library staff members. Distance learning and evening degree programs provided by library programs in Peking University and Wuhan University began student enrollments in 1980. Student enrollment in library science in 1985 alone at the Open University of China, the largest distance learning higher education institution in the country, was more than 20,000. Apart from the degree-based education, numerous short training courses and workshops were also provided by library systems and library associations of all kinds and at different levels. More than 10,000 library professionals attended training courses and workshops sponsored by the Library Society of China from 1983 to 1987. The society also sponsored two specialized training teams in 1981 to travel to different cities across the county delivering lectures to up to 17,000 library professionals. Fifthly, many once-stopped professional exchange programs with international peers were resumed. The government issued 85 cultural exchange agreements with foreign countries in 10 years from 1979 to 1988. Many of these agreements included library exchange programs. Apart from the national level programs, local libraries also took proactive approaches in reaching their international partners. The types of exchange programs went beyond traditional ones, such as publication exchange and interlibrary loan, international book fairs, and field trips overseas, to more interactive ones, including exchange of visiting scholars and librarians, reciprocal visits on a regular basis, international conference attendance, and co-sponsorship of seminars, and so forth. All of these accomplishments from the recovery period prepared Chinese librarianship for a solid ideological and materialistic foundation from which it thrived during the last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century. The prosperity of Chinese librarianship during this thriving period can be seen in the following three major areas: (1) administrative agencies concerned at all levels largely increased their administrative and

2.4 China ௅ Technologies and Chinese Librarianship 109

financial support; (2) overall library facility equipment was greatly improved, relying heavily on four robust network systems, namely, ChinaNet (public domain), CERNET (education and research domain), CSTNET (science and technology domain), and CNCNET (public domain); (3) and library development began to catch up at an international level, regarding active international exchange programs, mass digitalization projects, and web-based service development. The succeeding overview section provides detailed discussions about these three areas, which will be further divided into the five library systems.

Overview As noted, Chinese libraries can be grouped into five systems, including the National Library of China, public library, university/college library, research library and specialized library. Among a total of 15,437 libraries in 2004, the number of public, university and research libraries was 2,697, 1,700 and about 4,100 respectively. Meanwhile, there were in total 1,600 communist party school libraries and 3,800 vocational school libraries.4 Taking a geographic location point of view, more than 63% of the libraries are located in the east, central and north China regions.5 These libraries are affiliated with different government agencies. For instance, public libraries, including the National Library of China, belong to the Ministry of Culture or culture-related government agencies at provincial, municipal, and county levels. University/college libraries are essentially subordinated to the Ministry of Education or education-related government administrative agencies at different levels, as well as institutions where the libraries reside. Similarly, research libraries are administrated by their affiliated state ministries/councils, or local government agencies. Despite the different government affiliations, these libraries of different types have similar organizational structures, and their daily functions have been in coordination since 1987 by the Inter-system Library and Information Service Coordination Council, which consists of 11 national government agencies, including the Ministries of Science and Technology, Culture, Education, Posts and Telecommunications, Mechanic and Electronic Industry, Academy of Sciences, Academy of Social Sciences, the Council of Science, Technology, Industry of Defense, State Archives Administration, State Bureau of Technical Supervision, and State Intellectual Property Office. Nevertheless, the affiliation variance determines that each library system has different mis4 5

㢢屑⦌棔⦍⃵氕≰㋾▥ㆉ幍冋⚗䪣䴅㔴⛙ (㛧尐) (Integrated Report on Informationization Development in Libraries Abstract), 2004. http://txzxs.cnii.com.cn/20030527/ca292251.htm (10. Feb. 2010). ⛃㏿㏗, et al., “₼⦌⦍⃵氕ℚ₩♠⻤☕䲚,” (“The Evolution of Chinese Librarianship,”) ₼⦌⦍⃵氕㄃攃(Chinese Library Yearbook) (1996): 34.

110 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan sions, policies, clients, funding sources, financial and technological advancement status. Overall, the development of Chinese librarianship is tremendously impacted by needs, economic and technological status quo, as well as administrative agencies’ attention and support. Accordingly, the degree of technological innovation in Chinese libraries varies among systems. Even in the same system, there also would be geographic differences. In China, funding for library automation and other technological innovation is usually in the form of one-time allocations from higher authorities, and thus excluded from annual budgets. In terms of IT financial support, university/college libraries and research libraries top the other library systems, receiving the largest government investment. For example, among 609 million RMB total library IT investment in 2003, the proportions for each library system were 245 million (40.2%) for university/college libraries, 246 million (40.4%) for research libraries, 26 million (4.3%) for public libraries, and 92 million (15.1%) for other library systems. The two library systems, university and research, alone took four-fifths (80.6%) of the total government funding support. Apart from the large inter-system difference, there are also differences among libraries within a system. According to the Integrated Survey Report of Information Technology Adoption in Libraries (㢢屑⦌棔,2004), carried out by a marketing research institute in Beijing, there are three levels of IT application status, namely primary, intermediate, and advanced. The libraries classified as primary level (accounting for 76% at the time of the survey) have limited IT application, that is, library automation is restricted to a few technical service areas, such as cataloging. The libraries at the intermediate level (18%) have all their operations processed by integrated library systems, and a small portion of libraries (6%) at the advanced level are featured with initial digital library projects. At present, five years after the survey, the three levels still exist, but the distribution is most likely reversed.

University/college libraries University/college libraries in China are affiliated with higher institutions that are generally under the direct leadership of the Ministry of Education, provincial education departments or municipal education bureaus. Meanwhile, each of these educational government agencies has a university/college library committee to oversee, coordinate and allocate budget to subordinating libraries. It should be noted that there are a small portion of specialized university/college libraries in China that are not affiliated with educational government agencies. Instead, they are under individual ministries, such as the Ministry of Forestry and Ministry of Health. Currently, university/college libraries are operated following a set of regulations issued by the Ministry of Education in 2002. Five core missions out-

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lined by the Regulations are: (1) to develop print and electronic collections; (2) to provide access services; (3) to deliver user instructions; (4) to coordinate research resource distributions in home institutions; and (5) to participate in the national projects of developing Chinese academic library and information systems. In addition, university/college libraries are also encouraged to provide in-depth information services, such as subject-based information retrieval, science and technology novelty retrieval, and bibliography compilation. The in-depth information services have been well received as a way of improving faculty members’ research effectiveness and efficiency. They also play a significant role in helping decision makers to rationally allocate research funding, and to oversee and coordinate research activities. However, librarian recruitment in China rarely requires a combination of subject expertise and library and information knowledge, and thus, academic librarians’ limited knowledge may have a negative impact on the quality of the in-depth information services. This problematic situation lasted decades until recently, when a few large universities (e.g., Peking University and Tsinghua University) started to add subject librarians to their staff teams. At one time, university/college libraries, just as other library systems in China, had adopted a closed stacks approach, and their collections were open only to faculty, staff and students of home institutions. With the continued growth of information materials and costs, the closed collection and service model resulted in inadequacy of essential collection development and had a negative influence on research and teaching outcome. Thankfully, a series of favorable information and network policies issued by the central government in the mid-1990s brought university/college libraries an opportunity for interlibrary resource sharing. After several years of preparation in terms of the network infrastructure (CERNET—China Education and Research Network), resource distribution surveys, and other essential technologies, the end of 1998 saw the beginning of the largest resource sharing project across the higher education system – China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS) at http://www.calis.edu.cn. As one of the three public service systems in the State Ministry’s 9th and th 10 Five-year Strategic Plans for higher education, CALIS, led by the Ministry of Education, integrates government funding, modern library management concepts, advanced technologies, and abundant human and information resources to develop a gigantic academic information and resource support system with university/college libraries as key players. In a short span of 10 years, it became a huge success and exerted large impact on how university/college libraries operate and how faculty members and their students conduct research and education. The number of participating libraries has jumped from some 20 in 1998 to over 800 as of 2008. From 1998 through 2007, CALIS subscribed or purchased, as a consortium, 283 databases in total, 10 times more than 10 years before. These include 126

112 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan bibliographic and abstract databases, 80 full-text databases, and 52 directories. The total purchased or subscribed titles of full-text e-journals are 30,636 (24,000 unique titles), conference proceedings 8,557, and e-books including dissertations 145,052 (1.2 million volumes).6 During the years from 1997 to 2006, a total of 1.91 million bibliographic records were uploaded to the CALIS union catalog, whereas total downloads were more than 160,000 records, and 850,000 authority records were created. Other self-developed e-resources include a database with 2.4 million records of journal tables of contents, specialized databases covering 75 core subject areas designated by the Ministry of Education, and subject guides for these core subject areas with a total of 140,000 hyperlinks. In terms of service collaborations, the total completed transactions of ILL and document delivery from 2003 through 2006 were 491,031. And the central knowledge bank of the collaborative virtual reference, still in a pilot stage as of 2007, collected 20,000 transactions, including questions and answers. Meanwhile, 262 training sessions were given by CALIS to 12,843 librarians, catalogers and other library staff over a span of nine years (1998–2007). These statistics (Yao and Zhu, 2007) clearly indicate that the short completion time, variety of collection and service coverage, breadth of impacts, and noticeable achievements make CALIS a recordbreaking project in Chinese as well as international librarianship domains. Yao and Zhu (2007) nicely attribute the CALIS success into the adoption of “one specification, two mechanisms, three layers, four platforms, five systems, and six services.” The “one specification” refers to the document of Technical Standards and Regulations for Higher Education Digital Libraries (浧䷘㟨十㟿ⷦ⦍⃵氕㔏㦾㪖⑕₝屓喒), which has been used to guide every CALIS sub-project from the very beginning. The specifications ensure seamless integration of all associated systems and services. The two mechanisms of CALIS are “co-investment and sharing” and “technology research and development”. The “co-investment and sharing” mechanism allows optimization of the use of government and library resource allocations, and minimization of the gap between the information-rich and the information-poor within the system. In this way, poorly-funded libraries, especially those in the west China regions, with minimal investments, are able to access the same resources and services as those budget-healthy libraries do. Meanwhile, the “technology research and development” mechanism, heavily relying on technology strengths of renowned higher institutions and big information technology companies, assures that all automatic, digital and networked services, including dozens of applications, are built on advanced and compatible technologies. From the very beginning, CALIS has built successfully a three-layered collection development and information service system including: four national centers, seven regional centers, and member libraries. Directly under the leadership of the general administration office located in Peking University, 6

Ⱪ㣢榭and 㧀㇉, “CALIS◐㄃ㆉ幍㒟㨫⥭欍,” (“Looking Back to the Past Ten Years of CALIS Development,”)₼⦌⦍⃵氕㄃攃(Chinese Library Yearbook) (2007): 89–90.

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the four national centers, including sciences/social sciences/humanities/ arts, engineering, agricultural sciences, and medical sciences, are the ultimate information service-support points. Under each of these national centers are seven regional centers, namely North China Regional Center, Northeast China, Southeast China, Central China, Northwest China, South China and Southwest China. Located in the second layer of CALIS, the regional centers serve as hubs connecting member libraries with the national centers, while also playing significant roles in supporting information access and service in home regions. Recently, some new centers have been added, including two national centers (union cataloging and technical support), 15 provincial centers of information service and 22 digital library bases. The establishment of these digital library bases indicates that CALIS development has advanced from acquisition-focused to a new era, resource digitization. Further, moving onto the second phase of building China academic resource systems, CALIS has recently been merged with the China-U.S. Million Book Digital Library Project (CADAL) and transformed to China Academic Digital Library and Information System (CADLIS, http://www.cadlis.edu.cn). The launch of CADLIS suggests an expedited digitization effort in the library system. The four CALIS platforms include an online union cataloging facility for uploading and downloading bibliographic data, a journal navigation and TOC data creation tool, an OAI data harvesting system, and a web-based resource dispatch application. These platforms are essential tools for library material discovery, information retrieval, and resource sharing. While the selfdeveloped online union cataloging facility helps to improve cataloging efficiency and overall quality of bibliographic records at lower costs, the journal navigation and TOC data creation tool produces useful data that could be integrated easily into other journal services, such as document delivery and fulltext access. Divided in two levels (i.e., administration center and member libraries), the OAI data harvesting system is primarily used to request and retrieve data and metadata, under a series of communication protocols, to be deposited in repositories (e.g., dissertation/thesis databases, and specialized subject databases) at the two levels. Meanwhile, the resource dispatch application, developed under the ANSI/NISO Z39.99-2004 (OpenURL 1.0) specification, supports meta-searching across heterogeneous and distributed e-resources. Having followed the Technical Standards and Regulations for Higher Education Digital Libraries, CALIS also develops five sets of supporting systems of the networked digital library service. They are used for: (1) digital object processing, including resource harvesting, processing and cataloging; (2) digital rights management (DRM); (3) various service functions, such as cross-database retrieval, virtual reference, interlibrary loan, document delivery, and user feedback; (4) human-computer interaction; and (5) additional management functions, including user authentication, and fee management.

114 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan These five supporting systems construct the most comprehensive, robust and practical digital library service platform in China at the present time. Supported by these systems, CALIS has been providing member libraries a series of six services, including: consortia for electronic subscription, online union cataloging, interlibrary loan and document delivery, virtual reference, information access, and user training. Currently, these services benefit more than 800 member-libraries across the country. It could be claimed that the large diversity and broad coverage of the services makes CALIS clearly stand out in the librarianship domain worldwide. Another point worth mentioning is the fact that the CALIS services have been launched one-by-one, and step-bystep, during the 10 years of the project development. In other words, the services were provided while being developed. And, whereas the services in use stimulate ongoing development and refinement, the continued development, in turn, improves the services. This development model allows member libraries to benefit from CALIS services from the very beginning. It also enables iterative service quality control. As an exemplar project demonstrating a tremendous success in advancing higher education by adapting modern technology and administration concept in university/college libraries, CALIS, in a short span of ten years, has brought a dramatic change in the library system from the traditional closed and isolated service model (i.e., “one library serving one institution”) to an open and collaborative model (i.e., “nationwide shared resource and collaborative service”). In addition there have been noticeable educational, social and economic impacts that CALIS has exerted on Chinese higher education and beyond. Further, CALIS provides a valued experience and ready-to-use development model to other library systems in China, including public libraries, research libraries and Communist Party school libraries. Currently, CALIS is entering phase II development, featuring various digitization projects (e.g., dissertation full-text databases and educational reference resources), public service platform construction, and additional service improvement (e.g., data backup, core database mirror site, and business model). While Phase I primarily relied on technical manpower within the higher education system, Phase II uses a co-development model also seeking commercial IT supports. Some Phase II digital products, such as old journal archives, and special collections of Chinese classics, are expected to be on the commercial market as well.

Research libraries Research libraries in China are affiliated with different research institutes or government agencies at various administrative levels. Three major systems under this category are: libraries under Chinese Academy of Sciences, libraries under Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and libraries under individual

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state ministries. These libraries provide resources and services to patrons mainly from home systems with which they are affiliated.

Research Libraries, Chinese Academy of Sciences It has been one of the high priorities of the Chinese government since its first call for “Advancing Science” in 1956, to collect science and technology information resources, especially from developed countries. Two years after the end of the Cultural Revolution (1978), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) took a national lead in issuing “Provisional Regulations for Library and Information Services in Chinese Science Academy”, which suggested essential aspects of running CAS affiliated libraries, including organizational structures, missions, services, equipments, facilities, funding sources and personnel. The Regulations also called for the expediting of technology application. In the following year (1979), the State Ministry approved two regulations regarding libraries’ international exchange programs and the opening of communication between Chinese scientists and their international peers. The two regulations took a critical step in advancing collection development for foreign publications as well as technological advancement in light of foreign countries’ experiences. The new millennium saw the end of isolated operations among research libraries with different affiliations and the birth of cross-system collaboration. Granted by the State Ministry, the National Science and Technology Library (NSTL), a virtual library, was founded in 2000 to facilitate resource sharing among national libraries and information institutes/centers from seven different systems, including: CAS Information and Resource Center, Institute of Science and Technology Information of China, Institute of Mechanical Industry Information, China Metallurgical Information and Standardization Research Institute, China National Chemical Information Center, the Library of Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, and the Library of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. The steering council of NSTL is composed of renowned scientists, library information technology specialists, and representatives from the seven government agencies. Through the single website at http://www.nstl.gov.cn, NSTL provides an effective approach of co-developing, co-sharing and co-servicing science and technology information across the nation. As of 2005, the number of foreign science and technology publications provided by NSTL totaled 21,000 titles, accounting for 60% of foreign publications in China making it the largest collection of this kind in the country. By 2007, NSTL had subscribed 15,000 additional foreign serial titles, which was five times that of serial subscriptions when NSTL was established. In addition to print and online serial subscriptions, the virtual library also has more than 30 million bibliographic records created for foreign language journals and proceeding articles, theses and dis-

116 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan sertations, reports, patents, standards and specifications, and so forth. In addition, NSTL provides access to bibliographic databases for Japanese and Russian publications. The services included at the website include full-text information retrieval, a union online catalog search, journal tables of contents (TOC) browse and reference consultations. With the rich science and technology resources and services, the library website has been welcoming an increasing number of users, with 41.68 million visits in 2006 and 120 million in 2007. While NSTL is a virtual library, the National Science Library (NSL, http://www.las.ac.cn), established in 1951, is the largest physical research library in China. Currently, it is composed of one main library in Beijing and four regional branch libraries in Shanghai, Lanzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu, as well as 126 affiliated information and documentation centers. The libraries and centers are pioneers in China, being the first to introduce international information retrieval services. Having been historically known for providing access and services to the richest science and technology information in China, NSL, along with the virtual NSTL, has been recently taking further steps towards a continuously improved national science and technology information infrastructure, through strengthened resource acquisition and digitization. It has been its goal to collect all major science and technology resources published in China and every core science material published in foreign countries by 2010, with a particular emphasis on core subject areas and the areas currently with inadequate collection support. Meanwhile, the CAS library system has been an active player in digitization. As one of a very few digitization pioneers in China, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, in 1983, already developed a sizable Chinese chemistry database with 125,000 bibliographic records. A Chinese citation database was also made available by CAS Information and Documentation Center in 1989 with 150,000 records. Starting from 1993, the CAS library system embarked on its systematic digitization projects by forming a CAS Expert Advisory Group for Developing Information Databases, two special forums on Bibliographic Control Standards for Chinese Science Databases, and various project teams for developing Chinese science databases. The development of English language databases has also been underway, in addition to the Chinese database development. Until 1995 the CAS library system had already owned 68 locally developed databases with a total of six million records. Among these databases, 27 were bibliographic and 32 with abstracts. In order to improve the interoperability of these local databases and make them competitive for commercial use, an important policy was drafted at the CAS database development working meeting (2000), and that all CAS database products in CDROM format must be made using unified supporting software and user interfaces. Further, interlibrary collaboration has also been expanded beyond the CAS library system. In recent years, NSL, along with its branch libraries, has

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been taking efforts to strengthen their international outreach program. So far, stabilized exchange and collaboration programs have been established between NSL and many world-class research institutes and universities. Additionally, the new millennium welcomed the first collaboration project between research libraries and libraries from other systems. For example, a BioScience Library was formed in 2002 under the corporation of CAS Shanghai Information and Documentation Center and Shanghai Library to serve needs in this region. The cooperation model becomes a win-win resolution, benefiting not only every participating library but also larger user communities.

Research Library, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The research library system, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) includes all libraries serving the research institutes at different levels in the system. Compared to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and affiliated research libraries, CASS was founded at a later time and developed at a slower pace. Since the founding in 1977, the number of CASS research libraries increased from nine to 33 as of 1997, in the fields of economics, law, political science, history, ethnic studies, archeology, Latin America studies, Southwest Asia and Africa studies. The National Social Science Library (NSSL, http://ssa.cass.cn/), also known as the Center for Documentation and Information, is directly under the jurisdiction of CASS. As the largest library in China specializing in philosophy and social sciences collections, NSSL is composed of one main library and 16 branch libraries. Currently, NSSL, supported by 130 library professionals, has a total collection of 1.8 million books, 2,218 Chinese journals (including 89 Taiwan and Hong Kong publications), 953 foreign language journals, and some 600 electronic publications. Two core missions of NSSL are: (1) to produce and distribute secondary information, at the same time providing conventional information services, and (2) to plan and coordinate programs and projects with the CASS research library system. The library’s automation can be traced back to 1984 when the state 7th five-year strategic plan was outlined. The application of library automation for technical services took place a few years thereafter. Later, a system-wide union cataloging project was completed in 1998 under the leadership of the CASS library union cataloging coordination office. By June 2000, all the 16 branch libraries had been able to share bibliographic data with an established network. In the main library, computing technology application also advanced rapidly. Three years after the launch of its intranet in 1994, the library was connected to the Internet and launched the first NSSL website in 1999. In 1994 the initial development of local databases started with the NSSL online catalog and was later expanded to subject-based bibliographic and abstract resources created and maintained by a database development department.

118 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan Established in the late 1950s, social science research libraries at provincial and municipal levels were largely impaired during the Culture Revolution by: forced library closure and collection damage. Although recovery efforts were made in the late 1970s through 1980s, the status of these libraries was far behind the overall progress of the other large library systems in China. The total of social science library collections at the provincial level was below 100,000 titles. In addition to the historical reasons, lack of sufficient funding sources and strong staff support were another two causal factors. The leftbehind situation did not change until 1990, when more government attention was given to social science research. Since then, these libraries have been able to make noticeable progress with increasing government support. Similarly, automation and digitization in provincial and municipal social science research libraries are not as advanced as the other library systems, despite some progress made in the past decade, including almost universal adoption of integrated library systems and a handful of e-resource subscriptions and local database development. Overall these libraries are still facing collection shortages and budget shortfall. Consequently, the need for social science research materials cannot be fully met. To solve the problem, an immediate priority should be set to promote resource sharing among libraries in social science academies at different levels. As one agenda item at the 2003 national meeting of the CASS research libraries system, this issue was discussed, and a decision was made to start with several pilot projects, including web-based resource access, especially for foreign language materials, document delivery, online union catalog and information retrieval services. In 2008 the library system also signed a resource sharing contract with China Academic Humanities and Social Sciences Library (CASHL), a library under the higher education system. Unfortunately, the outcome of these resource sharing projects has not had as much impact as those in the public library system, university/college library system and science academy system. Similarly, databases developed by the social science research libraries are not as competitive as those developed by their counterpart libraries. For instance, several bibliographic databases developed by the Library of Henan Academy of Social Sciences since 2000, including Minguo publications (1911–1949), Hong Kong and Taiwan publications, foreign language publications, and traditional thread-bound Chinese books, are likely to duplicate the resources already developed in the university/college library system.

Other Research Libraries Other research libraries include the Institute of Medical Information/Medical Library (Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences), the Library of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (the Ministry of Agriculture), the Institute of Science and Technology Information of China (the Ministry of Science and

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Technology), the Institute of Machinery Industry Information Center (the Ministry of Machinery Industry), China Metallurgical Information and Standardization Research Institute (the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry), and China National Chemical Information Center (the Ministry of Chemical Industry), and others. Founded in 1917, the Institute of Medical Information/Medical Library (http://www.imicams.ac.cn) has been a highly reputed medical library in China, known for its rich collection and long history. It has been serving as the national medical library in China for the past half-century. The library was designated by the State Ministry as National Central Medical Library in 1957, then by the Ministry of Health in 1990 as the National Library of Medical Information. It became a WHO depository library in 1990. Currently, the library houses over 500,000 volumes of books, 3,300 plus foreign language journals, 1,300 plus Chinese language medical journals, 37 online and standalone databases, and 7,000 volumes of theses/dissertations. There are also special collections, including 1,000 plus ancient books on traditional Chinese medicine, and more than 20,000 volumes of WHO series. Chinese BioMedical Science Abstracts, developed and maintained by the national library, is the first as well as the most comprehensive Chinese database in the subject area. Directly affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Library of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences is China’s national agricultural library. With more than 2.2 million volumes of collection, it is the largest agricultural library in Asia and the third largest agricultural library in the world. Currently, the library provides access to more than 100 online or standalone databases of different kinds, of which over 30 are web-based; and 10 plus are foreign language databases. Some of these databases are developed by the library. China, as an agricultural country, has 517 agricultural libraries and information centers, with a total of more than 80 million volumes of collections at provincial and municipal levels as of the middle of the 1990s. These are to support agricultural research needs across the country. In terms of automation and digitization, special attention has been paid to develop agriculture e-resources since the early 1980s. By the end of 1995, 58 agricultural libraries had developed 85 specialized databases. The year 2005 saw the launch of a large-scale integrated library and information system – the National Agricultural Information System (http://www.nais.net.cn), a one-stop portal for accessing library resources and services of the national agricultural library and other agricultural information centers. Recent years have seen collaborations among research libraries under different government agencies. Founded in 2000, the National Library of Engineering and Technologies (http://www.istic.ac.cn/) is a virtual library led by the Institute of Science and Technology Information of China, in collaboration with Institute of Machinery Industry Information Center, China Metallurgical Information and Standardization Research Institute, and China National

120 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan Chemical Information Center. The virtual library is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing services and access to 5 million volumes of journals, proceedings, theses/dissertations and technical reports in multiple languages, making it the largest library collection of this kind. Additionally, a special online collection provides authorized users with access to more than 3,300 monographs authored by academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Technology.

National Library of China The National Library of China (NLC, http://www.nlc.gov.cn) is a pioneer and key player in adapting automation and digital technologies within and beyond the public library system. It was the first in China to introduce computing technologies to a library in 1979. NLC’s major contributions to technology application in libraries are: (1) building a Chinese central computing system that was compatible with the ISDS (International Serial Data System) cataloging rules, and thus making it feasible for automatic conversion from CNMARC to international MARC format, and for the Romanization of Chinese characters; (2) developing the CNMARC manual which became an essential bibliographic information exchange tool between Chinese libraries and their international peers; (3) compiling a Chinese syntax dictionary, and applying it to the first Chinese language supporting software; (4) opening the first electronic reading room in China in early 1995 as a unique library service facility with a centralized location and advanced equipment for library users to access online resources; (5) coordinating the national microfilm reproduction project in the 1980s and 1990s for preserving Chinese culture heritage. Under its leadership, the reproduction of pre-Cultural Revolution newspapers had been essentially completed by the mid-1990s. Since 2004 the library has been embarking on microfilm reproduction and digital conversion of monographs published throughout the Republic of China years (1911 – 1949); (6) cooperating with several large public libraries in Shanghai, Guangdong, Shenzhen and Nanjing, to develop a series of digital library technologies compatible with international standards; and (7) serving as the national digital library project administration center since 2000, responsible for organizing annual Joint Meetings of Chinese Digital Library Projects, facilitating routine work of the expert consultant committee, coordinating digitalization and digital technology innovations, developing standards and specifications, as well as applying for government grants. In addition to its leadership in coordinating national automation and digitization projects, NLC also has been making an effort to develop its own digital collection. The library has been receiving 10 million RMB each year since 2000 to develop digital resources. The size of its digital resources by the end of 2008 was 250 TB, including 180 TB (72%) of local developed digital re-

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sources covering various subjects. From 2004 through 2008, there were in total 30 local digitization projects. Further, supported with 1,223 million RMB state funding, the national digital library project started in 2004 and was completed in 2008. The size of the new building is 80,538 sq. meters (i.e., 866,934 sq. feet). The national digital library includes eight centers: resource digitalization, processing, storage management, network management, service, research, system development and maintenance, as well as exhibits and training. The new building brings the total size of NLC up to 250,000 sq. meters (2.69 million sq. feet) making NLC the third largest national library in the world.

Public Libraries Similar to other two large library systems, the public library system in China also has a hierarchical structure composed of libraries affiliated with government cultural agencies at national, provincial, municipal, county, and township levels. As a significant component of public service infrastructure, the public library system also includes children’s libraries and ethnic libraries. These public libraries are primarily supported by their subordinating government agencies, and their financial status is largely impacted by local economic situations and government policies. As a result, the development of public libraries varies greatly among regions, provinces, cities, and counties. In general, the public library system had fallen behind the other two library systems in terms of its development pace especially in technology application, until the entering of the twenty-first century, when the country rose dramatically through its economic reform. China’s economic rise accelerated a huge change in the public library system. Firstly, the number of public libraries, their financial status, and physical and collection sizes have gained fast growth in the past decade. According to China Library Year Book (2007)7 and Annual Statistic Report of Culture Facility and Relic (2008)8, the number of public libraries has grown from 2,526 in 1990, 2,766 in 1999 to 2,825 in 2008. The total budget allocations were 2.6 trillion RMB in 1990, 12 trillion in 1999 and 53 trillion in 2008. The collection sizes were 275 million volumes in 1990, 374 million in 1999 and 551 million as of 2008. Library building areas in square feet were 35 million, 53 million and 78 million respectively as of 1990, 1999 and 2007. Additionally, the popularization of computer use has expanded from being owned by merely one third of municipal or higher level libraries in the middle of the 1990s to at

7 8

“2006㄃⏷⦌⏻␀⦍⃵氕ℚ₩兮帰,” (“2006 Public Library Statistics,”) ₼⦌⦍⃵氕㄃攃(Chinese Library Yearbook) (2007): 802–16. “⚓⦿◉⏻␀⦍⃵氕⪉㦻㍔⑄,” (“Basic Facts about Public Libraries across the Country,”) ₼⦌㠖▥㠖䓸兮帰㄃㔴(Annual Statistic Report of Chinese Culture Facility and Relic) (2008): 286–291.

122 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan least one computer per library or information center at township level currently. Secondly, several national level programs have exerted tremendous impact on public library development across the country, bridging the information/digital gaps between economically advanced and underdeveloped regions, and between urban and suburban areas. These programs include Books for Countryside, Cultural Information Resource Sharing (CIRS), and Preservation and Digitization of Chinese Ancient Books (PDCAB). Initiated by the two state ministries, culture and finance, and administrated by the program administration office located in the National Library of China, the program Books for Countryside so far has been carried out for seven years and benefited thousands of libraries in rural areas. From 2003 through 2006, the program sent a total number of 6.1 million books to libraries of 592 classified state-level high-poverty counties and thousands of villages and towns in these counties. To make the program more effective, each benefiting county, town, or village library is required to meet certain standards in terms of poverty level, building size, opening hours, staff professional qualifications, and established circulation and preservation policies. So far, the program has not only improved the quality of life in these poverty areas, but also attracted more government and non-government parties’ participation. Inspired by Books for Countryside, a series of similar programs have been put forward, including Book Houses for Farmers, Volunteer Action for training library directors sponsored by Library Society of China, China-U.S. Librarians Exchange Project, one (rich area)-to-one (poor area) technical and management training, and a county-level Digital Library Promotion project launched on February 1, 2010, aiming to allocate in total 1 TB digital resources to 320 county public libraries in its first phase. Cultural Information Resource Sharing (CIRS, http://www.ndcnc.gov.cn/ ) is another highly successful program in the public library system. Compared to Books for Countryside, CIRS has generated impact in broader public domains, including libraries and museums, and to more communities not only in rural areas but also in cities. The program targets four different user communities: children, farmers, local residents, and factory workers. Basically, CIRS converts essential Chinese culture to digital formats such as texts, image, audio, and video, and shares them across the country via the Internet, satellites, cable, wireless network, DVDs and other digital technologies. According to the 11th Five-Year National Strategic Plan, digital information and resources created under CIRS should be shared with every village in China by 2010. The CIRS program (2002–) has essentially met its goals, following a series of policies, regulations, and guidelines. In addition to the investment from the central government, local governments have also put great efforts and resources into their regions. As of May 2009, a total of 1,917 million RMB was designated to the program. A hierarchical operational structure has formed, including one national center, 33 provincial and regional centers,

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2,814 county-level branches, 15,221 township service points, and 457,000 village service points, covering 44% township and 75% villages. A total number of 680,000 fulltime and part-time employees work under the program. The service transactions, including book circulation, have been 6,900 million. A total of shared resources mounted to 90 TB, among which 20 TB (22%) have been developed at the national center and 70 TB (78%) have been developed at local levels. Among these resources are many multimedia databases about history, culture, arts, law, popular science, health, and everyday general knowledge. The resources feature with richness, diversity and locality. Some representative resources include: Hui-style Architecture and Chinese Opera developed (Anhui Province); Wuyi Overseas Chinese and Guangzhou People (Guangdong Province), Historical Photo Collections, Poetries, Local Drama, and Tea Culture (Hubei Province); Memory of Beijing (Beijing), Memory of Guangzhou, an animated database (Guangzhou), and Shanghai Drama, Music and Dance multimedia database (Shanghai). There were in total 45 such kinds of databases built as of 2004. These digital culture resources enrich the content of the program. In addition to these databases with local specialties, there is also a batch of general electronic resources, many of which are subject-based documentary databases from Digital Library of China, including: Chinese Customs, One Hundred Years of Dunhuang, Cultural Tourism, Cultural History, Golden Treasury of Quatrains and Octaves, Culture and Arts, Law and Legislations, Book History, Culture Relics, and Chinese Celebrities. In order to improve the program, starting from 2005, every database associated was required to comply with China Digital Library Standards (₼⦌㟿ⷦ⦍⃵氕㪖⑕屓喒, http://cdls.nstl.gov.cn) that were developed in the early twenty-first century as a premium project funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, with seven participating entities from different systems (education, public, and research). The 16 standards, adapted by the culture information sharing program, can be essentially grouped into three aspects: content, physical description, and processing, as defined by Dublin Core and other international standards. In other words, these CIRS electronic resources created originally for the country could readily be shared with the world. To secure the sustainability of the program, Chinese government reinforces policies and assessment mechanisms. Specifically, active participation in the CIRS program is used as one of the most significant criteria in systemwide assessment and is a required qualification for first and second class libraries. It is also a determinative factor in selecting or reexamining Culturally Advanced Counties. To be able to meet the criteria, public libraries are encouraged to proactively seek government’s financial support, while exploring alternative funding sources. The successful implementation of the CIRS program brings a fundamental change to Chinese librarianship in terms of how information is distributed and

124 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan who has access to the information. Largely benefiting from the program, more and more people from information-poor areas, especially farmers and factory workers, are able to enjoy culturally rich lives via access to various information and resources from home through the Internet. People in rural areas with no Internet connection could also share the networked information via TV equipped with a special digital gadget. Meanwhile, service ability and quality of public libraries have been greatly enhanced through their participation in the program. In addition to CIRS and Books for Countryside, China Ancient Book Preservation (CABP, http://www.nlc.gov.cn/service/others/gujibhw/) is another government support program that has heavily involved public libraries’ participation, together with libraries from other systems. China owns abundant publications from ancient times. As primary locations for ancient books, libraries have never stopped searching for those still scattered among the public, and as a result, libraries’ ancient book collection sizes have been growing. However, it is still not clear how many ancient books do exist, especially in private collectors’ hands. By an incomplete estimation, there should be at least 27 million volumes of Chinese ancient books, many of which are in the collections of libraries and museums, while countless numbers are held by private collectors and temples. Initiated by the State Ministry’s Proposition for Further Strengthening the Preservation of Chinese Ancient Books, the program started with a nationwide survey, an “Inventory of Precious Chinese Ancient Books”, declaring “Major China Ancient Book Collection under State Protection,” a nationwide assessment, and including personnel training. Accordingly, a series of work plans and specific policies have been put forward. Additionally, to oversee and coordinate the program, the Center for China Ancient Book Preservation was formed in June 2007 in the National Library of China. The nationwide survey and registration began in 2007 and covered various institutions, including public libraries, university/college libraries, research libraries, religion libraries, and museums, as well as personal collectors. Qualified materials in the initial survey include ancient books published in China and in Chinese or minority languages, but excluded special formats, such as oracle bones, bamboo slips, stone/bronze rubbings, and maps. Three direct outcomes of the survey were a union catalog, a bibliography of precious ancient books, and a list of declared major China ancient book collections under state protection. So far, two batches of precious ancient books and collections under state protection have been released after review, with, in total, 489 collections under state protection and 6,870 volumes of precious books, among which 376 are in 15 minority languages.9 These outcomes lay a solid ground for preservation. The program has two types of preservation: conventional preservation (e.g., repair) and reproduction preservation (e.g., microfilm, reprint and digiti9

₼⦌⦌⹅⦍⃵氕, “⏷⦌♳仜㣽㩴㰑෫,”

(“An Overview of National Survey of Ancient Books,”), http://www.nlc.gov.cn/service/others/gujibhw/gjpc-gk.htm (10. Feb. 2010).

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zation). While “China Rare Book Reprint” (₼◝␜抯⠓ᮏ) preserves the original physical presence of rare books in terms of binding format and font type and size, digital preservations usually provide additional robust full-text search functions. Through the grand ancient book set digitization projects completed in the early twenty-first century for Siku Quanshu and Sibu Congkan, the digital technologies for ancient books became fairly matured for preserving, organizing, searching, processing and disseminating information. With the digitization technologies, many libraries with rich collections have been able to develop Chinese rare book databases, including oracle bone and ancient map multimedia, as well as an interactive Dunhua databases at the National Library of China. Recent collaboration efforts in the public library system have been expanded beyond collection to service. Led by the Information Resource Development Center of the Ministry of Culture, more than 40 large public libraries across 16 provinces and cities started a virtual reference and document delivery collaboration program (http://www.ucdrs.com) in 2005. As of 2008, the program had supported 1.24 million reference transactions and more than four million document deliveries.10 Similarly, Shanghai Central Library’s Collaborative Online Reference Service (http://zsdh.library.sh.cn), as part of the regional resource sharing program among public, research and university/college libraries in the greater Shanghai region, provides online real-time knowledge navigation, conducted by senior reference librarians from Shanghai and several other cities in China and overseas (e.g., Singapore National Library and New York Public Library). All these collaborative and sharing projects would not achieve success without the catalysis of advanced information technologies. Not only do information technologies empower collaborations, but also they foster new library operation models reaching out to more user communities in a more proactive and engaging manner. In the past, public libraries in China were in isolated operation and had little connection with each other in terms of collection development, technical service and customer service. Resource sharing and union cataloging had not been adapted by the system until the last several years of the twentieth century, when network technology was widely adapted. Continuing to benefit from technology, the new millennium also saw the birth of several new operation models among public libraries, such as joint libraries, main and branch libraries, and mobile libraries. Taking Shanghai Central Library for example, established in December 2000, it is the first main and branch type of library in China that has been implemented in multiple cities, including Shanghai and the surrounding Yangtze Delta Area, as well as a few other regions and even foreign countries. The number of participating branch libraries is still growing. In Shanghai alone, there were 161 libraries in 2009. 10 嘺⺠㇉, “⏻␀⦍⃵氕勣⚗♑劒✷幱₝㠖䖽↯抡㦜┰, ” (“Collaborative Reference and Document Delivery Services among Public Libraries,”) ₼⦌⦍⃵氕㄃攃(Chinese Library Yearbook) (2007): 92.

126 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan Patrons just need one “Universal Card” (୍༩㏻) for checking out and returning books in any of the libraries. Because of the convenience, the number of “Universal Card” holders and library usages has continued to rise. In May 2007, 18 public libraries in Beijing also adapted the universal card access service model. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Central Library has recently launched e-universal accounts for their users to access electronic resources distributed in branch libraries. In addition to enhanced information access through the Internet, public libraries, along with research and university libraries, are taking advantage of the increasing popularity of wireless devices and have launched various wireless-network-based services on their existing digital library platforms. Since 2003, when sending due date reminders and new book on-hold alerts via text messaging was first introduced in Beijing, more and more libraries have opened up new services via text messaging and wireless database services.1111 In addition to due date reminders and new book on-hold alerts, other services include new book RSS feeds, announcements, library card applications and lost reports, OPAC searches, reference, patron mail boxes for suggestions/complaints, and workshop reservations. Libraries anticipate an expansion of service areas with more advanced wireless technologies (e.g., faster communication speed, and larger capacity of storing and processing information). Almost all libraries’ wireless services are free of charge. The birth of Web 2.0 technology in 2004 also brings a great opportunity to libraries to support interaction with users and involve more user participation in library services. So far, the application of Web 2.0 in libraries has achieved preliminary success. Nevertheless, current application can only be found in limited areas, such as new book RSS feeds, news announcements, and TOC alerts. High-end applications (e.g., reference and selective information dissemination) are still rare (Bai, 2009). A possible reason for this could be the lack of qualified information technology staff in the library system able to complete application. The most successful instance of utilizing new technology to innovate library services is the “24/7 Self-Service Library Machine” in Shenzhen, developed and launched by the municipal public library of this southern China city in 2008. As the first fully automated library system of this kind in the world, a 24/7 Self-Service Library Machine, located conveniently in heavily populated areas of residences, streets, commercial centers, subways, and office buildings, has the same basic functions a conventional library has. Free of spatial and temporal restrictions, users are able to borrow, return and reserve books in any of the 40 (the number will be increased to 240 in 2010) library machines close to them. They may also register for a library card on the machine in just 16 seconds. The window on the machine displays three rows of books up to 11 ∾ⅉ◝, “㒠⦌⪉ℝ䲊┷≰㋾㦜┰䤓㓚㧉⦍⃵氕♠⻤冋承,” (“Development of China’s Cell Phone Library Based on Mobile Information Service,”) 㽂▦兞忇⮶ⷵⷵ㔴冋⚗䓗(Journal of Hebei University of Economics and Trade Comprehensive Edition) 9, no.2 (2009): 80–82.

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some 400 volumes, which are rotated over time, for users to browse and borrow. A PC terminal is available for OPAC searches, circulation and library news announcements. In less than two minutes, a user is able to finish returning books and is able to borrow more books. Using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) as the core technology, the 24/7 Self-Service Library Machine integrates several applications, including self-service circulation, user system, supervision and management, OPAC search, book reservation, library card registration, and library publicity. Coordinated by a central operation system, these applications are networked connecting with the central library (i.e., Shenzhen Library), a central server, system maintainers and a logistics management system. Shenzhen Library’s 24/7 Self-Service Library Machine is the first integrated system of this kind in the country as well as in the world. Known in China as the third generation of library, it received a State Cultural Renovation Award. The system features several the “firsts”, including: the first use of remote circulation service and the first remote book reservation machine. The invention of such a device empowers Shenzhen and supports the city’s march towards the state goal of building a “City of Libraries.” Since the first 24/7 Self-Service Library Machine was put into use two years ago, the number of registered users has soared. The circulation count via the current 40 selfservice machines takes 17.49% of total circulation of the library and 8% of the circulation count of all public libraries in the city. Additionally, via the display windows on the machines, over 7,000 volumes of books with no circulation history, since being added to the library, have started to be checked out, revitalizing the inactive collection. Such technology-enabled services truly fulfill Ranganathan’s dreams outlined in his book, The Five Laws of Library Science (1931), that books are for use, every reader his book, every book its reader, and save the time of the reader. Nevertheless, despite the remarkable progress and continued government agencies’ support, the overall status quo of the public library system is still falling behind the other two systems. The government allocation to public libraries in 2008 comprises only 19.3% of total cultural undertakings. Nationwide, the annual growth of book budgets for public libraries is far behind GDP increase. Average book per resident use is only .41 volumes, and average collection development allocation per resident is only .645 RMB. Additionally, compared to the other two systems, the public library system essentially lacks highly qualified staff. As of 2008, there were some 50,000 employees working in public libraries, among which less than 40% obtained intermediate or senior professional titles. Furthermore, despite certain improvement, the uneven development between economically advanced and underdeveloped regions, and between urban and suburban areas still exists.

128 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan

Other Types of Libraries Children’s Libraries Serving children under 18 years of age, children’s libraries, as one component in the public library system, could only be found within a limited number of financially healthy public libraries or cities in earlier days. In the 1980s, only a few big cities had separate children’s library buildings, and only 31 municipal public libraries had separate reading rooms for children and youngsters. The situation did not change until 1997, when the state government released the 9th Five-year Strategic Plan for Cultural Undertaking. The plan suggests that provinces, province-level municipals, autonomous regions, and welldeveloped cities and districts should have separate buildings for children’s libraries. As a positive result of the strategic plan, the number of children’s libraries with separate buildings grew from 41 in 1996 to 81 as of 1999.12 In 2004 the Ministry of Culture sent a notice to reinforce the development of children’s libraries and expand the scope of development to rural areas. Meanwhile, the government increased funding support, while also calling for more support from communities. Further, the ministry issued children’s library assessment criteria at various administrative levels, and the assessment outcomes became a critical factor in determining whether a public library and county could be given a cultural advancement award. The government policies and support greatly advanced the development of children’s libraries. As of 2007, there were in total over 200 children’s libraries and 7,000 children’s reading rooms, among which 80 plus had separate buildings. The advancement of children librarianship reflects not only on the growing number of the libraries, but also on enriched resources, including online databases. In addition to the children’s portal developed by the national CIRS project, local children’s libraries have also constructed many specialized databases, such as Guangzhou Memory – Juvenile Edition (Guangzhou Children’s Library), and Minnan Children’s Folk Songs (Xianmen Children’s library).

School Libraries In contemporary China, school libraries are under the supervision of the State School Library Management Commission, an administrative agency established in 1990 under the Ministry of Education. Guided by the general School Library Regulations (₼⺞ⷵ⦍⃵氕(⸳)屓䲚) issued by the commission in 1991 and revised in 2003, libraries in primary, middle and high schools have been making rapid progress in terms of the increasing number of new libraries, 12 “兮帰忓㠨--⚓⦿◉⺠⏎⏻␀⦍⃵氕⪉㦻㍔⑄,” (“Statistics – Basic Facts about Children’s Libraries across the Country,”)₼⦌⦍⃵氕㄃攃(Chinese Library Yearbook) (2001): 358–365.

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expanding library buildings and collections, and automation and digitization as well. The number of school libraries nearly doubled in a short span of eight years (1996–2004). By 2004, there had been in total 234,825 school libraries, among which 177,015 were primary school libraries, 46,440 secondary school libraries, 5,286 high school libraries and 6,084 libraries of integrated middle and high schools. The number of schools with libraries equalled about 53% of the total school count in China. The percentage increased up to 80% in economically advanced coastal areas.13 Many of these libraries have separate buildings. So far, the largest separate school library is in Zhengding Middle School (Hebei Province), with a total area of 10,795 sq. meters (116,190 sq. ft) and a total number of 10,000 plus e-books, along with more than 3,100 multimedia materials. Although a few school libraries in urban areas started to develop automation systems in 1995, the system-wide technology adoption did not happen until 1997, when specific computer-assisted management systems were constructed and put to use. In 2000 the Ministry of Education issued a notice to extend CERNET, the education network infrastructure, to every school. The notice created a favorable condition for modernizing school libraries. At present, many school libraries in urban areas, especially key middle schools, have already adopted automation systems. As of 2006, there were in total 136,736 electronic reading rooms, among which 52,899 were in primary schools and 80,837 were in middle or high schools.14 In December 2005 the largest digital school library was launched in Beijing, with a total number of 700,000 plus e-books. The digital library is composed of four age and level-specific databases. Students and teachers from the schools can readily access these e-books either in school or from home.

Minority Ethnic Libraries There were in total 106 million minorities in China as of 2009, counting for 8.4% of the total population. Among the 55 minorities, 53 have their own languages, and 22 minorities have 28 kinds of written language. The populations for the minority language and written language use are over 60 million and 30 million respectively. Different minorities usually live in their own autonomous administrative districts, counties and townships, and their children go to ethnic schools for education. To serve these minorities’ special needs, Chinese government has built at least one library in each of these schools, districts, and counties. The library count grew from 14 in 1949, to 13 ⚘⭺℠, “ₘ◐㄃䤓㟈槸᧨ₘ◐㄃䤓战䏛—₼⺞ⷵ⦍⃵氕ℚ₩㟈槸㆏㟍ₘ◐㄃㧴ㆉ幍㒟⻀帿䟴,” (“ThirtyYear’s Reform, Thirty-Year’s Glory –An Overview of School Librarianship Achievements,”) ₼⺞ⷵ⦍⃵㍔㔴₥䟛(School Library Information World) no.12(2008): 8. 14 ⚘⭺℠, “ₘ◐㄃䤓㟈槸᧨ₘ◐㄃䤓战䏛—₼⺞ⷵ⦍⃵氕ℚ₩㟈槸㆏㟍ₘ◐㄃㧴ㆉ幍㒟⻀帿䟴,” 12.

130 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan 429 in 1997, while the collection sizes had also increased dozens of times during these years.15 While the majority of the libraries were built after the Cultural Revolution, many autonomous regions, such as Ninxia, Guangxi, Xinjiang, Neimenggu (Inner Mongolia), and Xizang (Tibet), have their own public libraries. For example, Xizang Library, built in 1996, is the first public library in the autonomous district. The collections in these ethnic libraries are in continuous development, since there are stable needs for minority language textual, audio and video materials. Expanded in 1999 to a 10-times larger building, Xinjiang Library, at the end of 1999, had in total 1.14 million volumes in its collection, among which Chinese language materials comprised 750,000 plus volumes of 188,000 titles, minority language materials 100,000 plus volumes of 15,000 titles, and foreign language materials, including 110,000 volumes of 23,000 titles. There were 77 staff members of six ethnic groups including Han, Weiwuer, Hasake, Hui, Menggu (Mongolian), and Kejisitan. Essentially, the collections of minority ethnic libraries are a combination of ethnic and local documents in Chinese and local ethnic languages. Automation and digitization in ethnic libraries are also making progress. So far, national standards of encoding schemes, IME and font libraries have been set up essentially for Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Korean, and Dai, and have been added to the latest international standards. Some of these standards have been applied to Windows and Web applications. Meanwhile, the CIRS program, by the end of 2008, had established 34,357 information service centers in eight minority autonomous administrative regions, including Xinjiang and Xizang. Through the program, minority residents in the regions are able to access rich resources in Chinese as well as in their own languages. These include 1,048 specialized video programs in Uygur, Korean, Mongolian and Tibetan languages, and 125,000 volumes of e-books with 1,250 titles. At individual libraries, some noticeable automation and digitization projects are Yanbian Library’s Korean language indexes and database, as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional Library’s robust computing and network infrastructure and rich local e-resources in the areas of ethnic studio arts, local travel journals, and cultural heritage. Additionally, Xizhang Library opened its first electronic reading room equipped with 60 computers in 2009. Via intranet, library users can access more than 1,000 e-books, of which 300 plus are in the Tibetan language. Despite the government’s support and essential automation and digitization implementation in many minority ethnic libraries, overall technology application in the system lagged behind other public library systems, due to the difficulty in automatic processing of the minority languages. To improve 15 ↊䱏⏿, “₼⦌⺠㟿㺠㡞⦍⃵氕ℚ₩♠⻤承幓,” ( “A Review of the Development of Chinese Minority Ethnic Librarianship,”) ␔在♳㺠㡞゗棱ⷵ㔴➁䯍䓗(Journal of Inner Mongolia Teacher’s College for Nationalities Philosophical and Social Science Edition ) no.2 (1997): 85.

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overall technology application in the rest of the libraries, the government puts forward several goals at the 10th Annual National Meeting of Minority Ethnic Libraries (2008), including: strengthening favorable policies, actively building ethnic information system, and paying ample attention to ethnic library research, so as to computerize library operation completely and to develop more e-resources in various ethnic languages for sharing.

Communist Party School Libraries Communist Party (CP) school libraries form another system that receives particular attention and support from the government. With a core mission of providing training and research resources to cadre trainees at all levels, CP school libraries have been in a rapid expansion since the 1990s. As of 2009, there were more than 2,000 county-level or above CP school libraries among which some 860 were at the municipal level and around 50 were at the provincial level. In addition to the increasing number of CP school libraries, library building and collection sizes are also expanding. Currently, each provincial CP school library has at least 5,000 sq. meters of building size, while the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (CCCP) School Library is as large as 9,000 sq. meters (96,875 sq. ft). In terms of collections, the CCCP School Library housed 189,384 titles by the end of the 1980s, and the figure rose to 220,000 titles by the end of 1998. The new millennium saw a rapid growth in e-collections. Currently, the library owns more than 150 kinds of databases through self-development and subscription, over 200,000 e-books, 5 million of online newspaper articles and some 6 million bibliographies. Over the past two decades, CP schools at all levels have invested tremendous resources in upgrading library IT equipment and developing electronic resources. In March 2000, CCCP School launched its library website (http://tsg.ccps.gov.cn/index.jsp), and one month later became involved in the National Digital Library Project, coordinated by the National Library of China. A proposal for developing a CP School System Digital Library was put forward in 2002, aiming to serve not only faculty members and students in the schools, but also CP and government cadres and staff at all levels, general CP members, and citizens. Since then, numerous digital resources have been developed. As of 2007, CCCP School Library alone already owned 5 TB digital resources, including some 10 full-text databases developed locally (e.g., Marxism Classics, CP Documents, Deng Xiaoping Theories, CCCP School Dissertations Theses, and CP School Newspapers) and 14 subscribed databases. Some of these digital resources are accessible to the public, while the others are restricted depending on license agreements. The number of digital resources built by other libraries in the system is also increasing. There were in total 169 subject-based databases developed

132 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan and 40 under construction in 2007. While some of the databases are general (e.g., History of CP, by Beijing CP School Library, and Instructional Materials for Empowering the Governance, by Chongqing CP School Library), many databases developed at province or lower levels feature locality, many of which are facts, data, and reports in the region (e.g., Glorious Yanan Spirits and Shandong Provincial Facts and Cases). These databases have diversified CP School Library collections and changed the way people access political and social materials. Meanwhile, the majority of CP school libraries have been increasing their digital services, including dissemination of specialized reports and newsletters via websites, emails, web forms, and other digital means. Since 2006 the CP school library system has been further reinforcing collaboration and resource sharing within and beyond the system. In July 2006 CCCP School Administration Office issued two documents and distributed them nationally. One was the Strategic Plan for Developing Digital Resources in the CP School Library System (2006–2010), and the other was Information Sharing Rules within the CP School Library System (Preliminary). Two years later in 2008, the CCCP School Library signed a Collaboration and Information Sharing Agreement with the Ministry of Culture for the co-development of Cultural Information Resource Sharing system (School Edition). While the Ministry of Culture shares school library copyright cleared culture-specific digital resources with the CCCP, the CCCP school library system in turn provides CIRS sharable CCCP documents.

Technologies and Chinese Librarianship: Opportunities and Challenges Many libraries in China have taken less than 20 years to complete the transformation from traditional closed service to open service model, from manpower-based to ILS supported operations, from unitary print resources to hybrid collections of various material formats, as well as from self-supported individual operation to collaboration and sharing at system, regional, national and international levels. The drastic changes in Chinese librarianship are owed largely to technological advancement, the economic rise of China, enhanced user needs, and continued ample attention and support from government agencies at all levels.

Opportunities Collaboration and Resource Sharing Technological advancement and popularization of information technologies in libraries have brought a tremendous opportunity for libraries to share their

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limited resources. Since the first system-level collaboration and information sharing project (CALIS) was initiated in 1998 among about 20 plus university/college libraries for a union catalog, e-resource acquisition consortia, virtual reference, interlibrary loan and document delivery, the number of participating libraries has increased dozens of times. Also, the collaboration model has been extended to other major library systems, including research libraries, and public libraries. In addition to CALIS, several other influential system level collaboration projects are Books for Countryside, Cultural Information Resource Sharing, and Ancient Book Preservation and Digitization with the public library system, as well as the National Science and Technology Library across the research library system. Apart from these nationwide system level collaborations and information sharing projects, several multi-system and regional level projects also have impact. For instance, the Great Pearl Delta River Region Public Library Online Reference Service, participated in by libraries from nine provinces, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan, has become a model virtual reference in China, wellknown for its promptness of turnaround time for both reference questions and document delivery requests. Similarly, Great Shanghai Central Library Network connects hundreds of libraries in the region and from abroad with improved access to library resources and services. Collaboration models in Chinese libraries are various, ranging from a centralized model, usually led by an administrative center (e.g., Tianjin Academic Digital Library), to a distributed development and administration model, usually based upon a written agreement among member libraries (e.g., Great Pearl Delta River reference service, Great Shanghai Central Library Network, and Beijing Academic Networked Library). A further collaboration worth mentioning is the business model adapted by Shanghai Education Networked Library (http://www.shelib.edu. cn/), which requires member libraries to pay annual information service and user fees. Collaboration and information sharing cannot be effective without specifications, standards and regulation. The nationwide cooperative automation and digitalization movement has taken serious account of the issue from the very beginning. So far, a series of state standards compatible with international standards has been put forward to guide digital library development, including Technical Standards and Regulations for Higher Education Digital Libraries in 1998, and Chinese Digital Library Standards and Regulation by seven large libraries of the three major library systems in 2002 (i.e., public, university/college, and research libraries). Meanwhile, various guidelines also play significant roles in ensuring the success of cooperation across libraries. Some national guidelines include Digital Library Service Policy for university/college libraries (CALIS), Digital Library Resource Development (National Library of China) for the public library system, and Digital Library Security Management (Shanghai Library) for national digital library develop-

134 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan ment. Additionally, a policy guideline for Digital Library Intellectual Property Protection is currently under construction. Through the course of digitalization, Chinese libraries have been actively pursuing international collaboration. Representative international cooperation includes Sino-US Million Book Digital Library (http://www.cadal.net/enc/ index.htm), initiated by computing and library experts from the two countries in 2000, and EMANI (Electronic Mathematics Archiving Network Initiative; http://www.emani.org/), a project completed by Tsinghua University Library and partnering libraries in the United States, Germany, and France. With its first meeting held in National Library of China in the early June 2000, the Annual Joint Meeting for Chinese Information Resource Co-Development and Sharing (₼㠖㠖䖽忓䄟␀ㆉ␀℺⚗⇫↩帽, 2000–) has attracted library professionals from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, the United States and the Netherlands. One of several milestones from the meetings is the forming of Chinese Metadata Standard Format Working Group (₼㠖Metadata㪖⑕㫋㆞ぴ⇫⺞兓) in 2000, aiming to develop a universal scheme for Chinese resources. Additionally, despite several barriers related to the difference in character encoding schemes (simplified vs. traditional) and MARC formats, and insufficient network support (routed from the third region), the Union Catalog developed at Chung-Cheng University Library for libraries on the Two Sides (i.e., Taiwan and Mainland China) and Three Places (Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China) has begun to take shape. New Collection and Service Model Modern technology applications have brought tremendous changes to Chinese libraries in the areas of collection and service. The rapid nationwide network construction in the middle 1990s enabled large volumes of digital resource acquisition and development in the libraries, expansion of collection space, and challenged the ownership concept that was once crucial to traditional libraries. Through various projects at all levels, Chinese libraries and library users have benefited remarkably from the convenience and richness of online resources. Almost all libraries in the three major library systems have launched their websites, from which users are empowered to access information in a more efficient manner, free of temporary and special restrictions. Additionally, since the first pilot project started in 1997, Chinese digital libraries have advanced in a striding fashion from none to predominant in numbers. Modern technologies also have empowered active library services. Currently, Chinese libraries are able to reach user communities they never would have been able to serve before, due to economic and/or geographic constraints. Recent advancement in Web 2.0 technology and wireless networks further supports library-user interaction in a proactive fashion. Online references, new book RSS feeds and book reservations are becoming increasingly popular. Shenzhen Library’s world-class 24/7 Self-Service Library Machines across the

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city expand library locations and extend opening hours, and also promote previously inactive holdings. Bridging the Information Gap Prior to the twenty-first century, it was hardly possible for people, especially many children, farmers, and factory workers, to access culture, health and scientific information that was essential and appropriate to them. While 144 county level libraries had not a single library, and 756 county level libraries had no collection development funding at all in 2000, the situation had completely changed 10 years later. As of 2010, every village in China, regardless of geographic location and economic status, had established at least one information station, through numerous national projects (e.g., Books for Countryside, and Culture Information and Resource Sharing). In order to bridge the information gap, Chinese governments and libraries have taken various proactive approaches. In addition to providing funding supports to build more libraries and to share information online, large public libraries also send mobile libraries to surrounding areas with little information access. Additionally, a main/branch library mechanism has been established among many public libraries. For instance, Guangdong (Provincial) Zhongshan Library has established relationships with 39 branch libraries in underdeveloped areas in the past seven years, including Nan-ao County Library that had no single new book being added to its collection in 20 years. Now, from these branch libraries, users can have the same privilege to access a large volume of resources, both digital and print, held by the provincial library. Through the main/branch library model, people are able to establish hundreds of branch libraries with the same amount of money for building only one main library. Meanwhile, since 2007, many public libraries have waived a library card registration fee, which has hence attracted more users who previously refrained from using the libraries for cost consideration. The information brought to previously information-poor communities is not only recreational, but also educational. Many of the books donated to the countryside are easy-to-read materials about general agriculture knowledge and technology, and could be of direct use to farmers. Similarly, rich information on different subjects (e.g., history and public health) provided through the Culture Information and Resource Sharing project, could enhance the knowledge level of the general public. Further, with all of this abundant information and resources going online, Chinese civilization and culture can be shared around the world and greatly help foreigners to gain better knowledge and understanding of China and the Chinese. Culture Preservation As early as the1980s, Chinese libraries and research institutes started to use information technology to preserve the rich culture and ancient civilization of

136 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan the country. The Literature Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences developed databases of Analects of Confucius (幉幼), and Collected Works of Pre-Qin Philosophers (庇⷟楕㒟). In the meantime, Shenzhen University launched a searchable database of A Dream of Red Mansion (儱㰋㬵). During the succeeding decade, more databases were developed by university libraries, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and commercial publishers, including the digital version of Siku Quanshu (Wenyuange edition), one of the most comprehensive collections of Chinese ancient books. The digital version is still in wide use for pre-modern Chinese studies. Computer-assisted culture preservations in the new millennium become more common and more planned in manner. In addition to digitization projects at individual libraries (e.g., Basic Ancient Books of China, by Peking University, and Song-Yuan Rare Book Fulltext Database, by Shanghai Library), the state government also sponsors several influential and productive projects that have involved mostly public libraries across the nation. The projects include Preservation and Reproduction of Chinese Rare Books (2002–; http://www.nlcpress.com/cn/zzsb/index.asp) via reprint, microfilming and digitization, Chinese Old Book Registration and Preservation (2007–; http:// www.nlc.gov.cn/service/others/gujibhw), and Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection (2002–; http://www.ihchina.cn/main.jsp).

Challenges Despite all these achievements, technology application in Chinese libraries still leaves room for improvement, especially in the areas of staff qualifications, ideological change, library legislation and sustainable funding support. Firstly, although the central government and many local governments provide continued support, some local government officers, especially those from underdeveloped areas, are often in a spirit of “rational acceptance but perceptual resistance,” overemphasizing financial and personnel hardship. Secondly, the status quo of technology application in some libraries is high-end hardware and systems but low-end use. The underlying cause could be the lag in library professional training and education. There are thousands of libraries and hundreds of thousands of library employees in China. However, only around 1,000 library science graduates and undergraduates get their diplomas each year, far below the needs.16 Similarly, although hundreds of workshops and training sessions have been provided annually in recent years, compared to the large employee pool, the amount of training is still a drop in the bucket. Further, working in a library is still considered to be an inferior profession, and thus is not attractive to highly qualified personnel (Shen, 2006). Thirdly, 16 㨦楔⸞ and㻮⚠₫, “㒠⦌⦍⃵氕侊庍䲚⇢侊㟈槸啴㄁桽欧㊬劒,” (“Several Issues on the Curriculum Reform in Library Science Education in China”) 䰞ㆉ幉⧪ⅉ㠖䯍䱠䓗(Fujian Forum Humanities and Social Science Edition) no.3 (2006): 107.

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as the world’s most populous country, even with government’s billions of monetary support each year, capita allocation for library advancement is still very low. Additionally, many government funds, especially for special projects, are one-off contributions. While library development is an on-going business, sustainable funding sources become crucial. Fourthly, although Chinese library professionals and researchers have been in the calling for an established library law for years, so far, the legislation is still under discussion. Hopefully, many of these problems could be well-addressed by the forthcoming and long-expected library legislation. The enforcement of the library law should be able to improve libraries’ value in people’s perceptions and to secure the education and recruitment of technologically sophisticated library professionals.

Conclusion In conclusion, the technology application in Chinese libraries has advanced rapidly since the mid-1990s. Compared to western countries, computerization and digitalization in Chinese libraries started late, but in many aspects have caught up with the rest of the world. Various modern information technologies, including computer networking, as well as digital storage and processing, have been widely adapted in many libraries in China. A few technologies (e.g., RFID), seldom seen in other libraries in the world, have been applied creatively in Chinese libraries, such as the 24/7 Self-Service Library Machine in Shenzhen. Overall, modern technologies have brought tremendous changes in a short period of time in the Chinese library field under powerful government interventions. The most important and impacting changes are: (1) from separate operations to collaborations at different levels, inter-system, cross-system, regional and national; (2) from print-centered to multi-format library collections with increasing volumes of digital resources; (3) from traditionally passive service to emerging active library service models; and (4) from limited user population and community to almost every corner in the country including more information-poor people. All of these changes have been playing significant roles in improving the quality of education and research in the nation and in the everyday lives of every resident.

Bibliography 㢢屑⦌棔(Analysys International). “⦍⃵氕≰㋾▥ㆉ幍冋⚗䪣䴅㔴⛙ 㛧尐” (“Integrated Re-

port on Informationization Development in Libraries Abstract”). (2004) http://txzxs. cnii.com.cn/20030527/ca292251.htm (1. Mar. 2010).

138 Ying Zhang and Xiangjin Tan 䤌槡Ⓒ (Bai, Qingli). “浧㪰⦍⃵氕RSS㔏㦾ㄣ䞷䘿䕅⒬㘱,” (“A Preliminary Discussion of RSS Application in University Libraries”)㸪䱠㟨㠖㻖(Education Science and Culture

Magazine) , no.1 (2009): 284. Shen, Ying. “Chinese academic librarianship in transition: A comparative study between China and the United States.” International Information Library Review 38 no.2 (2006): 89–100. Ⱪ㣢榭 and 㧀㇉ (Yao, Xiaoxia and Zhu, Qiang). “CALIS◐㄃ㆉ幍㒟㨫⥭欍,” (“Looking Back to the Past Ten Years of CALIS Development,”) ₼⦌⦍⃵氕㄃攃 (Chinese Library Yearbook) (2007): 85–92.

2.5 Croatia Technology Based Services in Croatian Libraries: Developments, Challenges and Prospective Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina Introduction In this paper the authors will focus on the Croatian library system, as well as the emergence and development of technologies affecting library services. Studying the time line from when technology was introduced to Croatian libraries to present, it is possible to identify major accomplishments and challenges and to predict the future development of technology based services over the next decade. Since this development depends on the broader context of development and activities of Croatian libraries, it is necessary to look back on the past three decades that have marked Croatian librarianship, as well as on the introduction of new technologies and their influence on the development of libraries. Croatia is a central European country of four and half million citizens, facing the Adriatic Sea and bordering Slovenia, Italy, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro (see figure 1).

140 Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina Nearly one-quarter of the population lives in the capital city of Zagreb. The official language is Croatian. According to the census of 2001, the percentage of illiterate people was 1.8%.1 According to the statistics from 2008, out of 1,451,730 households, 657,068 had Internet access and there were 1,456,385 regular Internet users (aged from 16 to74 years old). 2 The first free-of-charge public library Internet access for all patrons in public libraries was introduced in 2001.3 Croatia declared its independence from the Federative Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991. The country suffered severe damages in the War of Independence fought against the aggressor until 1995. During the first two years of the war, one-third of Croatian territory was badly destroyed, and many libraries were damaged or destroyed, including: 138 school, 23 public, 12 memorial (mainly monastery), 3 research, 11 academic, and 3 special libraries.4 The country's infrastructure has now recovered. However, the human capital will still need time to heal. The largest infrastructural projects were highway construction and Communication Technology (mainly telephone and Internet) development. In the year 2005 Bologna system was introduced in the higher education system. Curricula were restructured, the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) was applied, and new university level teaching positions were opened.

Some Historical Notes Croatia has an excellent geographic position, and in its history this has been both an advantage and a disadvantage. It has been inhabited and developed since Greek and Roman times. Over its entire history Croatia has been attacked and its territory has often been invaded by different armies. This has been the case up until today. Among the former Yugoslav republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and autonomous regions of Kosovo and Vojvodina), Croatia has been the second most developed after Slovenia. This development also has been evident in the library field, where Croatia has been the most advanced in Yugoslavia. In the seventh century the Croats, a Slavic ethnic group, settled in the Balkans on the Adriatic coast. For many centuries, from the eighth until nineteenth, Croats used the Glagolitic script. They adopted Christianity and later the Catholic religion and Latin script with it, which they have been using to 1 2 3 4

Population, Republic of Croatia: Central Bureau of Statistics, 2009, www.dzs.hr/Hrv_Eng/ ljetopis/2009/PDF/05-bind.pdf. (2. Feb. 2010). Information Society, Republic of Croatia: Central Bureau of Statistics, 2009, www.dzs.hr/ Hrv_Eng/ljetopis/2009/PDF/19-bind.pdf. (2. Feb. 2010). Jagoda Matovina, Sanja Pavlakovic, and Ivanka Stricevic, “Besplatni Internet za sve: Internet u narodnoj knjiznici,“ Vjesnik bibliotekara Hrvatske 45, no. 3௅4 (2002): 184௅194. Tatjana Aparac-Gazivoda and Dragutin Katalenac, Wounded libraries in Croatia (Zagreb: Croatian Library Association, 1993): 11.

2.5 Croatia ௅ Technology Based Services in Croatian Libraries 141

this day. Of the population of Croatia, 89.63% are ethnic Croats. There are also several minorities, mainly Serbs, Bosnians, Slovenes, Chechs, Italians, Hungarians and Roma.5 In more recent history, before the First World War, Croatia was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Then, from 1918 to1941, it was part of the Kingdom of Croats, Slovenes and Serbs, under the rule of the king Aleksandar Karadjordjevic, of Serbian origin. From 1945 to1990 Croatia was one of the six republics of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was considered to be the most liberal of the socialist countries, and, since the split between Tito and Stalin in 1950, was no longer in the socialist block. Since 1991 Croatia has been a democratic country with constitutional, legal and executive bodies. In the current year Croatia is a candidate member of the European Union. Croats consider themselves a nation of long cultural tradition. Printing and publishing were introduced only a few decades after the invention of the printing press, while the architecture and building tradition are a part of the finest world heritage. Croatia has several UNESCO protected locations, among which probably the best known are the walled city of Dubrovnik and the Šibenik cathedral. There are also several national parks.

Development of Libraries The development of Croatian libraries in the western part of the country was influenced by the libraries of central Europe, while the libraries along the coast were influenced by the Italian libraries. Until the introduction of public schools, the Jesuits and Franciscan monks played an important role in education and the spreading of reading and writing skills. Their libraries testify to these activities to this day. Many Franciscan libraries have survived historic turmoil. Today some are in good condition, but many require restoration. Since the 1990s the Franciscans have been putting a lot of effort into restoring their libraries with the intention of opening them up to the public, in some cases as cultural monuments, in others as research facilities. When the Jesuits order was abolished many of their libraries became parts of different public collections. Since the nineteenth century Croatian librarians have played an important role in the development of librarianship in general, and this has continued to be so to this day. Their role is reflected in many international relations and by active membership of Croat librarians in international associations and bodies. These activities are long-standing and continuous, some since the socialist period 1945–1991, as the country was opened to western visitors and Croats could freely travel to the West. Traditionally, Croatian librarians are very 5

Population, Republic of Croatia: Central Bureau of Statistics, 2009.

142 Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina active internationally and have developed many international relations. The most notable activities are in the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) bodies, where several Croatian librarians play a very distinguished role. Croatian librarians are well-informed about professional developments.

Major Challenges Croatian Libraries Face Today Although libraries of all kinds have a long tradition and the system of libraries is well-developed, in practice libraries face many challenges. Most of these problems are reflected in technological development, or are a result of application of technology with poor planning and preparation. Major problems can be identified as follows:

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Uneven development – although all libraries follow the same laws and standards, differences among them are very large. On the one hand there are the developed libraries with good infrastructure and innovative services, and on the other hand there are libraries without basic facilities or access to the Internet (i.e., some public or school libraries). Uneven development results in uneven level of services. For example, some public libraries allow free Internet use while some don’t have access to the Internet or they charge for it. Although this is not a rule, the differences are especially obvious when urban and rural libraries are compared. It is evident that the success in serving library users mostly depends on personal relations between library managers and local authorities. Financing – although financing of the libraries is regulated through legal ordinances, many libraries in poorer areas have no systematic financing, which is reflected in their infrastructure and level of service. It is because of insufficient financing that public libraries charge a membership fee, the amount of which depends on the area. Financing problems are particularly obvious in school libraries, where they are reflected not only in the level of technology but also in collection development. Legislature and decision-making – Libraries are divided between two systems, science and education system and the culture system. This necessitates good collaboration and coordination between the two respective ministries, but this unfortunately often is not the case. Standards that regulate this domain are often not implemented due to lack of material means, and if any sanctions are prescribed by law, they are seldom implemented. Isolated projects – There are a number of different small, isolated projects that are not unified and that therefore do not have a systematic effect on the development of librarianship in the country. They pro-

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mote good practice, but often they do not use common resources and are not a part of the strategic development. There is no national strategy for the issues with which these projects deal, so the survival of these positive initiatives often depends on the enthusiasm of individual institutions or librarians. Lack of national research – As with the projects, research is often similarly isolated. There is very little research that systematically tracks the development of an individual sector, making them in fact pilot research projects. This is apparent in technology-based library services for which there is no collected data at the national level. Lack of systematic plan for introduction of new technologies into libraries – Introduction of technologies and their use is not part of a systematic strategic plan. Rather, it depends on the awareness, interest, and current financial possibilities of the library founders. Lack of strategic solutions for library software issues – Because there is no national strategic plan for introduction of new technologies into all libraries of all varieties, several different library software packages are in use. Even libraries of the same kind use different software, so work that could be done jointly is instead multiplied.

Taking into account the problems listed above, one can presume that most of these result both from absence of coordination at the highest levels and from lack of coordinated developmental strategies. These strategies should have set the clear development objectives, contributors, activities, and time lines, and ensured continuous self-sustained development, based on long tradition, good professional infrastructure, and a vision of library development in the social context. This applies to all segments of librarianship in all of the various libraries and to the development of technology-based library services. The above listed issues are reflected in technological solutions in Croatian libraries, and since technology issues affect all segments of librarianship, one can say this is a circular, interdependent set of issues.

The Croatian Library System According to Croatian Law on Libraries6, there are several kinds of libraries with respect to purpose and collection. These include: national, public, school, university, high school, research, and special libraries. It is sometimes difficult to determine the exact number of libraries, especially those that are integrated into another institution. National and University Library in Zagreb is in a dual role, both as a central library for the University of Zagreb and as a central library of the Croatian library system (the national library). Aside from it, there are also four university libraries: Pula, Rijeka, Zadar, and Split. The role 6

Zakon o knjiznicama, Narodne novine, no. 105 (1997).

144 Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina of the University Library in Osijek is taken by the City and University Library. Dubrovnik, the youngest university town in Croatia, is about to establish a University Library, and in the meantime students and researchers are using several departmental libraries and a city and research library. Besides a small university library, students and researchers in Zadar are using large library collections at the Research Library and the City Library. The University is negotiating with the city of Zadar to include the Research Library collection into the future new University Library. There are seven universities7 in Croatia as well as a large number of polytechnics and schools for professional higher education, so the total number of institutions of higher education in Croatia in the academic year of 2008/2009 was 115.8 Besides central university libraries almost every faculty or university department has its own library. The largest research library outside a university is the Ruÿer Boškoviü Institute Library in Zagreb. By law, every local community in Croatia should have a public library. As a result of this law, almost every city or a town has a public library, but their conditions are very different. This depends on the support a public library gets from the local and county government, but more than 90% of library budget comes from the local government. Public libraries act as a network with a hub library in each county and with one in the city of Zagreb. According to the data from the Ministry of Culture9, there are 167 independent public libraries and 28 public libraries which are managed by larger libraries in urban centers in the district. It is important to note that some county hub libraries have many branch libraries, making for good library service coverage. For example, Central Public Library in Zagreb has 42 branch libraries, and it is the largest public library in Croatia. According to data from the common public library web portal10, in 2009 there were 208 libraries, including the mobile ones (via library bus), out of which 197 had their own web pages. According to information from the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports11, there are 876 elementary schools and 434 high schools in Croatia. Every elementary and every high school has a library. Here again there is a varied picture. The status and the level of services of these libraries differ, depending on whether there is a skilled and enthusiastic librarian, whether the school master supports the library, and so forth. There is no available collective data on the number of special libraries, as they are integrated in various institutions (museums, businesses, etc.). Since 1990 Croatia has witnessed the shutting down of many industrial research 7 Ministarstvo znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta: Ustanove iz sustava visokog obrazovanja, http://pregledi.mzos.hr/ustanove_VU.aspx. (13. Jan. 2010). 8 Education, Republic of Croatia: Central Bureau of Statistics, 2009, www.dzs.hr/Hrv_Eng/ ljetopis/2009/PDF/27-bind.pdf. (8. Jan. 2010). 9 Ministry of Culture, http://www.min-kulture.hr/default.aspx?id=4616. (10. Feb. 2010). 10 Knjiznica.hr: Portal narodnih knjiznica, www.knjiznica.hr. (20. Oct. 2009). 11 Ministarstvo znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta, http://public.mzos.hr/Default.aspx?sec=3138. (13. Jan. 2010).

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libraries. During the socialist era these libraries had both educational and research functions. The educational function was a result of a communist ideology that culture should be brought to the workers at their working environment. In the advanced technology environment they were research-oriented, but with the advent of digital publishing many have closed down.

Decision-making and Legislation The legal status of libraries in Croatia is divided between different ministries. Decisions about libraries in Croatia are made by the Minister of Culture, and when the National and University Library in Zagreb and research and school libraries are concerned, the decision-making about them is shared by the Minister of Culture and the Minister of Science, Education and Sports. The Ministry of Culture establishes the Croatian Library Council, which is a body consisting of the representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, National and University Library in Zagreb, Croatian Library Association, and Croatian Rectors Conference. The Croatian Library Council is an advisory body to the Minister of Culture, and he or she can accept or reject the proposals made by the Council. The main tasks of the Council are to deal with development and planning and to introduce necessary legal changes (e.g., formal requirements for library staff, regulations on legal deposit copy, etc.). Amendments have to be passed by the Croatian Parliament. The Council itself establishes working groups for different tasks. Individual libraries are managed by directors. The director of the National and University Library in Zagreb is appointed by the Government. The directors of public libraries are appointed by the local government according to the public bidding. The directors of university libraries are appointed by the university senates and faculty bodies after the public bidding. The main law that regulates librarianship is the Law on Libraries12. Besides the Law the functioning of libraries is regulated by other regulations and standards. The Croatian Library Council proposes the Standards and, upon review, the Ministry of Culture issues the Standards for public libraries, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports issues them for school and academic libraries, and, depending on the kind, the supervisory ministry issues them for special libraries. Every library must employ a graduate librarian holding a master diploma in librarianship. It is because of this that the school libraries also employ librarians with masters’ degrees. Librarians who have different degrees must obtain the Library Science degree within five years of their hiring date. Three Croatian universities offer masters’ degrees in Library and Information Science, including Zagreb, Osijek, and Zadar. 12 Zakon o knjiznicama, Narodne novine. The Law was approved in 1997 and in the next 12 years it was ammended three times.

146 Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina

Financing of Libraries Different types of libraries are financed from different sources. The National and University Library in Zagreb is financed from the State budget. University libraries are financed by local funds and funds from the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports. All university libraries receive a legal deposit copy. Legal deposit was the first initiative of the National and University Library in Zagreb (NUL) to implement a computerized cooperation system in Croatian libraries. Faculty libraries are financed by their own faculties, as special libraries are financed by their parent institutions. Public libraries receive funding from the local government, but some special activities and projects are cofinanced by the Ministry of Culture, such as, book acquisition, technology equipment purchases and large investments, building construction and remodeling. Some public libraries’ activities are financed by the county, such as, mobile libraries. The Ministry of Culture plays an atypical role in public libraries’ book supply. In short, a committee of publishers and librarians select books published by Croatian publishers. The Ministry purchases them and then donates them to public libraries. After the title selection process, the Ministry delivers the selection list to the publishers, who in turn deliver their publications to libraries and bill the Ministry. A debate about the pros and cons of this system has been ongoing for years. Some librarians claim that in this way the state is taking a part in their collection building (this system is inherited from the socialist era), while others appreciate the value of the donation, as they are not affluent enough to buy all the books they receive as a state donation. The main point here is that another body, not the library, decides on acquisitions. On the other hand, this initiative advocates publishing in Croatian language.

Library Buildings Since 1990 Croatia has witnessed a real renaissance in public library buildings construction. Perhaps the reason for this is partly due to the political opinion of libraries as important for building a new society, and partly because the national and local politicians have seen the value of supporting public infrastructure, though in some cases, as means of self-promotion. New library buildings were built, or existing buildings were converted into libraries, in Zadar, Split, Šibenik, Karlovac, and Pula. After the Independence War (1991– 1995), several former military buildings were converted into public libraries (Zadar, Šibenik, Pula, Split). Many existing library buildings were repaired and restored, for example in Dubrovnik, Varaždin, Slavonski Brod, Krapina, and so forth, particularly the ones damaged in war. However, in some cities, such as Rijeka and Osijek, the public libraries are still waiting for the solution to their spatial issues.

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Some public libraries in larger urban areas received new branch libraries, and a number of library bus networks were established (in Zadar, Rijeka, Zagreb, and Koprivnica). School libraries share the faith of their parent institutions, so the library space depends on the school. There is a great difference among the school libraries. While some are modern and well-equipped, others act more as book storehouses than as information and education school centers.

Publishing for the Profession Professional publishing is one of the best features of Croatian librarianship. The Croatian Library Association is the largest publisher of professional literature. This branch of publishing has been developing for decades, and today it has reached a very high standard. The core of CLA publishing is the Vjesnik bibliotekara Hrvatske (Croatian Library Journal)13, which has been published for more than 60 years. Since 2003 the Journal has been digitized, and its contents made available online. Libraries publish as well, especially the public ones. Publishing is primarily seen as one of the public libraries’ cultural roles in the community. The most active publishers among libraries are public libraries in Šibenik and Zagreb.

The National and University Library in Zagreb (NUL) Since its establishment in 1607, the central role in Croatian librarianship has been held always by the National and University Library in Zagreb. This role is reflected in the Croatian Law on Libraries. The relationship between the Croatian Library Association and the director of the National and University Library in Zagreb has been always very important for the development of librarianship in Croatia. The quality of this relationship has been changing, depending on individuals in charge at NUL, and depending more on their personality traits than on planned cooperation. The NUL is authorized to decide upon most of the basic questions concerning librarianship in Croatia. Several years after the Second World War, the director of the National Library and the president of the Croatian Library Association were the same person. Throughout the history of the Croatian Library Association, directors of the National Library and of the Zagreb Public Library (the third player in the power structure) had a big influence on decision-making in the Association. Being a small professional community, it has been always under a strong influence of government officials (e.g., the nomination of the director of NUL has been always a political and never a 13 Vjesnik bibliotekara Hrvatske, www.hkdrustvo.hr/vbh/. (2. Feb. 2010).

148 Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina professional decision). On the other side, the Croatian Library Association always had the freedom to elect its president independently. However, this was due mostly to the fact that the Association had very little say in important decisions. The strongest feature of the National Library was its expert librarians, but lately this has been changing. With the opening of many new libraries and two new library departments, the number of opportunities for good jobs outside the National Library has grown. With the establishment of the first library school in Croatia (today a part of the Department of Information Science) in 1976 at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, the exclusive professional influence of the National Library has started to weaken. The development of professional education has given a new push to the library profession, and the role of the National Library in this respect has diminished. However, it still remains the main factor and holds the most responsibility in the development of libraries and the national library system. This role is given to NUL by the law: National and University Library in Zagreb is a public institution of national importance. It offers library and information services as the Croatian national library and as the central library of the University of Zagreb. It facilitates scientific research and development activities promoting Croatian librarianship and the construction and development of the Croatian library system…. … National and University Library in Zagreb, the center of the Croatian library system and in particular: … - Perform bibliographic and information activities within the international programs of the Universal bibliographic control, the general availability of publications and the General flow of data and telecommunications, and in particular deals with the current bibliography.14

From the following survey of development and automation of Croatian libraries, it is obvious that NUL only partially fulfills the role in development of Croatian librarianship.

ICT Infrastructure As far as the general infrastructure is concerned, such as supply of electrical power, CT, and roads, Croatia is comparable to developed countries. Highways and broadband Internet infrastructure and mobile telephony are the main infrastructural features that the general public has been aware of after 1990. Construction of general infrastructure is a rare example of government’s strategic development decision-making. The establishment and strong governmental support to Croatian Academic and Research Network - CARNet15 has

14 “Zakon o knjiznicama,“ Narodne novine. 15 Croatian Academic and Research Network, www.carnet.hr/. (16. Jan. 2010).

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empowered libraries to develop their computer infrastructure. However this is only the case in the academic libraries, not in the public ones. Regarding this developed part of infrastructure, railroads and port infrastructure were completely neglected up until present. It is understandable that a low-income country cannot develop its entire infrastructure at the same time.

Technology Introduction and Development To analyze the process of introduction of technology and technology based library services into Croatian libraries, it is necessary to briefly mention the introduction of computers into the libraries and the construction of infrastructure for technology based library services across the world. Technological development in Croatia has been similar to the technological development of the rest of the world. The pace of development and the practical solutions that depend on social and economic context are, however, unique. Historically, the start of computer use in libraries began with the computer catalog. By their nature computers are machines that facilitate work with different kinds of data, so their application in metadata organization was the natural first step in practical library application. The result of this was a computer catalog, or in its public form, as it is better known, OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog). It is important to mention that the word “online” did not assume anything more than data that could travel by wire between several computers of one organization. The logical next step was an exchange of data. Digital systems had a characteristic never seen before, and that was the fact that data could be copied an infinite number of times without data loss. Why not then copy and exchange metadata, or cataloging records, among a network of libraries. The first version of MARC format was seen in the 1960s16, followed by many versions, and then in the 1980s, the first standard for communication between libraries, z39.5017, was introduced. The major hardware infrastructure, the phone wire, was already in place, and just one more piece of equipment was missing, the modem. The rest was a matter of development. The computer catalog now has grown to encompass all aspects of library organization, and has become either an Integrated Library System (ILS) or Library Management System (LMS). It is well-known what has happened with the development of the Internet and global network. While computerized support for collection organizing was being developed, new possibilities for data access were emerging. The above-mentioned digital data characteristic, infinite number of record copies without data loss, allowed for new possibilities in materials preservation. Digitizing does not protect the physical materials, but it allows for preservation of the content. 16 Henriette D. Avram, MARC, its history and implications (Washington: Library of Congress, 1975): 5. 17 Z39.50 Biblio Tech Review, 2001, www.biblio-tech.com/html/z39_50.html. (5. Feb. 2010).

150 Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina Thus, through the global network, unlimited access to it is ensured. The main prerequisites that have encouraged digitization projects are the availability and affordability of hardware (scanners), and the availability of broadband Internet. Because the Internet is widely spread, there is a potential for a critical mass of collection users, while affordable computer hardware draws in the critical mass of “technologically enlightened” librarians, both of which are necessary to get new projects underway. This brings forward the issue of librarian education, which becomes a prerequisite for the aforementioned development. Generally, computer use in libraries can be divided into six categories: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Computer hardware Internet Standards Library software Digitization Library services

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Development of Technologies in Croatian Libraries Technology (or new technologies) in Croatian libraries refers to computers and communication technology. Until the 1980s the technology in libraries consisted of typewriters (although even at that time, in many libraries, catalogue cards were still hand-written, and typewriters were of Italian, German and Croatian make), and a telephone (usually one telephone line in the whole library and no telephones in offices). In former Yugoslavia telephones were a privilege, as the infrastructure was still undeveloped. Photocopying machines with chemical paper were rare. NCR paper did not exist yet, so copies were made with carbon paper. New technology started to be introduced into Croatian libraries in the 1980s, and attitudes towards technology in libraries before that period strongly influenced the introduction of new technology. For many decades after the Second World War, technology in libraries was regarded as a luxury by public administrators and many directors of libraries, or as something that still needed to be confirmed. Libraries and librarians in Croatia are modest by nature. They do not believe in the power of politics, but in the power of the word. As everywhere, directors of libraries have a crucial role in implementing new technology, and, as happens with new technology, it is usually introduced by a younger generation of professionals. Until 10 or 20 years ago in Croatia, as a rule, managerial positions were held by elderly staff. Another important factor that slowed down the introduction of new technology into Croatian libraries was the fact that people with technological education were rarely employed by libraries. Librarians mostly held degrees in humanities, and even in medical or technical libraries this was also the case. In many libraries this is still a fact. In addition to the humanists, chemists were also employed in libraries, and many of them held high positions within the profession. Also, for a long period after the Second World War, when the dominant public (political) idea was to build a new socialist society where everybody was supposed to be equal, culture was regarded as a remnant of the capitalist system, and intellectuals were not highly esteemed in the social hierarchy. It was the blue-collar worker who was the leading social character. It must be noted here that after the Second World War, Yugoslavia had a very high percentage of illiterate adults, as the majority of the population was peasants. Because libraries were considered a cultural activity, their function was limited to the ideological development of the worker. This started to change in the mid-1960s, with a turn to western values. Generally speaking the introduction of new technologies was slower in Croatia (Yugoslavia) than in the developed countries. There were big differences between cities and rural areas, but until the 1980s, the core technology in libraries was typewriters, hectographs, and card catalogues. In the mid-1980s electric typewriters and desk-top computers started to replace the mechanical typewriters. However, the computers in libraries were used only for word-processing and the printers in fashion were dot-matrix.

152 Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina Computers were expensive, slow, bulky, and had hard discs with little memory. These were also the years when the idea of using computers for cataloguing started to emerge. Again, the NUL had the main role in implementing computer cataloging in libraries. Consequently, a national software package, CROLIST18, was developed and implemented. In its initial stage CROLIST was a successful and advanced product, developed jointly by top library and software experts. The idea was to have one software product used in all types of libraries. However, different types of libraries have different needs, to which the software was difficult to adapt (software development will be discussed further in the next chapter). In attempting to fulfill its leading role in the development of the library system in Croatia, the NUL was focusing on its own needs and was not able to recognize the needs of other types of libraries. Unfortunately, this has remained so to this day, because the core concern has been not the users’ needs, but the production of a perfect catalogue. This is understandable from the NUL point of view, because it is obligated to catalogue the legal deposits and to publish a national bibliography, but is absurd from the standpoint of other libraries. For more than 20 years the NUL was working on the development of CROLIST, which was and still is used in many libraries, although its development stopped in 2005.

Library Catalogues and Software At the beginning of the 1980s two computer library catalogs appeared simultaneously. One was the above mentioned CROLIST, developed by the National and University Library, and the other was MEDVED, developed in one of the public libraries in Zagreb19. By the 1990s when computers became widely used in libraries, two more library computer vendors appeared. All four software solutions (CROLIST, MEDVED, ZAKI, METEL)20 were implemented in different kinds of libraries, and they used UNIMARC record format and were built based on the same set of cataloging rules. Although these two facts are not a prerequisite for bibliographic record exchange, they significantly facilitate it. Given the necessary infrastructure, exchange of bibliographic records can make up the national union catalog. Despite these opportunities and the unison agreement that the union catalog is needed, and because of interpersonal disputes between the library vendors, at the moment this text went to press the national union catalog still didn't exist. In 2000 the three 18 Mirna Willer, “CROLIST: Croatian Library and Information System,” Vine, no. 97 (1994): 39௅44. 19 Sanja Pavlakovic, Kompjutor u Knjiznici Medvescak, Vjesnik bibliotekara Hrvatske 30, no. 1௅4 (1987): 57௅72. 20 CROLIST was developed in NUL by a small company UNIBIS d.o.o.; MEDVED was developed in a Public library Medvescak in Zagreb but stopped developing in 2007; METEL was deveopled in Varazdin Public Library; ZAKI was developed in the Zagreb City Libraries.

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supervisory Ministries of Culture, of Science and Technology, and of Education initiated a large project of constructing the National informational system (NISKA) with one of the goals to build the National Union Catalog. However, the project was never finished21 and the documentation from the project was never published, thus keeping the public uninformed of what actually happened and why the project ceased. After such developments further technologic advancement mostly happened via the four major software vendors. These four software packages has four respective union catalogs and made up four different closed systems. All libraries within these systems had an Internet accessible OPAC–WEBPAC. The situation became even more complicated afterwards. In 2005 the NUL stopped the development of CROLIST and purchased commercial software. Their LMS of choice was Voyager. All Croatian universities also agreed to implement this software. Upon implementing Voyager at NUL, it became apparent that diacritics were not entirely supported within this software, and that it no longer would be possible to produce the online national bibliography. The implementation of this software in the libraries of other universities (Rijeka, Pula, Osijek, Split, Zadar, Dubrovnik) never even began. In April 2009, Voyager’s new owner, ExLibris, offered to implement a different software package, Aleph, into all of the Croatian university libraries, under the condition that the contract between NUL and ExLibris was updated. The proposed chronology of abandoning Voyager and migrating to Aleph can be found on the NUL’s website, along with a note that it is necessary to establish a new set of legal responsibilities through an updated contract between all of the contracting parties, meaning all universities as implementation sites.22 At the time of writing of this text, the contract had not been updated yet, and in the mean time three universities have withdrawn their consent to implementation of Voyager. Currently, central libraries of all universities still use CROLIST software, which has not been further upgraded since 2005, when the NUL broke the development contract. Some University of Zagreb faculty libraries migrated to ZAKI software (software developed in a public library) in 2009. Software MEDVED has not been developed or upgraded since 2007. Some libraries, for example, Library of the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, the second largest library in Croatia, migrated to open source software KOHA.

Digitization – Internet – New Library Services As for the second major aspect of librarianship, ensuring access to the collections, the main driver of development of library services has undoubtedly been the development and spreading of the Internet. In relation to the Internet in 21 Project NISKA web page was updated last in 2001. See www.niska.hr/. (3. Feb. 2010). 22 Nacionalna i sveucilisna knjiznica u Zagrebu: Kronologija nabave i implementacije integriranog knjiznicnog softvera, www.nsk.hr/Info.aspx?id=1130. (5. Mar. 2010).

154 Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina Croatia, three key moments can be identified that set the pace of development. In 1991 CARNet (Croatian Academic and Research Network)23 was launched as a project, and a year later it established the first Croatian Internet connection to the world, top-level .hr domain24. It became the first Internet service provider, limited however, only to the academic community. Soon thereafter commercial Internet service providers emerged, but private households and public libraries were only able to use the dial-up connections, until 2001 when the first ADSL services appeared. The second key moment was in 1999, when Deutsche Telecom became 35% shares owner of Croatian Telecom, the main commercial Internet service provider in the country, and through it had the opportunity to impact the market, and two years later became the majority owner25. At that time Croatian Telecom had a monopoly in fixed telephony services and was the owner of all physical telephone lines, while DT was an advocate of, in Europe, the already slightly obsolete, ISDN26. After penetrating the Croatian market, DT used its influence to present ISDN technology, at that time still unavailable in Croatia but already slightly obsolete in the European market, which was giving way to the then new ADSL technology. The ISDN, although twice as fast as the dial-up technology, did not pose such a significant improvement as the ADSL. In any case, the result of DT’s marketpenetration decisions delayed the introduction of broadband Internet in Croatia by about two to three years, when compared to Western Europe. The third key moment naturally was the emergence of ADSL services with broadband Internet and the real development of the interactive World Wide Web, better known by today’s popular name, Web 2.0. One of the first library services that utilized greater interactivity of the WWW services was “Ask the librarians”27. The “Ask the librarians” service was, at the beginning of the millennium, already considered a standard one, at least in bigger western libraries. It was started in Croatia as a project by a group of enthusiasts who lacked the funds but had the expert support of the public libraries. They developed their own software and started the service. Soon after the commencement, the Ministry of Culture offered the financial support, and the service spread to many libraries, however, all of them were public. This free-of-charge service is available to the public through the majority of public libraries’ websites. Their own “Ask a librarian” service is

23 24 25 26

CARNnet: Chronology, www.carnet.hr/chronology. (22. Jan. 2010). CARNet Chronology. T-Hrvatski Telekom: Kljucni datumi, 2010, www.t.ht.hr/grupa/datumi.asp. (22. Jan. 2010). John Schmid and Victoria Shannon, “Telekom sells more old-tech ISDN lines than new DSL ones: A digital dinosaur refuses to die,” New York Times, 15 March 2003, www. nytimes.com/2003/03/15/business/worldbusiness/15iht-btisdn_ed3_.html?pagewanted=1. (5. Feb. 2010). 27 Pitajte knjiznicare, www.knjiznica.hr/pitajte-knjiznicare/projekt/. (15. Jan. 2010).

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available through the NUL’s website, but it is not a part of the described project.28 Another new library service stimulated by the development of the WWW services is the digital, virtual library collection. Today most of the existing digital collections in Croatia are collections of old and often valuable local material, which of course is not specific only to Croatia. Old and valuable materials that are exempt from copyright restrictions are the materials most needed as freely accessible digitized documents. In the discussion of development of digital collections in Croatia, an important feature to note is the Croatian Cultural Heritage29 website and the national digitization of archival, library, and museum materials initiative by the Ministry of Culture, launched at the beginning of 2007. This initiative’s basic goal is: To create a normative framework and infrastructure that will enable and encourage the wide availability, use and exchange of cultural content, facilitate access to and representation of the national cultural heritage, and to lead to creation of digital content and services based on modern information technologies, interoperability, usability and long-term sustainability as well as the involvement in European and national policies and strategies of building the information society.30

The specific activities are as follows31: 1. Launching the project and establishing a group that will create specifications for a model of access to digital collection as well as the standards and guidelines for digitization, as a part of or alongside to the national project for digitization; 2. Organizing a referral center of a service for support and monitoring of the digitization project. 3. Designing a web page with reference and support materials for digitization, projects' information and the access to the digitization projects’ outcome. 4. Organizing of the cooperative digital archives including the hardware, software and human resources solutions. By the time of writing this text some of the project’s goals have already been achieved. The first wave of financing of “small”, individual projects has been initiated, and the guidelines for preparation and selection of materials have been designed and published, as well as the guidelines for the project implementation. The Croatian Cultural Heritage web portal has been designed32. This portal contains all the documents and news pertaining to the project and 28 Nacionalna i sveucilisna knjiznica u Zagrebu: Pitajte knjiznicara, www.nsk.hr/ DigitalLib.aspx?id=96. (20. Jan. 2010). 29 Croatian Cultural Heritage, http://www.kultura.hr/eng. (25. Jan. 2010). 30 Nacionalni program digitalizacije arhivske, knjiznicne i muzejske gradje, 2006, www. kultura.hr/hr/content/download/590/7857/file/nacprogramdigit.pdf. (22. Jan. 2010). 31 Nacionalni program digitalizacije arhivske, knjiznicne i muzejske gradje, 2006. 32 Croatian Cultural Heritage.

156 Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina covers all the projects completed to this point. Also it enables searching through all of the collections. Setting up the referral center and the digital materials archives is a more complex part of the project and is still in the planning phase. Results to date are visible on the Portal’s website, where one can search the 220 various digital collections. The project includes the digitization of archival, library, and museum materials. Up to now about a half of the materials are museum collections. There are 27 library collections, from 11 libraries, most of them public. All of the collections contain old and rare materials of general or regional character. This fact illustrates the character of the whole digitization program and commitment towards the preservation of national cultural heritage.

Continuing Professional Development of Librarians New technologies require continuous education. Libraries are still staffed with employees who began their careers with, and for a long time used, the card catalogs, while learning how to utilize the new information infrastructure. However, working by their side are also younger librarians who have, through their education, gained competencies to work with the new technologies. When computers were introduced library education was carried out ad hoc and unsystematically. Today, a significant role in continued education is played by previously mentioned organizations, Croatian Academic and Research Network (CARNet) and the Center for Continuing Training of Librarians.33 The Center was initiated jointly by the NUL, Croatian Library Association, Department of Information Science at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, and Zagreb City Libraries. Out of 12 modules, four of them directly deal with the use of computers in libraries (Electronic information sources and systems, Digitization, E-learning, and Courses in technology use). The Center issues certificates, but they are still not taken into consideration in the professional appraisal process. Also, librarians do not choose their own courses, but, depending on the financial situation, a library manager makes the choice for them. Continuous education of librarians is supplemented by many professional conferences held in Croatia, mostly organized by the Croatian Library Association or by one of three university LIS departments. Also important to mention here is Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA),34 the international conference held every year since 2000, bringing together a number of relevant Croatian and international scientists and experts. It is organized jointly by LIS Department at the University of Zadar and Rutgers University, United States. Since 2009 the LIDA conference has been a part of the PhD program of the LIS Depart33 Centar za stalno strucno usavrsavanje knjiznicara, www.nsk.hr/cssu/index.html. (24. Feb. 2010). 34 Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA), http://web.ffos.hr/lida/. (27. Feb. 2010).

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ment at the University of Zadar. The conference provides an opportunity for Croatian librarians to become familiar with the latest global developments in technology based library services. Since there is no national authority for libraries, archives, and museums, the Archives, Libraries, Museums seminar35 plays an especially important role in professional and academic development, while bringing together scientists and experts from these three kinds of institutions. The aim of the seminar is to research the theoretical framework, to discuss the contemporary information infrastructure as a basis for its enactment, and to identify possible ways of cooperation between the archives, libraries, and museums. The seminar is organized by the three national societies and co-organized by the three respective national parent institutions for archives, libraries, and museums, as well as the three university LIS Departments.

Future Developments There are two reasons why it is not easy to predict the future development of Croatian libraries. War suffering from the 1990s and the social and economic changes along with the problems of the transitional period still hinder continuous and stable development. Also, the future is made uncertain by the rapid development of technology, an integral part of all aspects of librarianship. Of course, it is impossible to monitor and forecast the development of technology based library services without taking into account the development of librarianship in general, including infrastructure, legal issues, and education of librarians. In the past 15 years two attempts were made to plan the development of the Croatian library system. Both attempts were abandoned by the initiating institutions (Ministries of Culture and Science) at the point of nearcompletion. Organizing the national library system should be the top priority in the coming years. The impending inclusion of Croatia to the European Union will surely affect Croatian libraries, primarily in the sense of development of still missing long-term strategic solutions. According to recent developments, it is likely that the public library sector will continue its growth. The weak point is the lack of coordination for the implementation of an LMS, without which resources are not used in the best possible way. The biggest future challenge for Croatian public libraries is the development of an efficient network that would cover not only the urban but also the rural areas on the continent, as well as the islands. According to recent research, Croatia is witnessing a decline in reading habits of printed text, especially among children and young adults. Therefore, more effort should be placed in the development of reading groups and other activities, which can develop reading habits. Since there are many examples of good practice, both 35 Arhivi, knjiznice, muzeji: About AKM, http://public.carnet.hr/akm/About%20AKM.htm. (3. Mar. 2010).

158 Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina in Croatia and abroad, this should not be difficult to implement, presuming qualified librarians are engaged in a nation-wide effort. It can be expected that the public libraries will, guided by the principles of inclusion, focus on strengthening their social role as meeting places for all ages, as well as on continuous efforts to educate users in the use of new technologies and the development of information literacy skills. School libraries are facing an intensive infrastructure development, as the current one is insufficient, as well as the need to strengthen their role in creating and implementing curricula. Their fate is closely related to the development of the school system as a whole, and considering the new technologies all increasingly more used in the implementation of curricula, the strengthened role of libraries in developing twenty-first-century literacy can be expected. University and faculty libraries will also have to improve their infrastructure following global technology advances, especially due to the increased use of digital resources and the declined use of printed texts. This trend also affects the publishing industry, and because of it, the focus of production is shifting toward electronic publishing. Since the LMS problem is one of the major issues in university libraries, searching for a solution will most likely be the priority in the future. The National and University Library will have to undergo a serious organizational restructuring. For more than ten years the library has functioned without senior management staff (no head of national collections, no head of university collections, etc.) leaving the top manager faced with handling jobs at several levels. The implementation of Voyager, started in 2005, was never completed. Therefore, NUL, as the center of the Croatian library system, must solve the question of the LMS. Also, the Library will have to restore its position as the center of the Croatian library system, and, in this regard, the first task should be to create a long-term strategy and development plan for the system as a whole. Whether or not this will be accomplished, depends on the ministries supervising the Library. Analyzing the development of technology in the world and in Croatia, there are two trends to be recognized as the fastest-growing: the development of mobile or smartphone devices and the development of social networks. The National and University Library is finishing the implementation phase of a project that should facilitate accessibility of the library to blind and visuallyimpaired persons36. Relying on the smartphone device and WiFi location network, a blind person can at any time obtain information on the current location in the library and ask for guidance to another location or to a service. The project was designed so that the blind or visually-impaired people could get the device and use it while visiting the library. Such devices, however, are becoming increasingly available as consumer goods. The idea is that, with 36 Danijela Babic, Dunja Marija Gabriel, and Marko Velic, “Implementacija pilot projekta VERGILIUS za slijepe i slabovidne osobe u Nacionalnoj i sveucilisnoj knjiznici u Zagrebu,” 2009, http://public.carnet.hr/akm/AKM_ostali/AKM13/Sazeci/Babi-Gabriel-Velic_ AKM13_poster%20sazetak.doc-ai.doc. (8. Feb. 2010).

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small software adjustments, this service can be loaded to mobile phones and tailored to serve members of the general public, who may need help in finding their way around a library. Aside from the application for orientation in a library, it is easy to foresee other uses of this device, such as patron status check, catalog search, account check, and all other services requiring simple and fast web access. Therefore, the great importance will be the education for librarians, and the increased usage of information systems in education and e-learning will be especially important. There is one more web-related phenomenon, and that is the emergence of social networks, such as MySpace, and more popular in Croatia, Facebook. Although originally they were meant to be merely a tool for connecting individuals, it soon became apparent that social networks could serve as a sort of communication channel for delivery of information. By creating a profile on Facebook, a library can inform its patrons of its activities or bring news from the media, all without administering mailing lists or discussion groups. A proof that this is not merely a theoretical possibility is the survey of Croatian libraries in 2009, showing that at that moment, 28 libraries, mostly public, had a Facebook profile.37 The content of these profile pages is generally news and notices of library activity, and sometimes photos or videos. Basically, libraries using Facebook apply it mostly for promotion of their activities and services. However, the overall number of libraries using this kind of self-promotion is still fairly small, but nevertheless this indicates that social networks are not a short fad but a sign of future development. If forecasting future developments of Croatian librarianship is narrowed down to a few basic directions, without which there really would be no development, the following should be included: organizing the library system; ensuring standardized development of libraries and standardized library service coverage; solving the MLS problem; tracking the modern technological achievements and the continuing steady investment in technology infrastructure in all types of libraries; ensuring the inclusion of population with special needs and using the technology for this purpose; investment in education of future librarians and intensive development of PhD programs to strengthen research in the field of applied technology categories; systematic continuing education of current librarians; and educating users on usage of new technologies.

Bibliography Aparac-Gazivoda, Tatjana, and Katalenac, Dragutin. Wounded libraries in Croatia. Zagreb: Croatian Library Association, 1993. 37 Ivana Pazur Vojvodic, “Hrvatske knjiznice na Facebooku,”, 2009, http://public.carnet.hr/ akm/AKM_ostali/AKM13/Sazeci/Pazur%20Vojvodic_AKM13_poster%20sazetak.docai.doc. (8. Feb. 2010).

160 Srecko Jelusic, Ivanka Stricevic and Boris Badurina Avram, Henriette D., MARC, its history and implications. Washington: Library of Congress, 1975. Babic, Danijela, Gabriel, Dunja Marija, and Velic, Marko. “Implementacija pilot projekta VERGILIUS za slijepe i slabovidne osobe u Nacionalnoj i sveucilisnoj knjiznici u Zagrebu.” 2009. http://public.carnet.hr/akm/AKM_ostali/AKM13/Sazeci/Babi-GabrielVelic_AKM13_poster%20sazetak.doc-ai.doc. (8. Feb. 2010). Education. Republic of Croatia: Central Bureau of Statistics. 2009. www.dzs.hr/Hrv_Eng/ ljetopis/2009/PDF/27-bind.pdf. (8. Jan. 2010). Information Society. Republic of Croatia: Central Bureau of Statistics. 2009. www.dzs.hr/ Hrv_Eng/ljetopis/2009/PDF/19-bind.pdf. (2. Feb. 2010). Matovina, Jagoda, Pavlakovic, Sanja, and Stricevic, Ivanka. Besplatni Internet za sve: Internet u narodnoj knjiznici. Vjesnik bibliotekara Hrvatske 45, no. 3௅4 (2002): 184௅194. Nacionalni program digitalizacije arhivske, knjiznicne i muzejske gradje. 2006. www. kultura.hr/hr/content/download/590/7857/file/nacprogramdigit.pdf. (22. Jan. 2010). Pavlakovic, Sanja. Kompjutor u Knjiznici Medvescak. Vjesnik bibliotekara Hrvatske 30, no. 1௅4 (1987): 57௅72. Pazur Vojvodic, Ivana. “Hrvatske knjiznice na Facebooku.“ 2009. http://public.carnet.hr/ akm/AKM_ostali/AKM13/Sazeci/Pazur%20Vojvodic_AKM13_poster%20sazetak.doc -ai.doc. (8. Feb. 2010). Population. Republic of Croatia: Central Bureau of Statistics. 2009. www.dzs.hr/Hrv_Eng/ ljetopis/2009/PDF/05-bind.pdf. (2. Feb. 2010). Schmid, John, and Shannon, Victoria. Telekom sells more old-tech ISDN lines than new DSL ones: A digital dinosaur refuses to die. New York Times, 15 March 2003. www.nytimes.com/2003/03/15/business/worldbusiness/15iht-btisdn_ed3_.html?pagewanted=1. (5. Feb. 2010). Willer, Mirna. “CROLIST: Croatian Library and Information System,” Vine, no. 97 (1994): 39௅44. Z39.50. Biblio Tech Review. 2001. www.biblio-tech.com/html/z39_50.html. (5. Feb. 2010). Zakon o knjiznicama. Narodne novine, no. 105 (1997).

2.6 France Libraries in France: From One Century to the Next One Anne-Marie Bertrand Translated by Christine Deschamps As usual for the library world, French libraries have undergone in these last years a digital revolution, a decrease of public funding, an ageing of the profession, and a drastic modification of information usage and educational practices. Furthermore, they have been undergoing a disruption of the political and administrative environment. To describe the scene of French libraries today comes in fact to recounting, perhaps more than everywhere else, rapidly changing scenery, not yet stabilized.

The End of the French Backwardness? During the whole of the twentieth century, French libraries were somewhat behind others, especially when compared to the libraries of similar countries. But it was also a rhetorical backwardness, which was used during the whole period to plead for the emergence of new means, new programmes, a new ambition: “A durable discursive scheme is thus installed in order to establish the decisive importance of public libraries in an enlightened and democratic nation, to acknowledge the dissatisfying status of the current situation (the legacy of the past, the consequence of the crisis, or of the war, or of the feebleness of the former governments) to claim that this will not last, to pick up the signs leading us to hope. Time passes: 10 years, 30 years, 50 years later, one finds the same speeches, full of the same grain.”1 This concept about university libraries as well as public libraries was presented in the “Miquel Report”, requested in 1989 by the government from Andre Miquel, a university professor. Andre Miquel compares university libraries in France and in Germany at that time. In Germany, university libraries are open between 60 and 80 hours a week, in France the average is about 40 hours. He underlines the fact that the buying power of a student in a French university library is lower four to nine times to the one of the students in foreign university libraries. 1

Anne-Marie Chartier, Jean Hebrard. Discours sur la Lecture (1880࣓1980). BPI, 1989, 78௅79.

162 Anne-Marie Bertrand Therefore, French libraries are under the minimal level where it is possible to talk of “collection”.2 The comparative figures are, as one can see, overwhelming, and abundantly feed the discourse regarding French backwardness. The number of municipal libraries in France in 1980 was 930, whereas in the United States there were 8,037 in 1978. The staff in France consisted of 7,169 positions in 1980, versus 86,707 in the United States in 1978.3 The proportion of population attending a public library was 10% in France in 1980, and 50% in the United States. In 1984, the staff working in university libraries represented 3,243 positions in France, versus 6,407 in West Germany (FRG). The collections in France amounted to 17 million volumes, whereas on the other side of the Rhine they amounted to 65 million volumes. Communication and lending amounted here to 7.5 million, there to 25.4 million.4 However, since the last decades of the twentieth century, this lag has been decreasing and French libraries are undergoing an unprecedented development.

The National Library The National Library, called Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF) since 1994, is doubtless the most visible and spectacular element of the recent development of French libraries. Launched in 1988 by President Francois Mitterrand, this programme took only a decade to be accomplished It involved several aspects:

2 3 4

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The most tangible one was a major building project (240,000 m²) in a fallow laying eastern part of Paris, together with the rehabilitation and modernisation of the old buildings in the Richelieu street.

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The most controversial one was a major political project, aiming at universal accessibility. Violent polemics marked out what was a leap from the stage of a confidential and protected institution (700 seats) to that of a library offering 3,600 seats, widely accessible (it is only obligatory to be over 16 years of age to access the upper part called “rez de jardin”). This was even thought of as diminishing its intellectual value. Some university professors accused this project of creating a new “Disneyland”, one more destination for Japanese tourists visiting Paris!

–

The newest aspect was a major digital project which has been building up for the past 10 years. The BnF is responsible for the development of the CCF (Catalogue Collectif de France), an online union cata-

Andre Miquel. Les Bibliothèques Universitaires. La Documentation Française. 1989. Bowker Annual of Library and Book Trade Information, 1981. Andre Miquel. Les Bibliothèques Universitaires, op. cit.

2.6 France ௅ Libraries in France 163

logue, comprising: its own catalogue, the university libraries’ one, and the major municipal libraries specialised collections. It offers virtual exhibitions, pedagogical files, and online conferences. Above all, the BnF created its own digital library “Gallica” with 900,000 documents, and it is one of the founding members of the European digital library, “Europeana”. The fullness of its collections (11 million printed documents and 15 million images), its staff expertise, and its aim of wide accessibility, make the BnF today one of the major leaders of the library world, whether at international level (bilateral cooperation, TEL – The European Library Network, IFLA) or at national level, with its network of associated libraries.

University Libraries As noted earlier, the last two decades have led to a revival.5 Following the Miquel report, public politics were aware of the “extreme poverty” of French university libraries. Since the beginning of the 1990s, they have been granted a major financial budget increase. Their operational budgets were increased by 300% during the 1990s decade, 2,000 new positions were created, bringing their numbers to over 5,000, and grants allowed them to increase their average opening schedule, which at is present 58 hours.6 Chiefly, multi-annual building planning led to the opening of 400,000 m² of new premises since 1992, bringing the operational surfaces to almost one million m². Not only did the size of the buildings change, but also their conception. For example, architectural concepts, where the new quality of the buildings is obvious (Bibliothèque de l’Universite Paris 8, architect Pierre Riboulet; Bibliothèque Robert de Sorbon of the Reims University, architects Chabanne and partners; Bibliothèque universitaire du Havre, architects René and Phine Weeke Dottelonde, for instance), and also operational concepts, whereby the buildings show the new aspects of these libraries, such as: a welcome area, training and online services areas, cafeterias, and so forth. The activity indicators have increased, especially regarding opening times as well as general attendance (60 million access registered in 2007), and the digital data consultation level – but not lending, which, like everywhere else, is decreasing (minus 8% between 2006 and 2007!). Can we then say that the situation has become satisfactory? The answer is no, not really, and not enough. Because, whereas the financial means had been increasing, the number of French university students was hitting the sky. Their 5 6

Claude Jolly, “Les bibliothèques dans l’Universite,” Regards sur un demi-siecle, BBF, 2006. ASIBU : données de synthèse sur les BU : http://www.sup.adc.education.fr/asibu/accueil. htm.

164 Anne-Marie Bertrand registered number within 96 university libraries went from 460,000 in 1984 to 1,200,000 in 2007, and seems now to have stabilized. The ratio between the number of students and the available services (seats offered, available documents, acquisitions, etc.) is only slowly getting more adequate, for example 0.60 m² per student in 1988, and 0.67 m² per student in 2005. That sprint race (between the needs and the means) is complicated by the digital revolution. As their foreign equivalents did, the French university libraries had to, within a very short time, create digital collections, change their subscriptions habits, and offer distant access to documents, in order to fulfill the their users’ expectations. Besides, it was necessary to acquire new competencies and new tools, and to face the involved increase of expenses. Between 1998 and 2000, the acquisition expenses of university libraries for the purchase of electronic resources went from 5.1 million euros to 14.4 million. The costs are still rising, but they are now somewhat restrained by the negotiating activities of a purchase consortium called COUPERIN, created in 1997, with a membership of 205 university and research institutions at present. Two other main lines of work have emerged in this digital world. The first line consists of the activities offering, optimising, and maintaining the scientific production of the university. Together with the researchers and with the computer departments of the universities, libraries participate in distributing the amount of knowledge produced by the university community (periodical articles, theses, preprints, pedagogical documents, etc.) The second line is the participation in the training of students in information literacy. Today, we think of this as a natural and usual library activity (in 2007, over 29,000 training hours were spent to teach information literacy skills to 136,000 students). In addition to the digital revolution, French university libraries face an institutional revolution. University libraries were for a long time directly under the authority of the Ministry in charge of higher education, and the tie was very strong: about 85% of their funding was paid for directly by the State (including staff expenses); building programmes were developed by the Ministry (in connection with local authorities); the collective tools such as SUDOC, Téléthèses, CALAMES, Persée, and so forth, were imagined and funded by the Ministry, who also established the libraries’ priorities (such as more opening hours and free access as much as possible). Since the 2007 law on the universities autonomy, which is being gradually implemented, things have changed radically. To this day, the narrow bond has been released between the national level (the Ministry) and the university libraries, which from now on must become totally integrated within the university as just another university service. Completely, that is financially, functionally, and most of all politically, documentary policies are the universities’. Their diffusion, value enhancing, and training activities are now within the educational and scientific university policies.

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In a country as centralized as France was, this means a real “Copernicus” revolution indeed. Governmental library actions are now ruled by a logical conceptual framework, with assistance in negotiations between the State and the Universities by way of quadrennial contracts, including library projects and activities. Moreover, the national level has become refocused on the availability and the functioning of collective interest activities or structures, such as ABES (Agence bibliographique de l’enseignement supérieur), Enssib (École nationale supérieure des sciences de l’information et des bibliothèques), CADIST (Centre d’acquisition et de diffusion de l’information scientifique et technique), specialized architectural expertise, national heritage collections value enhancing, and so forth. But library activities decisions are currently taken on an autonomous basis. This very recent reform has not yet been implemented in every university, but it is the mainspring of remodeling for university library projects, activities, and legitimacy.

Public (Municipal Libraries) It was somewhat earlier that the municipal libraries started developing (in the 1970s, with acceleration in the 1980s), and that this trend started to grow.7 Today, there are about 3,000 municipal libraries in France, employing over 21,000 people, in buildings of over 2 million square meters.8 This late developing phase paradoxically led to the emergence of a group of modern establishments for the population. In most of the cities, these buildings were brought to a good quality standard, and their surfaces have doubled since 1990. For university libraries, famous architects conceived high quality buildings (for example, Norman Foster in Nîmes, Paul Chemetov in Montpellier, Pierre Riboulet in Limoges, Christian de Portzamparc in Rennes, etc.). This upgrading also touched their services, including: baby sections, records lending, film lending, Internet access, and digital resources access. One specific of these libraries must be underlined, their important dedication to cultural action, including: exhibitions, authors-guests welcome, conferences, discussions and debates, concerts, films projections, and so forth. Distance reference services have been implemented, though yet in few of them. This new library generation is often called “médiathèque”, which is a way of signifying clearly the gap between these modern or modernized services and the traditional library as it was known to the French people (or as they believed they knew it, though they did not use it).

7 8

Anne-Marie Bertrand, Les Bibliothèques municipales : enjeux culturels, sociaux, politiques, Éditions du Cercle de la Librairie, 2002 (Bibliothèques). Bibliothèques territoriales. Synthèses nationales. http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/min/ index-min.htm.

166 Anne-Marie Bertrand The registered readers number has multiplied by seven in 30 years and has reached seven million people, with 35% children.9 It is mostly the young who use libraries, and people under 25 years of age represent the majority of users. As with everywhere else, users are changing: the number of registered readers is stagnating; the library frequenting has increased; requests for access to documentary resources has increased, especially for digital resources; on-site work is very important, and convivial usage is increasing, with more and more libraries offering cafeterias or “reading lounges”. Libraries have various types of collections. Books still make up the basic stock of documents (93 million) and lending is very high. Music (CDs, though their borrowing has decreased), films (DVDs, better stabilized), and the press are all generally of good quality, and enable libraries to fulfill needs, wishes, and various kinds of curiosity. Electronic resources are still developing. The libraries of large and medium-sized cities offer access to the Internet, but very few municipal libraries enjoy local digital resources. The digitization of old collections is slowly on its way and chiefly concerns the libraries’ “treasures”. The only mass digitization concerns the Bibliothèque Municipale de Lyon, which granted permission to Google in 2008 to digitize 500,000 old and rare documents. One of the specifics of the French municipal libraries is to preserve important heritage collections, as over 4 million documents were confiscated during the French Revolution from private collections (emigrated aristocrats, the Church, Learned Societies, etc.), and they are now scattered within more than 300 public libraries, large or small. Nevertheless, in spite of this recent modernisation and in spite of the progress, municipal libraries still have difficulties in reaching the whole population. Studies show that about one-quarter or one-third of the French people are regularly using municipal libraries, which is far below the figures of other comparable countries. There are many explanations that can be accepted to clarify these figures. For example, social imagery still sees libraries as silent places, boring, or full of constraints, offering inappropriate services (such as too short library opening hours), and collections too much oriented towards fiction and too little towards daily life issues (for example, actuality, practical handbooks, and social sciences), and as bureaucratic in the relations between librarians and users.10 Lastly, as a final remark on this subject, there are the 96 “départemental” (i.e., on a small regional basis). They include services based on a wider territory level (the “departement”), and they are meant to help small villages in this territory to create and develop their own municipal libraries. Their role is at the same time to give assistance to library leaders (through advice, expertise and training, for many of them have no real professional qualification) and to support the institutions, by way of union catalogues, documents deposits, as9 Il y a en France environ 65 millions d’habitants. Paris, INSEE, s.d. 10 Quel modèle de bibliothèque ? , sous la dir. D’Anne-Marie Bertrand, Presses de l’enssib, 2008.

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sistance to new job positions, exhibitions, and lending. One of the most preferred priorities today is to encourage these small communities to gather together, so that they might offer better quality services (more staff, more documents, more services, more opening hours, etc.)

Other Libraries The libraries described earlier represent the vast majority of French libraries. However, to be fully comprehensive, this panorama must also mention other kinds of institutions. The major ones are two “untypical” libraries, created by State authorities during the twentieth century. The Bibliothèque Publique d’Information (BPI) opened in 1977 and is located within the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. It is accessible to everyone and offers an encyclopaedic collection of documents onsite (about 400,000 documents, all of them available in free access mode, to be consulted only onsite), as well as many various services (self-training, press cuttings files, meetings and symposia, distance questions-answering services, etc.). Opened in 1986, the Médiathèque of the Cité des Sciences de l’Industrie (in La Villette, Paris) is a large specialized library, intended for professionals as well as for the general public. Its collections cover scientific production throughout the centuries and some heritage collections for the history of sciences, including digital resources of today. Large scientific and research libraries complete the university libraries availability. Also notable are the Bibliothèque du Museum d’Histoire Naturelle, the Bibliothèque Mazarine, or the Library of the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme. Administratively connected to large institutions, they offer access to a specialised public, be they students or not. Some private libraries, exceptionally rich, also fulfill this role, notably the Saulchoir Library (in philosophy and theology) and the Bibliothèque of the Institut d’Études Politiques. Myriads of smaller libraries make up the documentary offer in Paris or in the rest of the country. School libraries present a much contrasted aspect. Within the secondary school system, there are documentation centres in each “college” (not the United States meaning of college) and “lycée”. Both in the secondary school system, they have qualified staff and train young people to search for documents. For the younger pupils, within primary schools, the situation is very poor. Libraries do not have any staff (it is usually a teacher who manages it, or even sometimes some of the pupils’ parents!), and they have a very small budget to buy books, sometimes none at all. This situation has been such for a long time, and is not getting better. Lastly, other kinds of libraries serve specific user groups. Within commercial firms, social action committees have libraries, but these have tended to get smaller or even disappear, as municipal libraries offer better services. In prisons and in hospitals, the situation can be much diversified, linked as they are

168 Anne-Marie Bertrand to the real interest that the firms’ bosses might bear them. In prisons, real progress has been made during the past 20 years, due to the support of municipal and “départemental” libraries. In hospitals, there has not been much progress, because everything is on a volunteer basis. Thus, these libraries employ very few library professionals, except in the Paris hospitals. There are many libraries in France, but they are very scattered, without any connections between them. Libraries are making real progress, but are still at a very unsatisfactory level, and there are rich collections, but partly adapted. There are diversified services, but they are not “focused” on the end-user. Also, there are beautiful buildings, but they are attracting only a minority of the population. Public funding is important, and libraries are not a priority for political leaders. In the second part of this paper, I will discuss the problems and challenges for French libraries.

Endless Problems French libraries evolve in an environment which is partly the same as any other (their mission, their techniques, and their tools are the same), but also partly specific to each area of the country. Regarding this phenomenon, the French environment may be seen as having some advantages, some weaknesses, and also posing a lot of questions.

Real Advantages As seen earlier, libraries in France have been in a modernisation phase since 1980. Their buildings, their integrated management systems, and their collections have been upgraded and today are busy. The “change dynamics” have penetrated in every institution, and they developed quite strongly, but each following its own rhythm. The necessity to change permanently is recognised today and creates a positive mobilisation, so the profession is “on the move”. The profession is acknowledging the same values, the same ambitions, and the same projects, sharing knowledge and cultural life. Circulation of ideas and reflections is carried out through professional literature. We have active editorial collections (Éditions du Cercle de la Librairie, Presses de l’ ENSSIB Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l’Information et des Bibliothèques, Association des Bibliothécaires Francais, etc.). Many good quality serials are being produced as well, including a number of general periodicals, such as: Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France, BIBLIO-thèques, and the inter-professional review Livres-Hebdo. Also, some periodicals are being produced aiming at a specialised group of readers, such

2.6 France ௅ Libraries in France 169

as: Revue des livres pour enfants, and Arabesques; and also institutional periodicals, like the Revue de la BnF, or BPI Bulletin, and many others. Training institutions are obviously major centres for the spreading of knowledge, competencies, debates, and professional culture. Nationally speaking, ENSSIB trains the library managerial staff (at the University Mastership level) and is a resource centre for the whole community of librarians (about digital libraries, Questions-Answers Services, publications, and technical alertness). Regionally speaking, there are training centres preparing students for the competitive exams to enter the civil service of libraries, and they offer a major activity of continuing education. Universities also offer professional training at the B.A. level. Day seminars, conferences, and symposia are countless. Some online agendas try in vain to list them exhaustively. Associations, libraries, and universities expand their meeting opportunities, which are valuable to the profession. There are, for instance, the annual conferences of large associations (ABF, Association des Bibliothécaires Français, and ADBU, Association des Directeurs de Bibliothèques Universitaires), and one-day seminars, organised by the BnF, of its associated libraries, as well as the Rencontres Henri Jean Martin (about heritage, organised by ENSSIB and Bibliopat), or the ABES, Agence Bibliographique de l’Enseignement Supérieur, Seminars. Research on libraries and the library profession is done very actively. Several institutions, such as Universite Versailles/Saint-Quentin, École des Chartes, École Pratique des Hautes Études, ENSSIB, Comité d’Histoire du Ministere de la Culture, and others, drive research teams and offer training seminars, colloquia, and publications on these subjects. In 2008 and 2009, the four volumes of the Histoire des Bibliothèques Françaises were reedited in an inexpensive version. They had been published originally between 1988 and 1992 at the Éditions du Cercle de la Librarie. Also worth mentioning is the publication in 2005 (At Droz Ed.) of the annual international periodical, “Histoire et civilisation du livre”.

Some Weaknesses About 40,000 people are working in French libraries. This represents a solid national body, coherent but small. It is less perceptible that few librarians have joined trade unions, and also few of them are members of an association. The number of professional association members is believed to be about 5,000 people (only a little over one librarian out of every ten). Still more worrying is the fact that they are not together in a single and strong association, but widely spread across many associations, including: the ABF with 3,000 members; the ADBU, which gathers the directors and leaders in staff of academic libraries; the ADBDF, which comprises the directors and leaders in staff of major cities’ libraries; ACIM for music librarians; ADDNB for digital collections librari-

170 Anne-Marie Bertrand ans; and so forth. Younger generations of librarians are somewhat reluctant to get involved in associations. There are also two other more serious characteristics contributing to the weakening of librarians. The first one is the remaining traditionalist professional culture. Many librarians, indeed too many librarians, still think that working inside their office (“back office”) is the most important and valueenhancing part of their job, and that working together with the end-users (“front office”) is the most tiresome and unpleasant part of their job. In most of the cases, except in small cities, less than half of the weekly working time schedule is “front office”. Hence, this tragic insufficiency affects opening times in public libraries. This problem has not made any progress at all (in university libraries, longer opening hours were introduced due to the employment of students). It is well-known that it takes quite a long time to change the culture of the profession. The second characteristic is the French administrative dispersion. There was never any communal grouping in France. There are now over 36,000 towns and villages (more then the total number of European countries), and 32,000 of them have less than 2,000 inhabitants. Consequently, they have difficulties in sustaining, only on their own budgets, a municipal library. There is no authority to force these villages to work together. During the last 10 years, there have been laws encouraging “inter-communality”, that is, voluntary village groupings for the fulfillment of some missions, such as water distribution, garbage collection, and sports or cultural equipment management, but each of those keeps their own administrative autonomous entities. Intercommunal libraries were created as well. These recent measures are going to modify the public library landscape. However, they are still experimental, and it is difficult to predict the future. This village scattering is also reinforced by the partition of the authorities who are in charge of libraries at the national level. The Ministry of Higher Education is in charge of academic libraries, the Ministry of Culture of public libraries, the Ministry of Justice of prisons libraries, the Ministry of Health of hospital libraries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the libraries of French cultural centres abroad, the Ministry of Agriculture of rural centres libraries, and so forth. There is no national policy for libraries and documentation, and there is no National Council for libraries. There was one created in 1989, but it disappeared quickly because it had only a Consulative role and no power. In these conditions, it is clear that France has no rational or coherent library network. On the contrary, France has too many networks, which usually do not cooperate. The most active one is the university library network, which has a strong tradition of cooperation and providing many collective tools (union catalogues, interlibrary lending, acquisitions consortia, digitisation, training, etc.). The most evanescent one is the public libraries network, which works together only if it wishes to do so, if the directors feel sympathy for one another, if they

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have time enough, and so forth. It has been nicknamed “The Archipelago”, but it is never called a network. Between these two extremes, there is a complicated and heterogeneous range of networks, including: the French cultural centres network in foreign countries, the law libraries network, the libraries associated with BnF network, the Conservatories, art libraries, training centres, Christian libraries, and so forth. Digitisation has started supporting the creation of virtual networks. For example, under the patronage of BnF and the Cujas Library, a French law digital library is being implemented. Thematic shared conservation, for instance for medical libraries, creates other kinds of group. In short, France is suffering at the same time from a networking lack and a surfeit!

Competences and Responsibilities Who is Doing What? This must be clarified, and structured establishments must be created to work for their network on managing territory (municipal, regional, and local), promoting long-lasting cooperation (by agreements and with shared funding), which must be developed, and making tools available to all librarians and members of networks.

Many Issues French backwardness (even though partly made up today), institutional scattering, the lack of a national policy, and the low weighting of the professional body are all elements fully explaining why the library image is unclear in France. Or, if it is not clear enough, it is not a positive one, or if not positive enough, it is not a dynamic one or dynamic enough. Regular library attendance is still quite low, as a little over half of French students are using university libraries, and hardly one-third of the population is using public libraries. The BnF is deeply concerned by these recent statistics and is implementing new devices to attract new audiences to libraries. People have a blurred vision of libraries and attend them very rarely. This observation worries the librarian. Thought, analysis, and studies have been increasing for the past few years in order to conceive what will be the future for librarians.11 It is necessary to move forward, to clarify missions, to get 11 ABF, Demain la bibliothèque , congrès 2006 ; Quel modèle de bibliothèque ? , sous la dir. D’Anne-Marie Bertrand, Presses de l’enssib, 2008 ; Claude Poissenot, La nouvelle bibliothèque : contribution pour la bibliothèque de demain, Territorial Editions, 2009 ; colloque, Horizon 2019: Bibliothèques en prospective, enssib, 2009.

172 Anne-Marie Bertrand nearer to the population, to offer better services, to change the images that deciders keep in their minds of libraries. There is of course the question of the legitimacy of libraries: What is their real usefulness? Who uses them? In what way, as they pretend, are they useful to society; to knowledge transfer; to information access; to democratic life; to the end-user’s personal development; or to access to the knowledge of society? We believe that the answers are obvious, but we, French librarians, have difficulties in making them clear, explicit and convincing. Yet, it is only by proving the libraries usefulness that we will be able to improve their image and strengthen their future. This line of thinking needs the support of our foreign colleagues. British, North American (United States and Canada), German, Dutch and Finnish libraries are often mentioned in our country as sources of inspiration. In promoting, explaining, and convincing, there too we need the experience of our foreign colleagues. We can quote the former president of IFLA, Claudia Lux’s, very pertinent wording: in France, like everywhere else, we must put “Libraries on the Agenda”.

Acknowledgement As a former IFLA President, I was invited to write a chapter in this book about French libraries. However, having retired from the library world as I retired from IFLA in 2003, I know very little today of their current state of art. In seven years, people, institutions, and techniques have changed a lot. As I did not feel that I could write this chapter myself, I asked Ms Anne-Marie Bertrand, the Director of the École Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l’Information et des Bibliothèques, to draft it, and I translated it into English. I hope that the readers will thus have an exact picture of the French library landscape today. I am very grateful to Anne-Marie for having accepted this job, and for performing it so remarkably. Christine Deschamps IFLA President, 1997௅2003.

2.7 Germany Libraries in Germany Claudia Lux Introduction Germany is known as the home of Gutenberg’s letterpress and is proud of its literary tradition. At present the country’s publishing industry produces 95,000 titles each year. Many of them can be found in one of the 11,500 public and research libraries, visited by more than 200 million people every year. According to the official statistics of Germany’s libraries, at present there are 358 million volumes in libraries, and 465 million books and other media items are loaned every year. Each working day 670,000 visitors are counted in libraries in Germany.1 The structure of the German library system is determined by the political structure of Germany and is based on its long and diverse history. Germany is a pluralistic democracy with a political federalism in culture and education. Twenty years after the unification of East Germany and West Germany, sixteen federal states build the political structure of the German Federal Republic with its capital Berlin and a population of 82 million. Education is a burning topic in Germany, and the ministry of education is the only ministry without any budget cuts by the federal government in 2010௅2011. Nevertheless, most of the burden in culture and education lies on the shoulders of federal states. This impacts the state-of-the-art of German libraries from the national and the state level down to the local level. There is no general public library law at the national level, and at the federal state level public library legislation has just started. In Thuringia the first law concerning public libraries was passed at the state level in July 2008, and it has put libraries in an important position for education and culture.2 Many federal states are now discussing the library law, with the hope that they will pass it. There are some laws at different government levels concerning libraries. For example, there is a law for the National Library of Germany at the national level.3 In addition, for a state library, called a Landesbibliothek, or regional library there are laws such as the renewed law of the Central and 1 2 3

http://www.bibliotheksportal.de/ (13. June 2010) Thüringer Gesetz zum Erlass und zur Änderung bibliotheksrechtlicher Vorschriften; Thüringer Bibliotheksrechtgesetz (ThurBibRG) vom 16. Juli 2008. Gesetz und Verordnungsblatt für den Freistaat Thüringen. S. 243௅244. Gesetz über die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (DNBG) vom 22. Juni 2006, In: Bundesgesetzblatt I (BGBI. I) S. 1338.

174 Claudia Lux Regional Library of Berlin at the state level in 2009.4 Interlibrary loan between libraries in different federal states in Germany also requires an agreement of all states. To facilitate this, the Conference of the Ministers of Culture, from all sixteen federal states, has to formulate a common agreement, which is then passed by each state legislature individually before it can begin to function.

Germany’s Four-Level System of Library Service Provision The German library system, with its approximately 11,500 libraries, is organized on four levels of service provision to meet the public’s information and research needs.5 Level One: First information needs should be met by small and middle-sized public libraries, that is, by public libraries in villages or small towns, branch libraries, or bookmobiles. Level Two: This level represents an increased need for research, to be met by city libraries, especially by their central library. Level Three: The needs for specialized information and research are to be met cooperatively by some metropolitan libraries, special libraries, and university libraries in the region. Level Four: This level refers to highly specialized needs that can only be met in cooperation with some special libraries, university libraries (with their special collections), three central specialized libraries, and the libraries with national collections and services.

The Role of Libraries at the National Level – Level Four The National Library The National Library of Germany was founded in 1912, in Leipzig, by German publishers. The Minister of State of Culture and the Media provides funding for the German National Library (DNB), with locations in Frankfurt, Leipzig, and Berlin. In June 2006, a new law reconfirmed support for the national legal deposit at the DNB, which receives two mandatory deposit copies of each of the more than 95,000 items published in Germany every year. The German National Library is the central archival library and the national bibliographic center for the Federal Republic of Germany, with the task to collect without gap, and to make available to the public, the following: all German and German-language publications since 1913; foreign publications about Germany; translations of German works; and the works for German-speaking 4 5

Gesetz über die Errichtung der Stiftung Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin (Zentralbibliotheksstiftungsgestz—ZLBG) in der Fassung vom 27. Februar 2005. in: Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt für Berlin (GVBI) S. 134௅139. Bibliotheken ’93: Strukturen—Aufgaben—Positionen. Ed: Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Bibliotheksverbände. Deutsches Bibliotheksinstitut: Berlin, 1994.

2.7 Germany ௅ Libraries in Germany 175

emigrants published abroad between 1933 and 1945. According to its collection policy, the German National Library also receives material from Austria and the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Now the law also includes online publications to be collected by the library, cataloged, and stored as part of Germany’s cultural heritage.6 The German National Library compiles various series of the German National Bibliography, which can also be searched online.7 In December 2009, the German National Library became an important player in the network of the German Digital Library, a combined digital platform for collections of libraries, museums, and archives.8 This includes the European digital project, Europeana, to include Germany’s cultural heritage works. In future, digitization will play a greater role in convergence between libraries, archives, and museums. Nestor, the German network of digital longterm preservation, also will become an important element for libraries, archives, and museums.9

A Cooperative Collection of German Imprints The German National Library has been collecting German imprints since 1913. Due to Germany’s history of multiple, small kingdoms, it had never been possible to create a unified collection of all printed materials produced in Germany during the last 560 years, which would be comparable to other large national libraries in Europe. Therefore, the National Library is collaborating with a group of five libraries with significant collections, to build up a complete collection of printed literature published in German-speaking countries, from the beginning of Gutenberg’s letterpress. This venture is called Working Group for the Collection of German Imprints, and it has led to the creation of a combined virtual national library, in which the participating libraries are responsible for the following periods, shown in Table 1.10 Table 1: Collection of German Imprints organized by a period

1450௅1600 1601௅1700 1701௅1800 1801௅1870 1871௅1912 1913௅

6 7 8 9 10

State Library of Bavaria in Munich Herzog August Library in Wolfenbuettel State and University Library of Goettingen University Library J. C. Senckenberg in Frankfurt/ Main Berlin State Library- Prussian Cultural Heritage Berlin German National Library- Frankfurt/ Main and Leipzig

http://www.d-nb.de/eng/netzpub/sammlung/ueber_np.htm (13. June 2010) http://dnb.d-nb.de (13. June 2010) http://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/ (13. June 2010) http://www.langzeitarchivierung.de/ (13. June 2010) http://www.ag.sdd.de/eng/index.htm (13. June 2010)

176 Claudia Lux

Libraries in Germany with Special Collections of German and Foreign Publications A national library, besides collecting the nation’s production of published works, often collects the most important scientific literature from all over the world. In Germany this task is shared by several libraries at the national level, financed or co-financed by the federal states. The Bavarian State Library in Munich holds a multitude of incunabula, but also has important international collections, as does the State Library Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage. These two libraries are very important sources for humanities studies, due to their collections of works in all European languages and special collections in Oriental, Asian, and East European languages. The State Library of Berlin is not a regular state library; as the legal depository library for the State of Berlin is instead the Central and Regional Library, Berlin. However, as the former library of the Prussian State and a modern part of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, it is a library with rich collections of high-level German and foreign research material. At the national level, Germany has three central subject libraries. They collect national and international material in their subject area quite comprehensively. The function as national resource for science and technology is placed with the Technical Information Library in Hanover; for medicine and biology, with the German National Library of Medicine in Cologne and Bonn; and for economy, with the German National Library of Economics in Kiel and Hamburg. Goportis is a joint service of these partner libraries, to search and order from the world’s most comprehensive information resources for technology, natural science, economics, life sciences, and medicine.11 Together with two state libraries in Berlin and Munich and a few other institutions, these are the key institutions for national licenses, fully financed by the German Research Foundation. The national licenses can be used by all faculty members and interested private persons in Germany.12 Germany, a country with so many different states in its history, has developed a refined system of financial support for special collections in university and state libraries, to fulfill the need for highly-specialized literature in research. The German Research Foundation covers 50% of the cost of foreign literature in libraries participating in the program, which are designated as the special subject libraries for that subject area. Participating libraries have to commit themselves to building up and maintaining the collection from their own budget, and also to send the material to any other library via the interlending library system. The special material may be searched using Webis13, which leads to the library with the special subject, such as Psychology in 11 http://www.goportis.de (13. June 2010) 12 http://www.nationallizenzen.de/ (13. June 2010) 13 http://webis.sub.uni-hamburg.de (13. June 2010) all projects founded by the German Research Foundation DFG

2.7 Germany ௅ Libraries in Germany 177

Trier, English language and literature in Goettingen, and so forth. All these activities at the national level are seen as level four, the highest level in the four-level system of libraries serving the information and research needs for the country. Six regional union catalogs facilitate access to these collections. A search over all these catalogs can be executed by the Karlsruhe Virtual Catalogue. The Catalogue also provides the possibility to search many different national library catalogs from Australia to the United States.

The Role of Libraries in Germany at the Academic and Research Level – Level Three In Germany the vast majority of universities are still state universities, but new private universities have been founded during the past five years. At this level, the need of specialized information and research is provided by university libraries, state libraries, and specialized libraries, and supported by some metropolitan libraries. Academic and research libraries have a long tradition, and they may be centrally organized or with a main university library and many independent faculty and departmental libraries. Some university libraries have developed remarkable service ideas, including the 24-hour-library in Konstanz, a cooperative subject list of accessible databases from 195 libraries, organized by the university library of Regensburg, as well as research on digital resources and repositories in projects of the university library of Goettingen. Within the discussion of open-access journals, the Regensburg University Library developed the Electronic Journals Library, with the following method: green for free access to full-text; yellow for free access for users from certain institutions; and red for no full-text access available. All university libraries are part of the regional union catalog. Many academic institutions in Germany are changing from a selfdetermined study system to a streamlined bachelor’s and master’s degree program, with different requirements for the students. Libraries of universities of applied science are oriented towards providing study material, and they have a high rate of supplication in their collections to serve the needs of their students. Bachelor’s students often need the same books, and they use library space for learning more frequently and require information literacy training. To meet these needs, academic libraries have changed, to provide far more space with wireless LAN connections. All university libraries have started information literacy classes at different levels, to meet the interest of their student clients. Many have been successful in integrating information literacy into the curriculum at their universities. Collection-building is under discussion in many academic libraries, as access is becoming more important than collection-building in university libraries. The national licenses as described above, as well as regional consortiums for licensing access to E-journals, Databases and E-books are basic for all academic and research libraries.

178 Claudia Lux State libraries in Germany are either combined with university libraries, or independent under the state ministry, representing the state or only a part of a state. All state libraries are based on laws of the regional legal deposit, and most of them have a long tradition in collecting material published in or about their home region for centuries. State and regional libraries produce bibliographies on their region’s literature. The result is a combined virtual regional bibliography, accessible via the Web. Special libraries are often part of their institutions and are focused on internal services. Their collection policy often covers digital research data and grey literature in all formats. Librarians in these special libraries are often expected to synthesize detailed content information to suit their users’ needs, and, in most cases, these special libraries are not open to the public, or the collections are for use in the reading room only. Nevertheless, special libraries play an important role in Germany’s library services, and innovative information services often develop from these libraries’ activities, in response to their highly-specialized users’ needs. There are special libraries of research institutes, such as Max-Planck-Institute or Fraunhofer Institutes, which serve the basic research programs in these institutions. These libraries are of highquality and very well financed. Many special libraries in Germany are oneperson libraries and share their methods in running a library in a small, informal network. Germany has nearly 1,000 special libraries in ministries and in administration, law libraries and medical libraries, or libraries of museums and art galleries. Many libraries of the third and fourth level are engaged in digitization. Digitization is a highlighted activity of German libraries. From the small, special library, all the way up to the National Library, digitization is a relevant topic. There are three important digitization centers, including: one at the German National Library, with the strong support of the European digital Library project, Europeana; a second center at the University Library Goettingen; and a third at the Digitization Project at the State Library Munich. Most of the projects focus on digitization of special collections, incunabula, and older manuscripts. Many of the ongoing digitization projects are co-financed by the German Science Foundation, which supports library technological development and cooperative research library activities for better science. The Google project in Munich is different, as it is the first mass-digitization project in Germany, using eighteenth and nineteenth-century collections in Bavaria. There are quite a few other digitization projects which are heavily used, such as, the digital Gutenberg Bible at the University Library of Goettingen, and the Berlin address-books from 1799௅1943, at the Central-and regional Library in Berlin, where the German center of “Europeana local”, the project to stimulate small and medium-sized libraries to digitize material and participate in Europeana, is located.

2.7 Germany ௅ Libraries in Germany 179

Public Libraries in Germany German public libraries have 160 years of history with many ups and downs. According to the strategy, Bibliotheken ’93, libraries at level two have to meet the following standard: two books or non-books per resident, a stock of current periodicals, 20% of the collection should be non-books (CD, video, DVD etc.), minimum opening hours of at least 35 hours per week, participation in union cataloging and interlibrary lending systems, and 5% of the collection should be current reference books to provide extensive information. Public libraries at levels one and two should offer access to some databases. The traditional organizational system of the public library is still in existence, that is, there is a central library, either with district and branch libraries, or just some branch libraries. Some public libraries have special music libraries providing musical scores, books on music, and CDs. A special home-delivery system for handicapped people delivers books and non-books, and often this service is provided by volunteers. The mobile library stops at schools and at places outside the city center, where there are no branch libraries. One mobile library can serve approximately 25,000 inhabitants. Quite a number of public libraries are financed by the Christian churches, with a concept based on their own cultural traditions. They have fewer opening hours and are run by volunteers. During the last few years, many new public libraries have been built in Germany, some with very interesting library architecture, such as in Muenster and Ulm. These have fascinated architects and librarians alike, and they have sparked the development of new concepts for library architecture in Germany. One of the most famous public libraries is the library in Wuerzburg, which has won many prizes, including the “Library of the Year” prize in 2003. German public libraries have developed interesting concepts for youth libraries all over the country, with good examples in Duesseldorf, Dresden, and Hamburg. Others have developed new services and programs, such as intercultural library services and information literacy training. The biggest public library system in Germany exists in Munich, with the traditional central library and many different branches. Munich has been the first metropolitan library to use radio-frequency identification (RFID), now installed in many more public and research libraries. The existence of five to six Combi (Combination)-libraries, where a research library and a public library are integrated into one organization, shows a trend that is very current not only in Germany, but also in Europe and outside Europe. The most developed integration can be seen in the Central and Regional Library in Berlin, where the public and scientific information and research needs are reflected on one shelf. The Central and Regional Library in Berlin functions both as a public library and as a state library, with legal deposit responsibility for the city and the state of Berlin. Thus, 3.4 million media items provide the basis for an interesting mixture of combined research and public library services.

180 Claudia Lux In Germany, at the basic level one, small and medium-sized libraries have a good mixture of different books and media to offer. In serving people at a basic level, the library is a central access point for information and a market for everybody. Libraries at this level are financed by local communities. The libraries’ tasks at level one and two include: meeting the citizen’s information needs; facilitating orientation to the multifarious world of books and nonbooks, including the Internet; supporting the use of new technologies; promoting reading and cultural work within their community; inspiring people to spend their leisure time creatively; motivating learning; and helping to integrate different user groups, such as people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Due to financial constraints, some libraries at this level concentrate their services on children or young people, in partnership with schools, or focus on services for elderly people.

School Libraries The situation of school libraries in Germany is very different, because only 5% of all public schools have school libraries. Some school libraries have a good collection of books and media, enough space and high Internet connections, while others are just a collection of private books, collected by parents and supported by volunteers. The reason for a lack of school libraries in Germany has its roots in the civil servant hierarchy, in which librarians and teachers often have a different status, and hence, schools do not usually have the means for employing a librarian for the school.

How to Become a Librarian in Germany? Library and Information Sciences is offered as a discipline in eight different library schools at the university level. There is only one academic university, the Humboldt University in Berlin, where, besides bachelor’s and master’s degrees, a doctor’s degree is offered. To become a scientific or academic librarian, the candidate must already have a university diploma or master’s degree in some field, such as German literature, history or physics, before he or she is admitted to a two-year course of library and information science, to get a second master’s degree in this field. This qualifies him or her to work as a subject librarian at the university level, and also for different higher management positions, including the head librarian position at large public libraries. Since higher education has changed, the former course for certified librarians at different universities for applied science has been changed to a bachelor’s degree in library and information science. This training program qualifies the candidate for cataloging and many other positions in university

2.7 Germany ௅ Libraries in Germany 181

and research libraries, as well as for management positions in small to medium-sized public libraries and special libraries. At the lower level, a three-year vocational training program, to become a specialized employee in media and information services, can be entered after completion of the 10th grade or German middle school. This is an integrated qualification for work in libraries, archives, and audio-visual archives. According to the dual-education system in Germany, which characterizes vocational training programs, the training takes place alternatively for three weeks in a library, followed by three weeks of courses in a corresponding vocational school, for the period of three years, and it requires a battery of final examinations. This training program provides German libraries with well-qualified young staff, able to carry out various tasks from simple cataloging to lending services, periodicals’ maintenance to web page management, and so forth. In Germany it is very common for everyone in a library and information service to carry out front-desk work (such as check-out, reference desk, etc.), or public-relations work, combined with back-office work, like cataloging or acquisitions. Continuing education is a very important activity in German libraries. Every year the German libraries’ conference is the most important continuing education meeting for library and information professionals in Germany. There are many other possibilities for continuing education for libraries at the state level, and a virtual marketplace makes it easy to find them all.

Library Associations in Germany Cooperation is at the heart of the national federation of library associations, called Library and Information Germany (BID), founded in 1989 as an umbrella organization of the German library and information associations. This umbrella organization unites the German Library Association, representing 1,700 libraries and library institutions, with the Association of Professionals Information Library, the Association of German Libraries, and the German Society of Information Professionals. The Association of German Libraries is the oldest librarian association in Germany, founded in 1900. Most of the university library directors and many science librarians in Germany are among its members. The Association of Professionals Information Library has 6,300 members and is the largest association of library and information professionals. The German Society of Information Professionals was founded in 1948 and represents document and information specialists. The German Library Association was created in 1949. In 1991, after a split of 27 years, the German Library Association (East) and the German Library Association (West) reunited. The German Library Association has developed and has taken the leadership of a Competence Network of Services, like the library statistics and

182 Claudia Lux the library portal for Germany. This library portal is the best information source regarding libraries in Germany.

Conclusion and Outlook After the unification of East and West Germany, the country developed a modern library system, with new buildings and new services at local and state level. Nevertheless, times are becoming harder, and financial crises have arrived at the basic level as well. The library and information world in Germany is changing again. Financial support for libraries will not come in the same way as it came before. Local libraries will have to advocate for support, because their local governments will not be able to bear all expenses. Libraries will have to develop new ideas for cooperation. Digitization will lead to more convergence with museums and archives. E-publishing will change the use of university libraries. Signs in some new university libraries suggest an exciting outlook, and the library as a third place, a place to be after work and home, will become a reality in Germany in future years.

2.8 Hungary Development of Libraries in Hungary Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga Introduction It is undoubted that the development of technology always brings many opportunities for “library things”.1 Due to the invention of movable type printing by Gutenberg on the one hand, publications became available almost on demand, and libraries enlarged significantly in number and size. On the other hand, bibliographic and content description of the most important publications, journal articles, mostly takes place outside the walls of libraries. The age of computer networks brought the revolution of many library things, including the processing and sharing of information, the access to publications, and the integration of different services. But how much slice of the cake of the information industry do the libraries get? According to the Matthew effect, “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath”.2 Do the libraries have enough, especially in Hungary, to fulfill their traditional role in the twenty-first century?

National Business During the twentieth century the Hungarian state had four structural changes. After World War I, in the process of a disintegrating Austria-Hungary, Hungary lost more than two-thirds of its territory and more than half of its citizens (authorized by the so-called Treaty of Trianon). After World War II the start of the computer age coincided with the implementation of the Soviet regime on the one side, and with a strong demand of continuation of the reorganization of the governmental institutions between the new state borders on the other side. In 1989 the regime changed, and Hungary became a democratic state again after 50 years. In 2004 Hungary entered the European Union. Even though economic indexes of Hungary exceeded the level of 1913 both until 1945 and 1989, the prosperity of civil society did not reach the level 1 2

We mean things that libraries and librarians deal with, and not the popular website, “LibraryThing,” August 29, 2005–, www.librarything.com/ (12. Mar. 2010). Matthew XXV: 29, KJV.

184 Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga of the “happy peaceful times.” Upon the 20th anniversary of the regime changing, without analyzing more deeply the present-day Hungarian political, social, or economical system we have to consider two important circumstances, neither of which can be avoided by libraries. On the one hand, the central institutions have lost their permanent support, power, and their necessary resources, and, on the other hand, the new legal, political, and social frames are not enough to compensate it. In the former regime most of the central duties were handled by the Hungarian national library, called National Széchényi Library, or were delegated to another institution by legal decrees. In the middle of the 1990s, the Internet pioneers of the Hungarian libraries were brave enough to start two nationwide library projects. One of them was the Hungarian Electronic Library (MEK3), a private initiative to collect copyright free electronic books digitized by volunteers, started in 1994. The other one was the Hungarian National Shared Catalog (MOKKA4) originally founded by the 15 largest libraries of Hungary, started in 1995. Eventually, both services landed in the National Széchényi Library, the first one in 1999, and the second one in 2002. Unfortunately these services, in the frame of the central institution of the Hungarian libraries, neither became a real integrated part of the similar Hungarian nationwide services (in the fields of providing Hungarian electronic documents and registration of Hungarian publications), nor hit the originally imagined targets of the Internet pioneers. Besides, the present central services have not penetrated into the modern forms of publication (e.g., blogspots) and hardly use the new Web 2.0-based channels for information sharing. The pioneer librarians of social networking are considering replacing the information systems of these services before their users leave permanently. The new generation of librarians thinks in “nodes,” so they will be brave enough not only to try but to finish the decentralization of nationwide services. The financial background of Hungarian libraries has never been strong. The golden age was the first decade of the new democratic regime, when libraries received much support from foreign foundations, such as the World Bank, Soros Foundation, PHARE, and TEMPUS.5 Unfortunately, we had a significant span to cross. During the Soviet regime, the proper “Western” devices were hardly available, because of the shortage not only of money, but also of currencies. Besides, the so-called “COCOM limits” embargo by Western countries regulated the maximum performance of some properties of in3 4 5

National Széchényi Library,“Hungarian Electronic Library,” 1994–, www.mek.oszk.hu/ (12. Mar. 2010). National Széchényi Library,“Hungarian National Shared Cataloguing Association,” 2001–, www.mokka.hu/ (12. Mar. 2010). Lajos Murányi and Ilona Hegyközi, eds., Information and the Public: Ten Years of the Hungarian Library System 1989–1999 (This material was prepared with financial support from the Goethe Institute of Munich, Germany, for the round-table discussion on Information and the Public at the conference of German librarians’ Kongress 2000 in Leipzig, Germany, March 21, 2000): 1–78., www.goethe.de/z/30/infomoe/ftp/eungarn.zip (16. Oct. 2009).

2.8 Hungary ௅ Development of Libraries in Hungary 185

formation and communication devices that were sold to communist countries. For example, the acquisition of the integrated library system software for the National Széchényi Library was restricted by the COCOM limits as to its hardware configuration (max. 8 MB memory, 1.2 MISP processing speed, 1.5 GB disk).6 Currently, the most available financial resources come from the European Union. It means that we can apply for funding of current projects. Because of the late start in the field of library automation, and as we entered the EU just six years ago, the current calls for application do not suit properly our level of development. For example, we have had a huge gap in retrospective conversion of records of card catalogs, both in nationwide and local services. The Hungarian government, including the Ministry of Education and Culture, has decided to use European Union funding and has approved several operational programs within the framework of the New Hungary Development Plan to achieve the goals outlined in the strategies discussed above. These are namely: The Social Renewal Operational Program (TÁMOP), 7 and The Social Infrastructure Operational Program (TIOP).8 The main goal of the Social Infrastructure OP (for libraries) is to support the so called Knowledge Repository Express, through the coordinated improvement of the infrastructure for library services. There were two rounds of applications during 2008 and 2009, excluding Central Hungary, because other infrastructural developments such as the subway construction in Budapest, take up most of the budget for this OP. More than $10 million were however allocated for 67 project winners country-wide, other than Budapest. The Social Renewal OP has two main objectives for libraries, in order to increase both the non-formal and informal role of the library network in lifelong learning experiences:

– –

improving library services by serving library users in a more efficient way and, improving and enhancing national, centralized electronic services.

These two objectives run under the name “Knowledge Repository Express,” and almost $27.5 million have been allocated for these purposes ($21.8 million and $5.5 million respectively).

6 Rudolf Ungváry, “A Nemzeti Könyvtár számítógépesítésének története 1969-tĘl az ezredfordulóig,” Könyvtári FigyelĘ” 49, no 1 (2003): 33. 7 The Government of the Republic of Hungary, Social Renewal Operational Programme, 2007– 2013, (2007, 2009), http://www.nfu.hu/download/24848/T%C3%81MOP_adopted_en_ modification1.pdf (12. Mar. 2010). 8 The Government of the Republic of Hungary, Social Infrastructure Operational Programme, 2007–2013, (2007, 2009), http://www.nfu.hu/download/24861/TIOP_modification1_en.pdf (12. Mar. 2010).

186 Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga Table 1: The reported data of the Social Infrastructure Operational Program and the Social Renewal Operational Program Type of project

Main goal

Winners

TIOP 1.2.3/08/01 TIOP 1.2.3/09/1 TÁMOP 3.2.4௅08/1 TÁMOP 3.2.4௅08/1/KMR

infrastructure infrastructure library services library services in Central Hungary centralized services library services library services in Central Hungary

TÁMOP 3.2.4௅08/2 TÁMOP 3.2.4/09/1 TÁMOP 3.2.4/09/1/KMR Total

33 34 63 5

Funds available ($) 7.226.270 2.854.400 3.759.118 1.491.370

Funds approved ($) Data not available Data not available Data not available 1.302.964

5

5.181.347

5.097.646

N/A N/A

12.912.012 4.082.807

Deadline:03/31/2010 Deadline:03/31/2010

37.507.324

Legend: 1 USD=193 HUF (on 03/14/2010) KMR is an acronym for Közép-Magyarországi Régió, meaning Central Hungary, including Budapest N/A means not applicable

The structure of the overall financial system itself influences the quality of library services. There are a few libraries in Hungary which are able to maintain the level of quality. Generally, the libraries are faced with the permanent decrease of their budget year by year, so they have to find resources again and again to invest in the upgrade or development of their service systems. Considering the market of our library services there are 10 million inhabitants in Hungary, and another five million Hungarians outside the state borders, most of them in the neighboring countries. We have a unique language without a similar one. Our alphabet consists of 44 letters with 9 special diacritic vowels. Although the 16-bit standard of Unicode was issued more than 20 years ago, we still use different standards such as 8859-2, Windows 1250, and even the two-digit ALA codes in our integrated library systems of American origin. We hope, due to the Internet, that the Unicode will replace the other code systems in the next decade. Our hope is based on a survey published on the Google blogspot that nearly 50% of the websites have used Unicode since 2002.9 The difficulty of having different character sets generates many problems in information sharing and robot searching. Five of the countries with special alphabets, two of them from Eastern Europe, have been so successful in their local search market, that they are rivals of “Planet Google” (Yandex in Russia – 46%, Seznam in Czech – 63%, Baidu in China – 60%,

9

Google, weblog entry on “Unicode nearing 50% of the web,” The Official Google Blog, posted January 28, 2010, http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/unicode-nearing-50-ofweb.html (12. Mar. 2010).

2.8 Hungary ௅ Development of Libraries in Hungary 187

Naver in South Korea – 60%, Yahoo Japan more than 50%).10 The best known Hungarian search engine, Altavizsla, had been placed on one of the two leading Hungarian news portals, run by the former governmental telecom company, but it was replaced with a customized Google search box. A Hungarian blogspot about the universe of search-engines11 considers a dozen good Hungarian search engines (e.g., Johu, Szörcs, and Miner) trying to provide special services at the demand of the local market. The creators are young enthusiastic developers and managers, and they mutually promote each others' services and take part in common events. In the best case it is possible, that as a result of collaboration among them, they will create a proper and popular Hungarian search engine in the next decade, to help the Hungarian-speaking web users, running parallel with the next local version of Google.

Chains of Supply The post-war regime considered libraries as useful tools for delivering the communist idea. After World War II, the Hungarian library system had to renew itself completely, with the exception of its research libraries. The communist regime recognized the political importance of libraries that were accessible in every town and village, or school and workplace. Between 1949 and 1951, the collections were overlooked according to the “ideologically correct” contents of books, and the regular supply to libraries began. The civil societies (associations) were banned, and their libraries were nationalized. The governmental control of libraries was accomplished through different networks of libraries. The public libraries were organized by territorial principle, according to the Soviet library model, networks of county, district, and local libraries, but they actually copied the Anglo-Saxon model of the network in Budapest of Szabó Ervin Metropolitan Library (founded in 1904). At workplaces there were special libraries, documentation centers (later information centers), and trade union libraries as well. All elementary and secondary schools were required to set up a library, and proper libraries were mandatory in higher education and research institutions as well. The central libraries of Hungary consist of two national book deposits. The first one is the National Széchényi Library (founded in 1802) in Budapest, and the second one is part of the University Library of Debrecen.

10 Richard Waters, Robin Kwong, and Robin Harding “Google still struggling to conquer outposts,” FT.com, (September 16, 2008),www.ft.com/cms/s/0/99d3e98a-8406-11dd-bf00000077b07658.html (12. Mar. 2010). 11 Endre Jóföldi’s blog “KeresĘ Világ”, September 16, 2007–, http://kereses.blog.hu/ (12. Mar. 2010).

188 Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga There are some other special national collections (e.g., films or e-book collections).12 The quantity of development was so great that until the middle of the 1950s the number of “public libraries” exceeded the level of pre-war years. The 3,000th village library was opened in 1953, and the number of trade union libraries in the workplaces reached 2,500 in 1952. The extensive development ended in the middle of the 1970s, and the qualitative development increased from then onwards.13 It was in the special libraries where the application of modern technology began. In the “State of the Workers and Farmers,” research libraries belonged to the ministries of industry and agriculture, so documentation centers were created within these organizations to try and implement the Western computer-based technologies first in Hungary.14 In addition, some institutions of higher education with relevant subjects such as the Technical University in Budapest or the University of Chemistry in Veszprém, had an important role in the system of special libraries and library technology transfer. The hegemony of documentation centers in the application of modern technology remained until the middle of the 1990s. All in all, the aim of regulations of Hungarian libraries, until the change of regime, was intent on covering the full requirement of library services in Hungary. The regulations determined the duties of libraries on a local, territorial, or nationwide level. After the change of regime, there was no more censorship in publication and no more so called “banned books” in libraries on the one hand. On the other hand, “the library system fell apart, thousands of institutions ceased to exist. This happened primarily because of privatization of industry, and the diminished role of the trade unions. Many of the new, democratically elected local governments closed their libraries citing financial reasons.”15 The data from the Hungarian Statistical Office shows the changes of the last 20 years in the number of libraries by their types.

12 JenĘ Kiss, “A magyar könyvtárak negyven éve,” Könyvtári FigyelĘ 31, no 4 (1985): 351– 365. 13 Péter Sárdy, “Áttekintés a magyar könyvtárügy fejlĘdésérĘl és helyzetérĘl,” Könyvtári FigyelĘ 27, Special issue (1981): 13–18. 14 Ferenc Kégli, “Hatvan éve alakultak meg a szakmai dokumentációs központok” Könyvtári FigyelĘ 55, no 3 (2009): 445–457. 15 Murányi, 2000, 9.

2.8 Hungary ௅ Development of Libraries in Hungary 189

Figure 116

First of all, we have to notice that the “increase” we can see in the diagram does not mean an increase of the number of libraries, but it means the increase of the number of reports that the statistical office received. So, the decrease also reflects the unsure situation of some of the libraries, where either the service has been terminated, or there is no librarian, or the institution is under reorganization. The most significant difference can be seen in the case of special libraries. The “special libraries” consist of four types of libraries: special libraries with nationwide services, corporate libraries, trade union libraries and research libraries of universities or research institutes. The majority of decreasing numbers follows the closing of trade union libraries (public libraries of work places). Unfortunately, many corporate libraries shared the destiny of the trade union libraries, for example 40% of hospital libraries were closed in the last 20 years.17 For corporate libraries, the only way to survive has been to take part in the information and knowledge handling workflow of the institutions as much as possible. The librarians have the proper expertise to handle not only 16 Hungarian Central Statistical Office, “stADAT-táblák, Könyvtárak, levéltárak (1990–), ” 1990–2008, http://portal.ksh.hu/pls/ksh/docs/hun/xstadat/xstadat_eves/tabl2_07_02ia.html (12. Mar. 2010). 17 Éva Kührner, Mi lesz veled orvosi könyvtár? (paper presented at the annual conference of Central Library of Semmelweis University, Informatio Medicata, Budapest, 17–18 September, 2009), www.lib.sote.hu/files/moksz/2009/Kühnrer%20Éva.ppt (12. Mar. 2010).

190 Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga the traditional collection, but also the electronic collections of the corporations. However, in workplaces where libraries have closed, it will be a difficult job to re-conquer these positions. In the last decade there have been some successful implementations of knowledge management in libraries of pharmaceutical and telecommunication companies. In the case of the libraries of higher education, the so-called integration of different universities and colleges, placed many former central or department libraries of universities and colleges in unsure situations, previously regarded as separate “statistical units.” Otherwise, the libraries of higher education took the lead from document centers in the field of technology transfer due to the support of the World Bank after the changes of regime, though it has been difficult to get financial resources to maintain the quality of implemented technologies permanently. The other significant development for these libraries has been wider access to scientific literature. Besides the free sources available on the Internet, there is a “national program on purpose to purchase the necessary electronic data sources of the higher education and scientific researches centrally, on the basis of a national license in order to provide more information to a wider group of users on a lower price than earlier” 18, namely, the Electronic Information Service (EISZ). Higher education and research institutions receive services like Web of Sciences, Science Direct, SpringerLink, and JSTOR, via EISZ. The rate of support of payment is 10% to 90%, but, unfortunately, universities and colleges can hardly afford to pay even the minimum cost. The libraries of higher education have to find solutions to provide up-to-date sources as cost-effectively as possible. Though many special libraries with nationwide responsibilities were closed and the responsibility of collecting special subjects remained with the universities, we do not believe that the libraries of higher education can earn their keep. However we expect wider service of open access (OA) to full-text sources, the integration of different library and educational services, including: library catalogs, digital repositories, databases of paid and open access journal articles and other issues on the Internet, and e-learning applications. Also with the targeting of services more accurately based on deeper monitoring of current services and with better communication with the patrons via Web 2.0 tools of social networking, eventually libraries will become nodes for a social network of their users, and for the students in the first instance. After eight years of the change of regime in 1997,19 the new Library Act emphasized the principle of publicity, “Operating the library system, through which information flows freely and accessible to everyone is a prerequisite for

18 Electronic Information Service (EISZ). General information. www.eisz.hu/main.php?folder ID=875 (12. Mar. 2010). 19 Act CXL of 1997 Concerning the Protection of Cultural Goods, and Museum-Type Institutions, the Provision of Public Library Services, and the Culture.

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an Information Society and a democratic state ”20 and re-regulated the following fields:

– – – – –

“National supply of documents The central services maintained by the state The rights and responsibilities of the operators and the users of the libraries, The role and responsibilities of the national library, and the Professional requirements librarians need to fulfill”21

The new text of the Library Act, instead of re-defining the whole Hungarian library system, only deals with the central services. For example, the new Act does not define libraries responsible for different science collections, as the former Act did. Thus, the former National Medical Centre has been closed, the National Technical Library has been integrated into the Technical University, and the financial support to collect documents on religion in the University Library of Eötvös Loránd University does not exist any more. The national supply of documents is shared by libraries through a central catalog, the National Document Supply System (ODR).22 The acquisitions of each participating library are supported by state funding, according to the number of the satisfied interlibrary loan requests via ODR. Despite their smaller budget the central services are more efficient. However, they still have a duty to be done to decrease redundancy and reorganize their services to work as a social node for the Hungarian public on the one hand, and for the Hungarian libraries on the other hand. In school libraries the trend is “simple.” The libraries will be responsible for acquisition and providing access to the interactive digital (non traditional) textbooks, teacher books, resources books, and include the support of pupils in using them. Public libraries started to take part in the life of local communities, especially supporting the “victims” of the computer age or digital divide – those who lost their jobs or who do not have enough money or knowledge to have their own info-communication devices (computers, net, mobile tools). Unfortunately they also may have lost many personal contact points. The Szabó Ervin Metropolitan Library alone in Hungary has many branch libraries. In Hungary every fifth person lives in Budapest. By 1955 the “library of Budapest” hit the mark of two to three libraries per district in the 22 districts of the capital city. In 1974 the Szabó Ervin Metropolitan Library had 115 libraries, and then it hit the level of 1955 again. After 1974 the library tried to improve

20 Murányi, 2000,11. 21 Murányi, 2000,11. 22 Oktatási és Kulturális Minisztérium, “National Document Supply System,” 2001–, www.odr.lib.klte.hu/ (12. Mar. 2010).

192 Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga the quality of services, in spite of the decreasing number of service points.23 Their last building renovation and integration (the merge of libraries) project started in 2002 and has taken until now. In comparison to another type of service, banking, in Hungary, the banks opened dozens of new service points a year between 2005 and 2008. One of them opened a hundred the year before the credit crunch, while the banking transactions can be accomplished both via phone and Internet.24 We think that, besides the spread of electronic services, library buildings will remain important “social nodes.” The “personalized” library services will never replace the personal services in libraries.

Initial Development At the very beginning of the history of Hungarian libraries, the “know-how” of library-making arrived from the West, especially by the Order of Saint Benedict in the eleventh century, after the establishment of the Hungarian state. The most significant success in the history of the Hungarian libraries was the Bibliotheca Corviniana, the library of King Matthias (1458–1490), which brought its idea from the South, from the Italian Renaissance culture. Unfortunately the destruction of this famous library was in close connection to the destruction of the autonomous Hungarian state.25 At the setting up of the new library system in the 1950s in Hungary, one of the crucial questions was the proper knowledge not only to operate but also to develop the libraries. Fortunately, the Hungarian library system never had lost its connection with the international library system. Hungarian libraries continued their membership in different international library organizations (IFLA, FID, etc.) and took part in their work, even in “Western” countries. In the 1950s there were three new professional periodicals launched to share librarianship know-how. Until then only the Magyar Könyvszemle (Hungarian Book Review, founded in 1876) contained articles about libraries regularly (excluding some short-lived periodicals). These periodicals started in the 1950s, and they have been the most important library journals until now. The audience of Könyv, Könyvtár, Könyvtáros (Book, Library, Librarian) is mainly the librarians of public libraries; former titles were Könyvbarát (Bookfriend), between 1951 and 1956, then partly parallel with the former journal 23 Sándor Katsányi and JenĘ Kiss, “A FĘvárosi Könyvtár szerepe Budapest információellátásában - Történeti áttekintés,” Tudományos és MĦszaki Tájékoztatás 49, no.10–11 (2002): 53–74. 24 Hungarian Banking Association. Annual Reports on the Activities of Hungarian Banks (2004–), www.bankszovetseg.hu/bankszovetseg.cgi?p=almanach_2&l=&print=0&r=&v= 9852803922 (12. Mar. 2010). 25 Ministry of Education and Culture, comp, publ, and Hungarian Library Institute staff members, coll., Libraries and Librarianship in Hungary, 2006. Budapest: OKM, 2006: 8–11, in the Hungarian Electronic Library, mek.oszk.hu/04200/04288 (28. Dec. 2009).

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The Könyvtáros (Librarian), between 1952 and 1992; another one, the Könyvtári FigyelĘ (Library Review) is a theoretical journal, and between 1955 and 1957, its title was Könyvtári Tájékoztató (Library Information); and the third one Tudományos és MĦszaki Tájékoztatás (Scientific and Technical Information), was set up for technical librarians, and between 1954 and 1962, it was entitled as MĦszaki Könyvtárosok Tájékoztatója (Information for Technical Librarians). These peer-reviewed journals report the technical news and best-practice of libraries in foreign countries and Hungary as well. They will remain important sources in the future. The first interactive electronic form of the librarians' community forums, that is, exchanging e-mails, started immediately after the setup of the Internet in Hungary from 1 January 1992.26 It is called the Katalist 27 mailing list. There have been many mailing lists in existence since then, but the popularity of Katalist has remained even since it started. A palette of electronic newsletters mainly issued by organizations of civil society, that librarians should consider more widely, include: the Infinit Newsletter28 (Information Society, Internet, IT), the MATISZ Newsletter29 (Hungarian Association of Content Industry), and the KIT Newsletter30 (Library, Information, Society). We can get more and more information via personal blogspots of librarians, as well. There is a special blogspot for Hungarian libraries, and as the creator of the idea explains, “Hungarian libraries are using blogs for a short time – if they are using at all. The first blog dealing with librarianship, libraries, librarians was the Könyvtároskisasszony (“Library Mistress”), it runs since 2003. … The real break-through was in 2006. Most of the blogs were born at that time, including the first Hungarian blog for library patrons and the KLOG.hu. The main idea of the KLOG.hu (Könyvtár-LOG, Library-LOG) was to make a free blogging space for librarians and libraries.”31 In February 2010 even a Facebook group named “Könyvtárosok”32 was launched.

26 István Moldován, “Internet-lencse: Az IIF szerepe a hazai információs infrastruktúra kiépítésében I–II.,” Nyúz : Az ELTE TTK HÖK hetilapja 11 no 4 and no 5, (2004) www.nyuz.elte.hu/archiv11/1104/htm/iif.html and nyuz.elte.hu/archiv11/1105/htm/iif.html (12. Mar. 2010). 27 Available at “Katalist: Library sciences and Informatics,” 1992–, www.listserv.niif.hu/ mailman/listinfo/katalist (12. Mar. 2010). 28 INFINIT: Information Society, Internet, IT, “INFINIT Newsletter,” 1999–, www.infinit.hu/ (12 March 2010). 29 Hungarian Association of Content Industry, “MATISZ Newsletter,” 2001–, www.matisz.hu/ (12. Mar. 2010). 30 GM Consulting, “Library, Information, Society (KIT) Newsletter,” 2002–, www.kithirlevel. hu/ (12. Mar. 2010). 31 Dániel Takács, weblog entry on “Libworld – Hungary,” Infobib: Interessantes aus Informations- und Bibliothekswesen, posted April 23, 2007, www.infobib.de/blog/2007/04/23/ libworld-hungary-2/ (12. Mar. 2010). 32 “Könyvtárosok is on Facebook: Group for Hungarian librarians,” February 2010–, www. facebook.com/group.php?gid=312261069629 (12. Mar. 2010).

194 Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga Although civil societies were banned in Hungary after 1948, professional societies didn’t stop working, including the Magyar Könyvtárosok Egyesülete (Association of Hungarian Librarians, founded in 1935), which has remained one of the most important associations for librarians until current day. This association consists of different, almost independent sections, created by different library professional interests. So, besides at the annual conferences, the members share their knowledge in many meetings organized by the sections. Because of the flexible structure of the association, including the independent channels of information-sharing, it is suitable to accept new, modern forms of originally virtual communities as well. The other most important forum for librarians is the annual conference called Networkshop, organized by NIIF (National Information Infrastructure Development Institute). This conference started in 1992, and librarians who took an important part in the implementation of the Internet in Hungary have had their own section since then. They have members on the board of the conference, where the subject is the up-todate developments of Internet services. The “supervisor” of Hungarian librarians’ know-how is the Librarian Institute (KI), the former Centre for Library Sciences and Methodology (KMK). It works within the organization of the national library (OSZK) and has an important role in the decision-making connected with libraries and with the supplying of all types of libraries in Hungary. The KI has many duties that had not changed until now, including: the centre issuing of “New Books,” to support the ordering of new Hungarian books; issuing a theoretical library journal, the Könyvtári FigyelĘ (Library Review); publishing special studies (especially the Library Automation Booklets); maintaining a special library for librarians; making the bibliography of library literature; collecting the Hungarian translations of articles in the field of libraries; coordinating library research programs and statistical data collecting lead by the government; and setting up special training on demand for the Hungarian library system.33 There are other independent special training programs organized by the leading libraries, such as Szabó Ervin Metropolitan Library, National Technical Library, for public, and for research or technical libraries as well. The teaching of library know-how in higher education started in 1948/49, when Library Studies was introduced at the Faculty of Humanities of the Eötvös Loránd University for the first time (the only place to issue university degree for 40 years).34 In the beginning, the courses were characterized mainly by historical approach, further emphasis on descriptive and subject cataloging, and library operations (no management at that time!). Only in 1975/76 were modern subjects introduced, the technical elements in documentation in the post-graduate studies (courses like: Audio-visual information, Automated

33 László Bereczky, “Harmincéves a KMK,” Könyvtáros, 39, no 9 (1989): 520–528. 34 Tibor Futala, “Kronológia a hazai könyvtárosképzés és továbbképzés változásainak figyelemmel kíséréséhez,” Könyvtári FigyelĘ 26, no 2, (1980): 144.

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reference systems, and Reprography in scientific information provision).35 In addition to university studies, a new training program was initiated in the Budapest Pedagogical College, but it only worked between 1951 and 1956. Students who graduated from university basically were prepared for work in large reference or special libraries, or for libraries with historical book collections, while the practical librarian knowledge acquired by college students was able to answer the shortage of librarians in the time of extensive increasing of the number of libraries. During the subsistence of the Budapest Pedagogical College, 605 students of library studies graduated, while at the same time at the university, 145 students studied this major. 36 After a long break, the first College to introduce Library Studies was Szombathely in 1972. In the late 1980s, there was training supported by computers (Commodore 64) for the first time in Szombathely as a background to teaching information search techniques.37 Before 1989 the Department of Library Studies at Eötvös University had no computers at all.38 Library Studies started at Kossuth Lajos University (Debrecen) in 1989, first supervised by the Dean himself, and then incorporated into the Computer Center equipped with up-to-date hardware and software. A department was formed in 1994, first called Computer Graphics, among other titles (belonging to the Institute of Mathematics and Information Sciences from 1992, currently it is part of the Faculty of Information Sciences).39 Now there are 11 higher education institutions where library studies are taught. Notice of the difference between university and college level is obsolete now, this system was replaced by the BA, MA and PhD degrees of the Bologna system. In connection with Libraries and Information Studies, there comes the question of overproduction, “Can so many students with a LIS degree get jobs in today’s Hungary? Not as librarians, that’s for sure. There are no hundreds of jobs to be filled in libraries near and far. The only possible solution is to enter other nonprofit organizations on the one hand, and also prepare information specialists for the profit-oriented sector, a highly debated idea for some time. What to call librarians in the future would take another article to decide: information managers, information advisors, information experts, information

35 György Sebestyén, Az egyetemi könyvtárosképzés ötven év, (Budapest: ELTE Eötvös Kiadó, 2001), 111. 36 Máté Kovács, Az egyetemi könyvtárosképzés két évtizedes fejlĘdése és fĘbb kérdései, Budapest, 1970, in the Hungarian Electronic Library, www.mek.oszk.hu/06700/06707 (28. Dec. 2009). 37 Mihály Pálvölgyi, “Információmenedzser-képzés: egy új program születése” (paper presented at the meeting of the final symposium of TEMPUS JEP-0297 for nformációs szakemberek Magyarország számára: a Tempus segítségével Európába, Budapest, June 17, 1993), 85–86. 38 Sebestyén, 2001,131. 39 Department of Studies in Library and Information Science “Az informatikus könyvtáros szak kialakulása a Debreceni Egyetemen,” Faculty of Informatics on University of Debrecen, www.inf.unideb.hu/~bodai/kinformatika/tortenet.html (12. Mar. 2010).

196 Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga brokers? What counts is their skills and competences acquired during their studies and practical training.”40 But of course, to get these relevant jobs Hungarian librarians first have to improve their reputation, “Why expect a more favorable image by a society where 4/5 of its members do not even use our institutions?! And which library or librarian should prompt an opinion by the user? The small town library with 5 new documents a year and a librarian with minimum payment, or the ultramodern multifunctional complex with highly qualified staff and an integrated library system? Is there library in general, librarian in general?”41 It would also be necessary for the librarians to define themselves and their science. It seems to be an anomaly that four departments, out of the overall 11, belong to a Faculty of Education, another four are part of a Faculty of Humanities, two more can be found in a Faculty of Sciences and Information Studies, and one of them is within a Faculty of Social Sciences. And the national curriculum has been accredited as a discipline in the social sciences.42

Automation In 1972 an analyst of the first two decades of the implementation of modern library technology in Hungary said, “The automation and technical modernization of libraries had been still in a preparatory phase of highly variable level until 1971. Unfortunately the development of central services, especially the automation of centralized national services provided by the National Széchényi Library fell behind what was desirable, or planned. ”43 Since then we became accustomed to implementing software in a “preparatory phase,” from operating system software through integrated library systems to Web 2.0 applications. Moreover, the experts of Web 2.0 say that, “Because everyone knew that the restructuring of the Web site would mean a significant time filled with lots of new systems, development, and changes, perpetual beta is the third Web 2.0 pillar we adopted.”44 In any case, it is good news for librarians, as one of our jobs is to support our users in the usage of information sources that currently can be accessed only via information systems. If we are good enough at the adaptation of perpetually changing systems, we will never ever run out of patrons. 40 Péter Kiszl, “Ízlik-e a bolognai?: A többciklusú informatikus könyvtárosképzés eddigi tapasztalatai,” Tudományos és MĦszaki Tájékoztatás 57, no 1 (2010): 8. (transl. by Nóra Deák). 41 Éva Bartos: “Korszakváltó könyvtárosok?,” Könyv, Könyvtár, Könyvtáros 11, no 4 (2002): 32. (transl. by Nóra Deák). 42 Kiszl, 2010, 3. 43 Sárdy Péter, “A Könyvtárgépesítés helyzete Magyarországon.” Könyvtári FigyelĘ, no 3. (1972): 287 (transl. by Nóra Deák). 44 Karen A. Coombs, “Building a Library Web Site on the Pillars of Web 2.0” Computers in Libraries 27, No. 1 (Jan. 2007), www.infotoday.com/cilmag/jan07/coombs.shtml.

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But we could not get used to the “highly variable level” of library services resulting from the perpetual lack of financial resources, powerful stakeholders, and proper collaboration. The “highly variable level” is true, when viewed from several aspects. Modern services have been mainly limited to the documentation centers and the central services (national bibliography, central catalog of foreign books in Hungarian libraries), and even only to certain services in the first 35 years of automation, between 1950 and 1985, in Hungary. These were definitely up-to-date. The Selective Dissemination of Information service has been based on electronic services from the very beginning, first on magnetic tapes like Chemical Abstract, later in online databases such as Dialog. Another typical service to make lists of new acquisitions, bibliographies KWIC and KWOC indexes was partly based on subscription databases, partly on data input. Online searches became popular in the next decade, but mainly in documentation centers and special libraries only. Overall, automation started in the middle of the 1990s, but introducing all the modules of an integrated library system, including Serials and Acquisition, took more than a decade, even among the most developed Hungarian ILSs. Currently, we are working hard on making our services available in one common integrated web service and using the results of Web 2.0 services, as well as making use of knowledge management tools within the profit-oriented sector. Another reason for the “highly variable level” is an insufficient use of the applications already introduced. We still have a huge backlog in retrospective conversion, and only a fraction of the whole library holdings is available online, after 15 years of OPACs in Hungary. The third major issue is the rundown of even the best service or most up-to-the-minute hardware or cutting-edge technology, because it is impossible to keep pace with the speed of global computer and software development . Also, we could not get used to cooperating centralized national services, which remain behind what is desirable. The first automated national central service, the national bibliography took almost ten years to be introduced, with a regular service from 1978. The original methods, for example using the MARC format, are still proven. Facts, however, remain facts. Computer-based descriptions of the national book production were used only for making the national bibliography until 1982. An annotated list of publications to support libraries in their collection development, called “New Books,” and published once in a fortnight, was produced automatically from 1982. Catalog cards for the national library, though, were printed as part of the process from 1987, 10 years after the pilot project started.45 Regular cataloging of Hungarian publications started in 1976, yet there is no systematic retrospective conversion occurring. The volume of book production in Hungary is significant compared to the population, and technically it is not an impossible task according to the data collected by the Hungarian Publishers' and Booksellers' Association (MKKE). This voluntary Association is made up of companies in Hungarian, 45 Ungváry, 2003, 27.

198 Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga foreign or joint ownership which represent 92% of the publications and production in the Hungarian book market. Currently MKKE has 140 members.46

Figure247

Unfortunately, during the age of card catalogs, the collaboration in nationwide services also remained behind what was desirable. As mentioned before, the Hungarian National Shared Catalog (MOKKA) is now managed by the national library, but still it runs independently to the national library’s online catalog. A separate system used for document supply (ILL) is being developed by the same company based on the same integrated library system that is used for the national shared catalog. Merging these two services is planned later this year, supported by EU funding. Already, this project has induced “street fighting” between the current developer, e-Corvina company,48 and a newcomer called UTCA (in English: street) project.49 The UTCA project or Library gateway, would be a social space for library events, provide information about libraries and books, as well as serves as an overall library catalog with up-to-date copy availability statuses. They argue that MOKKA could be run better by them because the national shared catalog should be based on Web 2.0 technology and be user-friendly. A “union” catalog, they argue, should be

46 Hungarian Publishers' and Booksellers' Association, 1795–, www.mkke.hu/ (12. Mar. 2010). 47 Available at: www.mkke.hu/page.php?page=BOOK_TURNOVER (12. Mar. 2010). 48 e-Corvina Ltd. 2003–, http://www.e-corvina.hu/ (12. Mar. 2010). 49 UTCA Project: Univerzális Tartalomfeltáró és Csoportosító Alkalmazás = Universal Application for Content Retrieval (by managing semantic relations). 2007–, http://konyvtar.info/ (12. Mar. 2010).

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enough to serve all the libraries’ needs in Hungary.50 They are right in that the common use of different library catalogs (integrated search platform, importing or harvesting records) causes problems which are hard to solve not only because of the numerous Hungarian character sets in use, but also because of the difference in the two MARC formats (USMARC and HUNMARC), and in the structures of the bibliographic descriptions caused by local interpretation of the rules, as well as limited capabilities of the individual integrated library systems. However, registration of metadata is not the only national task. Several digital archives have already been established, depending on their purpose and document type, “The National Digital Data Archives51 is responsible for data collection, and it is also ready to receive metadata or collect them automatically, to register and retrieve them.”

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“The NDDA is a new archive for a knowledge-based society and the digital era that makes Hungary's national cultural assets available in a digital form for a wide range of users and by utilizing the new features of the network medium it creates added value at service level. The NDDA adds to the value of Hungary's public collections, cultural databases, the data treasury of the state administration, and the nation's knowledge stock from various eras and in manifold senses through openness, self-organization, recycling and content-integration.”52 The Digital Library of Hungarian Studies (Hungarian-related materials) “Hungarológiai Alapkönyvtár,”53 provides access to about 3,800 digital versions of the most important reference books on Hungarian Studies Digital Academy of Literature,54 “Digitális Irodalmi Akadémia” (DIA), is a site dedicated to Hungarian literature and Hungarian authors, created by the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture. It is a large database with all major poets, playwrights and writers writing in Hungarian language, started as a state funded project in 1998 and now hosted on the site of the PetĘfi Irodalmi Múzeum. – National Audiovisual Archive of Hungary55 “constitutes the legal deposit archive of the Hungarian national broadcasters, collecting audiovisual content. Its scope of collection comprises the programs of

50 András Kardos, weblog entry on “Célközönség,” UTCA Project Blog, posted January 5, 2010, http://konyvtar.info/2010/01/05/celkozonseg/ (12. Mar. 2010). 51 National Digital Data Archive, “How NDA Works,” http://nda.hu/en/the_ndda (12. Mar. 2010). 52 Wideweb.hu, “National Digital Data Archives,” www.wideweb.hu/hungary/hungarianculture/libraries-archives/national-digital-data-archives (12. Mar. 2010). 53 István Monok and István Moldován, “Digital Library of Hungarian Studies,” February, 2004, http://mek.oszk.hu/hungalap/indexeng.html (12. Mar. 2010). 54 The Museum of Literature PetĘfi, “Digital Academy of Literature (Hungarian),” 1998–, http://www.irodalmiakademia.hu/ (12. Mar. 2010). 55 National Audiovisual Archive of Hungary, 2006–, www.nava.hu/english/nava/index.php (12. Mar. 2010).

200 Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga

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the national terrestrial televisions and radios, produced in or relating to Hungary. In addition, it also accepts locally broadcast or any other audiovisual content for processing or storing….” Access to the database is available via computer terminals in libraries and schools. The integration of three periodical databases is also planned, including the two bibliographic registries, the Hungarian Periodicals Table of Contents Database (MATARKA) and the Papers and Articles in the Humanities (i.e. HUMANUS), as well as the electronic full-text article database called Electronic Periodicals Archive and Database, known as EPA (Elektronikus Periodika Archívum és Adatbázis), in order to create a Hungarian digital article archive.

The national library is currently still not able to archive homepages available at the Hungarian domain (.hu). A huge number of writings published on the Internet during the last 25 years are unfortunately no longer available. What we should keep in mind concerning the above mentioned problems is that modernization of libraries in Hungary was managed by people accustomed to taking orders from the “top”. So, it is considered a real achievement that librarians and libraries have played an active role in introducing the Internet. “The Hungarian Information Infrastructure Development (IIF) Program has started in 1986, with the goal of establishing the computer network for the research, higher education, and public collection communities in Hungary. The Program has originally been initiated and supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the National Committee for Technological Development. The number of the available experts was limited at that time, but the devotedness and capabilities of the small but excellent development team has resulted in considerable progress within a relatively short period of time. After five successful years - among others after having established the basic elements of the domestic research network - i.e. around the start of the 90’s, all related ministries and also OTKA (the National Scientific Research Fund) have supportively joined the Program that has been called since then NIIF (National Information Infrastructure Development) Program. … between 1987 and 1990, the first version of the country-wide network, having connected the most important research institutes, university departments, and public libraries, has been built, on the basis of in house developed X.25 technologies, by allowing the user community to access the basic services such as e-mail, filetransfer, remote log-in, etc.”56 The first mailing list in Hungary (Katalist) was used by librarians, the first textbook on the Internet use was also written by librarians,57 and library databases were among the first Internet services.58 Librarians have their own sec56 National Information Infrastructure Development Institute,“History,” www.niif.hu/en/ niif_institute/introduction/history (12. Mar. 2010). 57 Géza Bakonyi, László Drótos and Károly Kokas, Navigáció a hálózaton: Információforrások a számítógépes hálózatokon (Budapest: IIF, 1994). 58 Moldován, 2004.

2.8 Hungary ௅ Development of Libraries in Hungary 201

tion in the annual NIIF conference, Networkshop, where the latest achievements of the Hungarian Internet are presented every year. If the pioneers of the social web are going to be as successful as the Internet pioneers, then there is a chance for the libraries to keep their role in the communities created on the web, since they are contemporaries of the generations expecting a say in the services. The goals of these dedicated new professionals are echoing the “official” visions under the slogan “Gates wide opening.” The Library Department within the Ministry of Education and Culture has been responsible for strategic planning for the Hungarian library system. Since the implementation of the new Library Act in 1997, there have been three national library development strategies: the first between 1997 and 2003; the second from 2003 to 2007; and the third, the latest, between 2008 and 2013. Building on the achievements of the previous two periods, the key areas of the third library strategy are59:

– – – –

improving the library and information infrastructure in small towns and villages (no geographical boundaries); widening access to the wealth of information and knowledge (cooperation); digitization of library collections (digital content development); enhancing reading (traditional and digital literacy)

And that is the vision outlined in the so called Portal program60 for the development of libraries in Hungary between 2008 and 2013. The future, in general, and the future of libraries in Hungary in, perhaps 10 years, in particular, is difficult to predict.

– –

–

–

Who can tell, whether we’re going to read e-books on the train or the bus on our way to work in 2020? And how are we going to find out whether a library nearby has a volume in digital format, by using our smart phones, or laptops obviously with WiFi connection, and searching one shared catalog with item information on each available copy? How are we going to decide what to read? Read for example the book reviews and notes added by other users, and we can also share our views and opinions to help others in selection, even we can later chat about its plot, its characters, its message on Facebook or any other social media? An article is needed for a researcher? Search a database of full-text articles and download or email it, or get it via the document supply service of your local library.

59 Ministry of Education and Culture, 2006. 60 Oktatási és Kulturális Minisztérium, “Portál program - könyvtárfejlesztési stratégia 2008– 2013,” December, 2007, http://www.ki.oszk.hu/107/download.php?view.274 (12. Mar. 2010).

202 Áts József, Deák Nóra, Péter Kiszl and Klára Varga

–

What if we do research on an actor/actress and want to see his/her early films or theatrical productions broadcast on national television? Just click on the digitized version in the National Audiovisual Archive?

It is expected that the new program envisioned by the European Union, “Europa 2020,” will be incorporated into the “official” library trends, working towards a greener, more knowledgeable, and economically sustainable Europe: “75% of the population aged 20–64 should be employed; 3% of the EU's GDP should be invested in R&D; the "20/20/20" climate/energy targets should be met; the share of early school leavers should be under 10% and at least 40% of the younger generation should have a degree or diploma; 20 million less people should be at risk of poverty.”61 In conclusion, it is fairly safe to say that in ten years time documents of different types, books, journal articles, and audio-visual material, will be available in digital form in huge quantities for most of the people who want to use them. Catalogs and portals will be interactive, and users will be sharing their thoughts, opinions, notes, and suggestions both with the librarians, who will be still in place and called as such, and with each other. We, Hungarian librarians, all hope and work for this brave new world.

61 European Commission, “Europe 2020: Commission proposes new economic strategy in Europe,” March 3, 2010, www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/10/ 225&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en (12. Mar. 2010).

2.9 Japan Libraries and Librarianship in Japan Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige Introduction At the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, libraries world-wide are responding to the shift from print acquisition to online access. Throughout history, social and technological developments have similarly effected changes in libraries. To those in the West, at great distances from Japan, it may be easy to assume great differences in the cultures and the development of their institutions. On the other hand, shared technological developments are often approached in a vacuum, assuming similar benefits and similar functioning with little thought to historical development. With the hope that understanding a society’s institutions within the context of history will situate change and technology in a meaningful way, we first present a brief chronology of libraries in Japan. Globalization has made all our borders more fluid for the exchange of ideas and technology. Japan’s course in history shows the country’s openness to influence from beyond its borders as well as its influence on others, particularly in the last 50 years. Outline:

– – – – – – – – – –

Historical Overview of Japanese Libraries Public Libraries Academic Libraries School Libraries Special Libraries National Diet Library Government Information Providers and Digitization Library and Information Science Education Professional Associations Conclusion

It is expected that a broad overview may lead to a discovery of more similarities than differences.

204 Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige

Libraries in History Libraries in Japan can be traced back to the kyozo repositories of the Nara period (646– 794 CE) coinciding with the founding of Japanese Buddhism and its temples for the education of monks. As well, during the Nara Period, the Taiho code of Japanese administrative law established the archive of the official records (zushoryo). This would be the first of several legal edicts in Japanese history to provide for the establishment of libraries, or their precursors, by the government. Shortly after the edict, a culture of writing and reading developed. In the Heian Period (794–1191 CE), the first novels and diaries were published, and a court noble, Isonokami Yakagugu, opened what could be considered the first library (bunko) of popular reading material. During the feudal era, private libraries associated with specific clans flourished, but access was restricted and collections had a narrow focus on religious and clan materials. Later, during the Kamkura Shogunnate (1185–1333) of the feudal era, Buddhist temples continued to publish sutra, which were available to scholars and students in schools, one of which is noteworthy for having 7,000 volumes for use by samurai, monks, and scholars. Under the shogunnate during the Edo Period (1603–1876), writing and publishing flourished. In Edo City (Tokyo), there were more than 600 rental libraries, known as Kashihi-ya. Although fee-based and privately operated, these might be considered the eighteenth century precedents for libraries open to the general public in Japan. It was not until the next century that libraries developed beyond government archival repositories and restricted private reading rooms into public collections, with social and educational benefits for the general populace. The Meiji era, beginning in 1867 with the restoration of imperial rule, ushered in social and educational reforms in its openness to western technology and democratic ideals. At this time, libraries became formally organized cultural and social institutions. The first library operated by civil government was established by the Meiji government in 1872, with the location of the shosekikan (or shojakukan) in Tokyo, at the former site of the Confucian Academy (Shoheiko), as part of the Meiji era’s modernization of governance and education. It was later to become the Teikoku Toshokan (Imperial Library), toshokan being the current preferred Japanese term for library. Designated by the Ministry of Education, it is considered the predecessor of the current National Diet Library. Soon after, the Tokyo University Library of the Faculty of Law, Science, and Humanities was founded in 1877, although the actual edict for the establishment of the library of the Imperial University was not made until 1886. The oldest private university, Keio University founded in 1858, established its library in 1890, a delay caused by a lack of funding. The founding of these libraries was in large part influenced by Japanese educators traveling in Europe and America. However, collections and access in Japan were limited. As Theodore Welch explained,

2.9 Japan ௅ Libraries and Librarianship in Japan 205

“Libraries were felt to be agents of schools where they were established for the lending of textbooks to those students who could not afford to buy them.”1 In tandem with the growth of libraries, the professionalization of library operations was initiated. In 1892 the Japan Library Association was founded as the Nippon Bunko Kyokai, changing its name sixteen years later to Nihon Toshikan Kyokai. The Ordinances for Libraries (or Library Statutes) were instituted in 1899, setting the foundation for a library for each prefecture, within which were located additional libraries at the city, town, and village level, comprising what is considered a two-layered system. Between 1911 and 1941, public libraries (tsuzoku toshokan) grew in number from 541 to 4,794 and private fee-based libraries increased from 328 to 1,500.2 However, according to Koizumi et al., “the holdings of most public libraries were meager, at less than 500 volumes, and the number of days libraries were in operation was severely limited.”3 Beginning in the 1920s, a building emphasis on militarism would hinder the use of resources for civil institutions such as schools and libraries. The instability and destruction brought by World War II (1939– 1945) disrupted the operation of many cultural institutions, with many parts of major cities being burned by bombings. Following the war, with resources focused on rebuilding and growth, a new commitment to educational and social institutions was experienced. In 1948 the National Diet Library was opened, modeled on the United States Library of Congress. As well, Civil Information and Education (CIE) libraries were established in 21 cities. Later, library support was officially codified in the form of the “Library Law” in 1950. The “Library Law” made local governments responsible for operating public libraries, with services and access provided freely to the public through funding from the national government. Perfecture libraries, in addition to providing direct services within their local areas, and provided support and coordination services for local city, ward, town and village libraries. With the economic growth of the 1960s, Japan saw a major growth of local libraries, with a new emphasis on the circulation of materials, in contrast to libraries previously having closed stacks.4 In 1963 the Japan Library Association published “Management of Public Libraries in Medium and Small Cities,” a ground-breaking report which “revolutionized the concept of library service” and emphasized the importance of the local

1 2 3 4

Theodore F. Welch, Libraries and Librarianship in Japan. (Westport CN: Greenwood Press, 1997), 16. Welch, Libraries and Librarianship in Japan, 73. Toru Koizumi, Yoriko Miyabe, Azusa Tanaka, Yukiko Saito, and Ichiro Wakayama, “Librarianship in Japan,” in Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, ed. Allen Kent and Harold Lancour (New York, NY: Dekker, 2003), 1554. Haruki Nagata, “Public Libraries in Japan: triggers for the renovation of library service models” (paper presented at the Comfenalco Antioquia Congreso Internacional de Biblioteca Publica: un Continente Entre los Continetes, Medellin Colombia, Nov. 2007), 2. http:// www.kc.tsukuba.ac.jp/div-comm/pdf/Library_in_Japan.pdf.

206 Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige community.5 This is also the time when the “library creation movement” came into being, through citizen involvement seeking to increase the number of libraries and improve children’s library services.6 The 1960s and 1970s saw significant economic growth for Japan when municipalities competed to establish libraries.7 In the 1970s there were also small private children’s libraries, bunko libraries, operated by volunteers. As exemplified in Nagoya, the bunko associations and volunteering mothers became involved in planning and improving public libraries in municipalities.8 For the past 40 years, there has been continued steady construction of new municipal libraries.9

Public Libraries The construction of public libraries has continued even in the past 15 years of economic recession, with such efforts supported by resident campaigns. However, there was an actual decrease in the number of city and ward libraries after 1998, due to municipal mergers. Nagata shows 98% of city and wards, but only 47% of towns and villages having established libraries. Nagata brings the latter figure into comparative perspective, pointing out that “the number of libraries per 100,000 Japanese are about 2.31, far below 22.26 in Finland, [for example].”10 The budget for materials peaked in 1999 at 36,763,440,000 yen (approximately US$358,076,000, 1999) for all public libraries, with subsequent years all showing lower funding for materials. The 2005 data indicates a drop of 12.7% to 32,111,660,000 yen (US$275,422,000, 2005).11 Staffing at public libraries has declined from an average of 6.17 staff per library in 1998 to 4.85 in 2005. Such a dramatic change was precipitated, in 1999, by changes to the library law, not requiring local governments to hire professional librarians to

5 Koizumi, Yoriko Miyabe, Azusa Tanaka, Yukiko Saito, and Ichiro Wakayama, “Librarianship in Japan,” 1554, 1556. 6 Yuko Yoshida. “The Future of Library Support by Local Residents: Misgivings about further professional jobs support,” (Translated by Kurdyla and Associates), 6. http://www.db.dk/binaries/080904YukoYoshidaThe%20Future%20of%20Library%20Supp ort%20by%20Local%20Residents.doc_2708.doc Original in Japanese: Library Journal 100, no. 6 (2006): 387–389. 7 Nagata, “Public Libraries in Japan,” 2. 8 Harumi Yakushiin, “Re-examination of ‘One Ward, One Library Project’ in the City of Nagoya.” Asia-Pacific Conference on Library & Information Education and Practice. (2009): 560. http://www.slis.tsukuba.ac.jp/~atsushi/a-liep/proceedings/Papers/a14.pdf (20 Feb. 2010). 9 For the English reader interested in a detailed history of reading, publishing, and libraries in Japan, Theodore Welch’s Libraries and Librarianship in Japan is highly recommended. 10 Nagata, “Public Libraries in Japan,” 3. 11 Japan Library Association. Statistics: Public Library and Academic Libraries http://www. jla.or.jp/index-e.html (18. Mar. 2010).

2.9 Japan ௅ Libraries and Librarianship in Japan 207

head libraries receiving financial support from the Ministry of Education.12 From 1999 to 2005, the percent of professional librarians of all staff at public libraries has declined from 51.2% to 49.57%. Yuko Yoshida expresses concern for the increasing role of community volunteers in Japan’s public libraries, “The range of activities now done by volunteers in Japan’s libraries has become quite extensive including straightening up and maintenance in the library, helping patrons find materials, cataloging and re-shelving, and other activities.”13 While praising volunteers for their contributions and dedication, the concern voiced is that, “the lack of capital as well as human resources casts a long shadow over [the libraries’] sustained operations,”14 as well as the concern that volunteers are not given a clear philosophy or guiding principles, but operate solely on a pragmatic basis, diverging from the library creation movement of the 1960s and 1970s, based on principles of librarianship in books such as the Guide to Movement in Library Making by Tosyokan Zukuri Undo Nyumon. Haruki Nagata has called for a new service model for libraries in Japan based on surveys examining how people use their community library. This study revealed that Japan’s public libraries are facing the following issues:

– – –

support for everyday problem solving (childrearing, learning support for children, supplying health related information, support for continuing education and business support), building and supporting community (repletion of local information, formation of local identity, gathering point of the community, function of social inclusion), responding to digitization and informatization of society.15

Contrasting Japan with the United States and United Kingdom, Yoshitaka Kawasaki calls attention to documents in both western nations, calling for libraries to respond to the “digital divide” and serve as vehicles for social inclusion. He states that Japan’s public libraries “play a contradictory role by widening gaps between the information rich and information poor.”16 Comparing average service populations, Japan has an overwhelmingly higher number served per library with 46,000, compared to the United States with 17,000 and Britain with 12,600. As well, in Japan, only 53.6% of towns and 19.2% of villages have libraries (Japan Library Association). In some cities, such as Kobe, the average service population is 150,000 thus calling for “the prerequisite to improve the density of public libraries to U.S. and Britain levels.”17 12 Yasuyo Inoue, “People, Libraries, and the JLA Committee on Intellectual Freedom in Libraries.” IFLA Journal 26, no.4 (2000): 297. 13 Yoshida, “The Future of Library Support,” 1. 14 Yoshida,“The Future of Library Support,” 2. 15 Nagata, “Public Libraries in Japan,” 6. 16 Yoshitaka Kawasaki, “The Public Library: An Agency for Social Inclusion or Exclusion: Lifelong and Continuing Education in Libraries” Lifelong Education and Libraries 5 (2005): 127– 133. http://hdl.handle.net/2433/43707 (10. Mar. 2010), 127. 17 Kawasaki, “The Public Library,” 131– 132.

208 Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige However, Japan’s library circulation transaction rates per library are the highest among G7 nations. Nevertheless, it is clear that the remarkable growth of Japanese libraries and their collections from 1960௅1995 has been uneven with the goals of many communities not realized to date.18

Academic Libraries Since the first university library was established as the Tokyo Imperial University Library in 1886, academic libraries have grown to a total of 1,325 libraries affiliated with 686 universities, including 626 branch libraries, and an additional 339 junior and technical college libraries.19 There are three types of universities in Japan: national, which generally are more prestigious and benefit from better funding, local universities funded by the prefectures, and private universities. Table 1:

National Universities Libraries

main Branch Dept Total Holdings Public Universities

Libraries

main Branch Dept

1994

2003௅04

Change 1994௅ 2002

98

97

-1%

86

-11%

98 66

97 73

-1% 11%

86 86

-11% 18%

164 76,435,044 46

125 92,985,852 76

-24% 22% 65%

118 95,820,920 75

-6% 3% -1%

2008௅09

Change 2003௅2008

46

76

65%

75

-1%

9

13

44%

31

138% -16%

18

25

39%

21

10,426,050

16,941,218

62%

19,340,018

14%

Private Universities

390

512

31%

591

15%

Libraries

390

512

31%

591

15% 31%

Total Holdings main Branch

143

167

17%

218

Dept

284

201

-29%

195

-3%

107,257,697

153,811,053

43%

181,712,255

18%

194,118,791

270,794,056

39%

296,164,330

9%

Total Holdings All Universities

Table compiled from Welch and Japanese Library Association and Ministry of Education Culture Sports Science and Technology, Japan websites. From the chart above, it appears that, within the last 15 years, the economic recession affecting public libraries has also had similar repercussions 18 Yakushiin, “Re-examination of ‘One Ward’.” 19 Japan Library Association. Statistics: Public Library and Academic Libraries http://www. jla.or.jp/index-e.html (18. Mar. 2010).

2.9 Japan ௅ Libraries and Librarianship in Japan 209

for national and local public academic institutions, but less so for private universities. Of particular note is the decrease in the number of national institutions, as well as in the number of faculty departmental libraries for all types of universities. The high number of branch libraries, reflecting a decentralized model, has increased for all types, especially in the case of local public universities. In 2003 a new law governing universities partially privatized their operation, increasing competition and autonomy. It is not known how this might have affected the varying number of institutions in each sector, nor if this had had other effects related to their libraries. Academic library directors have traditionally been drawn from professors with academic credentials rather than from individually rising through the professional librarian ranks. The prestige of the director is considered critical to the health of university libraries in Japan. JLA notes that of the 13,000 librarians in academia, only about half are employed full-time permanently. Cullen and Nagata note that the common practice of rotating staff in academic libraries, leading to “multi-skilled generalists,” leaves “little opportunity for people to develop a high level of expertise in some critical areas for the advancement of libraries in the twenty-first century.”20 They also describe librarians as having low status in Japanese society and report a concern of the Japan Library Association regarding the increase in outsourcing of professional work, while employing untrained staff in academic libraries. The adoption of online information retrieval in Japanese academic libraries during the 1970s was similar to that in other developed countries, and has continued to keep pace, although many of the databases are from foreign producers. The libraries of the University of Tokyo, the largest university, began providing information retrieval services in 1975. While reference services are provided in the majority of university libraries, not all have specialized reference staff or reference desks. Hosono reports that in 2002, a survey of university libraries by MEXT found 79% offered reference services. Considering that many of these are branch libraries, the figure may not be surprising. Since the 1990s, information literacy as a program has gained traction with the guidelines issued by JLA.21 In the area of interlibrary loan and resource sharing, Japanese copyright law does not provide for electronic delivery. There has been a history of cooperation in collection management and dispersed ownership of specialized foreign journals, less of an issue with e-journals.22 In response, libraries are forming consortia for achieving access. The Association of National University Libraries and the Public University Library Consortium are examples of these. 20 Cullen, Rowena and Haruki Nagata. “Academic Libraries in Japan.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 34, no. 2 (2008): 167. 21 Kimio Hosono, “Academic Libraries in Japan,” in Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, first update supplement, edited by Miriam A. Drake. (Boca Raton: Taylor and Francis, 2004), 25. 22 Cullen and Nagata, “Academic Libraries in Japan,” 164.

210 Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige As well, digital collections made available through government agencies, especially in the area of science and technology, provide access to affiliated institutions or as open access. As in most developed nations, university libraries in Japan are participating in providing access to research through institutional repositories and shared platforms, in collaboration with government agencies. For more on this, see the section “Government Information Providers and Digitization.”

School Libraries In Japan in 2005, there were 40,597 schools, elementary through high school. Due to the requirements set in the School Library Law of 1953, during the post-war years of educational reform, almost all schools at all educational levels have libraries, although, according to JAL, many school librarians lack qualifications. In describing the differences between school libraries and children’s library rooms in public libraries, Welch states that, “in the schools, libraries are an insignificant part of a highly structured and somewhat inflexible pattern of authoritative tutorship.”23 In the 10 years since, educational practices have become more flexible and individualized. Similarly, there has been a growing interest in improving school libraries and promoting reading and information literacy to students. An amendment in 1997 strengthened the law in requiring shisho-kyoyo (teacher librarians) in all schools with more than 12 classes by 2003. However, in 2002, Chris Sakai, Yuriko Nakamura and Yuma Kitamura reported that there were only 600 certified shisho-kyoyo, who also taught in the classroom, while the daily oversight was done by gakkoshisho (school librarians), who were primarily responsible for clerical work, but were not officially certified and may lack training. At that time, it was anticipated that more than 25,000 shisho-kyoyo were to be appointed in the coming year. Within the profession and library education, there is evidence of interest toward improving professionalism in school librarianship, exemplified by the symposium “Updating Knowledge and Skills of Japanese School Librarians for Introducing the Internet” in 2002, the same year every school was connected to the Internet. Given the commitment of funds, the first decade of the millennium shows significant growth of school libraries. In 2003, the Japanese national government established a plan to distribute 65 billion yen (approximately US$615 million, 2003) over five years to local governments for the improvement of collections and facilities of school libraries.24

23 Welch, Libraries and Librarianship in Japan, 95. 24 Japan Library Association, Brief Information on Libraries in Japan. http://www.jla.or.jp/ libraries-e.html#general. (31. Mar. 2010).

2.9 Japan ௅ Libraries and Librarianship in Japan 211

Special Libraries Defined as libraries that provide materials and information services to an organization or a specific group, special libraries (tokushu senmon toshokan), in Japan, are found in the expected range of entities: corporations and private companies, legal and government agencies, medical facilities and educational institutions, research institutes, service organizations, and trade associations. As elsewhere, special libraries serve only members or employees of the organization, with some exceptions, such as government administrative offices. There were 1,747 special libraries reported by a 2006 survey conducted by the Japan Special Libraries Association. Outsourcing has been identified as an issue of particular concern. The recent increase is considered to be related to cost saving, rather than previously being attributed to the need for additional expertise.

National Diet Library The National Diet Library (NDL) was established with the National Diet Library Law (Law No. 5, February 9, 1948). The purpose of the National Diet Library is to “collect books and library materials for the purpose of assisting the members of the National Diet in the performance of their duties and also for the purpose of providing certain library services as hereinafter specified for the executive and judicial agencies for the national government and for the people of Japan (Article 2, Chapter I, National Diet Library Law).”25 In 1948 the National Diet Library was opened to the general public at the Akasaka Detached Palace in Tokyo with a collection of 100,000 from the libraries of the House of Peers and the House of Representatives, both established at the creation of Japan’s Imperial Diet in 1890. In 1948 the National Library’s (established in 1872 and previously called the Imperial Library) million-volume collection was added. In 1961 upon the completion of Phase I of the National Diet Library building project the National Diet Library at the current Nagata-sho site, which is adjacent to the National Diet, reopened with a collection of two million volumes. In 1968, the 20th anniversary year since the opening, the present NDL Main Building was erected. In 1986 the Annex was completed to accommodate a combined total of 12 million books and periodicals. The former Ueno Branch Library was transformed into the International Library of Children’s Literature fully opened on May 5, 2002. A third NDL building, the Kansai-kan, was opened in October 2002 in the Kansai Science City. The NDL collects all types of publications produced in Japan through a legal deposit system and produces the national bibliography. It also collects 25 National Diet Library Law. http://www.ndl.go.jp/en/aboutus/laws.html, (25. Mar. 2010).

212 Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige publications from foreign countries through purchasing and international exchanges. Publishers are required to deposit copies of their publications with NDL. According to LAW Article 24, publications issued by or for agencies of the government “shall be deposited immediately with the National Diet Library for its official use or for its use in exchange for the publications of other governments and in other international exchanges,” whereas publications by the private sector (one copy of each) shall be deposited “in order to contribute to the accumulation and utility of cultural goods” (Law Article 25).26 A revision to the Diet Library Law in 1949 added “music scores,” “photographic records and works produced by machines designated to reproduce sound mechanically,” and “works reproduced as documents or charts by printing technique and other mechanical or chemical processes.” The law was revised further in 2000 to add “texts, images, sounds, or programs recorded by electronic, magnetic, or other methods which cannot be directly perceived by human senses.” In 2009 the law was amended to authorize the National Diet Library to archive websites of government-related institutions. This law enables the National Diet Library to copy and collect Internet information, such as websites, produced by government and government-related institutions. The law will take effect on April 1, 2010.27 In summary, the NDL acquires all materials published in Japan, preserves them as the national cultural heritage, compiles catalogs of these publications in database or other format, and, with these collections, provides library services. The NDL is made up of four separate facilities: Tokyo Main Library (148,000 sq. meters, 12 million volumes), the Kansai-Ken (59,300 sq. meters, 6 million volumes, the International Library of International Children Literature (6,700 sq. meters, .4 million volumes), and the Toyo Bunko (Oriental Library). The NDL has over 600,000 visitors a year at the Tokyo Main Library and its branches. Over 700,000 reference transactions are conducted in a year by the NDL staff. The NDL has a permanent staff of over 900. The NDL Budget in FY2009 (April 2009 – March 2010) was 21,584,212,000 yen. A decrease of 381 million yen compared with the previous year. The distribution of the budget is:

– – – – –

53% 12% 16% 21% 8%

Personnel Acquisition Development of information systems Office expenditure Facilities 28

The National Diet Library has eight major specialized collections: Modern Political and Constitutional History; Materials Concerning the Postwar Occu26 Takashi, Tsukamoto. “The National Diet Library in Japan: Unchanging Mission, New Services.” ABD vol. 33, no. 4 (2003): 3. 27 National Diet Library web site. http://www.ndl.go.jp (28. Mar. 2010). 28 National Diet Library web site. http://www.ndl.go.jp (28. Mar. 2010).

2.9 Japan ௅ Libraries and Librarianship in Japan 213

pation of Japan; Laws and Preliminary Records; Science and Technology; Maps; Music; Foreign Books About Japan; and Rare Books. The NDL expanding Electronic Library Project includes the following online resources which are accessible to the public: the National Diet Library Online Public Access Catalog (NDL-OPAC), the Digital Library of the Meiji Era (including more than 150,000 volumes issued in the Meiji era [1868௅ 1912] and Taiso era [1912௅1926]) , the Rare Books Image Database (a collection of digital images from 37,000 illustrated books published before the Edo Period), and the Minutes of the Imperial Diet and National Diet. The holdings of the Tokyo Main Library are the following:

– – – – –

Japanese and Western books Japanese periodicals Annual periodicals and some monograph series in Western languages Japanese and Western newspapers Materials stored in the special materials rooms

Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library located in Seika-cho, was established to provide services to the entire nation and handle specific NDL responsibilities. The following materials were transferred to the Kansai-kan in 2002:

– – – – – –

Western Periodicals Asian materials in Asian languages Some science and technology materials Scientific research reports under grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japanese Doctoral dissertations Tape-recorded books

The International Library of Children’s Literature located in Ueno Park, Tokyo, is “a branch library of the national Diet Library that provides, through international collaboration, library services concerning books, and other library materials whose main readers are assumed to be approximately eighteen years of age or less (Law Article 22).”29 Its objectives are to provide services to children, accumulate children’s literature from Japan and other countries and related material, and support research on the publishing and culture of children’s books. The NDL has made a commitment to provide training programs for librarians since 2002. Programs such as, “Preservations and Conservation Training Program,” “Interlibrary Cooperation Seminar,” “Training Program for Japanese Studies Librarians,” and “Practical workshop for librarians on early Japanese books,” have been provided through group training and distance learning via the Internet. The number of participants in group training has remained constant (approx. 200 participants). On the other hand, the num29 Takashi, Tsukamoto. “The National Diet Library,” 4. (28. Mar. 2010).

214 Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige ber of participants in programs via the Internet has dramatically increased (approximately 1,000 participants). A 1998 report, “Toward Construction of a New Infrastructure of Knowledge, Information and Culture,” has provided the foundation and direction for the NDL’s Electronic Library. NDL’s activities associated with its Electronic Library include its digitization project. NDL continues to be involved with a joint experimental project with the Information-Technology Promotion Agency, a “next-generation” electronic library R & D project, in collaboration with the Broadband-Network Business Chance & Culture Creation organization on electronic library system for experimental evaluations, and participates in international cooperation technology projects. At the NDL’s 60th anniversary in 2008, a symposium, “Through knowledge we prosper – New role of the National Diet Library”, was held at the Koyo Main Library. The Librarian of the NDL, Makoto Nagao, introduced seven goals for the NDL. They included:

– – – – – – –

Enhance our legislative support function by improving services for the National Diet; Make an exhaustive collection of results of intellectual activities in Japan to preserve them as common resources of the nation; Provide prompt and precise access or links to information needed by users; Seek to provide equally good service to all users regardless of where they are; Offer a variety of appealing services to society and increase the National Diet Library’s visibility; Promote closer cooperation with libraries of various kinds in Japan including public libraries; Try to share and exchange information by maintaining close relationships with overseas libraries.30

Objectives based on the above goals are evaluated annually by the NDL. For current information about the NDL and its activities, see the NDL website (see bibliography).

Government Information Providers and Digitization National Institute for Informatics (NII), an agency under the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), provides information services related to university libraries. In addition to its mission of conducting research on informatics, MEXT is also charged with developing the infrastructure for inter-university research. In 2000 NII expanded the pre30 National Diet Library web site. http://www.ndl.go.jp (25. Mar. 2010).

2.9 Japan ௅ Libraries and Librarianship in Japan 215

vious agency, NACSIS, founded in 1986, whose acronym still exists in its service units. NII units serving libraries:

– – –

NACSIS-CAT, a cooperative cataloging system linking 1,224 libraries, NACSIS-ILL, an interlibrary loan system connecting 1,083 libraries,31 NACSIS-ELS, Electronic Library Service, a research digitization program begun in 1995.

The three services above are accessed publicly through the GeNII “academic content portal”32, an online retrieval system, which integrates the content from several sources:

– – – – –

GeNII, including WebCAT Plus, a shared online catalog for universities; CiNII, providing access to papers and theses and links to university research bulletins; NII-DBR, the Academic Research Database Repository of specialized research collections; JAIRO retrieval system for journal articles, theses, dissertations, research papers located in various Japanese institutional repositories; NII-REO, including commercial full-text content from Oxford Journal, Kluwer, Springer, and IEEE, made available to users whose institutions subscribe through fees.

Full-text digitization and the development of institutional repositories through the NII, as outlined above, have been extraordinary. JAIRO, established in 2007, counted over 630,000 full-text items by early 2010. According to Akira Miyazawa, university libraries and institutes became instrumental in research digitization in the absence of commercial development of the service.33 Since 2006 the number of institutional repositories has grown from 13 to 86. This achievement in digitization by academic librarians in collaboration with the NII is remarkable. The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) is of particular importance in relation to information technology and access. JST “is an integrated organization of science and technology in our country that established an infrastructure for the entire process from the creation of knowledge to the return

31 NACSIS-CAT/ILL Statistics. (2009) http://www.nii.ac.jp/CAT-ILL/en/archive/ (20. Mar. 2010). 32 GeNii: NII Scholarly and Academic Information Portal. http://ge.nii.ac.jp/genii/jsp/indexe.jsp (31. Mar. 2010). 33 Akira Miyazawa. “Japanese Journal Digitization and Portal Service GeNii.” http://citeseerx. ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.94.5131&rep=rep1&type=pdf (31. Mar. 2010).

216 Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige to society.”34 JST was established by the government as the Information Center of Science and Technology as early as 1957, for the dissemination of scientific and technical information for the research needs of those engaged in research. In 1972 JST began producing information retrieval systems with a single bibliographic database of Scientific and Technical Reports. Since that early date, the agency has continued to expand its content to include additional databases produced in house, with content collected internationally. Through J-STAGE, a bibliographic and digital collection database available on the Internet, JST provides academic societies with the online publication platform to make their research available, most through open access and with significant content in English. JST also coordinates with NII (see above) for content linking to research conducted at Japanese universities and other research centers. J-STORE is their open access full text patent database and retrieval system. In addition to the databases it produces, JICST provides Internet access to databases as a provider of access through a web portal for STN Chemical Abstracts Service, Medline, BIOISIS, and TOXLine. The digitization and institutional repository movement in Japan is likely to be one of the most significant areas of development for libraries and librarianship in the next decades. Katherine K. Matsuura provides a detailed description and analysis of institutional repositories in Japan.35

Library and Information Science Education Library Education has a long history in Japan, as it progressively addresses the education needs of libraries and librarians. The first library training courses (koshukai) was held in 1905, sponsored by the Nippon Bunko Kyokai (Japan Library Association). The first courses in librarianship in a Japanese university were held at the Tokyo Imperial University from 1918 to 1922. Because comprehensive training at the national level was required to provide qualified personnel for the profession, the Library Training Institute was established in Ueno, sponsored by the Ministry of Education in 1921. The first Institute class to graduate held 13 men and four women who completed their training in a year. The Institute closed in early 1944 and was revived by the Imperial Library in May 1947. The Institute then offered two-year courses to the graduates of high school, and in 1954, special one-year courses in library science were available to graduates of universities and junior colleges. The Institute provided training mainly for public librarians and focused upon the office 34 Japan Science and Technology Association. Home Page. http://www.jst.go.jp/EN/ about/index.html (31. Mar. 2010). 35 Katherine K. Matsuura. Japan’s Institutional Repositories: Where did they come from and where are they headed? (Master’s Thesis. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2008). http://etd.ils.unc.edu/dspace/bitstream/1901/582/1/mapaper-km.pdf (31. Mar. 2010).

2.9 Japan ௅ Libraries and Librarianship in Japan 217

techniques of librarianship. In April 1964 the Institute became the National Junior College of Librarianship and moved to suburban Setagaya Ward. At that time the National Junior College of Librarianship played the central role in the education of librarians in Japan. In 1971 the coursework was expanded to offer information science courses, reflecting the changing trend in libraries. In 1980 the National Junior College of Librarianship became known as the University of Library and Information Science (ULIS). ULIS offered a fouryear program and, beginning in 1984, offered a master’s degree program. In the 1980s the curriculum at ULIS had the following features:

– – – –

The integration of library science and information technology, Emphasis on computer and information technology in the curriculum, Provision of a variety of courses with an emphasis on students’ choice, Development of librarians and other human resources with library information.

ULIS was at that time the only national university specifically designated for the study of library and information science in Japan. It offers a bachelor of arts degree (gakugi gakushi) to students who complete four years of study and a master of arts degree (gakujutsu shishi) to those completing the two-year graduate program. In 2002 ULIS merged with the University Tsukuba, and the undergraduate program of the former was transformed into the School of Library and Information Science. Again, in 2006, this School was restructured into the College of Knowledge and Library Sciences in the School of Informatics. 36 Today there are over 200 colleges and universities which offer library education programs, ranging from course work for teacher/librarian certification, to library and information science majors in undergraduate studies, to graduate degrees including doctoral programs, and to degrees programs through distance learning. Leading universities in the study of library and information science include Keio University, University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and the University of Tsukuba. Curricula in libraries and information science programs are changing to meet the future direction of libraries. An example is at the University of Tsukuba, which has directed its program toward the training of library professionals and the training of “communicative person,” as a new human resource, due to the development of digital

36 Hirotoyo Ishii, Chieko Mizoue, Atsushi Toshimori, Norihiko Uda, Hidehiko Hasegawa, Makoto Matsumoto, and Shinichi Nakayama, “Restructuring Library and Information Science Education Toward Knowledge Informatics Education: a Case of the undergraduate Program at the University of Tsukuba”. Proceedings of the Asia-Pacific Conference on Library and Information Education and Practice, 6௅8 March 2009, Tsukuba, Japan. http://aliep.kc.tsukuba.ac.jp/proceedings/Papers/a51.pdf (9. Mar. 2010), 146.

218 Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige communication, information technology, and the social information infrastructure.37 The Library Law passed in 1950 established the qualification for shisho certification (librarian) and shishoho (assistant librarian) certification. There have been revisions in the certification requirements since 1950. Today the requirement for certification is a university degree and twenty credits of library science knowledge. The certification applies only for librarians in public libraries. There is no formal educational system in place for other types of library and information professionals such as for academic and special librarians. In 2006 over 12,000 individuals were awarded the shisho certificate by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The issue of the validity and necessity of the shisho certification has been raised, as less than 5% of the 12,000 who receive the certificate a year gain employment in a library, and less than 5% of current public library staff holds a certificate. The School Library Law was enacted in 1953. It provided for shishokyoyu (teacher/librarian), certificate. In 1998 the School Library Law was revised so that each school with 12 or more classes was required to appoint a teacher-librarian by March 2003. Also, the minimum number of credits required by law for a teacher-librarian certificate was set at 10 for five subjects.38 The LIPER (Library and Information Professions and Education Renewal), a research project which examined the general trends of library and information science (LIS) education for librarians in Japan, was carried out by four teams: the education team, the public library team, the academic library team, and the school library team. The project, which included holding symposia over a three-year period with stakeholders in the library was completed in March 2006. The major findings of the LIPER project were:

– –

– –

The Japanese LIS education has remained unchanged for 50 years, and the gap between it and overseas LIS education has been ever increasing; The curriculum and contents of LIS education are not well standardized, nor integrated into higher education programs, and very few people who obtain the certificate for shisho find employment in library markets; New areas of education including IT skills and user behavior are sought; and Many people seek to obtain LIS education in order to get the certificate for shisho, even though employment opportunities for full-time librarians are quite limited.

37 Hirotoyo Ishii Chieko Mizoue, Atsushi Toshimori, Norihiko Uda, Hidehiko Hasegawa, Makoto Matsumoto, and Shinichi Nakayama, “Restructuring Library and Information Science Education” http://a-liep.kc.tsukuba.ac.jp/proceedings/Papers/a51.pdf (9. Mar. 2010), 150. 38 Koizumi, “Librarianship in Japan,” 1558.

2.9 Japan ௅ Libraries and Librarianship in Japan 219

Recommendations were:

– –

Establish an LIS examination for students to self-evaluate what they have learned through LIS education and to obtain better employment opportunities; and Introduce a new standard curriculum for education of information professionals.

This important report could lead to a reform of the Japanese library and information science program, as the Japanese library community works toward developing an education program to address the future needs of libraries and librarians in Japan.39

Professional Associations Nihon Toshokan Kyokai (Japan Library Association): On March 26, 1892, the Nippon Bunko Kyokai was organized to promote library service and librarianship in Japan with a founding membership of 25. It is believed to be the third national library association worldwide to be established (ALA 1876 and Britain’s Library Association 1877). Later in 1908 the name was changed to Nihon Toshokan Kyokai (Japan Library Association). The mission of Nihon Toshokan Kyokai is based on four basic policies:

– – – –

To be the national information center for all libraries and librarians in Japan; To be an education, training, and career development center for librarians; To cooperate and coordinate all kinds of libraries and library organizations; To promote and support international relations activities.

The Nihon Toshokan Kyokai is headquartered in Tokyo and is a member of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). The All-Japan Library Conference, which was first held in 1906, is held annually for three days in October, with attendance of over 2,000 librarians attending meetings, workshops, and exhibits. Nihon Toshokan Kyokai is organized with the following bodies:

39 Miwa, Makiko et al. “Final Results of the LIPER Project in Japan”. Proceedings of the World Library and Information Congress, 72st IFLA General Conference and Council, 20௅24 August 2006, Seoul, Korea. http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla72/papers/107-Mina-en.pdf (24. Mar. 2010), 1.

220 Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige

– –

– – –

The Sokai (General Conference), which is the highest deliberative body and meets once a year to review the association’s budget and other important business matters. The Hyogiikai (Board of Councilors), which consists of representative elected from among regular members and decides the association’s management policies and budgetary matters. The Hyogiikai also elects members to the Rijikai (Board of Directors). The Rijikai (Board of Directors) is the major administrative body. The President who presides over the Rijikai and serves as the President of the General Conference. Secretary-General, whose office and staff are located at the headquarters, and handle general business affairs, including finances, membership surveys, publication, book exchange, and sale of library materials.

There are six Divisions: Public Library Division, University Library Division, Junior College Library Division, School Library Division, Special Library Division, and Education Division. There are also over 30 committees and working groups on library policies, library management, copyright, intellectual freedom, bibliography, preservation and conservation, services for the handicapped, publications, library services for children and young adults, and international relations. The Nihon Toshokan Kyokai is a publisher of major library related publications including:

– – – – – – –

BSH Kihon Kenmei Hyomokuhyo (Basic Subject Headings ) Nihon no Sankotosho (Guide to Japanese Reference Books ) Toshokan Nenkan (Library Yearbook) NCR Nihon Mokuroku Kisoku (Nippon Cataloging Rules) NDC Nihon Jusshin Bunruiho (Nippon Decimal Classification) Nihon no Toshokan (Statistics on Libraries in Japan) Periodicals: Toshokan Zasshi (Library Journal) monthly and Gendai no Toshokan (Libraries Today) quarterly

Major accomplishments of the Nihon Toshokan Kyokai include:

– –

It was instrumental in the adoption of the Toshokan Rei (Library Ordinance) of 1899, which contained the first modern provision for libraries in Japan. Its involvement with the passage of Library Law, which was enacted in 1950. The new law stipulated the public library to be a taxsupported free institution necessary to meet the information needs of the community, providing for the local establishment, management, and administration of libraries. It also dealt with the qualifications and training of librarians.

2.9 Japan ௅ Libraries and Librarianship in Japan 221

– – – –

It helped organize the 52nd IFLA General Conference held in Tokyo in 1986. It adopted the Intellectual Freedom in Libraries statement in 1979. It approved the Code of Ethics for Librarians in 1980. It is a sponsor of Library Day (April 30) and Library Month (May).

For current information about the Nihon Toshokan Kyokai go to its website (see bibliography). Other major library organizations in Japan include:

–

–

–

–

–

Kokuritsu Daigaku Toshokan Kyokai (Japan Association of National University Libraries), which is comprised of libraries of the national universities in Japan, the University of the Air Library, and of four inter-university research institutes. The purpose of Kokuritsu Daigaku Toshokan Kyokai is to support the advancement of library function through close coordination and cooperation among the members, promote inter-library use of scholarly information resources, and work toward the development of the infrastructure for scholarly information distribution to help universities achieve their missions. Website: http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/janul/e. Nihon Igaku Toshokan Kyokai (Japan Medical Library Association) was founded in 1927, and includes most medical university libraries in Japan. The organization encourages the mutual exchange of materials, dissemination of duplicate journals, duplication of hard copy information, and lending of books. The Nihon Igaku Toshokan Kyokai conducts training courses, sponsors lectures and exhibitions, and conducts research on operations and management of medical libraries. It is affiliated with the International Medical Libraries Association. Website: http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jmla/index.html. Nihon Toshokan Joho Gakkai (Japan Society of Library and Information Science), founded 1953, is an academic organization for researchers, educators, and professionals, works toward better theories, models, and practices to improve access to libraries and information. Website: http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jslis/index.html. Senmon Toshokan Kyogikai (Japan Special Library Association), which was organized in 1952 is composed of libraries of government offices, of prefectural assemblies, and various private organizations and research institutes. Web site: http://www.jsla.or.jp/eng/index. html. Zenkoku Gakko Toshokan Kyogikai (Japan School Library Association).

222 Minna Sellers and Benjamin Wakashige

Conclusion The turn of the millennium found libraries of all types in Japan poised for progress, with the development of a broad-based technological infrastructure on the cusp of completion. Indeed, the growth and development of library programs and resources in the past 10 to 15 years is evident, despite Japan’s continuing economic recession. Unfortunately, the necessary resources to achieve progress have been uneven across the types of libraries. The most technological and professional progress has been made in the academic and research sectors of libraries. A major factor is the integration of technology into the library workplace. University libraries met the new century with a fully developed infrastructure, meeting the traditional needs of their users. As well, they have the advantage of centralized support from government agencies. This, in turn, fosters institutional cooperation to respond to changing technology with shared resources, particularly notable in the area of digital repositories, an area of substantial success. Despite Japan’s ascendancy in information technology and an advanced educational system, school libraries have not been positioned to benefit, given the limited training and involvement of professional librarians in school libraries. On the other hand, the success of achieving 100% Internet access in schools brings new interest in training and development for providing information literacy in the school. Public library development has itself been uneven, not only regarding basic automation and technology coordination, but also regarding library access in some areas and neighborhoods has lagged. Librarians are caught up in decisions pitting access to technology against the construction of libraries. Automated library systems are common in the larger public libraries throughout Japan and many have digitized collections accessible via the Internet. For this group, as well as for academic libraries, new buildings are designed with the integration of technology in resources and services. On the national level, digitalization projects and the development of repository collections, undertaken by university libraries, government research agencies, and the National Diet Library, are examples of Japan’s provision of excellent models in this area around the world. In the area of research, “open access” and the exchange of information internationally has been embraced by Japan. The challenge for many countries is to integrate technology into its activities to meet the informational needs of all their communities. The following issues are shared world-wide but have special significance for Japanese libraries, considering the relative differences among libraries:

– –

Utilization of technology to enhance collaboration between libraries of all types, with particular importance to the inclusion of school and public libraries; Expansion of archival capacity for the preservation of information of all types, including print and electronic;

2.9 Japan ௅ Libraries and Librarianship in Japan 223

– – – –

Providing training opportunities for the development of greater expertise and professionalism, including utilizing technology for library staff training for formal course work and continuing education; Providing easy and efficient access to library resources and services to all its citizens, especially those currently underserved; Expanding services through digitization of materials and networking using advanced technology; Changes in the legal environment involving copyright and open access.

Looking forward to the next decade and beyond, technology will play a role in every aspect of libraries, either in the effect of increasing costs, or in its application to provide access to information and published materials. Given the momentum that technology can gain, a major challenge will be to achieve an appropriate balance of technology and physical collections, while providing service to all public sectors. As is the case for libraries globally, there is an ever-growing increase in the use of information technology and data communications over the Internet, as well as through mobile technologies. In developed as well as developing nations, digital divides will need to be recognized as resources are allocated. It is not disputable that Japan will continue to have a great influence in the world, and it is hoped that it will show similar direction, along with other countries, in providing information and cultural resources to all its citizens.

2.10 Morocco The New Era of Moroccan Libraries: Perceptions of a Fulbrighter Heather Lea Moulaison North Africa has a long history of promoting libraries. The great library of Alexandria in ancient Egypt is perhaps the most famous of historical North African libraries, but it was not the only one. In the time of ancient Rome, for example, the only two Roman library sites in the western half of the Roman Empire were located in modern day North African countries of Tunisia and Algeria (Casson 2002, 118). After Roman influences left North Africa, and as Islam spread during Europe’s Dark Ages, Muslim Arabs brought with them to the region their culture of focus on the book (cf. Hover 2007), and it is widely acknowledged that, “the three North African countries, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, belong to civilizations based on written texts, and their library and documentation tradition is older than that of countries south of the Sahara” (Lajeunesse and Sène 2004, 369). Centers for books flourished in the westernmost North African country, Morocco for hundreds of years (BenjellounLaroui 1990). Despite a culture and history of library successes, it could now be said that some Moroccan libraries would be well-served by a bit of renewal. The arrival of the newest invaders, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), may prove to be the source of rejuvenation that these libraries need, and in the modern Moroccan library, information technology will undeniably play a leading role. This chapter seeks to situate the current state of libraries in Morocco as they begin to move en masse toward taking fuller advantage of computing technology. The observations and assessments indicated herein are the fruits of having spent an academic year in Morocco as a Fulbright scholar, and do not attempt to generalize beyond the very subjective experiences that accompanied that short-term exposure to long-standing traditions. It goes without saying that Morocco has cultivated a library culture that is unique to its purposes. In some Moroccan libraries, this has meant using computer technology for decades, and these libraries are glowing and laudable exceptions to the generally held rule that Moroccan libraries are places with little or no technology. As a way of situating the library institution in a rich and complex society, this chapter begins with a description of Morocco as a country and Moroccans as a people. Technology in society is then discussed. An overview of technology in libraries visited during the Fulbright year and certain categories of libraries follows. In the next section, several challenges are noted and dis-

226 Heather Lea Moulaison cussed, and general predictions of areas of growth in the next fifteen years complete the chapter.

Morocco and Its People To situate Morocco is to take into consideration the culture of the people in terms of religion, language, and geographic location. Briefly stated, Morocco is a Muslim country in North Africa, at the historical crossroads between Europe and Africa. A protectorate of France during roughly the first part of the twentieth century, Morocco is now considered to be a developing country that is also part of the Francophonie. Ethnically, Moroccans are mostly Arab or Berber, and it is not uncommon to meet Moroccans who speak three or more of the local languages: Moroccan Arabic (Derija), Standard Arabic, any of three Berber dialects, and French. As a people, Moroccans are friendly, tolerant, and proud of their country, making Morocco an ideal place for me to spend a ten-month Fulbright teaching grant in 2008௅22009, during which I lived in Rabat and taught at the country’s LIS school, the École des sciences de l’information (ESI). There are disadvantages for Morocco’s citizens, though, mostly stemming from the difficult economic situation. The United Nations Development Programme provides statistics for understanding and comparing human development around the world. That Human Development Index (HDI) goes beyond a discussion of income, which may not give a full picture. For results from 2007 reported in 2009, Morocco was 130th out of 182 countries in terms of the HDI. Factors influencing the Human Poverty Index (HPI-1), a related index that “focuses on the proportion of people below certain threshold levels in each of the dimensions of the human development index,” demonstrate that in 2007, the probability of not surviving to age 40 was 6.6%, adult illiteracy was at 44.4%, 17% of Moroccans were not using an improved water source, and 10% of Moroccan children under 5 years in age were underweight for their age (HDR: Morocco 2009, Table 2). Challenges of access to information presented in such a context are enormous, as “information need” will often be supplanted by brute “physical need”. Morocco’s library institutions have no small task, given the limited resources and infrastructure that they may have.

Morocco’s Technology Landscape That Morocco is nonetheless a country on the move is testimony to the hardiness of its people. Information technology is increasingly an essential part of modern life for Moroccans. Use of communication-based technologies is on the rise in developing countries in general, but in Morocco in particular. The World Factbook indicates that mainline telephone lines infrastructure is suffi-

2.10 Morocco ௅ The New Era of Moroccan Libraries 227

cient but expensive, and thus mobile telephone subscriptions have soared, and Internet users number over 10 million (2010). Mobile and Internet connectivity will be explored in the next sections, as it is likely that these two popular communication technologies will have the biggest impact on libraries and library users, as their daily lives increasingly include access to these technologies.

Mobile Telephony Mobile cellular-based connectivity is increasingly common for Moroccans. In fact, Morocco is among the five leading African countries in number of mobile phone subscribers (Information Economy Report 2007-2008 2007, 23). By 2008, 65% of citizens had mobile phones (Morocco 2010), and there is every reason to expect that the percentage has continued to grow. While many potential users might be very poor, the convenience of having one small, relatively uncomplicated and very useful device cannot be overstated. With a little over half the population literate (World Factbook:Morocco 2010), the appeal of voice-based communication technology is also understandable. Not all communication taking place through mobile phones, however, is speech-based, and not all of it is positive. Indigenous people and people from primarily oral cultures have been observed using text messaging features on mobile phones (Brady, Dyson, and Asela 2008; Heeks 2008). “Beeping” or “flashing” is another method of communication (Heeks 2008, 30) where phone users in the developing world will call and hang up as a way of signaling the recipient of the call without wasting money on airtime minutes. Crime involving cell-phones is also a phenomenon that has been recognized in Morocco. At a May 2009 Forum at ESI, speakers explained that theft can take place though nefarious cell-phone text messages. When victims reply, a program is launched, taking the remaining account balances on their pay-as-yougo phones and sending them to the thief.1

Internet Connectivity According to the Information Economy Report, Morocco has the highest Internet penetration on the African continent, with 19.9% of Moroccans having Internet access (2007, 25). Relative to other African countries where Internet access averages around 5%, Moroccan access is quite advanced. Morocco has the highest number of broadband Internet subscribers in Africa. The number of subscribers (390,000) only represents 1.3% of the population in Morocco, which is low by Western standards (Information Economy Report 2007, 1

ESI Forum 2009. Session moderator: El Farh, May 7, 2009.

228 Heather Lea Moulaison 28). Access for computer users is improving all the time, and new services offered by Moroccan Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are increasingly allowing opportunities for Internet connections. The sale of pay-as-you-go USB modems, through the telephone and cell-phone providers, is increasingly common. For users of these USB modems, mobile connectivity exists wherever there are cell-phone towers, seamlessly connecting mobile Moroccans with the world at large. It is in this rich and complex technological and social context that Moroccan libraries are operating today.

Examples of Moroccan Libraries Today The following comments about the current state of libraries and documentation centers are based on visits made during the Fulbright grant period (September 2008 – July 2009), observations while in-country, conversations with library and information science professionals and library users, and readings in the literature. Perceptions related herein remain those of a privileged outsider, as it is impossible to become a true expert on another nation’s libraries in the short span of ten months. Any omissions or misrepresentations, therefore, are unintentional, and the discussion is as objective and fact-based as possible, reporting on things seen and heard. Both libraries and documentation centers will be treated in a single section, with the emphasis on libraries, since that is the topic of this monograph.

National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco2 Among North African countries, Morocco is relatively new to having an official national library. Morocco has had Western-style libraries in Rabat and Tétouan from the time of the French and Spanish protectorates. Both were called “general” libraries instead of “national” libraries, as the word “national” would have been subversive (Benjelloun-Laroui 1990, 9-10). The library in the French capital city of Rabat came to be known as the official General Library, and the responsibility for the State’s archives was added later. A Royal Decree from 1931 put public libraries administratively under the General Library, but legislation needs to be reviewed and updated today (Lajeunesse and Sène 2004, 369). The General Library and Archives functioned as the de facto national library for Morocco until the time in 2008, when it moved to a new building and underwent a name change, becoming the Bibliothèque Nationale

2

Bibliothèque Nationale du Royaume du Maroc. "Homepage,” Bibliothèque Nationale du Royaume du Maroc, http://www.bnrm.ma/.

2.10 Morocco ௅ The New Era of Moroccan Libraries 229

du Royaume du Maroc (BNRM) or the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco.3 The two main branches of specialization in the former library are still evident in the new BNRM. The BNRM is concerned with collecting published materials typical for research libraries, and it runs the National Deposit program and maintains a National Bibliography (Lajeunesse and Sène 2004, 370). The BNRM is financially autonomous (Lajeunesse 2008). Collections of new media, music, and maps can be found there, as well as archival manuscripts. An underground manuscripts repair area provides state of the art professional care for damaged materials. The BNRM is primarily a research library with areas for study, offering researchers the opportunity to purchase a library card. Along with the name and location changes in the latter part of the last decade, the BNRM is developing an online presence. In late 2008, concurrent with moving to the new building, the library released a new website and unveiled the new in-house online library catalog. The BNRM began a retrospective conversion project of the card catalog in 2009, but according to the website for the BNRM, no project completion date has been given. Expert Arabiclanguage catalogers who work with the manuscripts are sought out by other national libraries for their knowledge and skill. Yet, despite the good work being done there and the beginnings of an online catalog infrastructure, it is still not possible to search the BNRM catalog or the collections remotely at this time. In effect, scholars and researchers still must travel to Rabat if they want to learn particulars about the library’s holdings.

Library of the Fondation du Roi Abdul Aziz Al Saoud pour les Etudes Islamiques et les Sciences Humaines4 In Casablanca, the economic capital of Morocco, a foundation funded by Saudi Arabia’s king, King Abdul Aziz Al Saoud, supports a research library focusing on the Social Sciences and Humanities in the Western Islamic world. The institution promotes research and welcomes interested researchers at differing levels and stages in development. When I first visited this library on a Saturday morning in November 2008, I had to wait on the steps for the library to open among a mob of young researchers, since it was the day that library cards were being issued and many young researchers had come prepared to wait in the hopes of receiving one. The facilities, the collections, and access to computer terminals inside the structure were all comparable to any specialized research experience in a stateof-the-art research library anywhere in the world. The Foundation’s library has 3 4

Nozha Ben Saadoum, personal communication to author, 2009. Le Maghreb dans les sciences sociales = ΔѧѧѧѧѧѧѧϴϋΎϤΘΟϻ΍ ϡϮѧѧѧѧѧѧѧϠόϟ΍ ϲѧѧѧѧѧѧѧϓ ϲΑέΎѧѧѧѧѧѧѧϐϤϟ΍ ˯Ύѧѧѧѧѧѧѧπϔϟ΍. "Homepage,” Fondation du Roi Abdul Aziz Al Saoud pour les Etudes islamiques et les Sciences humaines-Casablanca – Maroc, http://www.fondation.org.ma.

230 Heather Lea Moulaison created its own thesaurus of descriptors to describe works in one of its collections, the Ibn Rushd collection. This thesaurus aids in retrieval using the online version of the database, which is available free of charge. CD-ROMs of the contents of different databases, along with bibliographies of the Foundation’s acquisitions, are also available for sale. This very modern library offers computer access to materials for in-house users, and has MARC records for its holdings. The library is an OCLC member library (OCLC 2010), and prides itself on its innovation.

Mohammed VI Library, Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane5 The Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane (AUI) is an English-language semiprivate university in the Middle Atlas region, which is also sponsored, in part, by the Saudi government. The campus has a distinctly American look, and includes dormitories for students, a student fitness center, a bookstore, and a mosque. The university is entirely secular. The AUI is active internationally with related English-speaking groups. Both the library and the university at AUI have hosted Fulbright Scholars from the United States in the first decade of this millennium. The AUI’s Mohammed VI library is part of the AMICAL (American International Consortium of Academic Libraries) group.6 Like the Saudi Foundation’s library, AUI’s library has an OPAC that can be accessed from offcampus and is an OCLC member library (OCLC 2010). The Mohammed VI library boasts a well-groomed collection of online databases, which are available in Africa.

National Documentation Center7 The Centre National de Documentation (CND), or National Documentation Center, is located in the capital city of Rabat. The CND was created in 1968 (Dyab 2002) with the help of the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Benjelloun-Laroui 1990, 7). The agricultural sector was the predominant sector at that time, and the CND focused on documents relating to agriculture. Morocco’s king supported the CND from the beginning, and put a capable leader, one of his relatives, in charge of the CND’s development (Wesley 1989, 33). An ambitious set of functions was laid out in for5 6 7

Mohammed VI Library = αΩΎѧѧѧδϟ΍ ΪѧѧѧϤΤϣ Δѧѧϧ΍ΰΧ. "Homepage,” Al Akhawayn University, http:// www.aui.ma/library/. AMICALnet. “Member Institutions,” AMICALnet, http://www.amicalnet.org/about/members. Centre National de Documentation. "Homepage,” Royaume du Maroc, Haut Commissariat au Plan, Portail du Centre National de Documentation = Δϴѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ΑϭΪ˰Ϩ˰Ϥ˰ϟ΍ Δѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ϴ˰Αή˰ϐ˰Ϥ˰ϟ΍ Δѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰Ϝ˰Ϡ˰Ϥ˰Ϥ˰ϟ΍ ϖѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ϴ˰ΛϮ˰Θ˰Ϡ˰ϟ ϲѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰Ϩ˰ρϮ˰ϟ΍ ΰѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ϛή˰Ϥ˰ϟ΍ Δѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰Α΍Ϯ˰Α ςѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ϴ˰τ˰Ψ˰Θ˰Ϡ˰ϟ Δѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ϴ˰ϣΎ˰δ˰ϟ΍, http://www.cnd.hcp.ma/.

2.10 Morocco ௅ The New Era of Moroccan Libraries 231

mal legislation in 1980 and 1981, making the CND responsible for services to users and for “designing the national policy for scientific and technical information” (Wesley 1989, 24). The CND was considered “Morocco’s principal decision maker with regard to information” into the twenty-first century (Lajeunesse and Sène 2004, 369). The CND is under the government’s Ministry of Planning. The BNRM primarily works with published materials and archival manuscripts, while the CND works with grey literature, including documents from Moroccan government ministries. There is a scanning facility at the CND, permitting the digitization of documents in the collection. Some government documents are printed at the CND on their printing presses. The CND offers patron access to its materials, collects library monographs of interest to its constituents, and is the third of four total OCLC member libraries in Morocco (OCLC 2010).

The Library at the École des sciences de l’information (ESI) The sister institution to the CND is the School of Information Studies (École des sciences de l’information, ESI). Founded in 1974 in part by UNESCO at the behest of the young CND, ESI is a school of higher education unaffiliated with the traditional universities located in Rabat; ESI, like the CND, is under the Ministry of Planning (Haut Commissariat au Plan 2008), not under the Ministry of Education. This grande école is known for its good building and computer equipment (Dyab 2002, 63). The language of instruction at ESI is French, although students have compulsory courses in English as a foreign language, and in Spanish as a foreign language. Students are not required to take courses in Standard Arabic, the official national language of Morocco. The library at ESI is a special library, focusing on the Library and Information Science discipline, with holdings primarily in French and in English. It is important that the library be well-provisioned, because students do not use textbooks in their courses and need to be able to consult resources to do their work. Because ESI is a “school”, students are in classes almost all day, four days per week, and are in classes half-days on Fridays. Friday afternoons are usually devoted to prayer, although many ambitious students come back to school after their prayers to continue their studies or to finish up projects for the week. Currency is a concern in the collections available for students and professors alike. This may be somewhat less of a problem for other Moroccan libraries, like the BNRM, which may be able to acquire international books through trading, or for the CND, which actually prints its own materials. It was my observation that libraries funded solely with Moroccan Dirhams, a soft currency, have a difficult time purchasing new library materials from outside of Morocco. There are relatively few publishing houses in-country, when compared to European or North American countries. The new books list at the ESI

232 Heather Lea Moulaison library regularly featured scores of books several years old. Few Library and Information Science (LIS) books on such specialized topics are available for purchase in the standard Moroccan book trade, so researchers at ESI may find themselves forced to wait years to have physical copies of monographs, or may be required to travel out of country in order to acquire their materials. Online sales and transactions are forbidden from the Moroccan IP address range, further hindering access. In terms of technology, the library at ESI offers use of an online catalog to users within the library. There is also wifi available for students who bring laptops, making the ESI library a favorite place for study and group work. The students are very fond of the library and have even created Facebook fan pages for their library and their school, as well as for their school’s director.

The Médiathèque at the Institut français de Rabat, foreign libraries8 Cultural organizations like the Instituts français support special libraries in large cities throughout the country. These libraries promote and support the mission of the parent organizations, certainly, but also they provide valuable access to materials that otherwise would be difficult or impossible to obtain. The Institut français de Rabat actively lends music, video, comic books, and scholarly monographs, all in French, to members. An online collective catalog storing MARC records permits searching in any of the country’s Instituts français from a single web interface, using the Décalog Integrated Library System (ILS). Other cultural centers from European countries similarly offered their members options for borrowing resources.

University Libraries and Research Libraries Moroccan libraries and archives are increasingly able to serve scholars in diverse fields. University libraries were identified as institutions to benefit from the education reform underway in Morocco, since libraries are portals to information and support learning and scholarship (Erhif and Belmekki 2007). Several research libraries and collections of archives are available throughout the country for use by researchers, including the royal library and numerous special libraries focusing on religious manuscripts (cf. Benjelloun-Laroui 1990). Foreign researchers are welcome to use Moroccan research collections, provided they have received a research permit from the government 8

Médiathèque de l'Institut Français de Rabat. "Homepage,” Averroès : Portail documentaire des Médiathèques du réseau culturel français au Maroc, http://www.mediatheques-france. ma/maroc/rabat.

2.10 Morocco ௅ The New Era of Moroccan Libraries 233

(MACECE 2008). These libraries tend not to emphasize new technologies, although this statement certainly does not attempt to describe all public university libraries or special libraries that are also research libraries.

Public Libraries Morocco supports a network of public libraries, the newest and most ambitious of which is scheduled to be constructed at the Mosquée Hassan II in Casablanca. This médiathèque project is meant to provide a range of services for both adults and children, and will be situated in a 12,400 m² space on the grounds of the largest mosque in Morocco. In April 2009, work on the médiathèque was projected to take 30 months (Casablanca 2009). Colleagues in Morocco have suggested to me that the médiathèque will have an online catalog interface and will use the MARC standard for encoding cataloging records, making it a comparatively modern library in terms of public library institutions in Morocco.

Documentation Centers Many government agencies and corporate enterprises maintain documentation centers to meet the information needs of employees. These are the kinds of institutions most actively hiring graduates of ESI. Some private enterprises in Casablanca are very advanced, having Integrated Library Systems (ILSs) that use open source software like Koha to store MARC records, and hiring highlytrained personnel to carry out competitive intelligence research in the field. Other documentation centers are less well-equipped in terms of technology, as has been highlighted in a recent master’s thesis from ESI. This award-winning thesis from 20099 enumerates problems of personnel, equipment, and collections at a Moroccan government agency’s documentation center, and it makes a series of recommendations to help overcome these limitations.

eGovernment Initiatives Researchers at the Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, in conjunction with students and Canadian experts, set out to create an eGovernment portal for access to official documents for citizens of the city of Fez. The project, called the Fez eGoverment Project (eFez Project), would take advantage 9

Allou, Fatima. "Eléments d’optimisation du système d’information documentaire de presse du Ministère de la Communication” (Master’s thesis, Ecole des sciences de l’information, 2009).

234 Heather Lea Moulaison of information and communication technologies and offer access to scanned birth certificates for literate and non-literate citizens. Electronic access to birth certificates was made available through special touch-screen kiosks that also offered instructions in a variety of spoken languages for users who could not read. The initial two-year project was funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and work was completed in 2006 (Moulin, Kettani, and Elmahdi n.d.). The project currently has been taken over by a start-up.10 The eFez Project considers itself to be a success and may be one of a few projects designed to serve Moroccan users, whatever their reading levels. However like other Moroccan projects involving technology, is not available for inspection by researchers via the web.

Immediate Challenges to Development in Moroccan Libraries Although many initiatives of note are underway to provide a wide variety of types of library services to users, certain challenges should be highlighted as being primary. The poverty prevalent in Morocco hinders advancement, creating a cycle of decline that libraries and access to information could ameliorate, if given a chance. Some of the factors contributing to the poverty of the country, including lack of qualified educators and lack of resources, also contribute to a weak knowledge base in the country. The government tolerates intellectual property violations through pirated videos and software, but it may continue to discourage open freedom of expression of its citizens. The country’s poverty and the lack of trading value of the Dirham create an unstable banking environment, reinforcing traditional venues for sales and business at the expense of developing web-based resources and infrastructures. These policy challenges are all set against a background of a multi-lingual country with a largely oral culture, rendering access to recorded information one of the most basic challenges faced by librarians and information professionals in Morocco today. The United Nations Development Programme issued its Arab Knowledge Report 2009 in conjunction with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation. This sobering report covers the whole of the Arab world and details some of the discrepancies that can be found among countries. Morocco does possess adequate knowledge capital necessary to facilitate participation in the knowledge society. However, it possesses the “lowest degree of ability” possible; knowledge capital among youth and knowledge capital among adults are both less than 50% (121). The report goes on to explain that, “Arab societies brim with fine minds and gifted individuals who do not have the opportunities to grow and fulfill their potential. The absence of such opportunities forms an obstacle to generating a critical mass of highly qualified human capi10 Kevin Smith, e-mail message to author, June 22, 2009.

2.10 Morocco ௅ The New Era of Moroccan Libraries 235

tal with the power to create, innovate, and renew and the skills and competencies it takes to steer the processes of sustained development that Arab societies so desperately need” (131). Sustained development in Morocco is also hindered by the lack of respect for intellectual property, limitations in terms of freedom of expression (which have greatly lessened in recent years), and the increased “marginalization” of Arab research that is seen as lacking in rigor on the international scale (Arab Knowledge Report 2009 2009, 204). International marginalization of banking is another issue affecting growth of Moroccan libraries in the age of the Internet. Indeed, restrictions resulting from the limited banking infrastructure hinder Morocco’s online presence. In Morocco, there is no online commerce. The Dirham is a soft currency. Regulations against online sales and an under-developed banking system make online commerce impossible, providing little incentive for the study and creation of a wholly Moroccan Internet. Surveying Moroccan web pages to develop an understanding of Moroccan esthetic preferences and sensibilities is not possible in the way that it is in developed countries (cf. Barber and Badre 1998; Cyr and Trevor-Smith 2004). Surveying government web initiatives has been another way that researchers have evaluated design preferences for national user groups (Barber and Badre 1998). However, an in-country sample of the Moroccan web that I carried out in early 2009 demonstrated that for the fifty top government pages in Google, 32% of URLs (n=16) were broken links. Further work to ascertain the language of all 50 top pages was carried out using the Internet Archive’s Way Back Machine, revealing that 24% of the 50 pages were in the official Arabic (n=12), and 68% were in French (n=34). This cursory survey concluded that none of these government pages were truly indicative of Moroccan web preferences or design ideals, since the pages tended not to be designed by Moroccans and seemed largely abandoned (Moulaison forthcoming). The multilingual situation in Morocco presents significant challenges for growth in the provision of information, not just on the Internet but in any kind of information repository that stores textual documents. The official language, Standard Arabic, is already a foreign language to Morocco’s native speakers of Derija. It would be as if Italy made Latin the official language today, even though daily life is carried out in Italian. Newspapers may be written in Middle Moroccan Arabic, but this is an official language, and not the spoken dialect of the people. Berber can be written, but has not been an influential written language up to the present. French is the language of the former colonizer, and is thus the language of many Moroccan institutions and commerce to some extent. English might be considered the language of modernity, but it is not yet spoken widely. Of the Moroccans who can read, many may not be strong in the foreign languages that are required for access to information. Given the abundance of available languages, it is possible to wonder what language the Moroccan web will use when it does begin to develop.

236 Heather Lea Moulaison

The Next Fifteen Years Moroccan society will certainly be evolving rapidly in the next fifteen years as it strives to overcome these and other challenges. Already, the 2010 Horizon Report cites the potential for an explosion of mobile computing devises, especially in the developing world (Johnson, Levine, Smith, and Stone 2010, 9). As Moroccan society moves further from the French tradition to embrace universally-understood English as a lingua franca, as the Moroccan diaspora continues to grow in the aftermath of the internationally felt economic crisis that began in 2008, and as more Moroccans have access to additional connectivity through increased infrastructure, Moroccan society will continue to open to new influences. Libraries in Morocco will require the development and continued adoption of new technologies and the means for library and information science professionals to learn about these developments though education, continuing education, and strong professional networks.

New Technologies in Libraries While libraries are expert at disseminating information, that information must first exist for it to be made available. It is my strong hope that the Moroccan government will begin to put into place web-based services and resources that will kick-start the development of a robust Moroccan web presence, and that the libraries will partner with the government by finding ways to disseminate that information equitably to all Moroccans, irrelevant of their social situation. The necessary development of a Moroccan web remains a long-term effort, one that will not be easy to manage or implement but one that needs to take place for there to be progress. Given the extent of creative uses of mobile communication devises currently being documented in Morocco, mobile access to information and resources cannot and should not be ignored by libraries and documentation centers. Despite the relatively robust adoption of the Internet, even more Moroccans have leapfrogged the use of traditional PCs to go directly to the use of mobile devices like cellular phones. As smartphones become increasingly popular, libraries should consider taking advantage of them as ways to reach out to distant clientele. Now is the time for Moroccan libraries to brand themselves as technological leaders. Several have done just that, but many more still need to do so, and taking advantage of mobile devices as outreach is one method that may resound well with potential users. In doing so, librarians will also need to be prepared to provide additional services for users who cannot read and who cannot physically come to the facilities. Other outreach initiatives could include the creation, maintenance, and access for digital libraries of pertinent digital content. One of the interesting services maintained at the CND is an online current awareness service called

2.10 Morocco ௅ The New Era of Moroccan Libraries 237

Maraacid.11 In fields of library and information science and other disciplines, web researchers organize and make available articles found in free resources online, ensuring that access to the work for users is free and equitable. To my knowledge, this project is the only full-text free service created by and for Moroccans, focusing on the languages in which they have professional competence. More standard digitization projects are underway at the CND and the BNRM (Ressources 2010). Documents pertaining to national heritage, especially fragile or unique and rare documents are being scanned as part of the BNRM’s digitization project. Such steps will protect the cultural heritage materials for future use and study. Certainly other libraries are creating and providing access to digital library content. In many cases, access to European and North American digital libraries and repositories has to suffice in the meantime. Other digital library resources can also be envisioned for use by nonliterate Moroccans, if those resources are non-text based, and if they are made available in a way that is consistent with Moroccan culture and society. Cultural heritage materials such as videos, oral interviews, and photos could be made available to all Moroccan users if non-text based interfaces were created as a means of providing access. Given that the government approves all research requests from foreign researchers (MACECE 2008), a minimal amount of effort would be needed to request that researchers deposit digital copies of all fieldwork documents with a central agency for dissemination to all Moroccans, and to supply these researchers with the necessary permissions and legal documents so that the cultural heritage artifacts they produce can be made available.

Professional Education and Continuing Education While technology and the policy that guides it must improve for advances in libraries to take place, the human side of library work must also be considered. Morocco’s École des Sciences de l’Information (ESI) is considered one of the best LIS schools in Africa “because of its building and equipment” (Dyab 2002, 63). Information specialists trained at ESI are an elite group. Although Moroccan society distinguishes between the professions of documentalists and librarians, the education and preparation for both professions takes place in the combined training received at ESI. Graduates of the program are termed informatistes. Informatiste is a term that is unique to Morocco in francophone library science education. My informal and non-comprehensive observations from only one academic year yield the following: in keeping with the fact that 11 Centre National de Documentation. "Portail de Veille du CND «Maraacid»,” Royaume du Maroc, Haut Commissariat au Plan, Portail du Centre National de Documentation = ϲѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰Ϩ˰ρϮ˰ϟ΍ ΰѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ϛή˰Ϥ˰ϟ΍ Δѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰Α΍Ϯ˰Α ςѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ϴ˰τ˰Ψ˰Θ˰Ϡ˰ϟ Δѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ϴ˰ϣΎ˰δ˰ϟ΍ Δϴѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ΑϭΪ˰Ϩ˰Ϥ˰ϟ΍ Δѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ϴ˰Αή˰ϐ˰Ϥ˰ϟ΍ Δѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰Ϝ˰Ϡ˰Ϥ˰Ϥ˰ϟ΍ ϖѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧѧ˰ϴ˰ΛϮ˰Θ˰Ϡ˰ϟ, http://www.cnd.hcp.ma/Portail-de-Veille-du-CND-Maraacid_a21.html.

238 Heather Lea Moulaison ESI is overseen and funded by the Ministry of Planning (and not the Ministry of Education, for example), the curriculum emphasizes computer technology to assist documentalists in their work. These documentalists often find work in government ministries after graduation, making a degree from ESI a coveted one. Libraries are given a substantial focus in the curriculum, and it is possible for students to choose the “libraries” specialization in their third year. Not much of the library track emphasis is on new technologies, and to my knowledge, I was the first instructor to teach cataloging and to show OCLC products like Connexion that use the MARC format. Students had learned about library metadata to the point of being very conversant, but had not been trained in tools that make use of new technologies. In order for both libraries and documentation centers to advance in the next fifteen years, equal consideration should be given to new technologies across the board. This recommendation, I suspect, is already being acted upon by the new director at ESI, M. Lemallem. As librarianship expands to include more active use of library technologies, continuing education opportunities will surely become more of a possibility for Morocco’s information professionals. There are Moroccan organizations for information professionals (Lajeunesse and Sène 2004, 270), but it is my understanding that few opportunities for local or regional conferences exist. Morocco has been successful in the past in hosting conferences of interest to international library professionals, and, for example, hosted a wellattended conference on national libraries in the new BNRM as part of the opening ceremonies in November 2008. This sort of leadership will begin to be applied at the local level, allowing information sciences professionals to form social networks that can begin to underpin the move toward more sophisticated access to materials for patrons. Moroccans tend to identify much more strongly with family and location than they do with profession. If, however, a strong professional infrastructure were in place, informatistes may begin to exploit the rich social network that their professional lives can also provide.

The Future Morocco is already extremely open to the world, and has much going for it as a country. It is now time for Morocco to take ownership of the possibilities that technology represents and to put them to the service of the Moroccan people. The poverty plaguing Morocco cannot and will not be alleviated solely though access to information through renewed library institutions, but the renewal of the library institution can provide a means to slow or reverse the cycle of poverty and reduction of knowledge capital. The Moroccan government is going to need to take the lead in terms of creating an information policy that promotes access to information on one hand, requiring follow-through on the other. Through enhanced and open web access to appropriate information, including digital initiatives in libraries, librarians and information profes-

2.10 Morocco ௅ The New Era of Moroccan Libraries 239

sionals can fine-tune their craft through cutting-edge education and continuing education initiatives for information professionals. In doing so, age-old traditions of North African libraries can be revisited and modernized so that that all Moroccans can benefit from what will surely come to be known as the new era of Moroccan libraries.

Bibliography Arab Knowledge Report 2009: towards productive intercommunication for knowledge. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation and the United Nations Development Program/Regional Bureau for Arab States, 2009. Barber, W. and A. Badre. 1998. Culturability: The merging of culture and usability. Paper presented at the 4th Conference on Human Factors the Web, Basking Ridge, NJ. Also available online at: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/marycz/hfweb98/ barber/ (22. July 2009). Benjelloun-Laroui, L. 1990. Les bibliothèques au Maroc. Islam d'hier et d'aujourd'hui. Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose. Brady, F., L. E., Dyson, and T. Asela. 2008. Indigenous adoption of mobile phones and oral culture. In Cultural Attitudes Towards Technology and Communication 2008: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Cultural Attitudes towards Technology and Communication, ed. F. Sudweeks, H. Hrachovec, and C. Ess, 384–398. Murdoch, Australia: School of Information Technology, Murdoch University. Casablanca: Feu vert à la médiathèque. 22 April 2009. Yawatami. http://www.yawatani. com/actualite/casablanca-feu-vert-a-la-mediatheque.html (19. Feb. 2010). Casson, L. 2002. Libraries in the ancient world. New Haven: Yale Nota Bene. Cyr, D., and H. Trevor-Smith. 2004. Localization of web design: An empirical comparison of German, Japanese, and United States website characteristics. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 55(13): 1199–1208. Erhif, H., and L. Belmekki. 2007. La bibliothèque de sciences et technologies : Levier de réussite de la reforme universitaire au Maroc. Paper presented at the World Library and Information Congress: 73rd IFLA Conference and Council, Durban, South Africa, August 19–23, 2007. Haut Commissariat au Plan. June 2008. Guide de l’Ecole. Royaume du Maroc. Heeks, R. 2008. ICT4D 2.0: The next phase of applying ICT for international development. Computer, 41(6): 26–33. Hover, P. L. 2007. Islamic book and information culture: An overview. Pakistan Library Information Science Journal, 38(4): 30–39. Human Development Report 2009 (HDR): Morocco: The Human Development Index going beyond income. UN Development Programme. http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/ countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_MAR.html (7. Mar. 2010). Johnson, L., A. Levine, R. Smith, and S. Stone. (2010). The 2010 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Also available online http://www.educause.edu/ ELI/2010HorizonReport/195400 (20. Jan. 2010). Lajeunesse, M. (Ed.) 2008. Les bibliothèques nationales de la francophonie : répertoire des bibliothèques nationales des États et gouvernements membres ou observateurs de l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Montréal: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales Québec. Also available http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/bs1562547.

240 Heather Lea Moulaison Lajeunesse, M., and H. Sène. 2004. Legislation for library and information services in French-speaking Africa revisited. The International Information Library Review, 36: 367–380. Moroccan-American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (MACECE). (2008). MACECE Manual for U.S. Grantees. Rabat, Morocco. Morocco. CIA World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-fact book/geos/mo.html (7. Mar. 2010). Moulaison, H. (forthcoming). Online information in Morocco: moving forward, looking back, or both? Unpublished manuscript. Moulin, B., D, Kettani, and A. Elmahdi. n.d. A design method for the development and deployment of e-government systems that emphasizes good governance [Electronic Version], 1–6. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/ groups/public/documents/unpan/unpan030934.pdf. OCLC. Find an OCLC library. Country=“morocco” http://www.oclc.org/contacts/libraries (18. Feb. 2010). Ressources: Bibliothèque numérique. Bibliothèque Nationale du Royaume du Maroc. http://www.bnrm.ma/fr/ressources/bibliotheque_numerique.html. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. (2007). Information Economy Report 2007-2008: Science and technology for development: The new paradigm of ICT. New York: United Nations. Wesley, C. 1989. National information policies and networks in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Sudan: A comparative study. Alexandria, 2(3): 23–37.

2.11 New Zealand New Zealand: Innovation in a Small Country Philip Calvert Introduction New Zealand’s libraries date back to the initial days of European colonisation, with the first libraries established in the early 1840s. The Public Libraries Act 1869 helped promote the libraries provided by local government authorities that raised revenue from a local property tax. The Act permitted the charging of fees for borrowing, and although this is regularly challenged, today it remains a feature of public libraries, with charges on CDs, DVDs and Internet access still common. The General Assembly Library (for Parliament) opened in 1856, and the first scientific libraries were established in 1865. Academic libraries followed the opening of the first universities, with Otago being the very first in 1869. The New Zealand Library Association started in 1910. The Carnegie Corporation helped support the development of New Zealand libraries in the first half of the twentieth century, especially by funding the Munn-Barr report of 1934, often seen as the foundation of modern libraries in the country.1 Following its recommendations, the Country Library Service was formed in 1938, and a School Library Service was formed in 1942. The library association was strengthened, and in 1946 the first library education was provided in Wellington, through the National Library Service. By the time of the next major review, conducted by Andrew Osborn in 1959, the shape of present library services was fairly well established. Perhaps the last significant organizational change was the creation of the National Library of New Zealand, by merging the Alexander Turnbull Library, the General Assembly Library, and the National Library Service group in 1965 (the GA Library later separated). As technology began to appear after the Second World War, librarians showed an interest in applying what was relevant. Early pioneers with the use of technology were often the special libraries that needed to access online databases for their clients, so they were quick to adopt technology, such as acoustic couplers for information retrieval from online databases provided by Dialog and other hosts. Centralised bibliographic services were developed in

1

Ralph Munn and John Barr. New Zealand Libraries: A Survey of Conditions and Suggestions for their Improvement. (Christchurch: New Zealand Library Association, 1934).

242 Philip Calvert the early 1980s, and academic and public libraries were soon using them to access MARC records for their own integrated library systems (ILS). In one sense, the slight delay in acquiring integrated library systems, as compared to the United States and the United Kingdom, was beneficial for New Zealand, because effort was not expended on developing in-house systems. Instead, almost all libraries waited until reliable commercial systems were available, before making purchasing decisions. Dynix was a very popular ILS in the early 1990s. Uptake by customers was quite slow, and a survey of students and faculty of a New Zealand university conducted early in the 2000s found the proportion of undergraduates using library digital services very infrequently or not at all was very high: 29.9% for the online catalogue, 38.0% for the online databases, 67.2% for electronic journals, and 75.2% for email reference.2 The figures would be very different now. Other technology adopted in the 1990s included self-issue machines, CD-ROMs and later DVDs, and public access Internet computers. Libraries developed their own websites, and now almost all libraries will have one, even if it has to operate through a parent organization. Even in relatively small and poorly funded schools, the School Library Service has attempted to introduce technology to assist staff and students. Libraries have been ready to take up new technologies as they become cost-effective for a particular service. Several public and academic libraries now use Radio Frequency IDentification technology with their integrated library systems. Some have wireless hotspots operated in conjunction with national and local providers. Public and academic libraries are introducing eBooks and audiobooks, in order to diversify the collection and to provide services to different customer groups. EPIC (Electronic Purchasing in Collaboration) is a national e-licensing initiative that makes a package of electronic resources available to all New Zealanders through libraries (from all sectors) that are consortium members. This very successful consortium has made it possible for even small public and school libraries to offer access to online databases that they certainly would not have been able to afford outside EPIC.

Central Networked Services Taking advantage of its relatively small size, New Zealand has been able to operate centralised bibliographic services since 1984. The New Zealand Bibliographic Network was owned by all member libraries and hosted by the National Library. It provided a computerised database of bibliographic records supplied by the member libraries, and bibliographic services, such as 2

Wei Xia. “Digital Library Services: Perceptions and Expectations of User Communities and Librarians in a New Zealand Academic Library”. Australian Academic Research Libraries 34, no. 1 (March 2003): 56–70.

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downloads of MARC-format records to subscribing libraries, on a costrecovery basis. It was also the platform for a national interlibrary loan system. The National Library also hosted Kiwinet, a general database service concentrating on New Zealand databases. An ill-fated attempt was made to replace the system in the mid-1990s, but success was achieved later. Librarians now use what is commonly called Te Puna, a suite of bibliographic services. Te Puna WebCat allows librarians to upload holdings or short bibliographic records to the National Bibliographic Database, and to download MARC format records directly to a library’s catalogue database. Librarians carrying out original cataloguing use the Te Puna Cataloguing Client. The national interloan system is the Te Puna Interloan Management System (VDX), which is supported by a website directory of New Zealand libraries.

The Digital Strategy The New Zealand government has a Digital Strategy that states, “The Digital Strategy is about all New Zealanders working together to make New Zealand a leader in the digital world and to create a prosperous, sustainable and vibrant society - smarter through digital.”3 Planned outcomes from the strategy include a healthy environment, a high-value economy, and vibrant communities and culture. The Digital Strategy was first launched in 2005, and the second version was published on August 28, 2008. Initially it was built around three enablers: connection, confidence, and capability. It was realised that nothing much could be achieved without content, so this has been added as a fourth enabler. Content was the subject of a special strategy of its own launched in 2007, and this was of great interest to libraries because it included a major focus on unique New Zealand content.4 Through the Strategy, the government will provide funding for a considerable extension of broadband throughout the country, which could have a very beneficial effect on library provision of online services, especially in rural areas. One of the projects listed in the Digital Strategy was the Aotearoa People’s Network Kaharoa, based upon the People’s Network in the United Kingdom. A successful bid to the Strategy’s Community Partnership Fund provided the necessary finance to start the project, which has also received support from Sun Microsystems. Through its support of public libraries, it provides free and facilitated access to broadband Internet, digital tools and services, and the ability to deposit content into community and national digital archives. These tools and support include the ability for customers to digitise their local community materials and stories using scanners and audio recorders, and then to upload the files to open source repository software called 3 4

New Zealand. Digital Strategy. http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz (11. Feb. 2010). New Zealand. Digital Content Strategy. http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/Resources/NewZealand-Digital-Content-Strategy (14. Feb. 2010).

244 Philip Calvert Kete. Since phase 1 began in November 2007, and up to February 2010, over 120 libraries had been involved. The public libraries must provide furniture and cabling internal to the library building. They also must make time available for library staff to complete the training offered by the Network. The computers, software, printers, and flat-bed scanners are given to the local government authority at the time of installation. The Network owns the network equipment and software management tools, except for the router, which is owned by the network provider. The Network supports a managed network, including remote control of client computers, remote wake/shutdown of client computers, remote out-of-library-hours installation and upgrade of software, free-phone helpdesk support for library staff during opening hours, and network outage monitoring and alert tools.5 The network includes a content filter, which is updated regularly, to block pornography and viruses.

Archiving Electronic Materials It is often a struggle to keep legislation relevant to technological developments. Legal deposit was initially limited to print materials, but New Zealand moved relatively quickly to introduce legislation that extended the reach of legal deposit to electronic materials as well. The National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa) Act 2003 defines ‘documents’ as those printed or produced by other methods, which means that online or offline electronic publications are covered and should therefore be deposited with the specified libraries. A Web Deposit Tool lets publishers, individuals, and organisations deposit digital content with the National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library, assisting them to collect and preserve New Zealand's digital heritage.6 This includes published material, such as e-serials, one-off publications, music and audio-visual content, and unpublished material, such as letters, minutes and literary papers, photographs, cartoons, and oral histories. In order to collect online materials, the National Library cooperated with other bodies, including the International Internet Preservation Consortium, to launch the Web Curator Tool in 2006 to assist with the management of the selection, acquisition and appraisal workflow of selective harvesting.7 The Alexander Turnbull Library, the premier heritage library in the country, has accepted that it is impossible to capture all electronic information, so the intent is to capture material of high research value “rather than being obsessive about

5 6 7

Aotearoa People’s Network Kaharoa. http://www.aotearoapeoplesnetwork.org (24. Feb. 2010). National Library of New Zealand. Web Deposit Tool. http://www.natlib.govt.nz/services/ legal-deposit-donations/web-deposit-tool (22. Feb. 2010). National Library of New Zealand. Web Curator Tool. http://www.natlib.govt.nz/services/ get-advice/digital-libraries/web-curator-tool (25. Feb. 2010).

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what is missed.”8 Collecting digital materials for their heritage value poses new challenges for librarians and archivists, especially considering the expectations of a new set of end-users, who will assume that everything should be available and accessible without barriers. Digital materials must be archived securely, and the National Digital Heritage Archive (NDHA) is a suite of software applications that support a digital store for the websites, sound and vision files, digital images, and other borndigital and digitized items that make up the National Library's digital heritage collections. It uses a standards-based, commercial digital preservation system, developed in partnership with the Ex Libris Group and Sun Microsystems. The hardware and software are designed to be scalable over time as the digital collections grow.9 The NDHA also includes applications such as the Web Curator Tool, which integrate the NDHA's digital preservation system with the National Library's digital collections, such as Papers Past, Matapihi, and Timeframes.

Digitisation The New Zealand Electronic Text Centre (NZETC) was modelled upon the successful Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia. The NZETC says it performs several roles: as a digital library storing electronic copies of New Zealand and South Pacific heritage materials; as a digital publisher of born-digital material from Victoria University of Wellington (its host institution); as a digital humanities centre; and as a digital projects partner.10 One of its major works has been the digitization of the fifty-volume Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945. An online encyclopedia of New Zealand called Ta Ara is being developed and maintained by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage. When complete, it will be a comprehensive guide to the country’s peoples, natural environment, history, culture, economy, institutions, and society.11 Some libraries, such as Auckland City Libraries, have been digitizing rare items for many years. A challenge for New Zealand’s libraries, as it will be around the world, will be in adapting to the increasing diversity of potential platforms through which customers will access materials. The NZETC is trying to “future-proof” its content by marking up documents in the Text Encoding Initiative format as its default, though most other organizations do not yet have this capacity. 8 Ingrid Mason. “Virtual Preservation: How has Digital Culture Influenced our Ideas about Permanence? Changing Practice in a National Legal Deposit Library”. Library Trends 56, no. 1 (Summer 2007): 198–215. 9 National Library of New Zealand. National Digital Heritage Archive. http://www.natlib. govt.nz/about-us/current-initiatives/ndha (2. Mar. 2010). 10 New Zealand Electronic Text Centre. http://www.nzetc.org (10. Jan. 2010). 11 New Zealand. Ministry of Culture and Heritage. Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. http://www.teara.govt.nz/ (23. Feb. 2010).

246 Philip Calvert All eight universities and several of the polytechnics in New Zealand host digital institutional repositories. Some are still small and hold only a few electronic theses, but others, such as ResearchSpace@Auckland (the University of Auckland), now hold thousands of items. As of early 2010 eight polytechnic libraries have started institutional repositories. DSpace software is used by several institutions, while Eprints, Fedora, and the Digital Commons software are used by other institutions. The institutional repositories are OAI compliant and expose their metadata for harvesting. The Kiwi Research Information Service (KRIS) is a service provider that publishes harvested metadata that has been collected in Dublin Core format.12 KRIS also assists institutions by providing them with reports on their metadata quality.

Library 2.0 The use of Web 2.0/Library 2.0 has grown, perhaps less rapidly than in some other countries, but a surge appears to have started around 2008. Rutherford suggests that, apart from blogs, New Zealand public librarians have been slow to adopt 2.0,13 though more recent comments suggest a rapid adoption. Several libraries publish blogs. The South Taranaki District Library, a small public library even by New Zealand standards, publishes every day in its South Taranaki LibraryPlus blog.14 A prize for the longest name must go to the whatsnewhurunuilibraries blog from Hurunui District Library.15 The National Library publishes the LibraryTechNZ blog, which not only promotes information about the Library, but also offers technical assistance to librarians working on digital projects.16 Also, the School Library Service publishes Create Readers, a blog about children's and YA literature (especially New Zealand), literacy research, and on ways to get kids reading.17 Libraries are creating and disseminating podcasts. The Library of UCOL (the Universal College of Learning) in Palmerston North was an early adopter, making six podcast files in MP3 format and putting them on the Library’s website. This was done using open source software.18 Since then several li12 Kiwi Research Information Service. http://nzresearch.org.nz (2. Jan. 2010). 13 Louise L Rutherford. “Implementing Social Software in Public Libraries: An Exploration of the Issues Confronting Public Library Adopters of Social Software”. Library Hi Tech 26, no. 2 (2008): 184–200. 14 South Taranaki District Council Library. South Taranaki LibraryPlus. http://libraryplus. blogspot.com (3. Mar. 2010). 15 Hurunui District Library. Whatsnewhurunuilibraries Weblog. http://whatsnewhurunuilibraries. wordpress.com (3. Mar. 2010). 16 National Library of New Zealand. LibraryTechNZ. http://librarytechnz.natlib.govt.nz (4. Mar. 2010). 17 National Library of New Zealand. Create Readers. http://createreaders.natlib.govt.nz (4. Mar. 2010). 18 Angela Jowitt. “Creating Community with Podcasting.” Computers in Libraries 28, no. 4 (April 2008): 14–15, 54–56.

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braries have gone on to create podcasts, such as Christchurch City Libraries with its series called The Library Detective, “a documentary-style series of six podcasts about the behind-the-scenes world of our treasured local libraries.”19 Unitec, a tertiary education provider in greater Auckland, has made a series of podcasts providing virtual library tours, and tutorials about the catalogue, online databases, and the Internet. Facebook has been adopted by some public libraries. Palmerston North City Library was an early adopter. Twitter is used by several public libraries to create community. Wellington City Library seems to have been particularly successful, though others, such as Upper Hutt City Library, have also created lively communities. Dunedin Public Libraries seems to try everything new as a deliberate policy, or a “taste it and see” method of experimenting with a new service to test its value for delivering services and creating community. A survey has shown that age is not a barrier to library staff using new networking tools, nor is position within the organization. Security is a major concern, however, among parent bodies, so staff training and the maintenance of good relations with IT service staff are necessary to overcome such internal barriers.20 Some staff, in order to develop and maintain knowledge of networking tools, must do so at home because their parent body bans access to such services on work computers.

Record-keeping Most public sector organizations now create almost all their new information in digital form, making the management of records increasingly complicated. Problems have been identified. In 2009 three-quarters of New Zealand state sector organizations reported that they were already holding records in formats that they could no longer access.21 A survey of 39 public sector bodies, conducted in 2006, revealed a relatively low level of understanding about digital preservation, and actual preservation activity levels were modest. Half of the organizations had not established repository arrangements for the ongoing maintenance and access to their digital materials.22 This situation, already of concern, was made more acute by the passing of the Public Records Act 2005, which puts the onus on all government bodies to meet tough recordkeeping standards and to be ready for audit. In the absence of in-house knowledge, 19 Christchurch City Libraries. Library Detective. http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/ LibraryDetective (3. Mar. 2010). 20 Brenda Chawner. “Spectators, Not Players: Information Managers’ Use of Web 2.0 in New Zealand”. The Electronic Library 26, no. 5 (2008): 630–649. 21 Research New Zealand. Government Recordkeeping Survey Report 2009. http://continuum. archives.govt.nz/files/Publication_Public_offices_report.pdf (12. Feb.2010). 22 Daniel G Dorner. “Public Sector Readiness for Digital Preservation in New Zealand: The Rate of Adoption of an Innovation in Records Management Practices”. Government Information Quarterly 26, no. 2: 341–348.

248 Philip Calvert many public sector bodies turned to the National Library and to Archives New Zealand for advice and assistance. New Zealand's Digital Continuity Action Plan is an initiative to prevent important public records being lost and to ensure that current information is adequately archived. “Globally, so far as we know, this is the first nationwide, whole of public sector approach to the issues of ongoing trusted access to digital information assets for business continuity and service delivery,” said Stephen Clarke of Archives New Zealand.23 The plan has been developed as a collaborative programme to assist and support agencies to overcome issues in storing, accessing, using, and reusing the digital information they produce.24

Building Design and Learning Centers Information Commons are increasingly found in academic institutions such as the Manukau Institute of Technology and the University of Otago, but learning centers could become a significant part of the future for public libraries as well, as technology takes a greater part in the delivery of information of all kinds. If equity of access is to be maintained, the public library will have to develop strategies for providing access to information in a very wide variety of formats. It also has to encourage people in communities to learn how to access information in different ways, not only through solitary reading, but also as families and groups using technology. This might lead to some rethinking of the role of public libraries, as they become increasingly engaged in education and skills development, and thus, as some might say, going back to the origins of public libraries before they became closely associated with recreational materials. Concerns remain, such as the use of library computers to access inappropriate material, and intentional misuse of social networking tools. There is also concern about network security, which inevitably comes when access is opened up to the general public, some of whom are naïve about malicious software. But these are challenges that are being faced on a day-to-day basis by New Zealand librarians, who try to support the principle of open access rather than to use external threats to the system as justification for limiting access to information. Learning centers can use a variety of models, and in Christchurch City Libraries the definition used is of a learning space, with services and technology that facilitate group learning and activities with a focus on the use of computers. Three branch libraries operate learning centers, all of which offer new 23 Stephen Clarke. “The New Zealand Public Sector Digital Continuity Action Plan” D-Lib Magazine, 15 nos. 9/10 (2009). http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september09/09inbrief.html# CLARKE (3. Mar. 2010). 24 Archives New Zealand. Digital Continuity Action Plan. http://archives.govt.nz/advice/ digital-continuity-action-plan (15. Feb. 2010).

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learning experiences in technology, based upon computer labs, portable multimedia equipment, and videoconferencing, which blurs the boundaries between libraries, learning and technology.25 The centers support learning of many different sorts, formal and informal, such as enquiry based learning, information literacy, collaboration and teamwork, and social networking. Groups from all walks of life can and do use the learning centers, including: preschoolers up to seniors, school classes, computer clubs, services assisting the jobless to learn computers skills, family groups, and so forth. Learning centers are now relatively widespread in the larger public libraries in New Zealand, including: the Te Waiwere Learning Centre in Rotorua; the eight Learning Centres run by Waitakere City Council, six of which are based in libraries; the Tauranga City Libraries Learning Centre; and the Mangere East Community Learning Centre, based in the local library. Each one offers something different. Waitakere, for example, offers computer classes for beginners, taught in Mandarin. Tauranga runs classes on using TradeMe (a popular online auction site). Building design is inevitably affected by the need to incorporate more technology. Learning Commons/Information Commons or Learning Centres are now relatively prevalent in tertiary library buildings. Trends in public and academic library buildings, listed in 2004, include: information/learning commons; IT training suites; fully-wired buildings to permit IT use anywhere; and complementary wireless spaces wherever possible.26 The New Brighton Community Library in Christchurch is located right on the sea edge in an area popular with surfers. The building opened in 1999, incorporating a feature called “The Pipeline” as a nod towards surfing. In it the Library placed personal computers and game machines that have proved very popular with teenagers. Add to this innovate ideas such as skateboarding workshops, and it can be seen how the library and its staff have become popular with many young people who would otherwise not venture anywhere near a library.27

Software Development Software development is not typically associated with small countries, but New Zealand is home to two open-source software projects that have gained an international following. The Greenstone Digital Library software is pro25 Wendy Butcher and Patsy-Ann Street. “Lifelong Learning With Older Adults” Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services 22, no. 2 (June 2009): 64–70. 26 Alan Bundy. “Places of Connection: New Public and Academic Library Buildings in Australia and New Zealand”. Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services 17, no. 1 (March 2004): 32–47. 27 Dawn McMillan. “Getting Connected: New Ways to Attract the Young”. Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services 14, no. 2 (June 2001): 52–57.

250 Philip Calvert duced by the New Zealand Digital Library Project at the University of Waikato, and it is developed and distributed in cooperation with UNESCO and the Human Info NGO. The objective of the NZ Digital Library Project is to enable end-users, particularly groups in universities, libraries, and other public service institutions, to build their own digital libraries.28 The software has been installed in libraries and information-disseminating organisations around the world, and its is popular in developing countries of Asia and the Pacific. It is used, for example, for the Digital Library of the SPC Coastal and Oceanic Fisheries Programmes. The Koha Integrated Library System is, as of February 2010, in version 3.0 and is used in several countries around the world. It was developed by Katipo Communications for the Horowhenua Library Trust, and it is distributed under the open-source General Public Licence.29

Conclusion Working in a country with a population not much over four million, New Zealand’s librarians have an admirable record of innovation. Provided that the cost of technology does not become prohibitive, experimentation and innovation can be expected to continue as a new generation already familiar with Internet applications enters the profession. Yet librarians know that they cannot greatly expand online services unless the infrastructure is improved. Currently, New Zealand ranks 16th out of 159 countries on the ICT Development Index, a composite measure made up of indicators of ICT access, use, and skills, published by the International Telecommunication Union.30 An independent study by the Connectivity Scorecard says a weak consumer infrastructure has led to New Zealand falling in its rankings. “Broadband penetration is average at best, and 3G penetration lags behind other nations in the sample.”31 The telecommunications infrastructure needs more work if all parts of the country are to benefit, though some parts of the country have difficult terrain and low population density. The government plans that 97% of rural households will have access to broadband of at least 5Mbps with the remainder reaching at least 1Mbps, a key element is to deliver fibre to schools. This is to be carried out in conjunction with an ultra-fast broadband initiative in urban areas. None of this will be paid for by the government alone, so it has to create a public-private partnership before this can be done. A similar infrastructure problem lies in the cost of data plans for 3G mobile phones, which is presently 28 Greenstone Digital Library Software. About Greenstone. http://www.greenstone.org (11. Mar. 2010). 29 Koha. http://koha.org (10. Mar. 2010). 30 International Telecommunication Union. Measuring the Information Society 2010. (Geneva: ITU, 2010). http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/2010/Material/MIS_2010_without %20annex%204-e.pdf (19. Mar. 2010). 31 Nokia Siemens Networks. Connectivity Scorecard: New Zealand. http://www.connectivity scorecard.org/countries/new_zealand (20. Mar. 2010).

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deterring customers from making more use of portable devices. The improved infrastructure is an enabler, but librarians still must find ways to provide content within constrained budgets, if they are to meet the Digital Strategy’s stated aim of making the country smarter through digital.

2.12 Nigeria The Development of Information and Communication Technologies in Nigerian Libraries Martha A. Speirs Nigeria is a West African country, more than twice the size of California, which hosts Africa’s largest population (151,319,500) and is appropriately classed as a developing country. Development in general in Nigeria has been impeded by low income rates where over 70% of the population lives below the poverty line of $1 per day, despite being Africa’s leading oil producer.1 Upon gaining independence from 46 years of British colonization (1914– 1960), Nigeria adopted English as its official language. However, there are also three widely-spoken regional languages and over 250 local languages. Within this given geographic, economic, and cultural context the development of literacy, the culture of reading and the basic development of technology in Nigeria will be briefly examined, before moving on to the main focus, the development and implementation of ICTs in Nigeria’s libraries during the past two decades.

A Short History of Reading and Libraries in Nigeria The area of West Africa now known as Nigeria has been occupied for centuries by numerous indigenous tribal groups who speak a variety of languages. Communication has been predominantly oral throughout the ages and today Nigeria is still a very oral culture, with a literacy rate of only 69.3%, according to the Nigerian Annual Abstract of Statistics, 2008.2 There exists, however, a history of written documentation in the northern areas of Nigeria beginning in the tenth century, when Ajami manuscripts were composed using Arabic script to encode African languages such as Hausa, Fufulde and Kanuri. In an article on Ajami in the Boston Globe, Ngom noted that this script was first used for writing religious tracts and later for composing everyday documents and messages among a select population.3 By 1914 many Quaranic schools had been 1 2 3

World Bank Group, “World Development Indicators,” WDI Online 2009, http://ddpext.worldbank.org/ext/DDPQQ/report.do?method=showReport (26. Feb. 2010). Federal Republic of Nigeria, Nigerian Annual Abstract of Statistics 2008, (Abuja, 2009), 254. Kenneth J. Cooper, “The Lost Script,” Boston Globe, 10 Jan. 2010, C1–2.

254 Martha A. Speirs established in the northern part of Nigeria. However, the major medium of communication remained the spoken word until early in the nineteenth century when the use of the written word spread more widely within the region. Latin script was introduced as the medium of writing by missionaries when they arrived to spread Christianity into the southern areas of Nigeria. Alphabets were developed for the various oral vernacular languages, so that missionaries could spread their religion as a written word. Consequently, the Bible and other religious tracts were translated and printed in many indigenous languages. Mission schools were established beginning in 1842, and these brought the first instances of the Western style of education to Nigeria. When Britain colonized Nigeria in 1914, their colonial system of education was introduced, and the beginnings of libraries were established.4 In order to encourage and develop a culture of reading, books were needed, but the development of the publishing industry was slow to launch. The Calabar Mission Press was set up in 1846, and it is said that 3,000 Yoruba people could read by 1849.5 Samuel Crowther produced the Grammar and Vocabulary of the Yoruba Language, and J.F. Schon produced his Vocabulary of the Hausa Language in 1843. However, a culture of reading has not flourished in Nigeria, and most houses do not have books except for school primers or religious tracts. Ugwu wrote, “If Nigeria therefore as a nation wants a prosperous future of massive techno-scientific and industrial revolution, sociopolitical and economic renovation, she needs embrace a reading culture like the rest of the emerging world.”6 According to Ifidon’s report, there were only 129 libraries for the population of 55 million people in 1963, which equals only one library for every 426,356 people.7 There are now over 1,000 libraries in Nigeria (one for every 151,320 people), but very few offer anything in the way of computerized services. The Nigerian government has not placed a strong emphasis or funding behind literacy and library programs in Nigeria, even though it is generally agreed that libraries support and continue the work of educators by providing resources for life-long self development. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are dependent on libraries as an efficient way of disseminating information concerning these goals for societal and economic development. However, Nigeria does not have the needed public libraries or information

4 5 6 7

Ribadu, Maryam Bakari and Florence Helda, “Toward Functional School Libraries in the 21st Century,” Borno Library, Archival and Information Science Journal 8,no.1( 2008):16. Fajana, A. and M.A Biggs, Nigeria in History (Ikeja, Longman Nigeria Ltd., 1964), 181. Ugwu, Hilary Ike, “Reading Culture: Nigeria’s Simple Step to a Beautiful Future,” Nigerian Village Square. 22, 2008, http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php?option=com_ content&view=article&id=10169 (24. Feb. 2010). Ifidon, Samuel E., “New Developments in the Nigerian Library Scene,” Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 10(1978): 202.

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centers in place, and she needs to move ahead quickly if she is to achieve these goals by 2015, as the United Nations prescribes.8 Because of Nigeria’s current high rates of poverty and illiteracy, the foundation for the development of technology in Nigerian libraries is not yet firmly established and is in danger, as Akpan-Obong notes when she says, “The obstacles posed by poverty and illiteracy to the goals of harnessing ICTs for socio-economic development cannot be overstated.”9

The Advent of Computerization in Nigeria The earliest use of any technology in Nigerian libraries was the introduction of microform technology at the University of Ibadan with the purchase of three microform readers in 1948.10 The first instances of the usage of computers in Nigeria were when IBM set up the African Education Centre at the University of Ibadan (UI Computing Center) in 1963, and when computing services were brought to Nigeria in connection with the analysis of the 1962/63 national census. By 1977 the total computer installations in Nigeria had grown to 70, and interest in this technology had increased. By the late 1970s computer science courses had been established at the Universities of Nigeria, Lagos, Ibadan, Ife, and others. Computer applications were strongly embraced by the banking industry, in administrative and production management, word processing, process control and computer-aided design, and engineering in that order.11 However, the adaptation of information and communications technology and its implementation as an enabling tool was more slowly introduced into Nigeria’s libraries as they are still seen primarily as storehouses for books, despite all of the talk about “virtual libraries”. This popular fever to have a virtual library serve as the solution to all of the problems of access to information is unreasonable, unless a robust and redundant infrastructure is in place in order for this potential solution to be realized. The development and implementation of technology in the libraries of Nigeria is still a work in progress, and Nigeria is severely challenged by the lack of a basic infrastructure, which has prevented strong economic development in most areas. The national electricity grid was still underdeveloped in 2010, and this basic necessity for technological development has made progress in technological implementa8 Njobvu, Benson and Sjoerd Koopman, eds. Libraries and Information Services Towards the Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (Munchen: KG Saur, 2008). 9 Akpan-Obong, Patience Idaraesit. Information and Communication Technologies in Nigeria; Prospects and Challenges for Development. (New York: Peter Lang, 2009), 153. 10 Aguolu, C.C., I. Haruna and I.E. Aguolu, “The Impact of Technology on Library Collections and Services in Nigeria,” in The Impact of Technology on Asian, African and Middle Eastern Library Collections, ed. R. Sharma (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2006), 145. 11 Nwachuku, Michael, “Growth of Information Technology, Historical Perspective,” Development of Information Technology in Nigeria 1994, http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/ uu19ie/uu19ie0e.htm#2 (26. Feb. 2010).

256 Martha A. Speirs tion an almost impossible task. The implementation of the tools necessary for technological development requires a stable and robust electrical infrastructure in order to ensure success. IAEA statistics for 2005 show that Nigerians consumed 72 KWh per capita, a clear disparity compared to the per capita use of 13,228 KWh that existed in the USA.12 Available electric power in the national grid has been decreasing in Nigeria rather than growing. The 6,000 megawatts set as an output goal for 2009 was not met, and the available power in the country dropped from 3400 megawatts in December of 2009, to 2400 as of February 2010, because of the lack of gas reaching the power plants.13 For those who are fortunate enough to be located in an area that is provided with at least a minimum of electricity there remains the equally difficult task of accessing the Internet. Paying for access to an Internet service or setting up a satellite connection is often beyond the budget of most libraries. Africa suffers from the most expensive broadband costs in the world, at over $900 a month, compared to approximately $100 per month in the Americas and Europe.14 Mobile phone use has grown, however, leapfrogging over the era of landlines for many. There are currently a total of 70,337,657 telephone subscribers and 11 million Internet users in Nigeria.15 Nigeria has just emerged as the largest mobile telecom market in Africa, with more than 61 million mobile subscribers.16 If the rapid rise of mobile technology continues, it may provide new access roads onto the information super-highway, which could avoid the problems inherent in power generation. But this would happen only if competition among telecom companies could result in reducing the cost for accessing the Internet via mobile communications. This method of access to the Internet does not look like an immediate solution for all, even though there is a strong trend towards the use of data-enabled handsets by those who can afford this option. The telecommunications sector continues to perform impressively and has remained one of the major drivers of growth in the Nigerian economy. Following intensive marketing strategies and valueadded services by telecommunication companies in Nigeria, the sector recorded a real GDP growth of 34.69% in the third quarter of 2009.17

12 IAEA. “Energy and Environmental Data Reference Bank (EEDRB)” Federal Republic of Nigeria 2006, http://www.iaea.org/inisnkm/nkm/aws/eedrb/data/NG-a9owqelcc.html (26. Feb. 2010). 13 Golu, Timothy, “Power: Nigeria Lost 1200 Megawatts in Two Months,” Leadership, 19 (February 2010):6. 14 World Bank. “Connecting Sub-Saharan Africa: A World Bank Group Strategy for Information and Communication Technology Sector Development,” World Bank working paper, no. 51. (2005):8. 15 Nigerian Communications Commission. “Industry Statistics, Subscriber Data” 2009 http://www.ncc.gov.ng/subscriberdata.htm (27, February 2010). 16 Wireless Federation. “Nigeria posts a subscriber base of more than 61Mn, outshines South Africa’s mobile market.” http://wirelessfederation.com/news/14660-nigeria-posts-asubscriber-base-of-more-than-61mn-outshines-south-africas-mobile-market/ (12. Mar. 2010). 17 Federal Republic of Nigeria. Gross Domestic product for Nigeria. 2009.

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In 2001 Nigeria developed the National Policy for Information Technology (NPIT), which is a general policy for the development of IT (or more broadly, information and communication technologies) in Nigeria. It represents the perceptions of the Federal Government of Nigeria concerning ICTs, what they do and can do, how they can be developed and applied, and the time frame within which to achieve ICT capability in Nigeria by 2005.18 The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the implementing agency, was established with a major aim of using information technology for education, particularly within and between Nigerian universities. Unfortunately this project all but failed a few years after it was initated.19 Various types of libraries have developed the use of technology despite the many inherent problems, with the most technological advancements found in special and university libraries.

Development of Technology within Various Types of Libraries Technology was initially embraced by libraries because it allowed bibliographic, financial, and order records to be kept, managed, and retrieved by both library staff and patrons. The addition of communication technology, using the Internet and intranets, adds the obvious advantages to that of the technology available using computers and CD-ROMs, as it allows for the seamless sharing and dissemination of information both locally and worldwide. Various types of libraries have only been able to adopt ICT dependent on the constraints of funding and infrastructure available to them. The following section deals with the history and status of this adoption of technology within these specific types of implementations.

Public Libraries Public libraries are few and far between in Nigeria. The culture of reading has not been developed in Nigeria, and so there has not been a strong call for libraries to be built in local communities. Public libraries are important facilities which can aid in the economic and social transformation of communities, and, as Opara states, “The contemporary public library is the most economically efficient community resource for providing people of all ages and educational

18 Diso, Lukman Ibraheem, “Information technology policy formulation in Nigeria: Answers without question.” The International Information & Library Review 37(4) (2005):295–302. 19 Amkpa, Samuel Arubam and Tukur Abba, “Factors Inhibiting the Implementation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Nigerian University Libraries.” Information Technologist 6,1 (2009):4.

258 Martha A. Speirs levels with ready access to information and knowledge”20 The first public library in Nigeria was opened in Lagos in 1932, with the help of a grant from the Carnegie Corporation and donations from the Tom Jones private collection. The British Council operated this library until 1950, when it was handed over to the town council.21 The British Council continued to be an active organization in the development of libraries and literacy in Nigeria, by developing reading rooms around the country during World War II. However, it has now withdrawn from much of Nigeria. Public libraries have not become a large part of library services in Nigeria, and it has been estimated that they are only used by approximately 1% of the population, partially because of their irrelevance to the illiterate.22 Each of the 36 Nigerian states has its own State Library system, but these are not wellfunded, and the libraries are lacking in resources. As Ogunsola states, “It must be pointed out that majority of our public and government libraries in Nigeria today are on the verge of collapse because of government long neglect as a result of economic down-turn in the last two decades.”23 Technological developments have not yet occurred in most of the State Library systems, but there is hope that they will develop with the assistance of the Nigerian Library Association (NLA) section on Public Libraries. Public libraries which have been developed and run by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have begun to appear around Nigeria, and one example of this type of organizations is the Karatu Library Foundation, which was begun in Yola, Adamawa State in 2005. This is a network of local community and school libraries which benefit from resources and training coming from the central administrative office. During the past four years, this organization has been able to provide many children and adults with reading materials, which they would not have had access to otherwise.24 Civil society can sometimes move ahead to see that community action is taken, without having to go through the bureaucracy which government agencies require. While public libraries should be provided by the government, NGOs can serve a great service by developing this muchneeded community service.

20 Opara, Umunna N. “The Public Library in Contemporary Nigeria: Challenges and the Way Forward.” IFLA Journal 34(2008): 349. 21 Iwe, Josephine I. “A Historical Perspective of Library Service in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects for the Future” Global Journal of Humanities 6,1&2 (2007): 33. 22 Olden, Anthony. “Constraints on the Development of Public Library Service in Nigeria.” Library Quarterly 55,4(1985): 398. 23 Ogunsola, L.A., “The Role of Library Facilities in the Public Policy Making in Nigeria” Ozean Journal of Social Sciences, 1,1(2008): 25. 24 Karatu Library Foundation. Karatu Website, http://karatu.org (27, Feb. 2010).

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The Nigerian National Library The National Library Act was passed by the Federal Parliament in 1964, to give a legal backing to the establishment of a National Library.25 The National Library was built in Lagos and intends to establish branches in all 36 states, as well as to offer a central National Library in the new capital city of Abuja.

Special Libraries Special Libraries often are able to make technological advances that others can’t because they receive direct funding from their organizations. Enyia notes that, “By 1985, only the library of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, had succeeded in automating its library services.”26 The Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) was the first Nigerian library to completely remove its catalog boxes, and its retrospective conversion efforts reduced 170,000 cataloging cards to 24,000 cataloging records in a FSASIS system developed by Bathele.27 There are special libraries such as those in The Raw Materials Research and Development Council, The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, The Institute of Chartered Accounts of Nigeria, and many others in banks and corporations, which have implemented some level of computerization and have the means to move ahead with a higher level of ICT implementation. It will be interesting to see how these and other special libraries develop further in the future.

School Libraries A conference concerning school library development, sponsored by the Nigerian Library Association and the Federal Ministry of Education, was held in 1964 and succeeded in inaugurating the School Library Section of the Nigerian Library Association. The National Policy on Education in 1981 stated, “Government will ensure that all schools are properly equipped to promote sound and effective teaching, and in particular, the suitable textbooks and libraries are provided for school libraries, textbooks and equipments: and government is also embarking on a scheme for the provision of inexpensive textbooks.”28 However, the nation-wide Universal Basic Education (UBE) pro25 Aina, Joseph O., “Library and Educational Technology Policies in Nigeria,” Journal of Educational Media and Library Sciences 42, 2 (December 2004):175. 26 Enyia, Christian. “Computerization in Nigerian Libraries: A State of the Art Review,” International Library Review 23 (1991):159. 27 Enyia, “Computerization in Nigerian Libraries: A State of the Art Review,” 160–162. 28 Utor, Jacob Kuhwa. Libraries, Education and National Development. (Makurdi. Onaivi Publishing, 2006):114.

260 Martha A. Speirs gram, launched in 1999 for administration in all of the primary schools through the junior secondary schools in Nigeria, does not mention school libraries in its mission.29

University Libraries University libraries are generally the most developed libraries in Nigeria, as they are the core of any university and therefore are at least minimally sustained with university funding. The first Nigerian university library, the Yaba Higher College Library, opened in 1934 and was later transferred to Ibadan University (IU) in 1947, where it formed the nucleus of the Ibadan University Library.30 Other Universities, such as the University of Nigeria at Nsukka (UNN), Ahmado Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, and Universities in Lagos and Ile-Ife developed fledgling libraries in the 1960s. Early technological developments included the computerization of the serial holdings at IU, where they were then printed and used in a book format by 1975. By 1979 a computer-generated list of serials held by the ABU Library complex was produced.31 Libraries at UNN, IU, and ABU all produced computerized lists of serials in the 1970s, and the Nigeria Library Association initiated a project to coordinate these automated lists, however, this was discontinued in 1984. At ABU a circulation system was initialized in 1976, but constraints from power interruptions and machine breakdown prevented rapid progress. A Plessey microcomputer system was installed in the Lagos University Library in 1982, but because of the lack of replacement parts, progress on this project was stalled.32 A 2007 study by Igben and Akobo found that the university libraries surveyed in Rivers State had an average of only eight computers each, and that most of the library staff had inadequate ICT skills.33 Many initial projects have been started with high hopes in Nigeria but have not been sustainable. The Nigerian University Commission (NUC) had made plans for a network (NuNet) to provide Internet connectivity and e-mail to University Libraries. A feasibility study was carried out in 2000, at great cost, by Kensar Telecommunications, but the project has not proven to be sustainable as, “the e-mail system experiences downtimes that stretch into weeks and even the 29 Utor, Libraries, Education and National Development, 114. 30 Iwe, Josephine I. “A Historical Perspective of Library Service in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects for the Future” Global Journal of Humanities 6, 1&2(2007): 34. 31 Mohammed, Zakari. (1991) “The Automation of Academic and Special Libraries in Nigeria: the State of the Art.” International Library Review 23(1991): 65–72. 32 Alabi, G.A., “Library Automation in Nigerian Universities,” Information Development 2 (1986):163–164. 33 Igben, M.J. and D.I. Akobo, “State of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Libraries in Rivers State, Nigeria” African Journal of Library and Information Science 17,2 (2007):150.

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NUC Headquarters has little to show for the years of effort: though the building was built with network wiring in every room and a sophisticated backbone and an emergency power supply, only a handful of computers are attached to the network and the only network service is TELNET email access.”34 Constraints on development of ICT in libraries will be discussed in a later section of this paper. Despite the limitations that university libraries face, they have moved ahead of all others in the implementation of technology. Some of the libraries are receiving major funding from organizations, such as the World Bank and the MacArthur and Carnegie Foundations, and if reliable infrastructure can be set in place and adequate capacity building occurs, they will then stand the highest likelihood of succeeding.

Nigerian Library Association Mention must be made here of the Nigerian Library Association, which was inaugurated in 1962 and took over the work of library coordination begun by the West African Library Association (WALA). It intends to develop library and information services in Nigeria and has been an active force of 5,000 members in supporting libraries in Nigeria since its inception.

Current status of Library Automation in Nigeria Libraries in Nigeria have traditionally offered only printed books, and print holdings still make up the majority of the resources of Nigerian libraries. The introduction of ICT and digital libraries is a very new development in Nigerian libraries, and the desire to use these emerging technologies is spreading fast, despite the constraints in implementing them. Libraries did not have technology tools at an earlier time, and the effort to implement technology was not seen as necessary by many then. Their collections were small, and they did not see the real need for embracing technology until the information revolution evolved with the realization that virtual information was valuable and could be accessed if one had the proper infrastructure in place. The first attempts at computerizing were focused on enabling easier searching of indexed terms, and library automation often began with the production of computergenerated bibliographic and serial lists. When Aguolu stated that, “In fact by 2000 most university and research libraries in Nigeria had not computerized any of their functions” he is referring to more complex computerization than

34 Informat, “Nigerian University Commission of Nigeria,” August 17, 2009, http://nigeriauniversitiesupdates.com/?tag=national-universities-commission (13. Mar. 2010).

262 Martha A. Speirs just lists of serials or the use of spreadsheets for accounting-type purposes.35 There seems to be a general consensus that automating library services is useful because of the following reasons: for the facilitation of easy identification and retrieval of library materials; for the easy creation and updating of inventory of library records; for provision of easy and faster library services to its clientele; to allow remote access of library resources through library web pages and online public access catalogs (OPACs); to provide better communication between library staff and users; and to enable automatic updating of order, financial, and other records.36 Nigerian libraries have embraced a certain level of computerization, but the everyday usage is still quite basic and consists mainly of word-processing and spreadsheet applications. The jump from these basic uses of IT to ICT came with the availability of the Internet, which allowed for the sharing of resources electronically throughout the world. ICT as a tool is beginning to be implemented in some libraries, but it requires the accessibility of the Internet and attendant infrastructure to support it, as there are many constraints to the adoption of full-fledged ICTs in libraries. Thus, its implementation will be a slow process in the current Nigerian environment. Some progress has occurred however, and this is described in the following sections.

Integrated Library Systems An Integrated Library System (ILS), with its various modules, is the core of library automation, and these systems are slowly being implemented in libraries in Nigeria. Most of them are in place in university or special libraries. In the late 1980s several University libraries were provided with PCs and TINLIB DOS-based software by the NUC, but because of lack of training, infrastructure, and human capital, many attempts to implement these early systems failed.37 Several other attempts at introducing early integrated systems were tried, but also failed due to lack of expertise or support from the companies offering the systems. Early versions of some of the early library systems such as TINLIB, CDS/ISIS or WINISIS, provided by UNESCO, Bibliofile by ITS for Windows, and Alice from Softlink, were not very sophisticated, not always based on MARC records, had few modules, and were not webaccessible. The newer generation of library systems is all web-accessible and is based on MARC records and inter-operability. Examples of these systems 35 Aguolu, C.C., I. Haruna and I.E. Aguolu, “The Impact of Technology on Library Collections and Services in Nigeria,” in The Impact of Technology on Asian, African and Middle Eastern Library Collections, ed. R. Sharma (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2006), 145. 36 Abdulkadir, Idris Ahmed. “Library Automation: The Experience of Bayero University Library, Kano.” Borno Library, Archival and Information Science Journal, 8, 1 (2009): 91. 37 Abdulkadir, Idris Ahmed, “Library Automation: The Experience of Bayero University Library, Kano,” Borno Library, Archival and Information Science Journal 8, no.1 (2009): 91.

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are: Millennium from III, Virtua from VTLS, Liberty/Alice from Softlink, and Koha, an open-source system developed by Katipo in New Zealand. Retrospective conversion from the less sophisticated non-MARC systems to the next generation of MARC-based catalogs has posed problems, and libraries should be encouraged to begin with a system offering standard international formats, which can be upgraded and converted easily, and which are compatible with other integrated library systems in use in Nigeria. One recent automation project that deserves special mention is the Carnegie/MacArthur-funded implementation of integrated library systems for six of the larger government universities in Nigeria: ABU, BUK, OAU, UI, the University of Jos (UNIJOS), and the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT). These university libraries are all in the process of implementing VTLS’s Virtua integrated Library system, with the assistance of training from the Mortenson Center at the University of Illinois. They have signed an initial agreement for five years of support from VTLS and have Nigerian support provided by Olayinka Fatoki at UI. When these systems go live in 2010, they will provide national knowledge bases regarding ITC use in libraries in Nigeria, from which others can learn. Libraries Technology Guides, at http://www.librarytechnology.org/lwcprocessquery.pl, lists the Nigerian libraries with web presences that have been submitted to them. Some of these libraries are still in the process of development, so this is not meant to be a comprehensive list. However, it does include many Nigerian Libraries at the forefront of ICT development, and it lists the systems and websites they are using: Ahmadu Bello University Libraries (Zaria, Nigeria) [Virtua] American University of Nigeria Library (Yola, Nigeria) [Millennium] Babcock University Library (Ikeja, Nigeria) [website] Bayero University Library (Kano, Nigeria) [Virtua] Benue State University Library (Makurdi, Nigeria) [website] Bowen University Library (Iwo, Nigeria) [Koha-Independent] Covenant University Library (Canaanland, Nigeria) [website] Federal Medical Centre Library (Lagos, Nigeria) Fombina Palace Museum, Adamawa, Lamido Zubairu Education Centre Library (Yola, Nigeria) Information Access International, Limited Digital Library (Surulere, Nigeria) [CDS/ISIS] Kwara State Polytechnic Library (Ilorin, Nigeria) [website] National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion, NOTAP Library (Abuja, Nigeria) [CDS/ISIS] Nigeria, National Library of Nigeria (Abuja, Nigeria) Obafemi Awolowo University, Hezekiah Oluwasanmi Library (Ile-Ife, Nigeria) [website][Virtua] Osun State University Library, Osogbo (Osogbo, Nigeria) [website]

264 Martha A. Speirs Redeemer's University Library (Redemption City, Mowe, Nigeria) [website] [online catalog] Salem University Library (Lokoja, Nigeria) [website] [Koha – Independent] University of Agriculture Library, Makurdi (Makurdi, Nigeria) [website] University of Ibadan Library (Ibadan, Nigeria) [website] [Virtua] University of Jos Library (Jos, Nigeria) [website] [Virtua] University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nnamdi Azikiwe Library (Nsukka, Nigeria) [website] University of Port Harcourt Library (Port Harcourt, Nigeria) [Virtua] University of Sukuku Library (Sukuku, Nigeria) The American University of Nigeria in Yola implemented Innovative Interfaces Inc’s Millennium system as their integrated library system in 2005, and because of the provision of constant electricity and Internet connectivity at the University, they have been able to make a web OPAC available to the world since that time. Without robust foundational infrastructure and adequate human capital, this advance would not have been possible. It is very critical that Nigeria move ahead with a strong national electric grid and improved Internet service provision, in order for others to establish a firm foundation upon which to base an integrated library system.

Digitization Projects One project that many libraries feel is important is the digitizing of some of their local holdings. This practice is not yet widespread, since it requires infrastructure that is not common in Nigeria, however, several libraries have managed to start these projects. An examination of the digitization initiative of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, shows that the challenges included legal aspects, training, infrastructure, and stakeholders. In 2008 the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, embarked on the process of digitizing all of its legacy and scholarly works, such as theses, projects, and publications of scholars in journals, books, and inaugural lectures. The aim was to protect the original documents and to improve remote access and visibility for scholars. The project has not been without problems, but it continues to lead the way in Nigeria for this kind of implementation. Another project of note is the Digitization of Theses and Dissertations in Nigerian Universities, which was initiated by the Association of African Universities at the University of Jos and at OAU in IleIfe.38 Electronic Databases offer thousands of digitized journals and e-books, and libraries need to offer pathways to guide users to the best ones. African Journals Online (AJOL) is an important effort to freely offer digital copies of 38 Okiy, Rose B. “Digitizing and Archiving Information Resources in Libraries: Reactions to Global Initiatives from Nigeria,” ITS Newsletter. Dec. (2008): 2.

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African journal articles. This online resource, along with JSTOR, offers a wealth of digitized peer-reviewed journal articles for researchers in Africa. The National Universities Commission (NUC) developed a Virtual Library in 2001, but many of the links to digital resources are invalid, and it needs better maintenance in order to be an effective research tool.39 eIFL provides an invaluable service by allowing open access to electronic databases, such as BioOne, Agora, and Hinari, to libraries in low GDP countries like Nigeria. All of these resources are freely available by registration with any educational institution in Nigeria, so there is no excuse for every university not to offer these resources for their clientele.

Constraints on the Implementation of ICT in Nigerian Libraries There are many constraints to any kind of development in Nigeria. It is not an easy environment in which to move ahead for the following reasons, which have hindered efforts to computerize library services in Nigeria.

Erratic Power Supply and an Inadequate National Power Grid The consequences of this problem cannot be overemphasized. Lack of available and affordable electric power is holding back economic development and crippling the country. This is a difficult problem to address, as a solution depends on governmental action, but in order to move ahead now, libraries need to make arrangements for generators and back-up power so that servers can be run on a continual basis. This is the only way that information and communication technologies can be fully utilized in Nigeria in 2010. Erratic power supply can also result in the burning of some electronic components that cannot easily be replaced. The lack of a robust national electric grid is such a widespread problem that it is mentioned as a major constraint by most of those who have written about the development of ICTs in libraries in Nigeria.

Low Bandwidth and Internet Connectivity Problems The lack of affordable Internet service providers and their inability to provide wide bandwidth and strong connectivity means that, even if a library were ready to connect to the Internet super-highway, they might not be able to count on enough bandwidth to effectively access and download the online resources. Internet service providers are not as numerous or reliable as the 39 NUC, National Virtual Library. http://www.nigerianvirtuallibrary.com/Home/tabid/36/ Default.aspx (12. Mar. 2010).

266 Martha A. Speirs demand requires, and the bandwidth is often narrow and the connections generally slow. The provision of Internet capability needs to be strengthened in order for ICTs to be effectively implemented in libraries. If mobile connectivity via GSM can provide this capability for a competitive cost, then a revolution will have occurred that will allow for easy access to the information super-highway for all Nigerians with sufficient resources. This will only be feasible, however, if competition between mobile telephone companies can bring the rates down, so that this access path to the Internet can be reasonably priced.

Lack of Trained Personnel for Sustainable Capacity Building Trained personnel are essential for any implementation of ICT to take place and be effectively sustained. There is a need to build on a framework of a well-trained information technology workforce. It is not enough to have trainers visit and give superficial training at great cost and then leave without providing some back-up capacity on the ground. Personnel problems can result from the sudden departure of the university computing expert, as Alabi witnessed when an expert who had been handling a project on behalf of the university library left and was not replaced, causing a lack of continuity in the project and a lack of library personnel to understudy and follow the automation project to its conclusion.40 Lack of trained staff is a very important and often overlooked constraint. An absence of discipline and alertness required for the manipulation of computer systems often is manifest. There is often inadequate manpower available for the procurement and maintenance of the high-technology equipment required for computerization. If there is no one with the expertise in-house, trainers need to be brought in, and trainers need to be trained so they can pass on the necessary information. Good leadership is also necessary, since there is need for a dynamic, experienced leader with the vision and wherewithal to find funding, and then to manage it efficiently, if the project is to be implemented and maintained efficiently.

Limited Financial Resources The lack of adequate funding is a very critical problem for all libraries. University libraries are often not getting the percentage of the University budget that NUC and other agencies mandate, and so they are not able to carry out their ICT plans. The running of print-based libraries requires funding, but supporting digital or virtual libraries requires even more funding, as they re40 Alabi, G.A., “Library Automation in Nigerian Universities,” Information Development 2 (1986): 164.

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quire the purchase and replacement of software, electronic databases and equipment, as well as generators and fuel, VSATs and ISP fees, in order to operate.

Lack of Cooperative Ventures Cooperation and resource sharing is also crucially important, as a way forward in times of economic constraints. NULIB (Nigerian Universities Library Consortium), a subcommittee of the Committee of University Librarians (CULNU), has worked to offer opportunities for the reduced purchase of electronic databases to Nigerian libraries. This is the kind of effort that needs to be strengthened, in order for all libraries to move ahead in the quest to offer affordable new digital products to their own clientele. Collaboration amongst libraries is essential for growth, and this is an area where Nigeria has not met expectations. We can hope that the libraries which are implementing ILS systems will share their experiences and expertise and work together to widen the group of those enabled with ICT for development.

Conclusion and Recommendations ICT use in Nigerian libraries is relatively recent, and it has not been aggressively implemented in most libraries because of the many constraints inherent in the Nigerian environment. However, there are development efforts underway, and if they are undertaken with sustainability in mind, then significant advances may be made in the next decade. There is a clear need for collaboration among libraries and for the development of a knowledge base, along with trained human capital to act as a core for national development of ICT. It is even more critical that there is an obvious need for development of the electrical and broadband infrastructure of Nigeria. Once this is accomplished, it will be necessary to have funding made available for the purchasing of hardware, appropriate software, and training. Raising awareness of the impact that information provision via ICT can have on all aspects of a society is essential, and this kind of awareness needs to be embraced by all those who wish to see Nigeria develop to her full potential.

2.13 Russia Russian Archives and Libraries: Their Development Since the Introduction of Technology Kelly Ann Kolar Pre-1991 Historical Background Peter the Great famously opened the first Russian museum, the Kunstkammer, in 1727 in the newly established city of St. Petersburg. This “cabinet of curiosities” brought back with Peter from his trips to Holland signaled the start of the development of Russia’s Western-influenced cultural tradition. The development of Russian cultural institutions has been shaped by influences of both the East and West. The AD 988 adoption of Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire set Russia on a course isolated from Catholic Europe, resulting in its separation from the political, social and cultural developments of the West. The ascent of Peter the Great in the late seventeenth century marked the beginning of a century’s long attempt by Russia to reverse its political and cultural separation from Europe. It was during this period that modern-day Russian cultural institutions, such as libraries and archives, began to appear. Later, Western-influenced cultural institutions would be further developed under Catherine the Great, a German by birth, and a great admirer of West European enlightenment philosophy. However, attempts at Westernization of the Russian Empire were not simple and straightforward, as the nation struggled to reconcile its desire for modernization along European lines with its deep traditions. In the Imperial period libraries developed in the two major cultural and financial centers, the capitol, St. Petersburg, and Moscow. By the early nineteenth century, the Russian Empire had emerged as a major European power, underscored by the Russian army’s defeat of Napoleon in 1812. By this time Russia had adopted many European cultural traditions and practices. However, modern Russian libraries and archives expanded in the nineteenth century under a combination of Western influences and Russian traditions, which spurned many aspects of European culture and philosophy. For example, as liberal reforms in Europe ushered in greater citizen involvement in the form of constitutional monarchs, the Russian Tsars remained autocratic and ruled absolutely. Further, the nation remained overwhelming rural with an agricultural based economy, while Western Europe underwent an industrial revolution and

270 Kelly Ann Kolar extensive urbanization process. As a result of this, the Russian Empire lacked the large bourgeois class that had become so important in cultural development in Western Europe. In addition, by the nineteenth century the heart of Russian nineteenth-century culture, the intelligentsia, were split on the method of cultural and social development, with many rejecting the Westernization policies of the last centuries and instead promoting a return to “Slavic” and Orthodox Christian values. As a result, Russian libraries and archival centers remained distinctly different from the West and in most cases lesser developed. Nevertheless, Imperial Russia had a few notable library collections particularly the Imperial Public Library founded by Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg in 1795, with her own collection of enlightenment works. This library would later become the Russian National Library. However, as the nation remained overwhelmingly rural and illiterate, the development of libraries was limited to the major urban centers of St. Petersburg and Moscow and accessible primarily to the educated elite. The development of archives in the Imperial era was a highly decentralized endeavor and also lagged behind Western European nations in development and organization. With few exceptions, Tsarist governments took little interest in state record keeping, especially in the last 50 years of Imperial rule. Until 1917 most “documentary records commonly remained in the custody of their issuing agency, with resultant fragmentation and dispersion of archival sources.”1 There were some attempts at archival reforms in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century, but like other attempts at Tsarist reform in this period, very little change was actually achieved.2 At the turn of the twentieth century, centers of Russian archival development remained dispersed and centered on different archival repositories. The Bolshevik October Revolution of 1917 brought great changes to libraries and archives, as both were actively employed as tools in the building of the new socialist state. Vladimir Lenin was a vocal supporter of libraries and librarians, even referring to them as “Red Army soldiers of socialist culture.”3 An admirer of United States public libraries, Lenin envisioned an extensive library system with a dramatic role for libraries in the political education of the Russian illiterate classes. Lenin’s wife, Nadezhda Krupskaia, was an influential figure in librarianship in the early Soviet period. She was central in developing the fundamental rules and ideologies which would govern the practice of librarianship until the USSR’s final years. Her library teachings were rooted in Marxist-Leninist theories, believing that libraries were “meant to be ideological institutions that brought knowledge to the masses and helped

1 2 3

Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the USSR: Moscow and Leningrad (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972), 10. Grimsted, Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the USSR, 21. Dennis Kimmage, ed., Russian Libraries in Transition: An Anthology of Glasnost Literature (Jefferson, NC.: McFarland, 1992), 150–151.

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form their consciousness and points of view.”4 Indeed, librarians were central to the literacy campaign of the 1920s, which educated the rural peasantry in reading, writing, and revolutionary history and ideology. The library’s importance in this realm of propaganda and education was only strengthened under Stalin, who valued the power of the printed word and further encouraged the development of an ideologically oriented library network.5 Soviet librarians played a strict censorship role, acting as gatekeepers to collections. Under Stalin, there was an immense expansion of the Soviet library system. Accordingly, the USSR became a hub for library development with more libraries per capita than any other nation in the world. However, this period also represented the peak of the institution’s use as a tool of propaganda. Khrushchev and Brezhnev did not have the same enthusiasm for libraries as their predecessors, and these institutions were granted no special priorities during their administrations. However, the Soviet library retained its ideological angle, reaffirmed in the 1984 Resolution on Librarianship, which stated that a librarian’s main task was first and foremost the promotion of Marxist-Leninist ideology.6 Like libraries, archives were also designated a role of public education in the Soviet period. Archival documents were published and displayed in museums and local party institutions in order to shape the public’s view of the unfolding revolution and the new Soviet state. The Bolsheviks acted quickly to establish control over the nation’s documentary history. On June 1, 1918, Vladimir Lenin signed the “Decree on the Reorganization and Centralization of Archival Affairs of the RSFSR,” reorganizing archival administration, bringing all archives under centralized state control, and guaranteeing the preservation of all existing Imperial state documents.7 At the time, the Bolsheviks created the most centralized archival system in history, in the form of the Single Archival Fond (Edinyi Gosudarstvenyi Arkhivnyi Fond, EGAF). This collection would come to include vast documentary resources, including: Soviet state documents, pre-Revolutionary Imperial and Provisional Government files, ecclesiastical files, and a large collection of documentary materials on literature and the arts. This centralization of Soviet archives was staggering, as most contemporary states, if they did have a national archive, limited them to the working documents of the government. Many of those collections which came to be housed in Soviet state archives would be housed in libraries, museums, or university archives in the West. EGAF was overseen by the Main Archival Administration (Glavnoe Arkhivnoe Upravlenie, Glavarkhiv), which 4

5 6 7

John V. Richardson, "The Origin of Soviet Education for Librarianship: The Role of Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, Lyubov' Borisovna Khavkina-Hamburger, and Genrietta K. Abele-Derman," Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 40 (Spring 2000), 115. Arkadii Sokolov, “Waiting for Perestroika,” in Russian Libraries in Translation, ed. Dennis Kimmage (Jefferson, NC.: McFarland, 1992), 46. Kimmage, Russian Libraries in Transition, 153. Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, “Lenin’s Archival Decree of 1918௅ The Bolshevik Legacy for Soviet Archival Theory and Practice,” American Archivist 45, no. 4 (Fall 1982): 429.

272 Kelly Ann Kolar ensured a bureaucratic, administrative, and sometimes physical centralization of materials, with all institutions subordinated to the Moscow center. This centralization was maintained throughout the Soviet period. By the mid-1980s the Soviet economy was failing. With the ascent of Gorbachev in 1985, a series of reforms were introduced to try to rescue the failing economy, most famously perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost’ (openness). This restructuring of the economy and society was also extended to cultural institutions. As society evolved toward more democratic practices, the traditional Soviet role of the library became less appropriate. Librarians, for ideological and self-preservation reasons, began to envision new roles for themselves and their institutions in society. Many librarians began to see themselves as protectors of new democratic ideals, just as Krupskaia once saw the essential role of librarians as the keepers of communist ideals. Librarians recast their image as leaders essential to a democratic society and guides in a new society of open information. This was achieved through efforts to increase access to information resources, including the opening of censored library collections, spetskhrans, in 1988. This was a major event in the adaptation of libraries to a new democratic ideal. Unfortunately, the opening of spetskhrans would remain a largely symbolic event, as the closed Soviet library infrastructure was not easily renovated within the limited financial resources available to late Soviet libraries. Although glasnost’ and perestroika led to many positive, democratic reforms, the main and most devastating effect of the perestroika era on libraries and archives was impoverishment. The state placed cultural institutions on a plan of residual financing of libraries, which put them “on a lower scale of priorities, leaving them what is left over in the budget.”8 In the difficult economic time of the late 1980s, the “left over” funds that made it to libraries only provided poverty level salaries and miniscule funds for collection and building maintenance. Libraries were expected to find non-governmental funds to supplement their budgets, a daunting task in a collapsing economy with no tradition of private support for cultural institutions The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought further impoverishment, as well as a reevaluation of roles for cultural institutions. The previous ideological responsibilities of libraries were completely abandoned. Archives were also greatly affected. Some institutions were entirely transformed. For example, the archives of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) went overnight from functioning documentary repositories in support of the Communist Party, to an institution of obsolete documents for research, with the August 26, 1991 banning of the CPSU by Boris Yeltsin. Suddenly libraries and archives found their roles shifting to that of greater public service and access. In many institutions this role had not existed previously. The result was the transformation of Russian information institutions in the post-Soviet 8

Kimmage, Russian Libraries in Transition, 209–210.

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period to accommodate a new ideology and expanded group of patrons, all the while struggling to stay afloat during bleak economic crises.

Moscow Libraries and Archives One of the striking features of Soviet information institutions was the level of administrative, bureaucratic, and sometimes even physical centralization and subordination to the Moscow center. As a result, Moscow is the true center of Russian libraries and archives. Although it has been nearly twenty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, much of the infrastructure of bureaucratic centralization remains. This lack of change results most pointedly from the severe financial circumstances of post-Soviet libraries and archives, which shape every aspect of their current development. Since the collapse, there have been some attempts at decentralization, more pronounced in libraries, but Moscow remains the center of authority for all major academic and scientific libraries and all state archives.9

Libraries In the Soviet period all Russian libraries were subordinated to the Ministry of Culture, whose jurisdiction also included visual and performing arts and education. The Ministry of Culture managed vast library resources, including national, academic, and public libraries. The Ministry of Culture also set standards for library education, theory, and practice. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many libraries have left the scope of the Ministry of Culture. In 1993 the Federal Government passed the Law on Culture, which partly decentralized funding of libraries, placing the onus of funding many libraries on regional governments.10 As a result of this legislation, only 48,000 of Russia’s 130,000 libraries continue to report to the Ministry of Culture in Moscow.11 These libraries include the national libraries, most major research libraries, and the central public libraries regions, towns, settlements, and villages. Other libraries, such as university and college libraries, the libraries of the Academy of Sciences, and the Scientific and Technological network of libraries were made independent from the center and responsible for selfadministration.

9 For more on Soviet archives, see Jessica Thomas’ “Pathfinder for Archives of the Soviet System (PASS)” at http://seeka.bol.ucla.edu/PASS.htm (30. June 2010). 10 Ellen Knutson, “New Realities: Libraries in Post-Soviet Russia,” Library Trends 55, no. 3 (Winter 2007): 719. 11 Yakov Shrayberg, “Google and Libraries in Russia: First Experience,” Slavic & East European Information Resources 10, no.1 (2009): 88.

274 Kelly Ann Kolar Included in the Ministry of Culture’s jurisdiction is the Russian State Library (Rossiiskaia Gosudarstvennia Biblioteka, RGB) located in Moscow, which provides a good example of the transformation and modernization of libraries, in purpose, theory and practice, in the post-Soviet period. Although the Russian Federation is home to two national libraries, the RGB and the National Library of Russia (Rossiiskaia Natsional’naia Biblioteka, RNB) in St. Petersburg, the RGB benefits from its location in Moscow by receiving both funding and political attention. On the whole, the wealth of the Russian Federation is centered in Moscow, and this is reflected in public and cultural projects, as well as private enterprise. As a result, the RGB has better access to funds and has been more successful than most Russian libraries in modernizing and transforming its institutional infrastructure in the post-Soviet period. The State Library occupies a scenic location across from the Kremlin, with smaller repositories for specialized collections throughout the city. The RGB was founded in 1862 and known as the Rumiantsev Library, after Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumiantsev, who donated his personal art and library collections to create the first public museum in Russia. After the October Revolution of 1917, the museum was dissolved and the collections distributed among other Moscow museums. The library was renamed for Vladimir Lenin, and it is still most often referred to by librarians and users alike as the “Leninka.” The RGB became the flagship library of the Soviet Union, and it soon eclipsed the National Library in St. Petersburg to become the premiere library of the Soviet Union and later the Russian Federation. In 1922 the State Library became a state repository for all books published in the USSR, a role it maintains for the Russian Federation. The RGB has a collection of over 43 million items, including complete files of newspapers of the USSR, as well as rare books. The years after the collapse of the Soviet Union led to significant changes for the Russian State Library. Financial issues were the most immediate and damaging influences of the post-Soviet era. Already in the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union’s economy began to deteriorate, funding for cultural institutions was seriously cut. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union the economic situation only worsened, with equivalent cuts in cultural funding. In 1998, the collapse of the ruble marked a low point for the economy that correspondingly impacted libraries. In 2001 Vladimir Zaitsev, the head of the Russian Library Association, was asked what he saw as the top three challenges facing Russian libraries, to which he responded “finances, finances, finances.”12 Libraries had inadequate funds for collection development, cataloging, even salaries for employees, not to mention money to fund the transformation of the closed Soviet library infrastructure to meet the needs of a new open and democratic information society. These limitations meant that changes have been slow coming to the RGB.

12 Michael Rogers and Norman Oder, "Q&A with Vladimir Zaitsev, "Library Journal 126, no. 15, (September 15, 2001): 15.

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Already in the late 1980s under perestroika and glasnost’, Russian librarians began to re-imagine the role of the library and to emphasize its importance in the increasingly democratic and technological society. This trend has been reinforced only in the last 20 years. The changing role of the library has meant major changes in the theoretical conception of the librarian, from that of strict gatekeeper, to information provider. In pursuit of increased access, the RGB has established four major goals: “going public” (making the collection available to the public through on-site use and increasing digital catalogs), “going academic” (conducting and publishing research on library, bibliographic studies), “going digital” (preserving and making available parts of the collection digitally), and “going international” (increasing connections with foreign libraries and international organizations and project).13 This has resulted in real changes in the practical function of the RGB. The careful gate-keeping of the Soviet period has been replaced by access to the State Library collection to anyone over the age of 18, whether Russian or foreign citizen. The State Library has had success in making catalogs available electronically, and even searchable through their website. However, this project is limited by financial resources, and many collections are still accessible only by card catalogs. The RGB is the leader of the National Digital Library project, an effort to create a centralized collection of electronically produced works and digital copies of printed works in its collection. As of 2009 the Digital Library contained over 400,000 digital documents. In addition to those added by the RGB, the Digital Library also encourages users to upload their own documents to the collection. The State Library also boasts an extensive electronic library of dissertations.14 The RGB is the repository for original Masters and PhD dissertations completed in the USSR and Russia since 1944, a collection of over 900,000 dissertations. Since 2004 all new dissertations, except medicine and pharmacy, have been added to the digital library. Presently the collection has over 400,000 electronic dissertations, with full coverage back to 1984 and irregular, but extensive coverage dating back to 1944. The RGB has also raised its profile internationally through association memberships, including IFLA, and shared projects with foreign libraries. One such project is the World Digital Library Project in conjunction with the United States Library of Congress and Google. Although RGB has had success in their digitization projects, this success is limited by the realities of modern Russian society. Financial limitations continue to be a restraint, ensuring a slow transition of the infrastructure and implementation of modern technology. In addition, the efforts of librarians to make the RGB’s collection accessible via the Internet are limited by the communication infrastructure of the nation as a whole. Although the State Library has attempted to create access for the entire national citizenry through increased digitization and Internet resources, the necessary computers and Inter13 "Russian State Library,” Russian State Library, http://www.rsl.ru/en (26. Feb. 2010). 14 “Elektronnaia Biblioteka: Dissertatsii,” Rossiiskaia Gosudarstvennia Biblioteka, http:// diss.rsl.ru/ (26. Feb. 2010).

276 Kelly Ann Kolar net access on the user end are much less prevalent outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Even public libraries of the Russian Federation are still only 20% computerized, with only 10% offering Internet access.15 The necessary quality communication channels are especially underdeveloped outside of major urban centers encumbering the RGB’s efforts to increase access to the library’s collections. Further, there have been legal obstacles to RGB’s electronic library efforts. On January 1, 2008, Article 4 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation came into effect, which acutely limited the use of copyrighted materials. This law limits the rights of libraries to “reproduce and, primarily, to scan documents from their collections without the author’s and other rightholder’s permission.”16 As the Moscow librarian Yakov Shrayberg points out, the Russian copyright law is much stricter than its counterparts in Western Europe and the United States, requiring the permission of authors for copies for even individual research or educational purposes.17 Such laws create a legal barrier for libraries like RGB as they attempt to increase access to their collections. This has affected access to the RGB’s electronic library of dissertations, many of which can only be accessed electronically from within the library since 2008, negating many of the benefits of the digitization project. In an effort to improve access, the RGB has made a contract available on its website for authors to give legal permission to make their dissertations available.18 There are several other major research libraries located in Moscow. The State Public Historical Library (Gosudarstvennaia Publichnaia Istoricheskaia Biblioteka, GPIB) houses a collection of materials related to the study of history, with a collection of over four million items. It has an electronic catalog, including all items added to the collection since 1996. Also, it is carrying out electronic library projects, including an effort to preserve and provide access to rare books through digitization.19 The All-Russian State Library of Foreign Literature (Vserossikaia Gosudarstvennaia Biblioteka Inostrannoi Literatury) has over four million items in over a 140 languages, including a rare book collection of 41,000 items. The center of the extensive public library system is the Central City Public Library (Tsentralnaia Gorodskaia Publichnaia Biblioteka im. N.A. Nekrasova, Nekrasovka), with a collection of over two million items, including books, journals, audio-visual, and multimedia materials.20 The center of library education in Moscow is the Moscow State University of Culture and Arts (Moskovskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet Kul’tury i 15 16 17 18

Shrayberg, “Google and Libraries in Russia,” 89. Shrayberg, “Google and Libraries in Russia,” 90. Shrayberg, “Google and Libraries in Russia,” 90. “Otkrytaia Elektronnaia Biblioteka Dissertatsii,” Rossiiskaia Gosudarstvennaia Biblioteka, http://diss.rsl.ru/?menu=about/31/&lang=ru (26. Feb. 2010). 19 “Elektronnyi Zapasnik,” Gosudarstvennaia Publichnaia Istoricheskaia Biblioteka, http://www.shpl.ru/shpage.php?menu=1884 (26. Feb. 2010). 20 “Glavnaia: Informatsionnye Resursy,” Tsentralnaia Gorodskaia Publichnaia Biblioteka im. N.A. Nekrasova http://www.nekrasovka.ru/ir2.htm (26. Feb. 2010).

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Iskusstv, MGUKI) which focuses on culture and arts and comprises several specialized institutions. MGUKI is located on the outskirts of the city, in the suburb Khimki. Future librarians study at the Institute of Library Sciences within the university. 21 The university was founded in 1930 as the Moscow Library Institute (Moskovskii Bibliotechnyi Institut), and its current address reflects its library heritage: 7 Ulitsa Bibliotechnaia (Library Street). In the Soviet era the Institute was overseen by the Ministry of Culture. In 1992 it was granted autonomous (self-administration) status by the Russian Federation, as part of the post-Soviet trend toward decentralization library science.

Archives Like libraries, Russian archives have a long history of centralization and subordination to the Moscow Center. Although some libraries have been administratively decentralized, Moscow remains the true center of archival science in the Russian Federation. Under Soviet rule archives were highly centralized both administratively and physically. In the early Soviet period, many collections were physically moved to Moscow, to become a part of the Single State Archival Fond (Edinyi Gosudarstvenyi Arkhivnyi Fond, EGAF), and overseen by the newly created Main Archival Administration (Glavnoe Arkhivnoe Upravlenie, Glavarkhiv). Post-1991 Russian archives have retained this centralization. Glavarkhiv became Rosarkhiv, the Federal Archival Agency (Federal’noe Arkhivnoe Agentstvo), which oversees 15 federal archival institutions, including the State Archive of the Russian Federation (Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii, GARF), the State Archive of Literature and Art (Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Literatury i Iskusstva, RGALI), and the Russian State Documentary Film and Photo Archive (Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Kinofotodokumentov, RGAKFD). Although they were not a part of EGAF or Glavarkhiv in the Soviet period, the former Party archives are now also under Rosarkhiv’s administration, and include the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Sotsial’noPoliticheskoi Istorii, RGASPI), which houses Party documents created until 1952, and the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Noveishei Istorii, RGANI), which houses Party documents from 1952 to1991. Like the major libraries of Russia, the modern Federal Archival Agency falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture. This is a post-Soviet phenomenon, as during Soviet times the political use of archives was stressed, and the archival administration always reported 21 For more on developments there, see John V. Richardson, "Harriet G. Eddy (1876–1966): California's First County Library Organizer and Her Influence on USSR Libraries," California State Library Foundation Bulletin, No. 94 (2009): 2–13 as well as John V. Richardson, "Harriet G. Eddy (1876–1966): California's First County Library Organizer and Her Influence on USSR Libraries," Bibliografija (no. 3, May – June 2008): 59–69.

278 Kelly Ann Kolar directly to a high-level political entity. In addition to the major archival institutions of Moscow, Rosarkiv also has authority over regional and local archival institutions and sets the standards for archival theory and practices.22 Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many changes have been introduced to Russian archives, echoing those observed in libraries. Increased research access is one of the most dramatic changes. Working archives, such as the Communist Party archives, were transformed into research collections, as their creating institutions were made obsolete by the new government of the Russian Federation. These changes have meant that institutions have had to transform policies, infrastructure, internal architecture, and even employee mentality, to accommodate a new, expanded user group. As in libraries, attempts to create increased access have been limited by financial problems. Although many archival collections should now legally be open to research, some remain closed due to lack of resources to implement widespread declassification of documents. Finding aids remain, for the most part, printed resources available only in archive reading rooms, although there has been some progress in efforts to create electronic guides to collections. The State Archive of the Russian Federation, which houses government documents from both Soviet and post-Soviet period, has had recent success in making some collections’ finding aids searchable electronically on computers in its main reading room. Publication of archival documents was a primary task of Glavarkhiv in the Soviet period, and this role has continued under Rosarkhiv. The changing mission of post-Soviet archives has allowed archival institutions to expand these publication efforts internationally by collaborating with foreign universities and institutions to make publications of archival documents available to a wider audience. A significant example of this is the continuing collaboration between Russian archives and Yale University to publish thematic document collections on the Soviet period under the Annals of Communism series. Moscow is also the center for archival research and education. The Moscow State Historico-Archival Institute (Moskovskii Gosudarstvennyi IstorikoArkivnyi Institut, MGIAI) was founded in 1931 as the center of archival education in the Soviet Union. In 1991 MGIAI was merged with Moscow Public University to form the Russian State University for the Humanities (Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Gumanitarnyi Universitet, RGGU). MGIAI is now one of seven institutes in the university. There are four departments in the Institute: Archival Science, Records Management, Electronic Archives and Documents, and History, Political Science and Law.23 Future archivists are trained as historians and receive a comprehensive humanitarian education, as well as theoretical and practical training in matters of archival science. Moscow is also home to the All-Russian Archival Science and Records Management Research Institute (Vserossiiskii Nauchno-Issledovatel’skii Insti22 “O Federal’nom Arkhivnom Agentstve (Rosarkhive),” Federal’noe Arkhivnoe Agentstvo, http://archives.ru/about.html (26. Feb. 2010). 23 “Ob Intitute,” Istoriko-Arkhivnyi Institut, http://iai.rsuh.ru/ (26. Feb. 2010).

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tut Dokumentovedeniia i Arkhivnogo Dela, VNIIDAD). Founded in 1966, VNIDAD is the center for new research on theoretical and practical issues of Russian archival practices. The institute is administered by the Federal Archival Agency and staffed by professors and graduate students conducting research in the field. As the Russian archival research is highly centralized, the theories and policies developed here have far-reaching influences. It is here that official policies on appraisal, classification, organization, retention schedules, and so forth, are determined.24

24 “Vserossiiskii Nauchno-Issledovatel’skii Institut Dokumentovedeniia i Arkhivnogo Dela,” VNIIDAD, http://www.vniidad.ru/about.html (26. Feb. 2010).

2.14 Serbia Development of Libraries in Serbia in the New Millennium Stela Filipi Matutinovic and Biljana Kosanovic Introduction Libraries in Serbia have undergone a lot of changes in the new millennium. Their development in the second part of the twentieth century was in accor1 dance with the developed world trends. In the 1990s the development was stalled because of the unfavorable social conditions: the separation of the former Yugoslav republics, civil war that broke up, United Nation’s sanctions against Serbia, which lasted from 1992 to 1994 and partly up to year 2000, NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, hyper-inflation and budget restrictions that had great influence on culture, education and science. After democratic changes in October 2000, the situation began to improve, but the huge gap between contemporary libraries in Serbia and those abroad became visible, and it was not easy to fill. With much help from nongovernmental organizations such as the Open Society Fund, international professional library associations such as consortium eIFL, and funding of projects 2 through programs such as TEMPUS , Pulman, Kalimera, and so forth. and intensive communication and cooperation with colleagues in Serbia and abroad, Serbian librarianship managed to change very fast and to develop library services that are necessary for the information era and learning society. The development is not uniform, as budget restrictions in the contemporary crisis have badly influenced the whole society, but there is evident effort in many libraries to change and to develop new services, despite unfavorable conditions. The main driving forces that have started and conducted the changes have been librarians working in the biggest libraries, national, university and public libraries, where the critical mass of enthusiastic professional exists, who have applied successfully for available development project funding in Serbia and

1 2

Popovic-Boskovic Gordana, Filipi-Matutinovic Stela. “Virtuelna biblioteka Srbije (VBS) – racunarsko povezivanje biblioteka u Srbiji = Virtual Library of Serbia (VLS) – computer network of libraries in Serbia”, Infotheca, 2, 1–2, 2001: 57–79. Filipi-Matutinovic Stela. “Projekat Tempus = Project Tempus”, Infotheca, 2, 1–2, 2001: 81– 90.

282 Stela Filipi Matutinovic and Biljana Kosanovic 3

abroad. They also have reorganized professional associations, conducted with the help of international library experts, retraining library staff from Serbian libraries and developing new services. The main changes in libraries have been the result of the policy to introduce as many electronic resources in libraries as possible and to follow mainstream trends in scientific publishing, 4 replacing printed journals and books with electronic versions.

Library Legislation The Serbian Library Law (1994),5 the basic legal act that regulates the work of the libraries, defines the types of libraries, as well as the responsibilities of national and regional libraries in their respective territories. Book classification and storage are carried out according to the UDC system, and international ISBD standards are used for handling all kinds of library material. There are also the regulations that determine the space requirements, technical equipment, staff, technical and legal protection, inspection and usage of the library material, and professional work in the libraries. But these date mostly from the time before the Internet. The national library is responsible for organizing and guaranteeing the quality of professional education, organizing professional exams, and issuing accreditation-licenses to librarians and library assistants. Also, it is obliged to prepare catalogue records (CIP) to be printed for each book. All publishers are obliged to give 10 copies of each publication to the national library. The publications should be delivered directly from the printing houses and distributed among libraries of national importance. The Ministry of Culture, with the help of library associations, is preparing a new Library Law, according to UNESCO standards, to make the necessary legal provisions for library activities in the changed environment of the new millennium, especially concerning e-publishing and digitization of existing library materials. The Parliament, at the request of The Ministry of Culture, approved the amendment to the Law on Publishing, defining the National Library of Serbia as the only state agency for delivering four international publication numbers: ISBN, ISSN, ISMN and DOI.6

3 4

5 6

Stevanovic Vesna. “Virtuelna biblioteka Srbije (VBS) = Virtual Library of Serbia (VLS)”, Infotheca, 4, 1, 2003: 95–102. Filipi-Matutinoviü Stela; Popoviü, Aleksandra; Krinuloviü Oja, “Electronic information at the University Library in Belgrade and the changes they caused”. // INFORUM 2005: 11th Annual Conference on Professional Information Resources, Prague 2326 May 2005 [online]. Praha: Albertina icome Praha, 2005, http://www.inforum.cz/inforum2005/english/sbornik.php. ISSN 1801௅2221 (22. Dec. 2009). Zakon o biblioteckoj delatnosti. Sluzbeni list RS, 34/94, http://www.nb.rs/view_file. php?file_id=285 (24. Dec. 2009). Zakon o izdavanju publikacija, Sl. glasnik RS", br. 37/91, 53/93, 67/93, 48/94, 135/2004, 101/2005, http://www.nb.rs/view_file.php?file_id=2483, (24. Dec. 2009).

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There are some new regulations for academic libraries, which are a part of high-school accreditation standards. According to these standards for academic institutions, they must have a library with at least 1,000 library units in each subject that is part of the accredited program, one qualified librarian for every 500 enrolled students, and one classroom with at least 20 workstations connected to the Internet, and they are responsible for the education on effective use of existing information resources. Each university should have a main central library at the top of its library network and department or faculty libraries. At the moment, there are only three main libraries and one central library, and there are 14 universities whose students also use the existing main university libraries of the universities in Belgrade, Nis, Kragujevac, and Novi Sad. Since the process of transformation of the library system in the universities is not completed, the faculty libraries are still treated as parts of the faculties, not as the parts of the main university library. The Serbian law on authors’ and similar rights gives the right to libraries to lend materials and copy them for user’s personal and educational purposes, without the author's permission and without the payment of royalties.7

Library Network in Serbia Serbia has a well-developed network of different types of libraries (public, research, and school libraries), with a total number of 2,419 entities.8 They serve a population of some 7,335,000 people (excluding Kosovo).9 The National Library of Serbia is at the top of the network. The Public library network consists of the National Library of Serbia at the top, the Library of Matica Srpska (as the main library in the autonomous region of Vojvodina), 24 main regional libraries, and a total of 159 libraries with 468 branches. The library stocks of these libraries have about 14.5 million library units. Annual addition to library stocks is around 600,000 units.10 On average, annual loan per book was 0.54 in 2007. About 1,500 qualified librarians and library assistants serve the users. Most of these libraries have similar organization of their user services: a loan department for readers, with a specially separated collection of reference and professional books used only within the library; a loan department for working with children; periodicals department; local collections and service for cultural and publishing activity of the library. Libraries 7 Crews, K. (2008). Study on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives. http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_17/sccr_17_2.pdf, p. 350 (25. Oct. 2008). 8 Baza podataka Mreža biblioteka Srbije, http://www.nb.rs/pages/article.php?id=1284, (24. Dec. 2009). 9 Facts about Serbia, http://www.arhiva.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cms/view.php?id=1015 (24. Dec. 2009). 10 Sekularac Vladimir. “Mreza javnih biblioteka u Srbiji u 2006., http://zajednica.nb.rs/ files/strucni-prilozi/sekularac_mreza_javnih_biblioteka_2006.pdf , (24. Dec. 2009).

284 Stela Filipi Matutinovic and Biljana Kosanovic are usually open six days per week. About 80% of inhabitants of Serbia have access to public libraries. The Public libraries network is financed by the Ministry of Culture and local communities. Acquisition is financed two or three times a year, when special commissions buy books for public libraries. Some special projects are also supported. In general, administrative and funding responsibilities belong to municipal governments, and financing of the national institutions, National Library of Serbia and Library of Matica srpska, belong to the Ministry of Culture. Because of this, there is large difference between the budgets of libraries in underdeveloped regions and of developed regions and prosperous cities. The school libraries network consists of 1,002 elementary school libraries and 370 secondary school libraries.11 They serve about 630,000 pupils and 38,000 teachers of elementary schools and 290,000 pupils and 19,700 teachers of secondary schools. These libraries have stocks of about 12.5 million volumes. The difficulty is that the majority of these books are obsolete, because the renewal of stocks is very slow and their annual usage in 2007 was only 0.27 loans per book. Only about one-third of school libraries have computers and even fewer have Internet connection. There is an on-going project to bring the Internet to the majority of schools. The school library network is financed by the Ministry of Education, and because libraries in schools are not treated as the important part of the education process, a lot of school libraries are the first victims of the school budget restrictions. The research libraries network consists of three university libraries, 175 faculty libraries, and 241 special libraries in research institutions and research units of different companies or social organizations.12 At the top of the network is University Library “Svetozar Markovic” in Belgrade, the biggest and oldest main academic library in Serbia. The main users of these libraries are 12,000 researchers employed at academic and other research institutions, and about 240,000 students enrolled in state and private universities and other high-school organizations in Serbia. Their stocks consist of over five million library units, and they employ approximately 500 qualified librarians and library assistants. Nearly all of them have Internet connection, and the most important part of their acquisition recently is licensed access to electronic journals and books, provided for state institutions with access to the academic network by the Consortium for Coordinated Acquisition of Serbian Libraries (KoBSON). The main university libraries are independent institutions associated with universities, whereas school and department libraries are managed by library boards that are under the control of school administration. The research library network is financed by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technological Development. The budget restrictions are 11 Marina Mitric, Skolske biblioteke u Republici Srbiji - osnovni pokazatelji sadasnjeg stanja i predlozi mera za unapredjenje, http://www.nb.rs/view_file.php?file_id=1412. 12 Matiü Milena, Filipi-Matutinoviü Stela, Ka preliminarnim obrazovnim aktivnostima za poboljšanje kvaliteta biblioteþkih procesa. Infoteka, 7, 2006, 1–2, 3–18.

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very severe, especially for main libraries that are financed directly by the Ministry. The situation with acquisition is better in the independent state and private faculties, which enroll many students that are paying for studies themselves.

Library Automation Library automation started in the 1980s. In a number of smaller libraries, software BIBLIO, an application of the CDC-ISIS program created by UNESCO, and some other similar programs were installed. There was no possibility to network these electronic catalogues and to share records. The idea of shared cataloguing as the best solution for library automation was accepted in 1987. The Federal government of Yugoslavia financed the project to establish a shared cataloguing system, as a part of the building of the national system for scientific and technological information. The system was established in 1988 and included national, university, and research libraries from all republics of the former Yugoslavia. The shared union catalogue for all participating libraries was located on a host in Maribor, Slovenia, at the University of Maribor Computer Center, and local databases for participating libraries were located at the libraries. The system used the existing telecommunication network for data transfer. In 1992 the network connection between Slovenia and Serbia failed and libraries in Serbia continued to work locally. There were some attempts to produce national library software for shared cataloguing in Serbia, but without results, so libraries continued to build local electronic catalogues. After democratic changes, at the beginning of the new millennium, the opportunities to apply for funding of the projects concerning re-establishment of the library network were opened, and librarians from the National Library of Serbia and University Library “Svetozar Markovic” decided to make all possible efforts to re-establish shared cataloguing in Serbian libraries. One application was prepared for the Open Society Institute, concerning the establishment of the Center for the Virtual Library of Serbia at the National Library. Another application was prepared for the EU Tempus programme, entitled “Building Cooperative Academic Library Network in Serbia,” with partners from universities in Berlin, London, Vienna, Belgrade, Nis, and Kragujevac.13 Both projects were accepted for funding in 2002. At the time, the only library software with built-in interfaces and HELP in Serbian language that could be applied immediately and at an affordable price, was COBISS, the new version of the software previously used in former 13 Maziü Bogoljub.“ Library information system of the three Serbian universities - state of the art and a vision for the next three years International conference on distributed library information systems,” Ohrid, June 1-6, 2004: conference proceedings. – Novi Sad: Group for Information Technologies, 2004.

286 Stela Filipi Matutinovic and Biljana Kosanovic Yugoslavia and used in Slovenia. These advantages were realized at OSI and led to the decision to use COBISS software for the project, “Center of the Virtual Library of Serbia,” and using the same argumentation, the Consortium of Tempus project also chose COBISS. Coordinated activities on both projects resulted in the establishment of the central database of the shared union catalogue for Serbia in February 2003. The database was established by joining the databases of the Library of Matica srpska, National Library of Serbia, University Library “Svetozar Markovic,” and the database of the former Yugoslav bibliographic and information institute. At the time of establishment, the shared union catalogue, called Virtual Library of Serbia, had about 1,300,000 records.14 Now there are 113 member institutions with 144 libraries that have joined the Virtual Library of Serbia, and they have produced over two million of unique records.15 Between them are 1.3 million books, 600,000 articles, 76,000 magazines, and 40,000 links to e-sources. The Ministry of Culture gave the support for the creation of this central national cataloguing system by paying the membership and maintenance fees for each library and the training for librarians. Librarian must get the license to add records to the union database after special training, and the Center of the Virtual Library of Serbia has issued over 460 licenses. Librarians without the license can copy the records in their local database. The Union catalogue is included in the European Library, http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/index.htm. Some public and academic libraries, mainly in the autonomous province Vojvodina, use another software, BISIS, developed at the Faculty for mathematics and natural sciences at the University of Novi Sad. They can interchange records, but the database is much smaller, and there is no union catalogue. After the establishment of new states in the region of former Yugoslavia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro built their autonomous national systems using COBISS software. An agreement on the establishment of the COBISS.Net network and the free exchange of bibliographic records, created in autonomous library information systems of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia, and Montenegro, was signed in November 2004. The contract enables all participants in the COBISS.Net to copy to their local databases all records created in any of the national systems, without charge. This is a great help to all participating libraries in all these countries, and it is a good example of regional cooperation, bringing benefit to all partners. It constitutes a framework to achieve synergetic effects, resulting from the interconnection of national library information systems, COBISS and E-CRIS, information systems about researchers and their work.

14 Maziü, Bogoljub; Filipi-Matutinoviü, Stela. „The Virtual Library of Serbia: the Union Catalogue of Serbian Libraries“. International Cataloguing and Bibliographic Control, 34, 2005, 4: 67–69. 15 http://www.vbs.rs/cobiss/cobiss_sr-en.htm.

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The end-users in Serbia are very satisfied with the establishment of the shared union catalogue, Virtual Library of Serbia, available online via the Internet, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The number of searches in electronic catalogues of participating libraries and the union catalogue is constantly growing. The monthly average number of searches immediately after the establishment of the shared union catalogue was about 70,000 searches, and in November 2009, it was over 250,000 searches.16

New Services Library 2.0 is a common name for the new services in libraries, which became possible with the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web. These services are at the beginning of their development in Serbia, but there are some good examples in the national, academic, and big public libraries. The majority of main libraries develops and maintains their websites with news, links to the electronic catalogue of the library and the Virtual library of Serbia, user information, educational materials, and so forth. Some use Facebook, Youtube and Twitter to communicate with their users, and the response from users is very encouraging. User education17 and preparation of various teaching materials freely available on library websites, also has become an important task for main research and academic libraries.

Future Plans Concerning Library Automation and New Services The University Library, “Svetozar Markovic,” successfully applied in 2009 for a Tempus project “Development of new library services and repositories at the universities of western Balkan,” whose main goals are:

– – – – – – – –

To include more participating libraries in the Virtual Library of Serbia, To develop authority control, To resolve duplicated records, To use more widely all the possibilities of the system (reservation of publications, etc.), To introduce COBISS3, To establish systematic data exchange with other systems, To include electronic resources with links to full texts, To promote wider use of the system in Serbia and abroad.

16 Statistical data received from Institute for Scientific Information IZUM, www.izum.si. 17 Antoniü Sanja, Sofronijeviü Adam, Filipi Matutinoviü Stela: University library in Belgrade and promotion of e-learning in Serbia: reach out to those who need to know. –The Fourth International Conference on Informatics, Educational Technology and New Media in Education, Faculty of Education in Sombor, Vol. 4, 2007, 115–122.

288 Stela Filipi Matutinovic and Biljana Kosanovic The partners are all state university libraries from Serbia and academic libraries from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia, Austria, and Great Britain. We hope that the result of the project will be the establishment of networked repositories for electronic theses, dissertations, and other publications from participating universities. The Center of the Virtual Library of Serbia and Consortium for Coordinated Acquisition, KoBSON, will have an important role as the consulting bodies and informal partners in the realization of this project.

Digital Library of Serbia (DLS) During the year 2004 at the National Library of Serbia (NLS), the new Digital Centre was established with nine specialists. At the time, the NLS purchased the new hybrid line for microfilming and scanning and one professional scanner of high resolution, Book Eye. At the end of 2008, the NLS purchased two new professional scanners. The NLS created microfilms and digital copies of the old newspaper, Politika, for the period 1904–2004 (in total about 550,000 digital images). Our specialists created the adequate application for searching digital images and their metadata. On the home page of the Library, the separate link to the Digital Library18 is included, and DLS has about 80 different collections and almost two million digital documents. It has the following content: Cyrillic manuscripts (598 manuscripts); epic national poetry (eight collections, 21 volumes, 1,254 poems); old and rare books (167 books); modern books (about 400 books); newspapers and journals, in total 26 titles; cartographic materials (three digital collections); engravings and art material (nine digital collections); printed music and sound records (150 digital gramophone records on 78 rpm); photographic documents (nine digital collections); posters and documentary materials (six digital collections); catalogues and bibliographies; and miscellaneous. The NLS also has created the database for retrieval of digital documents as a central index. In the database we have about 20,000 titles with about two million digital images and documents. In the portal of the project, The European Library , NLS included five searchable digital collections (in OAI PMH format) and five browse-only digital collections.

Consortium of Serbian Libraries for Coordinated Acquisition As with many other libraries in the world, we in Serbia formed a consortium, which is the new form to organize. KoBSON, Consortium of Serbian Libraries for Coordinated Acquisition, has been functioning in our country for eight 18 available at: http://digital.nb.rs/scc/index.php.

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years already.19 The main aim for establishing KoBSON was to rationalize the investments in the acquisition of journals. The aims were later extended to enable full comfort to the users and to introduce new technologies into local scientific publishing. This aim is achieved by: (1) fulfilling the needs and improving usability in the whole research community in Serbia; (2) endeavoring to obtain the resources and services that we subscribe to for the lowest price and under the best payment conditions; (3) continually supervising and evaluating the degree of utilization of subscribed resources. The aim of the evaluation is to optimize acquisition, and it is achieved by integrating information on users’ needs, service prices, payment conditions, and the level of usage of the subscribed resources.

Services for the Users Acquisition depends fully on the needs of the research institution in the country. The annual subscriptions were every year preceded by a survey that was performed by the libraries of the institutions involved. More recently, the acquisition of journals, especially those in paper form, has been based on the citation of the journals in the papers that our scientists publish. This has been done by using as information sources MiuWoS, the papers of our scientists in Web of Science,20 and SCIndeks, the Serbian citation index.21 Since the abundance of subscribed resources represents more than an arbitrarily collected assemblage of data, it is necessary to make an additional effort to enable their efficient usage. This implies in the first place, the activities that would lead to the improvement of usability to take into account the speed and stability of the access to the subscribed resources. In order to achieve this, the separate portal (www.KoBSON.nb.rs) was established. The portal offers necessary information about subscribed contents, projects in which the consortium participates, as well as about lectures and presentations in the field of scientific information exchange. The number of visits to this portal is steadily increasing, and in year 2009, it had reached a stable number of 3,500 visits per day. From the librarians' point of view, the advantage of the portal is that there is no longer any need for the individual libraries to catalogue electronic resources in order to make them accessible. From the users' point of view, the

19 Kosanoviü B., "Koordinirana nabavka inostranih izvora nauþno-tehniþkih informacija u Srbiji: stanje i perspektive", Infoteka, vol. 3, br. 2, str. 55–63, 2002. 20 Available at: http://www.kobson.nb.rs/nauka_u_srbiji/nasi_u_wos.3.html. 21 Šipka P., "The Serbian citation index: Context and content 10th International Conference of the International-Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics, ISSI 2005: Proceedings of the 10th international conference of the international society for scientometrics and informetrics, vols 1 and 2, str. 710–711, 2005.

290 Stela Filipi Matutinovic and Biljana Kosanovic portal represents the route to the real “fusion of information”,22 that is, the possibility to obtain integrated results from a number of different resources. It can best be illustrated by the KoBSON service, ELEýAS, where, in addition to data on impact factor and availability of a particular item in paper or electronic form, users are also provided with a direct link to the editorial board of the journal in which they would like to publish. Our data shows that this is the most visited service of the KoBSON portal. The KoBSON portal is accessible without any fee and without the need for authentication for anyone using the academic IP domain in Serbia. The remote access has been enabled since 2004, that is “from home,” through the commercial provider, under the same conditions as from the IP range of the academic network. The only additional request is that a user signs the license regarding the usage conditions23 and delivers it to the librarian of his/her institution. The supervision of the usage of services shows that about 44% of our users use the information resources outside regular working hours, during the night, weekends, and holidays. Presently, KoBSON provides users with more than 35,000 foreign scientific journals in both paper and electronic form, and we endeavour to increase this number. The whole project has been from the very beginning financed exclusively by the Ministry of Science of the Republic of Serbia, and the budget has increased in proportion to the increasing needs of the research community. KoBSON is due to submit accounts to the Ministry that is financing it regarding its justification and efficacy, and we do that by delivering regular reports. The rationalization of acquisition, as the main KoBSON aim, could not be achieved without the optimization of acquisition that would rely on corresponding data and techniques. The consortium carries out, in cooperation with publishers of the subscribed electronic services, the regular activity of supervising the degree of the usage of the subscribed resources. This data is publicly available. Some indicators are measured for the country as a whole, while others are collected for the individual research institutions. In order to take advantage of cooperation in acquisitions, in 2002 we joined the international consortium eIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries).24 eIFL brings together countries in transition, with the aim of taking care about the payment capabilities of the member states expressed by their national income when making a combined subscription. Through membership of eIFL, we were able to follow all the news in electronic scientific publishing, as well as to acquire the necessary experience in dealing with publishers in order 22 Brophy P., "The Library in the Twenty-first Century: New Services for the information age", Library Association Publishing, London, 2000. 23 Full text for License for Proxy is available at: http://www.kobson.nb.rs/upload/documents/ LicencaZaKoBSON.pdf. 24 Kyprite R. “Libraries promoting economic development: access to international journals aids Serbian research,” http://www.eifl.net/cps/sections/news/spotlight/2007_09_10_librariessupporting, 2007.

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to exercise our rights. In addition, it is very useful that the comparison of developments in access to scientific literature in member states of eIFL is regularly performed. In November 2007 we organized in Belgrade the annual assembly of eIFL, which assembled 105 participants from 65 countries, and which was received very positively.

The Promotion of Domestic Research In the scope of its normal activities, KoBSON registers all publications of domestic researchers that were published in WoS and presents metadata about them to the domestic scientific community via its portal. It is our plan for the next year to develop the digital archive of these publications in full-text. The number of these papers is growing steadily (Graphic 1), and in 2008 it was greater than in 2000. Data presented in Graphic 1 dates from 8 January 2010, so it can be expected that the number of published papers in later years would be greater, since some of them have not yet been input in the WoS database.

Graphic 1. The number of papers published in Web of Science by researchers from Serbia

In 2005 we started to assign the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) numbers to the articles from Serbia’s most important scientific journals,25 and at present this service encompasses 46 titles. When the DOI system is implemented in the ISI list of the 8,500 most representative world scientific journals, there were only four titles from Serbia, and now there are 19 titles from Serbia.

25 Kosanoviü, B., Implementation of DOI in Serbia, CrossRef Annual Conference, Chicago, May 2006.

292 Stela Filipi Matutinovic and Biljana Kosanovic

KoBSON - Conclusions The experience that we have with KoBSON to date is very favourable. In Serbia today, we subscribe to many more international journals, including the best ones, and for less money than in the past. We see another possibility for self-improvement in upgrading the monitoring of the degree of usability. Until now, we were mainly relying on the monitoring of accessing and downloading of material, but we plan to start to use the data on so-called active or effective usage of subscribed articles, that is, the data on their impact (citation) in domestic scientific periodicals. In order to do this we need to connect our information with other information from domestic resources, most notably the information on citation.

Future Development According to the data of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, in 2008 about 46.8% of households possessed a computer and 36.7% had Internet connection, and the numbers were growing fast. That means the Serbian population, especially young people, is rapidly adapting to the interconnected world. The libraries, as they are, will be less and less interesting for the generations born after the Internet, and the process of changes in library services will continue. Libraries will reorganize their services, and develop closer cooperation in resource sharing, cataloguing, establishment of digital repositories and mass digitization projects. The differences between them will diminish, because all types of libraries will have the role to support life-long learning, intercommunication in the communities they serve, and to fulfill the cultural and information needs of their main user population. Libraries that do not have adequately educated staff and funding, and which are not able to mobilize the community of potential users to come and use their services will be closed, because the time of institutions that exist in case somebody sometime will need them has passed. The libraries that survive will become vibrant places, full of people, and will be opened late in the evening and on holidays, when the majority of people have free time to use their stocks and services, learn something new or to simply read a book or borrow a movie for plain joy.

2.15 South Africa “Take the Vision to the People”: The Development and Transformation of Libraries and Information Services in South Africa Christine Stilwell Introduction South Africa has a long library history, with the first public library being established in 1761, as the result of the bequest of the book collection of Joachim von Dessin to the Dutch Reformed Church (Mostert, 1999). This collection formed the core of the South African Public Library, which was funded by a tax on wine, and opened its doors to the public in Cape Town in 1818 (Dick, 2007:14). From as early as 1803 libraries had been established in Sunday schools, first at Bethelsdorp then Theopolis and Hankey, to be used by Khoisan children and adults seeking to become literate (Dick, 2007:14).While the record of mainstream library development focused primarily on white or European communities, an account of the complex history of the cultural and political struggles around libraries and reading is provided by Dick (2007). In 1974 the Johannesburg Public Library (Walker, 1994) and Pietermaritzburg’s Natal Society Library (McKenzie, 1995) opened their doors to the whole community, and other city libraries followed suit. This chapter reviews South African library and information services (LIS), embedding them in the wider national information system. The review describes and reflects upon the current state of development in library and information services and makes some suggestions about future developments. The chapter opens with a discussion of library and information policy, describing information sources, systems, and services in South Africa.

Information Policy, Legislation, and Implementation To a large extent, the apartheid government left the development of library and information services to market forces. Progressive library and information workers (Darch, Rapp and Underwood, 1999:25) and community people themselves (Dick, 2007) played a considerable part in initiatives to transform library and information services. This process of change continues, but policy

294 Christine Stilwell formulation and implementation, and resource problems have resulted in many of the challenges of the last decade remaining as challenges today. At the national level, policy facilitates cheaper access to information and communication technology (ICT) and related services by libraries. National, provincial, and local policy and its implementation impact on the ability of libraries to provide and sustain such services to users. “Enabling” policies at higher levels generally facilitate the provision of such initiatives. Public libraries serve the general public, rather than specific groups within it, and are therefore key players in access to information for all. They are also seen as important providers of public computing services. It is generally acknowledged that the costs of information and communication technology (ICT) in South Africa are high (SouthAfrica.info, 2008a). According to Juma and Moyer (2008: 1261), Sub-Saharan Africa is “the most digitally isolated region in the world.” This isolation and high connectivity costs are the result of both a lack of infrastructure and a lack of competition. In the 2009 International Telecommunication Union’s ICT development index of 154 countries, South Africa, which has the largest African economy, ranks 87, 10 places down from its 2002 ranking. The index further notes that South Africa has “relatively low access and usage values and little progress has been made during the last five years…” (ICT development index, 2009:32). At the 2009 SATNAC Conference in Swaziland, South African Communications Minister, Siphiwe Nyanda (2009) deplored the poor broadband situation in the country and described the position as “challenging”. He added that a national broadband policy will soon be finalised to expand broadband to “all citizens”. With South Africa’s bandwidth per capita standing at only 1% of the world average, the “going live” of SEACOM’s 17,000 kilometre undersea fibre-optic cable on July 23, 2009, should provide much-needed relief in SubSaharan Africa (Juma and Moyer, 2008). Delivering high capacity bandwidth from Europe and Asia to East Africa with links to South Africa, the cable is expected to lower current broadband pricing structures. It is hoped that with capacity being purchased by companies such as Neotel/TATA, Internet Solutions, Tenet, and Integrated Business Systems (IBS), prices should soon start to come down (Muller, 2009). The Government Communication and Information System (2000) was introduced in 1998, and in 1999 the government’s new website South Africa Government Online (2007) was established to facilitate access to information on the Internet. The website was to be updated regularly by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). In 2004 the South African government launched a “People first” Internet gateway (www.gov.za), which provides a single entry point to government services and information. Its organisation has been planned to match user needs and users’ life events, such as a place to live, and so on, rather than government structures. In 2004 Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company based in the United States, included South Africa

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among the top 22 countries in its annual global e-government survey (SouthAfrica.info, 2004). South Africa continues to lead in Southern Africa in this regard (United Nations, 2008:26). A United Nations survey (2008:26) expressed praise for the Department of Labour’s website (http:www.labour. gov.za) as one that is “well tailored to the needs of its stakeholders”. Other measures for enabling access are the extension of services to poorer and more remote areas via public information terminals in post offices and through the government’s network of multi-purpose community centres. The e-government strategy is led by the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI), the Department of Public Service and Administration, and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) (SouthAfrica.info, 2004). In 2009 the United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) honoured the CPSI with a special award for excellence in knowledge management (CPSI scoops special UN award, 2009:16). In addition to providing Internet access to information, the GCIS seeks to provide development information through the establishment of multipurpose community telecentres, which are intended to assist people living in underserviced areas to take advantage of socio-economic opportunities (Government Communication and Information Service System, 1999). In 2005, under the Electronic Communications Act, the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA) was established. The agency was mandated to promote universal access to under-serviced areas of South Africa. To date, 140 community telecentres have been established in all nine provinces of the country (Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa, 2008). However many rural areas still lack basic telecommunication access. In its March 2008 newslog ICT Statistics (2008) note that in one under-serviced area, that of Umzinyathi in KwaZulu-Natal, 64% of the population has no electricity, 94% no landlines and 69% no mobile phones. Telecommunication costs in South Africa continue to be kept high by service provider Telkom’s fixed line monopoly, which is likely to continue for some time. In May 2007, the then Communications Minister Ivy MatsepeCasaburri, told Parliament that she was giving Telkom until November 2011 to “unbundled” the local loop of which Telkom has exclusive ownership, and which is the final link between the former monopoly and its customers (Ensor and McLachlan, 2007). However, in May 2008 a second network operator, Neotel, launched its first consumer services. Neotel, with the Indian conglomerate TATA as its major shareholder, is limited to major urban areas and focuses on “wealthier residents” (Stones, 2008:1). According to a Reuters report, the government is planning to license a third fixed network operator in 2009, and a fourth mobile operator (Reuters.com, 2009). In an effort to broaden its service sweep, Telcom has recently begun discussions with New York based AT&T, one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world. This alliance hopes to provide greater connectivity across Sub-Saharan Africa. However, while the intention is to give the same

296 Christine Stilwell quality of Internet service as that enjoyed in “first world countries”, it is primarily aimed at boosting connectivity for multinational companies (Stones, 2009:1). Despite all the recent innovations and effort, the remotest areas, and often the not so remote areas, of South Africa remain largely un-served by workable Internet connections, as the following testifies: My farm is in the Swartberg between Laingsburg and Ladismith, 300km from Cape Town – hardly remote. My only Internet access apart from Telkom dial-up (which requires 35 minutes to download a login page) is a satellite package which is R1700 ($US 220) a month for three gigs. Down the road is a school – also with no Internet connectivity – and this is unlikely to change. For rural users SEACOM’s arrival will not change our dependence on the dinosaur Telkom – and in reality the gap between what information costs the urban user vs the rural user will merely widen (Grundlingh, 2009).

Many measures have been directed at maintaining freedom of expression and access to information, for example, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) has a Bill of Rights, which addresses the right of access to information held by the state. The Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA, 2000) seeks to ensure access to information held by the state and public bodies, and, as noted by Calland (2009:12) the right of access to information is a fundamental right, not a “nice-to-have add-on”. However, at the second annual indaba meeting of the Deputy Information Officers’ Forum in 2007, a delegate from the Presidency expressed the opinion that “PAIA is seen as an add-on to our other responsibilities, which is …a nuisance” (Calland, 2009:12). Significantly, the Presidency was the one government agency shown in the Open Society Initiative Study of 2004 as failing to respond to any requests for information made to it (Allen, 2009:12). The same survey revealed that the South African government also failed in comparison to 14 other countries by being the worst performer in terms of what the survey refers to as “mute refusals”. Of all information requests received by the government during the survey period, more than 60% received no response at all. This weakness of enforcement inherent in the PAIA prompted Professor Kader Asmal, chairman of the Ad Hoc Parliamentary Committee, to note that the extreme difficulties in the appeals mechanism, which is both complex and expensive, presented yet another obstacle to the individual’s attempts to access information (Calland, 2009:13). With the appeal process for denials or refusals having to be lodged with the High Court, Calland likens the process to using a hammer to smash an acorn. To overcome the current enforcement problems, Asmal recommends that a dedicated and independent information commissioner be appointed “immediately” to receive appeals and make binding all orders relating to access and disclosure (Calland, 2009:13). A cornerstone of the South African information system is The Legal Deposit Act (1997) which provides for official repositories for publications. The Act is intended to ensure the preservation, collection, bibliographic control,

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and availability of the national intellectual and cultural heritage, in a variety of formats. There are seven legal deposit sites in total (National Library of South Africa, 2006). Schedule 5 of the Constitution lists “libraries other than national libraries” as “functional areas of exclusive provincial competence” (Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996), which makes it difficult to develop national policies for library and information services. In 2003 a National Council for Library and Information Services (NCLIS) was appointed by the Minister for Arts and Culture (National Council for Library and Information Services Act, 2001; Walker, 2005:35) to coordinate policy in the field. NCLIS was tasked with advising the two separate departments which oversee libraries, the Departments of Arts and Culture and Education. It was intended that a Library Charter (National Library of South Africa, 2008a) would be finalised by the 2009 April elections, to enable government to include it in the post election planning processes. In an address in Cape Town in July 2009, the current Minister of Arts and Culture, Ms Lulu Xingwana, re-confirmed that the Charter would be finalised this year (Xingwana, 2009). The Department of Arts and Culture is also drafting a South African Community Libraries Bill. When completed, this will set national norms and standards, which must be met by local authorities before community grants can be accessed (Xingwana, 2009). The National Treasury's allocation of a conditional grant of R1 billion to the Department of Arts and Culture for the period 2007 to 2010 came into effect in April 2007. This grant is intended for the upgrading and revitalising of community library and information services, the development of infrastructure, and building book collections (Library and Information Association of South Africa, 2007/8). In 2008 the first disbursement of R200,000 was made from this grant. The system of conditional grants was intended to re-capitalise library programmes at provincial level, in support of local government efforts (Kekana, 2009). A KPMG survey in 2008 was tasked with finding a way forward in terms of the Schedule 5 problem. Its recommendations are helpful and far-reaching (Department of Arts and Culture, 2007). KPMG surveyed library needs country-wide and established that certain provinces had done well with their funds, and they were hence allocated more of the conditional grant. A parliamentary discussion on the “Building of libraries in communities and schools” (Parliamentary Monitoring Group, 2009) revealed that members were concerned that funds were not being spent in the provinces and that delivery was uneven, particularly in those provinces where there was the greatest need. Gauteng Province has taken the survey process further and commissioned KPMG status quo reports for the 11 Gauteng municipalities. These reports evaluate the capacity of the municipalities in terms of their ability to provide access to basic services within the municipality, as well as to provide library specific services in the municipality (Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts,

298 Christine Stilwell Culture and Recreation, 2008:1). Municipalities were evaluated in terms of the number of permanent staff and the suitability of their training for the envisaged functions, the existence of a library specific procurement process, and the percentage of spending for library services. In this way municipalities with less capacity were identified. The financial projections carried out against the Gauteng Provincial norms and standards plotted two scenarios, one with the conditional grant taken into consideration and one not taking it into consideration. Smaller municipalities with a lower rates base tended to be more adversely affected by the lack of the grant (Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, 2008:1, 30). The intention is to transfer the community library and information services function to the local sphere of government through executive assignment. This assignment is still in a process of consultation with the Provincial and National Treasuries, Department of Arts and Culture, and the Finance and Fiscal Commission, and thereby subject to change (Meyer, 2009). Other developments in this province are reflected in recognition that:

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Among the core services of public/community libraries are survival and community information for daily living, and career and job information for the unemployed. In terms of its user services, the service should be encouraged to institute literacy programmes and specialised services to people with disabilities. Technical services should include Internet services, access to electronic databases and services, and the maintenance of computer equipment. Staff and management should reflect in their composition the community within which the library is located and be congruent with government’s broader objectives of empowering people from previously disadvantaged communities. The librarian should be suitably qualified (Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, 2008:27, 60, 62).

For school libraries the development of standards and policy is the responsibility of each of the nine provincial Education Departments. However, as Hart and Zinn (2007) point out, only five of the nine provinces provide any form of service to support school libraries, and only one province has the service at the executive management level. The actual provision of school library facilities is a competence shared by the National Education Department, the provincial authorities, and the school governing body. In 1999 a national survey of school libraries was undertaken to inform improvements in “the capacity of the Department of Education to systematically take stock of its school library resources in terms of their quality, quantity and spatial distribution” (Department of Education and Human Sciences Research Council, 1999:iii). A national policy for school library

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norms and standards, supported by the former Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, was expected to be passed late in 2006. Pandor resurrected the 1997 National policy framework for school library standards and publicly made an explicit connection between the development of school libraries and literacy levels (Department of Education, 2005; Zinn, 2006:23). The National Policy process, which had begun in 1996, however, has still not produced a policy document. As Hart and Zinn note, the lack of urgency in the framing of a school library policy points to a gap between the thinking of librarians and that of educationalists (Hart and Zinn, 2007:99). Changes in the funding formulae for library materials for schools mean that such library funds are no longer ring-fenced (Zinn, 2006:33). Boekhorst and Britz (2004) report on the state of information literacy at school level in South Africa in relation to the role that libraries could play in this regard and found that the role of the library was undervalued. Gxwati (2007:1) states that the lack of access to reading resources is the chief cause of the poor reading skills of the majority of South African learners. Badly integrated ICT programmes and a tendency to prefer driving ICT programmes to focussing on libraries and books further impede the development of holistic library-based information literacy programmes (Zinn, 2006:33).

Information Sources, Systems and Services in South Africa The South African government is a major producer, publisher, and processor of information. In facilitating access to services and information, many local government departments have developed websites. The various functions which comprise the information sector are discussed next. The units in the sector Inventing, Generating and Collecting Knowledge invent, generate, and collect knowledge. In addition to the universities, South Africa has research institutions which lead the creation and dissemination of original and current research. The National Research Foundation (NRF), for instance, is tasked with the promotion of research, particularly in building capacity in the designated groups. The availability of funding through foundations such as the NRF for research projects, as well as for more applied projects funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, stimulates such research and innovation in the LIS sector, mainly through its higher education library and information studies departments.

300 Christine Stilwell Publishing, Printing, and Bookselling In 2008 the book sector in South Africa saw a net turnover of about ZAR5 billion, including income from book sales and publishing, paid royalties to over 8,300 authors, and employed more than 3,000 people (South African yearbook, 2008/9:90). South Africa has a variety of local online bookshops, such as Kalahari.net (2007), the Johannesburg based Wantitall.co.za (2009), and Take2.co.za (2009). Access is available to online international suppliers, and to some 180 retail outlets in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. There are few outlets in former township areas (Mostert, 2005:55), but an African literature bookshop has been opened in Orange Grove, Johannesburg, to promote literature about Africa and South Africa in all 11 official languages (Moolman, 2009). The extent of both growth and interest in literature and publishing was reflected by the second International Book Fair in Cape Town attracting some 50,000 visitors in 2007. Also in 2007, the South African Book Development Council (SABDC) was launched. Developed to boost the local book industry, a Framework for the National Book Policy was legislated. This policy is intended to guide future growth and development of the book industry (South African yearbook, 2008/9:91). In February 2009 the National Library in Pretoria began the task of reprinting classics into the indigenous languages. Twenty-seven titles have already been reprinted, including the works of poet laureate Samuel Mqhayi and writers Sibusiso Nyembezi, ML Bopape, SP Lekaba, and TN Maumela (Ndawonde, 2009). A catalogue of the work of local writers has been developed as part of the Community Publishing Project, based at the Centre for the Book in Cape Town (see below). The project provides a service for small independent and self-publishing authors and is available to researchers, booksellers, librarians, commercial publishers, readers, and book collectors (Higgs, 2006). The Government Printing Works was established in 1888 for all government printing, specifically that involving a high degree of security such as passports, identity documents and marriage, birth, and death certificates. It supplies government with stationery and makes government publications available to the public. The Printers currently operate under the auspices of the Department of Home Affairs, but, due to under-funding, asset stripping, and the loss of skilled employees, sustainability is the greatest challenge. Despite these challenges, including not having a single person in their Financial Section with a financial qualification, the Government Printing Works still managed to generate over ZAR500 million in revenue in 2007/8 (Department of Home Affairs, 2008). Academic Libraries The majority of South Africa’s population of some 48 million is under 18 (South African yearbook, 2008/09). Of South Africa’s eleven official lan-

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guages, Zulu is the most widely spoken and English the second most widely spoken language (Scholtemeyer, 2002). Taking the broad definition of literacy as being 15 years of age and older and able to read and write, South Africa’s literacy rating in 2006 was 87.6% (United Nations Human Development Report, 2007/8).With the launch of a mass literacy campaign at a cost of R 6.1 billion, it is hoped that 4.7 million adults will become literate by 2012 (World Commemorates Literacy Day, 2009). South Africa has one national library, 1,253 public or community libraries (Lor, van Helden and Bothma, 2005:270), 456 special libraries (Witbooi, 1997:4), 90 government libraries, and 36 university (Darch, Rapp and Underwood, 1999:25) and university of technology libraries (Mostert, 2005:22). There are also 270 academic, commercial, and technical colleges, as well as 30 colleges of education (Yellow Pages, n.d.), which would have a library of some sort. Ten public and community libraries are independent but enjoy grants from the province. The National Library for Blind in Grahamstown serves the visually impaired. Of the 22,556 schools in South Africa, 25% have a centralised library, while an additional 17% have a library collection or book box collection of some sort (Ledwaba, 2002:12). Some provinces were better served in this regard than others. An estimate of the aggregated figure for the nation’s total number of libraries by mid-2003 was 11,373 (South African yearbook, 2008/9). The national book stock approximated 47 million items in 1999 (Darch, Rapp and Underwood, 1999:25). As noted, Schedule 5 of the constitution presents particular problems for provincial and local authorities in seeking to fund school libraries and public libraries (Kekana, 2009). Kekana reported on the conditional grants intended to recapitalise library programmes at provincial level, in support of local government efforts. However, an article published in a Pietermaritzburg newspaper, The Witness, on March 10, 2009, reported that “no books have been bought for the city libraries since 2004, because no money has been set aside in city budgets for the past five years” (Naidoo, 2009: 2). National Libraries The National Library of South Africa (NLSA) has sites in Pretoria and Cape Town. Its collection comprises rare and contemporary materials, donations reflecting the country’s indigenous and colonial heritage, and special collections (Mostert, 2005:56). The Library’s website (National Library of South Africa, 2007) provides access to the online public access catalogue and a document delivery system. In 2008 the then Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Pallo Jordan, opened the new National Library in Pretoria. Costing more than ZAR300 million and seating 1,300 users, 10 times more than the old building, the library received an additional US$2 million from the Carnegie Corporation of New York for

302 Christine Stilwell the installation of a state-of-the-art information technology system in the new building (National Library of South Africa, 2008b). The NLSA coordinates the Southern African Interlending Scheme (SAIS), whereby some 700 Southern African libraries and organisations affiliated to the scheme share resources. Participating libraries contribute to a union catalogue, SACat. Contributing libraries can request items via the NLSA, or, if they subscribe to the South African Bibliographic and Information Network Online (SABINET Online, 2007), online requests can be made through the ReQuest service. Formerly available only in hard copy, SABINET’s electronic publishing sector, SA ePublications, provides access for subscribers, to 264 full-text South African electronic journals (http://www.sabinet.co.za/). SABINET is also digitizing South African government publications, and, in addition, has published electronically an Open Access Journal Collection. Currently the collection consists of 44 South African journals with access to over 6000 full text articles. National cooperative initiatives are promoted and supported by the South African National Library and Information Consortium (SANLIC). Committed to the promotion of access to information and training and capacity building, its particular foci are the SACat, inter-lending agreements, and national initiatives, such as the development of site licensing (South African National Library and Information Consortium, n.d.). The South African Centre for the Book, a unit of the National Library, opened in 1998. In 2004 the centre won a major award from the International Board of Books for Young People (IBBY) for its First Words in Print project, which provides picture and story books in all South Africa’s languages to young children and their families (Cole, 2004). Government Libraries Thirty-seven libraries support the work of various government departments and can be regarded as special libraries (Witbooi, 1997:4). Government information is crucial because it is linked to government services that are necessary for development. Constable, Mabena, and Minishi-Mjanja (2007) reported that some of these libraries conformed to the principles of Batho Pele, or People First, which is the public service policy for service delivery but that very few had a system for monitoring implementation. The choice of language is likely to be important to ensure that the public have meaningful access to information. However, in general, most government information is available in English, for example, the study conducted by Constable, Mabena, and Minishi-Mjanja (2007) revealed that 100% of the libraries interviewed responded that they do not provide information in indigenous South African languages. English is not the main language of the majority of people in South Africa, therefore, most people are excluded from receiving information to improve their lives in their language of choice. Much

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of the available electronic content remains accessible only to those who are able to read and write in English (Ngcobo, 2009). Parliamentary Libraries The Library of Parliament in Cape Town has a book stock of approximately 96,506 items. The collection includes all official publications dating back to 1910, audiovisual material, newspapers, journals, and legal deposit items. The library provides access to various online databases and the Internet. Parliamentarians in the Provincial Parliamentary Legislatures are served by libraries containing small book collections, journals and newspapers, and a variety of information sources (Mostert, 2005:56). Public, Community, and Provincial Libraries Positive socio-political change in the mainstream LIS sector has been evident since the mid-1990s, but transformation has suffered many setbacks. In July 2009 in Cape Town, the Minister of Arts and Culture, Ms Lulu Xingwana, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to build community libraries in all communities, “As part of our efforts to bring the arts to all our people, we shall continue to ensure that community libraries are built in all our communities.” New libraries have already been built in Kwaggafontein, Mpumalanga; Hekpoort, Mogale City; Mkhuhlu, Bushbuckridge; Kamaqhekeza, Nkomazi Municipality; and at Morgenzon in Gert Sibande Region. In the 2009 to 2010 financial year, the construction of more libraries is planned in Langa in the Western Cape, Mdantsane and Mount Ayliff in the Eastern Cape, Mbazwana in KwaZulu-Natal, and Thulamela and Fetagomo in Limpopo. Container libraries are being established in the most rural areas of the Northern Cape (Xingwana, 2009). In addition to the construction of new libraries, the community services grant has increased staff in libraries in all provinces and upgraded existing library buildings. Nationally, in the first year of the grant, over 200 librarians were employed at a community level and an additional 450 000 reading material items purchased (Jordan, 2009). Other innovative initiatives are, for example, the Smart Cape Access Project, which used the public library as a base from which to target groups that had been excluded from access to ICTs in the Western Cape (Valentine, 2004). Using open source software and a Linux-based operating system, the project’s main expense is the high Telkom charges (SouthAfrica.info, 2005). Also in the Cape, by using their library cards, library users have access to World Book Online’s three encyclopedia databases in Cape Town city libraries (Online encyclopedias at Cape Town city libraries, 2009). In 2009 Stilwell and Munyua reported on examples of various initiatives aimed at combating social exclusion. These had been identified by Stilwell in a survey by listserv. It was found that:

304 Christine Stilwell

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The Etekweni Metro Libraries have a service to rural areas, which provides container libraries (Nyongwana, 2009). It also has a Digital Doorways Project, which provides public access computing (Greyling, 2009). The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial and Public Library and Information Service (KZNPPLIS) has an Internet project, which targets rural libraries for Internet access. It is staffed by “cyber-cadets”, who train users and assist with access (Stannard, 2009). KZNPPLIS also has a Wheelie Wagon project – wagons containing 500 books are placed at service points and staffed by volunteers. These wagons serve communities that are distant from formal communities and especially learners (French, 2009). Another Wheelie Wagon project in the Western Cape has, in the last 5 years, provided 27 rural communities with library material, with plans to extend this to more in 2010 (Jenner, 2009). Masiphumele Library, near Fish Hoek in the Cape, serves another informal settlement with a reading enrichment programme, a school readiness programme for parents, a homework club, computer classes, and careers indaba, among other things (Alexander, 2009). Free State Provincial Libraries have a Reading Programme in 15 libraries, which focus on new or semi-literates to get them reading (Smuts, 2009). North West Province has a pilot project, which has trained a small cadre of people with visual disabilities to train other people in their community on the use of ICTs (Ndlovu, 2009). North West Province also has a Library Entrepreneurs Programme, aimed at educating, informing, and developing a culture of entrepreneurship for learners in an informal settlement school in Madibeng Local Municipality (Dlamuka, 2008). In 2008 a ZAR14 million library opened in Soweto. The Jabavu Library replaced the one roomed library of the 1950s and provides all the usual services and Internet access. Funded by the City of Johannesburg, the Department of Public Works and the Vodacom Foundation, it is the largest and best equipped library in Soweto (Soweto opens first state-of-the-art library, 2008:17).

Special Libraries Special libraries are attached to private companies, to government departments, or to private individuals, and are not usually open to the public (South African yearbook, 2008/9). Some special libraries belong to parastatal structures, such as research institutions (Witbooi, 1997:4). These subjectspecialised libraries generally participate in SAIS, thus making their materials accessible to external borrowers (Mostert, 2005:55).

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South Africa’s National Library for the Blind targets some 700,000 blind or visually impaired people in the country. Blindlib is a statutory organisation located in Grahamstown. With a staff of 42, the library is able to annually circulate over 170,000 books in Braille and audio format to its members (South African yearbook, 2008/9). It is partly state-funded but has to solicit further funds from the private sector and the general public (South African yearbook, 2006/7:125). Blindlib has embarked on collaborative partnerships with some public libraries in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng, to acquire assistive reading devices, which will help to accelerate delivery to this group (Xingwana, 2009). Located in Johannesburg, another service, Blind SA, an organization of the blind governed by the blind, also provides a variety of services and support (South African yearbook, 2006/7:125). University, University of Technology, and College Libraries University or academic libraries serve their institutional clientele and the wider community, the latter usually by special arrangement. All of these libraries participate in SAIS (Mostert, 2005:56), and, hence, share their resources with a wider public. South African higher education is governed by a Higher Education Act (1997). This sector has undergone radical restructuring and extensive mergers in the last few years in terms of this act and the National Plan for Higher Education (Ministry of Education, 2001). These processes reduced 36 University and Technikon libraries to 21 institutions (Ledwaba, 2002:14) and were intended to redress disparities between historically disadvantaged institutions and their better endowed counterparts. Many of these institutions still have inadequate campus networks, low-grade bandwidth, and library budgets that fall below the recommended 6% of the institutional budget. South Africa has five higher education consortia with a library focus. Two major consortia are found in Gauteng and the Western Cape. Consortia have benefited from funding from abroad, for instance, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation allocated funding to the Cape Library Cooperative (CALICO) to implement a single, flexible online library system. The successes of consortia include: acquiring external donor funding to promote best practices, improving inter-lending and document delivery among members, implementing staff skills development programs, fostering leadership in member libraries, and reducing duplication of non-core materials through joint purchases of electronic resources (Thomas and Fourie, 2006). Consortia should benefit from planned improvements to network connectivity. School Libraries South Africa has a system of outcomes-based education (OBE), refined in Curriculum 2005, where the role of the school library as a provider of learning resources is one of paramount importance. Implementation of the outcomes-

306 Christine Stilwell based curriculum has been most successful in middle-class schools, the formerly white schools, where parents pay fees to employ additional teachers and librarians and provide improved resources to support a higher standard of teaching. However, despite the prominent role placed on reading and information-seeking in OBE, there is little evidence for any concomitant high regard for libraries within the system. Zinn’s survey results (2006:30) confirm the findings of an earlier survey that few South African schools have the central or classroom libraries necessary to support reading activities (Department of Education and Human Sciences Research Council 1999). Rural areas were even worse off in the mid 1990s than their urban counterparts with the School Register of Needs Survey (Department of Education, 1997:8), reporting that primary school libraries in the deep rural areas were virtually non-existent. As there was a national shortage of 57,499 classrooms (Department of Education, 1997:9), building classrooms was prioritised above the building of libraries (Le Roux and Hendrikz, 2006:623). In 2002 a vast proportion of schools, 78%, were without a school library (Zinn, 2006:23). Recent research by du Toit (2008) throws light on the current situation in KwaZulu-Natal. She combined data from two surveys, the 1999 national survey (Department of Education and Human Sciences Research Council, 1999), which also provided data on KwaZulu-Natal, and a 2004 Education Library and Information Technology Services (ELITS) School Library Audit (KwaZulu-Natal. Department of Education, 2004), to map school library provisioning and administration in the province. She concluded that more schools had access to some type of library provisioning in 2004 than in 1999. Despite suspected over-reporting by school staff (du Toit, 2008) there is clearly some improvement in this province, possibly because of its progressive approach to policy formulation and implementation. Du Toit (2008) provided insights into the circumstances in which schools sought to sustain school library services, many of which are located in rural areas. These same rural areas are the focus of Nzimande and Stilwell’s (2008) study into some of the impediments to government’s attempts to provide service through multi-purpose community centres. Foremost among these is a lack of adequate preparedness and participation by the local communities in the project’s planning stages. The Western Cape Education Department’s five-year School Library Project which began in 2007 is continuing in 2009, with the aim of establishing 654 school libraries in the poorest schools in the province. The South African Government Information website reports that to date the project has assisted over 400 schools, providing books, shelving, furniture, computers, library administration software, and teacher training, at a cost of ZAR43 million. In addition four mobile libraries are operating in Vredendal, Zoar, Elgin, and Khayelitsha (South African Government Information, 2009). However, according to an Independent Online (IOL) report, there are functional libraries at only four out of Khayelitsha’s 53 public schools. A new

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campaign called “1 School, 1 Library, 1 Librarian”, organised by a Khayelitsha based community organisation, Equal Education, hopes to change the statistics by petitioning the government to urgently implement the National Policy on School Libraries (Jones, 2009). Endorsing the campaign and its goals are many in the library and information sector in Cape Town who stress that, “effective school libraries …have particular staffing needs that cannot be met by overstretched teachers being assigned the library in their portfolio of duties” (De Jager, Nassimbeni and Underwood, 2009). School libraries generally lack suitably qualified and motivated staff. Over the last 10 years, teacher librarians have systematically been retrenched or assigned to other duties (Le Roux and Hendrikz, 2006:620). Hart points out that most of the teachers being trained as school librarians have full teaching loads, and, therefore, have little time to manage library programmes as well (Hart, 2009). Hart (2006) also raises the issue of public librarians being expected to play a role in serving school learners and in developing information literacy. Hoskins (2006:59) describes a development in which access to education and training is supported by bursaries for an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) for School Library Development and Management students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), in partnership with the KwaZulu-Natal Education Library and Information Technology Services (ELITS). The funding stems from a partnership between ELITS and the Royal Netherlands Embassy, which requires that the programme be delivered at remote rural resource centres in KwaZulu-Natal. Archives, Record Centres and Museums Merrett (2005:18) states that archives are a key component in the national information system, and the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission revealed how many crucial records had been lost and were not available for its work of assisting the nation to confront the past (Harris, 2002). The preservation of archival materials in South Africa is regulated by Schedule 5 of the Constitution and the National Archives Act (1996). The National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Act 43 also determined that the National Archives “maintain a national automated archival retrieval system, in which all provincial archival services shall participate.” Consequently, the National Archives maintains a National Register of Oral Sources (NAROS) (Botha, 2007). The 1996 Act defines the separation of functions between the national government and the nine provincial governments. It also provides for a National Archives Advisory Council. The National Archives and Records Service of South Africa (NARSA) and the provincial archives services fall under the Department of Arts and Culture. All the provinces have a provincial archives service. The National Film, Video and Sound Archive in Pretoria is also a legal deposit collection (Ngulube, 2003:15௅17,410௅412).

308 Christine Stilwell South Africa has 90 archival repositories and enjoys a wide variety of archives covering various topics, such as contemporary history, Africana, newspaper archives, popular memory, religious materials, languages, and eminent political figures and structures (Mostert, 2005:56). Various institutions have their own archives and special collections. Major newspapers are available online and provide archived material. South Africa has some 300 national and provincial museums, situated in most cities and small towns. Prominent among the collections are those showcasing South Africa’s natural and cultural heritage, as well as geological, biological, art, mining, agricultural, and forestry museums. An Eco-Museum Project at Mpophomeni, near Howick in KwaZulu-Natal, includes both cultural and natural heritage. The community was asked to decide for themselves what they wanted to see in their museum. Families will be invited to record their own histories. Part of the project is a peace park initiative, where space will be used for cultural rituals. It will also act as a place of healing and reconciliation for individuals and groups to deal with the aftermath of political violence. The museum will be linked to many cultural and natural heritage sites in the vicinity, such as the Nelson Mandela capture site and the Mpophomeni wetlands (Botha, 2007). Reflecting the country’s industrial heritage is The Workers’ Library and Museum in Newtown, Johannesburg. Built in 1913 as a Worker’s Electricity Compound, the complex was declared a national monument in 1995. Having been completely restored at a cost of R1.6 million, the museum and library is expected to have reopened in 2009 (Davie, 2008). Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) South Africa has a rich history of alternative provision by non-governmental organisations, but by 1999 only about half of the 120 NGO-linked resource centres had survived (Stilwell, 2001:209). High staff turnover, caused by a lack of adequate subsidisation by Government, results in many South African NGOs struggling to provide the necessary services to communities in need. Embassies South Africa hosts many foreign embassies which provide information about their own countries. Some of these have libraries and have contributed to capacity-building in the LIS sector, for instance, the British Council and United States Information Service. Commercial Database Industry South Africans have access to both international and locally produced databases. SABINET Online (2007) provides access to 1,000 different bibliographic and full-text databases. The National Inquiry Services Centre South Africa (n.d.), NISC, produces databases of local and African resources and

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provides access to NISC’s international databases (Mostert, 2005:57). Services such as Ebsco Information Services (2007), Emerald Insight (n.d.), and ProQuest (2007) provide access to full-text databases. Indigenous Knowledge South Africa has a rich store of indigenous knowledge covering a range of subjects, but much of it eludes capture and documentation. The NRF has established a focus area for indigenous knowledge systems. The Campbell Collections of the University of KwaZulu-Natal have embarked on a digitizing project to preserve and make accessible rare and fragile collections which embody the indigenous knowledge of the region going back many decades. This project, which is linked to the Digital Imaging Project of South Africa initiative, relates to indigenous art, ethnographic objects, and historic photographs.

Disseminating Information Mass Media South Africa has a well-developed mass media network and relative press freedom (Merrett, 2005:18). Apart from newspapers and magazines, South Africa has an array of broadcasting services, radio, and television, which will not be described in this chapter. South Africa ranks 36th out of 173 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF's) 2008 index of press freedom. In the first index published by RSF in 2002, South Africa ranked 26th out of 139 countries, so although having lost 10 places in six years, it is still well within the top 50 countries said to have “genuine press freedom” (SouthAfrica.info, 2008b). However, Dick (2006) has asked librarians to “condemn growing censorship across the country, the region and the continent” and lauded the emergence of the African Progressive Librarian and Information Activist’s Group (PALIAct). Internet and Online-government Information The Government Communication and Information System (2007) is the major government site and is described above. Mostert (2005:59) has listed the local sites that provide government and legal information, and these are not repeated here. The website, South African Government Online (2007), provides information about departments, provinces, and other bodies, and is linked to the GCIS site.

310 Christine Stilwell

Information Technology Statistics on Internet connectivity worldwide suggest the extent to which the ICT access envisaged in the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ Internet Manifesto is able to be realised. Old assumptions regarding the continent are being challenged, with Ghana and Nigeria overtaking South Africa in the number of cell phone users, and Egypt and Morocco registering a greater number of computer users with ADSL than in South Africa. Few South Africans have access to a computer at home, with a 2009 survey giving a figure of 14.8%, with only 4.8% of these households having a working Internet connection. For this reason, 46% of South African Internet users depend on Internet cafés, followed by 32% making use of computers at work (Gillwald, 2009). To promote e-government, the Department of Communication in South Africa has installed 700 public Internet terminals (PITs) in Post Offices, using smart card technology to gain access (SouthAfrica.info, 2004). Services in high demand, such as pension payouts, birth, and death registrations were e-enabled first (SouthAfrica.info, 2004). The current cost is ZAR20, with a download time of up to 40 minutes. Mobile e-government is also being used as an option, that is, the delivery of e-government via mobile services or m-government (Rossel, Finger and Misuraca, 2006: 83). The Digital Doorway project, aimed at wide-scale computer literacy, has established some 150 kiosks in remote rural and peri-urban areas at a cost of ZAR48 million. These kiosks use keyboard and touchpad technology and are backed by the Department of Science and Technology, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and Eskom (Opening SA’s Digital Doorway, 2007). The statistics in this section provide information about the current state of access to telephony. IndexMundi (2008) gives a figure of 4 642 000 main lines in use in April, 2008, which is 87,000 less than that reported in 2007. Research ICT Africa (2008), however, reports that fixed line growth is almost static, despite the option of pre-payment for services. Only 18% of households in the survey reported having a working fixed line facility, with 95% of these households being in urban areas. There are currently four mobile phone operators and 42.3 million mobile phones (South Africa Yearbook, 2008/9; IndexMundi, 2008). Cell-phone technology is assisting with information access in agriculture, banking, and health. In agriculture, small-scale sugarcane farmers are using this technology to receive information in the local languages on when to irrigate their crops (SMS alerts boost sugarcane output, 2008). Various integrated library systems are used in South Africa. For academic libraries there are three main systems in use, namely Millennium, Sirsi Unicorn, and Aleph. The Provincial libraries, which are responsible for the oversight of public libraries in the provinces, have generally been using the Public

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Access Library System (PALS), but some are experimenting with the Belgian system, Brocade, which is being piloted in one of the smaller provinces. Some of the independent public libraries, for example EThekwini Municipal Libraries (EML), use Sirsi Unicorn. For school libraries there are several packages with, for example, Libwin and EduAdmin being preferred options.

Educating and Training South African education for library and information work commenced in 1933, but it has undergone considerable change since 1994, in response to a battery of policy frameworks (Raju, 2004:4௅7). Eleven institutions offer this education and training. Programmes have responded to shifts in demand and the nomenclature of the programmes varies considerably, with two devoted mainly to Knowledge and Information Management. There is a range of offerings and qualifications, with 3 and 4-year degrees, 3-year diplomas in the universities of technology, and postgraduate diplomas following on a bachelor’s degree. Most university-based programmes offer honours, masters, and doctoral programmes. The universities of technology offer a Bachelor of Technology degree (Ocholla and Bothma, 2007). Ocholla and Bothma (2007:12) describe the common core offerings of local library and information studies schools: information and knowledge management, information storage/seeking and retrieval, knowledge organisation, knowledge representation, and ICTs. These authors also note the crucial role in quality assurance played by heads of department, external examiners, and regular external evaluations. Some institutions, such as the Universities of Johannesburg (UJ) and South Africa (UNISA), operate largely or exclusively by distance education. Others, such as UKZN, use a mixed mode of distance and on-site delivery, for example, in delivering the ACE. The University of the Western Cape (UWC) offers an ACE via a series of short courses. Kekana (2009), from the Department of Arts and Culture, reported recently that the Department has commissioned a private company to investigate the state of provision of education and training by local institutions of higher learning and tertiary education of the library and information, archival, and record management sectors. It includes a survey of all higher education and training providers, with regard to administrative information, programmes, courses and qualifications offered, staff matters such as vacancies and shortages, training infrastructure, and learner numbers. A 2009 audit of digitization initiatives in South Africa identified the lack of “informed and experienced practitioners of all types,” as the principal obstacle in digitising the backlog of collections. It further recommends that tertiary institutions should include the planning and management of digitization in degree courses (Page-Shipp, 2009:11).

312 Christine Stilwell Currently, South Africa has several very significant library and information studies education and training initiatives in place:

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Noting that a combination of factors such as lack of funding, few trained staff, out-dated technology and inadequate infrastructure has produced librarians who are both negative and dispirited, the University of Pretoria is attempting to align the training of African librarians to the demands of library leadership. The rationale of the project is that managers in Africa need a “change of mindset” to counteract the culture of demoralisation prevalent amongst library staff. In this initiative they propose to select post-graduate students and offer them on-site training in the United States for two semesters (Britz, Lor and Bothma, 2007). A collaborative programme, the Carnegie Library Leadership Academy (CLLA), of the University of Pretoria, with the Universities of Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal, is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, for a three-year grant of US$1 million (de Waal, 2009). The first group of young leaders commenced training in July 2009. The aims of the academy are to establish: • a self-sustaining Library Leadership centre at the University of Pretoria, • a comprehensive library leadership development plan for library managers and librarians in South Africa, • the achievement of a high level of measurable improved skills and service delivery among library leaders, • a cadre of 120 well-trained library leaders, who can lead libraries effectively through the challenging LIS landscape in South Africa, • a team of library leadership trainers who would be able to continue training after the termination of the grant. The Research Libraries Consortium, based at the Universities of Cape Town, Witwatersrand and KwaZulu-Natal is an initiative funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and seeks to upgrade the knowledge and skills of academic librarians in South Africa. The Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) has had a successful Library Leadership Project, funded by an initial grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York of US$ 500,000 for a three-year period until 2007. Recently extended to December 2009, the grant was to establish a Centre for Information Career Development (CICD) programme. It also has obtained ZAR500,000 from SABINET, for training in cataloguing, inter-lending, and management and professional development (LIASA, 2007/8).

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The Organised Profession The development of the library and information associations in South Africa commenced in 1930 (Walker, 2005). Since 1997 library and information workers have been represented primarily by LIASA, which has ten branches in nine provinces and has interest groups in several areas (Walker, 2005:33௅ 34). In 2008 LIASA’s membership total of 1,399 paid-up members reflected a decrease of approximately 5% between 2007 (1,477) and 2008. The biggest challenge faced by LIASA is thus the retention of existing members. Negative factors include apathy, the laborious process of renewing membership, a lack of activity in certain branches and Interest Groups, and the shortages of staff at centres where members work (LIASA, 2007/8). LIASA is a “professional” body that includes in its membership those without professional qualifications and status. Its future will depend in large measure on its ability to fast-track the education and training of its membership, by using the programmes noted above.

Future Challenges In a chapter on South African LIS futures, Stilwell (2007) reviewed critical issues in the literature and reported on a small-scale Delphi exercise. The latter was used to gather the views of library and information science educator and practitioner experts on the most critical elements for the development of South African LIS. The issues from the literature and the Delphi exercise are synthesized and summarized here. From the evidence found in the literature and the responses from participants in Stilwell’s Delphi study, which targeted nine well-qualified and experienced library professionals (2007), certain issues emerged as critical (see Figure 1). At a workshop, which was part of the Carnegie Library Leadership Academy programme, held in July 2009, 20 young leaders from local library structures, drawn from at least five of the nine provinces, were asked to rank the top seven LIS issues emerging from the 2007 Delphi exercise. The issues were first presented to them and they deliberated in groups which reported verbally on their deliberations. Their responses were ranked as follows: Ranking Issues Information literacy Government funding ICT infrastructure Education and training LIS professionalism Public access computing Organised profession

2007 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2009 6 1 2 4 5 7 3

Figure 1: Ranking of critical issues by library professionals, 2007 and 2009.

314 Christine Stilwell For the 2009 participants, the five top-scoring elements were much the same as for the 2007 Delphi panellists, but the order of the issues differed. For the young library leaders, the most important issue was government funding. Their reasoning for ranking this first was that it was needed “to take the vision to the people.” The Parliamentary Monitoring Group’s (2009) report suggests that the issue of delivery is as critical, with high rates of staff turnover and critical skills shortages in the sector. Taking the 2009 group ratings into account, the guidelines developed from the 2007 forecasting exercise were revised and are presented here. These are:

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Adequate funding for the essential role that libraries play in society and, to guide and inform this investment, the development of a culture of assessment in which LIS professionals are the key players. Building capacity to deliver at grass roots levels in the less well-off provinces. An enhanced role for LIASA, as it seeks to meet the challenges of a changing LIS profession combined with “an actual implemented, creative, transformational vision for a new future….” This vision needs to be “taken to the people.” An increasing role for all the players, educators, employers, and the organized profession, in a changing and diversified education and training environment for LIS, but with agreement about the essential core functions and competencies. The “mediocritisation” of the profession is a concern, and more rigorous education and training, based on greater knowledge of subject areas beyond LIS, is required for academic and other library situations. Young library leaders were concerned about “older staff,” who do not keep their knowledge and skills updated. A focus on LIS professionals who can operate confidently in a variety of environments beyond the library’s walls. They need to realize their potential and must not underplay their profiles but must “work hard enough to push our professional roles into prominence or positions of influence.” Improved ICT infrastructure and connectivity, with universal access to telecommunications, and further popularization of cellular telephony.

The future will depend on concerted efforts to deal with a wide spectrum of related issues, rather than focusing on one or two issues in isolation. The role of a strong professional body is crucial. Such a body should oversee capacity building in the sector and also ensure that a coordinated, strategic plan of action and implementation is taken forward. Other players are taking up this challenge in collaborative partnerships as noted above. An assertive, proactive, well-educated, and trained profession must work with government, and government must continue to commit to financing and

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delivery with respect to the LIS enterprise in South Africa. Recent developments, in the form of the KPMG survey, the subsequent use of the KPMG survey in Gauteng, and the focus on the conditional grants are all very positive. A crucial area of need is that of access to cheaper forms of Internet and telephone connectivity.

Conclusion This chapter traced the early beginnings of library and information services and the recent development of libraries in South Africa. A great deal has been accomplished by government and other structures and by the profession itself. However, much more needs to be done, and the fifteen-year-old democracy still has a great deal to deliver. Many developments are in progress, but these need to be monitored, evaluated, and built on. The forecasts offered here, grounded in the beginnings of consensus from two different groups of librarians, will help to create a future in which the vision has been taken to the people, to enable them to enhance their lives and livelihoods. The human element is a key driver, and several notable initiatives are underway to build capacity in LIS professionals. The young leaders heartily endorsed the view that emerged from the 2007 Dephi exercise, that, “potentially we are incredibly powerful.” Useful examples and a wealth of first-hand experience are available to inform future projects. Feedback from the updated Delphi exercise gives indicators of where the emphasis in future endeavours should lie.

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2.15 South Africa ௅ “Take the Vision to the People” 317 Gauteng. Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation. 2008. Proposed assignment of community library and information services function: explanatory memorandum. Pretoria: The Department. Gillwald, A. 2009. Towards evidence-based policy in Africa: ICT access and usage in 17 African countries. Presentation at EuroCPR, Seville. March 31. Available at http:// www.researchictafrica.net/... (15. Sep. 2009). Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). 1999. First one-stop government service centre. GCIS Media Releases, December 2. http://www.gcis.gov.za/ media/releases/mpcc.htm (No longer accessible – 27. Mar. 2007) Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). 2000. Presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications on 7 March, 2000. GCIS: Pretoria. Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). 2009. http://www.gcis.gov. za/ (13. Oct. 2009). Greyling, E.H. 2009. EML Digital Doorway Project. Email letter to C. Stilwell. 30 January. Grundlingh, G. 2009. Telkom will still rule. Business Day. 28 July. Available at http://www.businessday.co.za/ (2. Sep. 2009). Gxwati, Z. 2007. WLIC conference 2007 – report. LIASA School Library Youth and Information Services Interest Group Newsletter, December. Harris, V. 2002. Contesting remembering and forgetting: the archives of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Innovation, 24:1–8. Hart, G.C. 2006. Educators and public librarians: unwitting partners in the information literacy education of South African youth. Innovation, 32:74–93. Hart, G.C. 2009. Our schools need dedicated librarians. Weekend Argus 26/27 September. Available at http://www.capeargus.co.za/ (27. Sep.). Hart, G.C. and Zinn, S. 2007. The Conundrum of School Libraries in South Africa. In Bothma, T.J.D., Underwood, P. G. and Ngulube, P., eds. Libraries for the future: progress and development of South African libraries. Pretoria: LIASA/ Department of Arts and Culture. pp. 90–93. Higgs, C. 2006. Supporting small scale publishing. Available at http://www.nlsa.ac.za/ NLSA/ (10. Sep. 2009). Hoskins, R. 2006. Libraries and teacher-librarians in KwaZulu-Natal. Innovation, 33:59– 75. ICT development index. 2009. Measuring the Information Society. Telecommunication Development Bureau: International Telecommunication Union. Available at http:// www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/2009/material/IDI2009_w5.pdf (10. Sep. 2009). ICT statistics. 2008. ICT Statistics Newslogs. International Telecommunication Union. Available at http://www.itu.int/ITD-D/ict/newslog (10. Sep. 2009). IndexMundi. 2008. Available at http://www.indexmundi.com/south_africa (22. Apr. 2008). International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). 2006. Internet manifesto. The Hague: IFLA. Available at http://www.ifla.org/III/misc/im-e.htm (5. July 2006). Jenner, S. 2009. Budget vote speech by Western Cape Minister for Cultural Affairs, Sport and Recreation Western Cape Legislature. Available at http://www.search.gov.za/info (25. Sep. 2009). Jones, M. 2009. New campaign hopes to bring books to all. Available at http://www. iol.co.za/index. (9. Sep. 2009). Jordan, Z. P. 2009. Speech by Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Z. Pallo Jordan at the launch of 2009 South African Library Week, Pietermaritzburg (18. Sep. 2009).

318 Christine Stilwell Juma, C. and Moyer, E. 2008. Broadband internet for Africa. Science 320(5881): 1261. Cited in Kalahari.net. 2007. Available at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/ full/320/5881/1261 (10. Sep. 2009). Kalahari.net. 2007. Available at http://www.kalahari.net/ (3. Oct. 2009). Kekana, P. 2009. The vision for Libraries in SA – DAC Perspective. Presentation to Carnegie Library Leadership Academy, Centurion, 17 July. KwaZulu-Natal. Department of Education. 2004. Analysis of the 2004 ELITS school library audit. Unpublished report. Directorate: Education Library Information and Technology Services. Durban: EduAction. Le Roux, S. and Hendrikz, F. 2006. Joint use libraries: implementing a pilot community/school library project in a remote rural area in South Africa. Library Trends, 54(4):618–637. Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA). 2007/8. Annual report 2007–2008. Available at http://www.liasa.org.za/index.php (28. Sep. 2009). Ledwaba, H. 2002. Library and information services sector in South Africa: challenges and issues facing the profession. Paper to the American Library Association Conference, 16 June, Atlanta, Georgia. Legal Deposit Act. 1997. Act 54 of 1997. Pretoria: Government Printer. Lor, P.J., van Helden, P. and Bothma, T.J.D. 2005. Developing a GIS-based inventory of South Africa’s public libraries: the Public and Community Libraries Inventory of South Africa (PaCLISA) project. South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science, 71(3):268–274. McKenzie, P.C.G. 1995. Personal communication concerning the year that the Natal Society Library, Pietermaritzburg, opened to all races. Pietermaritzburg, 21 June. Merrett, C.E. 2005. The Hefer Commission: its significance for the South African national information system. Innovation, 30:12–20. Meyer, J. 2009. Email letter about Carnegie Library Leadership Academy presentation and innovation in Gauteng Provincial Library and Information Services to C. Stilwell, 7 September. Ministry of Education. 2001. National plan for higher education. Pretoria: Department of Education. Moolman, M. 2009. African literature book shop in Orange Grove, Johannesburg. LIASAin-Touch 10(3):17. Mostert, J.B. 1999. Information provision services in South Africa: a comparative study. Library Management, 20(1):19–26. Mostert, J.B. 2005. Parliamentary information sources, systems and services in South Africa. South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science, 71(1):51–63. Mostert, M. 2009. Conference Chairman, SATNAC 2009. Available at http://home.intekom. com/satnac/ (5. Oct. 2009). Muller, R. 2009. Cited in My Broadband, 30 August. Available at http://mybroadband. co.za/news/Telecoms/9409.html (10. Sep. 2009). Naidoo, N. 2009. Library: No budget for books since 2004. The Witness. Available at http://www.witness.co.za/ (10. Sep. 2009). National Archives Act. 1996. Act 43 of 1996. Pretoria: Government Printer. National Council for Library and Information Services Act. 2001. Act 6 of 2001. Pretoria: Government Printer. National Inquiry Services Centre South Africa (NISC). [n.d.] Available at http://www. nisc.co.za/ (27. Mar. 2007).

2.15 South Africa ௅ “Take the Vision to the People” 319 National Library of South Africa (NLSA). 2006. Highlights from the Core Programmes: January to March, 2006, prepared by J. de Beer. Pretoria: NLSA. National Library of South Africa (NLSA). 2007. Available at http://www.nlsa.ac.za/NLSA/ (28. Mar. 2007). National Library of South Africa (NLSA). 2008a. Transformation Charter: Public Consultative Process. Available at http://www.nlsa.ac.za (10. Sep. 2009). National Library of South Africa (NLSA). 2008b .Available at http://www.nlsa.ac.za/ NLSA (10. Sep. 2009). Ndawonde, P. 2009. Indigenous classics reprinted. Available at http://www.southafrica. info/about/arts/books-190209.htm (20. Sep. 2009). Ndlovu, N. 2009. Public library efforts to serve marginalised people: service to people with visual disabilities. Email letter to C. Stilwell, 21 January. Ngcobo, M. 2009. A strategic promotion of language use in multilingual South Africa: information and communication. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 27(1):113–120. Ngulube, P. 2003. Preservation and access to public records and archives in South Africa. PhD dissertation. Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal. Nyanda, S. 2009. Communications Minister has big Broadband plans. Available at http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Broadband/9457.html (10. Sep. 2009). Nyongwana, R. 2009. Rural libraries: container libraries. Email letter to C. Stilwell, 22 January. Nzimande, E.S. and Stilwell, C. 2008. Sharing information resources: a study of school clusters from rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Libri, 58(4): 234–245. Ocholla, D.N. and Bothma, T.J.D. 2007. Trends, challenges and opportunities of LIS education and training in Eastern and Southern Africa. Available at http://mg.csufresno. edu/papers/forum_2/ocholla_bothma.pdf (10. July 2008). Online encyclopedias at Cape Town city libraries. 2009. Cape Argus online, 3 July 2009. http://www.capeargus.co.za/ (12. Sep. 2009). Opening SA’s Digital Doorway. 2007. Available at http://www.southafrica.info/about/ education/digitaldoorway.htm (21. Apr. 2008). Page-Shipp, R. 2009. An audit of digitisation initiatives, ongoing and planned in South Africa: report to the National Research Foundation. Pretoria: National Research Foundation. pp. 1–90. Parliamentary Monitory Group. 2009. Meeting on Building of libraries in communities and schools, 16 September. Available at http://www.pmg.org.za/report/20090916-buildinglibraries-communities-and-schools (16. Oct. 2009). Promotion of Access to Information Act. 2000. Act 2 of 2000. Pretoria: Government Printer. ProQuest. 2007. Available at http://proquest.com/ (27. Mar. 2007). Raju, J. 2004. The historical evolution of university and technikon education and training in South Africa: implications for articulation of LIS programmes. Innovation, 29:1–12. Research ICT Africa. 2008. ICT access and usage in South Africa. South Africa Policy Brief, No 1. Available at http://www.researchICTafrica.net (25. June 2008). Reuters.com. 2009. Research and Markets: South Africa–Fixed Line Market and Infrastructure – Overview Statistics. April 14. Available at http://www.reuters.com/article/ pressRelease. (10. Sep. 2009). Rossel, P., Finger, M. and Misuraca, G. 2006. “Mobile” e-Government options: between technology-driven and user-centric. Electronic journal of e-Government 4(2): 79–86.

320 Christine Stilwell Available at http://www.ejeg.com/volume-4/vol4-iss2/Rossel_et_al.pdf (29. May 2008). SABINET Online. 2007. Available at http://www.sabinet.co.za/ (27. Mar. 2007). Scholtemeyer, P. 2002. Magazines in South Africa. Available at http://www.fipp.com/ Default.aspx?PageIndex=2002ItemId=42 (21. Apr. 2008). SMS alerts boost sugarcane output. 2008. Spore 134 (April). Available at http://spore.cta. int/index.php?option=com_contenttask=viewid=413catid=12 (24. June 2008). Smuts. A. 2009. Reading Programme for New or Semi-literates. Email letter to C. Stilwell, 21 January. South Africa Government Online. 2007. Available at http://www.gov.za (27. Mar. 2007). South African Government Information. 2009. Western Cape Department invests R156m in school libraries. Pretoria. South Africa Government Online. http://www.search.gov.za/ (3. Sep. 2009). South African National Library and Information Consortium. [nd]. Promoting and supporting national co-operative initiatives. Available at http://www.cosalc.ac.za/home.html (3. Apr. 2008). South African yearbook. 2006/07. 14th ed. Available at http://www.gcis.gov.za/docs/ publications/yearbook/2007/chapter1.pdf (29. May 2008). South African yearbook 2008/09. 16th ed. Edited by D. Burger. Pretoria: GCIS. SouthAfrica.info. 2004. SA government’s ‘people first’ portal. Available at http://www. southafrica.info/services/government/sagovtonline.htm (8. Apr. 2008). SouthAfrica.info. 2005. South Africa’s community workers. Available at http://www. southafrica.info/services/government/communityworkers.htm (29. May 2008). SouthAfrica.info. 2008a. South Africa’s telecommunications. Available at http://www. southafrica.info/ business/economy/infrastructure/telecoms.htm (21. Apr. 2008). SouthAfrica.info. 2008b. Press freedom in South Africa. Available at http://www.southafrica. info/about/media/press-freedom.htm (1. July 2008). Soweto opens first state-of-the-art library.2008. Available at http://www.sagoodnews.co. za/education/soweto_opens_first_state-of-the-art_library.h. (4. Apr. 2008). Stannard, P. 2009. KZN Library Services internet project. Email letter to C. Stilwell, 21 January. Stilwell, C. 2001. Community resource centres: a turn of the century update. In Stilwell, C., Leach, A. and Burton, S. eds. Knowledge, information and development: an African perspective. Pietermaritzburg: School of Human and Social Studies, University of Natal. pp. 200–214. Stilwell, C. 2007. South African LIS futures and the tale of the fisherman’s wife: can we predict and create positive change? In Bothma, T.J.D., Underwood, P.G. and Ngulube, P., eds. Libraries for the future: progress and development of South African libraries. Pretoria: LIASA/ Department of Arts and Culture. Pp. 199–218. Stilwell, C. and Munyua, H. 2009. The potential of Information Management for combating poverty and other forms of social exclusion. Keynote address Second School of Information Sciences Conference, Moi University, 6–8 July, Eldoret, Kenya. Stones, L. 2008. Neotel takes phone battle to Telkom. Business Day. 23 October. Stones, L. 2009. Telkom joins hands with mighty ATT. Business Day. 17 April. Take2.co.za. 2009. Available at http://www.take2.co.za/ (3. Oct. 2009). Thomas, G. and Fourie, I. 2006. Academic library consortia in South Africa: where we come from and where we are heading. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32(4):432–438.

2.15 South Africa ௅ “Take the Vision to the People” 321 United Nations. 2007/8. Human Development Report. New York: United Nations. Available at http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/2008/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_ZAF.html (6. Aug. 2009). United Nations. 2008. E-government survey. New York: United Nations. Available at http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UN/UNPAN028607.pdf (29. May 2008). Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA). 2008. Available at http://www.usaasa.org.za/ (Aug. 2009). Valentine, S. 2004. E-powering the people: South Africa’s Smart Cape Access Project. Washington: Council on Library and Information Resources. Available at www.clir. org/pubs/reports/pub125/pub125.pdf (6. July 2006). Walker, C.M. 1994. Dreams, policies, problems and practitioners: learning to provide information for all. South African Journal of Information and Library Science, 62 (4): 117–26. Walker, C.M. 2005. Library associations in South Africa, 1930–2005. Library Management, 27(1/2):26–37. Wantitall.co.za. 2009. Available at http://www.wantitall.co.za/ (4. Oct. 2009). Witbooi, S. 1997. Overview of the current state of LIS in South Africa. In: South Africa. Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST). Interministerial Working Group on the Library and Information Services Function (National level). Report. Pretoria: DACST. Annexure A. World commemorates Literacy Day. 2009. Available at http://allafrica.com/stories/ 200909081176.html (3. Sep. 2009). Xingwana, L. 2009. Arts and Culture budget vote address. Cape Town. 2 July. Available at http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/index.htm (8. Aug. 2009). Yellow Pages. n.d. http://www.yellowpages.co.za (29. Oct. 2009). Zinn, S. 2006. Have trained school librarians made a difference for school libraries in South Africa? Innovation, 33:21–35.

2.16 Spain Libraries and Technologies in Spain: Past, Present and Future Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez The Origins of the Spanish Library System Over the past 30 years, libraries and their services in Spain have undergone a transformation which one would describe as nothing short of radical. It would indeed be fair to say that it is over this recent period that the foundations for the current situation of libraries in Spain were laid, although their history dates back to many centuries. While the Spanish libraries of today may be considered equivalent in terms of level and service quality to those of many other countries, it is nonetheless also true that the path followed in order to achieve such a position was necessarily, in accordance with its starting point, different in many cases from that traced in other countries, where the world of libraries began to develop at an earlier stage. Spain’s current library system has its roots in the nineteenth century, having followed a model similar to that seen in other countries of southern Europe, a different history from that of the Anglo-Saxon and central and northern parts of the continent. From 1835 onwards, major document archives and libraries came under State control, having been seized within the context of the widespread process of expropriation and privatisation of the property of monastic orders, serving to create the first public libraries, located in provincial capitals.1 At around the same time, the Royal Library (Biblioteca Real), established in the early eighteenth century, also came under State control, being renamed the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library). A little later, in 1858, a specific category of civil servants was created to take care of administering Spain’s libraries, with the aim of preserving the bibliographical resources which had been developed. These initial circumstances meant that for many years such libraries supported by the State performed a role much more closely tied to erudition and research, and were less strongly associated with education and public readership. In the last third of the nineteenth century, with the aim of encouraging the education of the lower classes, the Government ordered the creation of librar-

1

Genaro Luis García López, La lectura como servicio público: análisis de la administración pública en los orígenes del sistema bibliotecario español, Gijón: Trea, 2006, 37.

324 Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez ies open to the public at all primary schools,2 although a lack of resources and personnel led these institutions to have but a fleeting lifespan and impact. By the early twentieth century, new initiatives to set up neighbourhood libraries were proving more successful, although they were confined to local areas (Barcelona, Madrid, Asturias) and did not extend to the bulk of the country. During the Second Republic (1931–1939), an attempt was made to give a new dimension to public readership through support for the creation of municipally run public libraries, the provision of updated resources for all public libraries, and an expansion and diversification of personnel. In 1935, when Madrid and Barcelona hosted the 2nd International Libraries and Bibliography Congress, organised by the recently established IFLA, Spain was enjoying a true boom in the field of libraries. The opening address delivered by the great Spanish philosopher, José Ortega y Gasset, The Mission of the Librarian,3 represented a lasting and still relevant manifesto of the aims and responsibility of the profession. However, the policies adopted and the plans designed were cut short by the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The ideological censorship imposed after the conflict, the penury into which the country was plunged, and the fragility of the structures created in previous years led to the loss of many of the advances achieved.4 The new political regime introduced a rigidly centralist structure, which was likewise reflected in the organisation of libraries. Although the theoretical design served to cover the entire country, the shortage of resources meant that the development of library infrastructure, which took place above all from the 1960s onwards, was half-hearted and incomplete. It is true that a not insignificant number of public libraries were set up,5 although practically all were characterised by their fragile organisational structure, their limited collections, and a lack of qualified staff.

Development and Modernisation of Libraries in Spain Starting Point The political changes which occurred in Spain from the mid-1970s onwards marked a turning point with regard to the previous situation. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 established a system of parliamentary monarchy based on popular suffrage, and over a brief period of time, the foundations were laid

2 3 4 5

Luis García Ejarque, Historia de la lectura pública en España, Gijón: Trea, 2000, 100. José Ortega y Gasset, Misión del bibliotecario. Mexico: Dirección General de Bibliotecas; Madrid: Fundación José Ortega y Gasset, 2005. Luis García Ejarque, Historia de la lectura pública…, 204. In 1960 there were 900 public libraries officially listed, and 1,437 by 1973.

2.16 Spain ௅ Libraries and Technologies in Spain 325

for a new system of coexistence and political State structure, based on substantial decentralisation of powers to regional and local authorities. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the situation of Spain’s libraries was a far from happy one. There did exist a few centres with substantial bibliographical collections (mostly made up of heritage resources), presided over by professional librarians, although they had great difficulty in operating. The Biblioteca Nacional was attempting to focus on the functions inherent in such an establishment, overlooking the interests of the general public which turned to its resources, given the shortcomings of university and public libraries. University libraries operated on a skeleton staff and had the most basic of internal structures. The Provincial Public Libraries were extremely poorly provided and found their activities hampered by the excessive burden of the heritage collections they held, preventing them from providing a true public library service. The remaining libraries, mainly municipal public establishments, with very small collections and highly limited services, were barely able to provide even a minimally decent service. It hardly comes as a surprise, then, that only 3.7% of the population held a library card. The shortcomings of the Spanish library system (in terms of collections, staff, organisation, and cooperation) led the automation of services to be viewed as a priority of the second order. Meanwhile, the absence of a clear, long-term libraries policy, a circumstance worsened by the changes in political and administrative structure during the period, alongside the rigidity of the administrative structures covering State-run libraries, which at the time made up the majority, all served as impediments to any progress in the automation of libraries, as acknowledged at the first professional meeting to focus on library automation held in Spain in 1982.6 The automation of Spanish libraries thus developed in parallel to the process of modernisation itself. A circumstance which in some cases hampered progress, since the foundations were not sufficiently solid from the outset, although in other cases processes were implemented more rapidly, as one stage was succeeded by another.

The Eighties: a Still Uncertain Beginning The 1980s saw the first true progress take place in the development of Spanish libraries, although from the outset different pathways and paces were seen, depending on the type of library in question. It was the university and specialist libraries which first embarked on the process of development and modernisation, the key to this advance lying in a far-reaching reorganisation of universities thanks to the autonomy they were granted by a new law (University 6

Victoria Oliver Muñoz, “Situación actual de la automatización de bibliotecas en España”, in Seminario sobre Automatización de Servicios Bibliotecarios (1982. Madrid). Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, 1982, 14.

326 Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez Reform Act, no 11/1983), and the substantial injection of funds which universities received in order to improve infrastructure and services.7 Technical bodies were set up at the university libraries to coordinate and manage new projects (such as automation and new infrastructure facilities), and to reorganise administration by centralising or coordinating tasks such as acquisitions and cataloguing within each university. There was a substantial increase in the number of library staff,8 while recruitment and continuous training were professionalised. Libraries were recognised within the organic structure of the university, overcoming the fragmentation and dispersal of collections and services seen in previous years. In parallel with the growth of collections and infrastructure,9 university libraries embarked upon a process of automation, focusing initially on the development of ad hoc systems, which ultimately proved unsuccessful because of the high maintenance costs involved. In the case of specialist and scientific libraries, one key initiative came in the form of the library network automation process conducted by the CSIC (Higher Scientific Research Council), Spain’s chief public research body. This network, made up of 90 libraries scattered across 20 cities, began its automation in 1986 by selecting an off-the-shelf product (ALEPH), in what was to be one of the first major installations of this type of product in Spain.10 By the end of the decade there was a clear trend in favour of commercial systems over in-house systems.11 However, although the library sector had become more advanced, in 1988 only 20% of university libraries and 25% of specialist establishments had started automation. Meanwhile, the Biblioteca Nacional, the institution in which many other libraries hoped to find a guide and leader on the pathway of automation and the very development of the Spanish library system, itself, remained incapable of fulfilling this role. Itself subject to processes of internal reorganisation, in 1986 it acquired responsibility for other institutions which had previously performed functions normally tied to national libraries, the National Newspaper Archive (Hemeroteca Nacional), and, above all, the Instituto Bibliográfico Hispánico. The latter had previously been responsible for compilation of the 7 Lluís Anglada i de Ferrer and Margarita Taladriz Más. "Pasado, presente y futuro de las bibliotecas universitarias españolas", in Jornadas Bibliotecarias de Andalucía (9. 1996. Granada), Granada: Diputación Provincial de Granada, Asociación Andaluza de Bibliotecarios, 1996, 109. 8 Equivalent full-time staff rose from 615 individuals in 1977 to 2,433.38 by 1988. Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), Estadística de bibliotecas, Madrid, Instituto Nacional de Estadística, 1977– . 9 Bibliographic resources doubled over the course of a decade while the physical space available increased in area by 85%. Anglada and Taladriz, "Pasado, presente y futuro…,” 113. 10 Agnes Ponsati Obiols, “La xarxa de biblioteques del CSIC: 10 anys informatitzant”, Item no. 17 (1995): 16–37. 11 Purificación Moscoso Castro and Yolanda Ríos García. Estado actual de la aplicación de las nuevas tecnologías de la información y su impacto sobre el funcionamiento bibliotecario: puesta al día = LIB-2/13-update (Spain). Madrid, Federación Española de Sociedades de Archivística, Biblioteconomía y Documentación (FESABID), 1992, 15.

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Legal Deposit and publication of the National Bibliography and had, since the mid-1970s, been working on the idea of automating its bibliography, in order to allow bibliographical records to be used not only for printed publications but also to generate an information and record exchange service involving 12 other national agencies, although no tangible results had been achieved. The Biblioteca Nacional had also started to devise the automation of various products, such as the collective periodical publications catalogue, begun in the late 1960s, while progress had likewise been made on bibliographical standardisation through the drafting and publication in 1976 of the first version of the IBERMARC format for monographic publications, an adaptation of MARC II. It was not until the 1980s, however, that it first began to consider the automation of its catalogues. The year 1981 saw the creation of the SABINA project, intended to become the Biblioteca Nacional automated system 13 through the development of an in-house solution. After several years of work without the project being implemented for public use, it had to be suspended, as it had proved incapable of dealing with the needs which had gradually arisen within an inevitably dynamic environment. The decision was taken in 1988 to abandon the project and change tack, although the option chosen was again one of bespoke in-house development. Under the direction and requirements of the Biblioteca Nacional, a new product (SIRTEX) was developed, used to implement the ARIADNA database, the core of an automated system which did not become operational until 1991. Public libraries were meanwhile facing different challenges. The Spanish population was distributed across more than 8,000 boroughs, close on 85% of which had fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, the threshold figure for which there was a legally established obligation to offer a public library service. Such a demographic distribution led to the need to set up new libraries, as in 1983 only 66% of the population enjoyed such a service in their hometown itself. During the 1980s, then, almost 35% of the public libraries in existence today 14 came into being. This period of library creation coincides with the reorganisation of the country’s political and administrative structure, with regional governments being given responsibility for libraries. Central government retained powers over the State Public Libraries, but direct administration was transferred to the Autonomous Regions, which also introduced their own laws governing libraries, in particular public establishments, within their individual regions, and took on an important role in funding the construction of new municipally run 15 libraries. 12 Xavier Agenjo, "La automatización de la Biblioteca Nacional: recapitulación histórica", Boletín de la Anabad 42, no. 1 (1992), 216. 13 Agenjo, "La automatización de la Biblioteca Nacional…”, 219. 14 1,430 libraries, out of a total of 4,125 in 2008. Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Estadística de bibliotecas..., 15 Joaquín Selgas and Fernando Armario, “Sistemas y redes de bibliotecas públicas en España”, in Las bibliotecas públicas en España, una realidad abierta, Hilario Hernández

328 Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez These organisational changes and the lack of a properly established preexisting structure led this increase in the number of public libraries to follow a pattern which was unsuited to the needs and circumstances of the time. Most of the public libraries created were subject to a major shortfall in resources and even a lack of rigorous, professional planning in establishing the nature of the services required and the best way to provide them. What is worse, they were created as mutually independent institutions with no provision being made, with certain exceptions, for mechanisms for coordination and joint operations. Against such a background, it is hardly surprising that progress in the incorporation of information technologies was further delayed, given the need to overcome the challenges involved in the construction of new buildings, the expansion of collections, and the recruitment of a qualified workforce. Nonetheless, advances did take place little by little: between 1981 and 1990, the volume of collections increased by a factor of 1.7, the number of acquisitions per year per 1,000 inhabitants rose from 17.54 to 50.28, while the ratio of volumes per inhabitant rose from 0.32 to 0.62. And although the number of people working at public libraries also underwent a considerable increase in 16 absolute terms, it was also the case that the ratio of full-time workers per 17 library increased at a much slower pace. The isolation of most public libraries, which did not belong to cooperative plans or networks, was, during the 1980s, the main impediment in the development of automation in the library sector. A lack of standardisation and the shortage of Spanish products for automated library administration represented 18 further factors which did nothing to help accelerate progress. Although new projects were proposed at the end of the decade, it was not until the 1990s that they became a reality. In 1988 only 6% of Spanish public libraries had any form of automated function.

The Nineties: Uneven Development The decade of the 1990s was the first time that Spain experienced a true boom in libraries, although the phenomenon was expressed in very different forms, depending on the type of library in question and the region. In fact, the differ(dir.), Madrid: Fundación Germán Sánchez-Ruipérez, 2000, 167 http://www. bibliotecaspublicas.info/bp/bp03.htm (12. Jan. 2010). 16 By a factor of 2.99 between 1981 and 1990; rising from a level of 1,820 to 3,901 by 1990. INE, Estadística de bibliotecas… 17 From 1.00 in 1982 to 1.46 in 1990. INE, Estadística de bibliotecas… 18 Alejandro Carrión Gútiez, “Las tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones en las bibliotecas públicas españolas: nuevos usuarios y nuevos servicios”, in Las bibliotecas públicas en España, una realidad abierta, Hilario Hernández (dir.), Madrid: Fundación Germán Sánchez-Ruipérez, 2000, www.bibliotecaspublicas.info/bp/bp07_1amp.htm (12. Jan. 2010).

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ences arguably became even more acute as a result of the varying pace of progress within the sector. The emergence of personal computers, firstly for the ancillary functions of major integrated systems, and later on as the platform for systems designed for small-scale libraries, allowed establishments with more limited resources to embark on the path to automation during this decade. Meanwhile, the commercial systems market grew larger through the introduction of more foreign products and the emergence of the first systems designed in Spain, leading to the abandonment of ad hoc developments. Progress was particularly clear at university libraries, where the efforts seen in the previous decade, and the substantial increases in budgets, began to yield their first results. The automation of libraries now started to launch in earnest, with 90% of university libraries indicating that by 1995 their cata19 logues had been automated. This served as the basis for the development of collective automated catalogues. However, unlike the situation seen elsewhere, with such catalogues laying the foundations for the automation of local libraries, this did not occur in Spain until local automation had become fairly advanced, with a number of library networks emerging and combining for various reasons. The year 1988 had already seen the creation of REBUIN (Red de Bibliotecas Universitarias Españolas), the union of nine university libraries to set up a collective catalogue, which appeared on CD-ROM in 1992, and to promote inter-library lending. Over time, REBUIN succeeded in joining up Spain’s university libraries with other major scientific libraries, such as the CSIC network, achieving recognition as an independent body within the CRUE (Conference of Spanish University Rectors), the umbrella association for all Spanish universities.20 Over this period there was a rapid spread in the use of all manner of information technologies, such as CD-ROM networks and the first applications for the publication of information over the Internet, using first of all Gopher, and later, web-based systems. It was unquestionably in university libraries that the use of the Internet was first introduced and became most widespread, thanks to the existence of a national communications network (RedIRIS), connecting Spanish universities to the rest of the Internet. By 1998, 91% of university libraries already had a website. Thanks to all the above, university libraries were clearly positioned in the avant-garde of library modernisation in Spain. As technological challenges were gradually included within the agenda of daily tasks, we find that university and specialist libraries began to concern themselves with improving the quality of services and focus on user needs: the incorporation of strategic

19 Anglada and Taladriz, "Pasado, presente y futuro…,” 115. 20 Agnes Ponsati Obiols, Bibliotecas de investigación en España: ¿un instrumento suficiente?, Madrid: CSIC, 2001, 7 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/2962 (12. Jan. 2010).

330 Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez planning, objective-based management, and evaluation became widespread at 21 this type of library. Meanwhile, the Biblioteca Nacional began the 1990s with the operational start-up of ARIADNA, its first truly functional automated system, along with an internal reorganisation. In 1991 Royal Decree 1581/1991 established the statute governing the Biblioteca Nacional as an autonomous body, giving it greater administrative powers and defining it as the highest-ranking state library institution and the head of the Spanish Libraries System. Although the new ARIADNA system made possible some clear progress, such as the up-to-date publication of the “Spanish Bibliography” and a CDROM edition with retrospective bibliographical records, the system was, from the very earliest days, also prone to serious problems in its development, which meant that its usefulness for direct users and other Spanish libraries was limited in scope and delayed in time. As late as 1996, the system still did not allow records to be downloaded in IBERMARC format, something which 22 would have been essential in order to facilitate cataloguing at other libraries. Problems in the design of the system, which was too specialised and unable to adapt to new IT and bibliographical standards, were exacerbated by planning and administrative issues, which prevented the Biblioteca Nacional from leading the development of the Spanish library system. As a result of the new administrative and regional structure, a new type of library began to emerge, the central libraries of the Autonomous Regions. Referred to in some cases as “national” and in others as “regional”, they were defined in regional library laws as centres with the functions of a national library for their respective territorial areas. In some cases they were based on the infrastructure and resources of a State Public Library, while in others they 23 were established as independent institutions, although at this initial stage their operational capacity was limited. Meanwhile, public libraries began the new decade with their situation little changed from the 1980s. The period continued to be marked by the creation of new public libraries,24 the provision of new infrastructure, and gradual improvements in collections and personnel. From the middle of the decade onwards, however, the landscape did begin to undergo a tangible shift. From the organisational perspective it is important to point out that the powers of regional governments began to take concrete form through library policy measures serving to assist in the advancement of public libraries in terms of infra21 Ponsati, Bibliotecas de investigación…, 15. 22 María Jáudenes and Xavier Agenjo. "La automatización de la Biblioteca Nacional: segunda recapitulación histórica", in Jornadas Españolas de Documentación Automatizada (5ª. 1996. Cáceres) Sistemas de información: balance de 12 años de jornadas y perspectivas de futuro: actas. Cáceres: Universidad de Extremadura, Servicio de Publicaciones, 1996, 944. 23 Alejandro Carrión Gútiez, “Las bibliotecas autonómicas”, Boletín de la Anabad 50, no.3–4 (2000): 7–80. 24 1,000 public libraries were created over the course of a 10-year period, some 25% of those which currently exist. Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Estadística de bibliotecas ... .

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structure, the development of collections, and automation, although with major regional differences.25 Computerization began to make slow initial progress, although advances did accelerate in the second half of the decade. Between 1996 and 2000, the percentage of automated public libraries increased twofold, from slightly less than 20% up to 39% of the total. The support given by the Ministry of Culture played a fundamental role in extending the modernisation of services throughout the country. As early as 1987 a State Public Library Computerization Project had been drawn up, and during the 1990s there were installed automated systems in the 52 best-endowed public library establishments nationwide. The REBECA project was also set up as a database of bibliographical records accessible online from 1994 onwards, allowing records to be downloaded in MARC format. The absence of structures for cooperation and network projects, with certain exceptions,26 led the automation of public libraries in many cases to begin as an individual process, with each library having to face alone the financial and administrative challenges involved. The emergence of computer library administration programmes, focusing on the personal computer environment, allowed many libraries to embark on this process with relatively limited resources, although it was some considerable time before tangible results could be perceived by the general public. The need to tackle retrospective cataloguing tasks, the training of staff in the new systems, and the absence of strong, long-term funding, all served to slow down progress.27 However, by the end of the 1990s, elements which would help accelerate the pace of change did begin to emerge. On the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, which maintained ties with all regional governments for the purpose of administration of the State Public Libraries and the development of certain programmes affecting bibliographical heritage resources (Bibliographical Heritage Union Catalogue), national cooperation initiatives began to be developed in the field of public libraries. While the existing legal framework had proved itself ineffectual in promoting cooperation, the implementation of more informal cooperative structures ultimately proved to be a much more effective tool. In 1997 the head library technicians of the regional governments and representatives from the Ministry of Culture began to meet annually at the Library Cooperation Seminars, and numerous initiatives began to be 25 Joaquín Selgas and Fernando Armario, “Sistemas y redes de bibliotecas públicas en España”, in Las bibliotecas públicas en España, una realidad abierta, Hilario Hernández (dir.), Madrid: Fundación Germán Sánchez-Ruipérez, 2000, 167. 26 The only substantial initiative to operate during the decade was the Barcelona Regional Authority Public Libraries Network. Jordi Permanyer, “La red de bibliotecas de la Diputación de Barcelona”, in “Mesa redonda: Hacia una red integrada de las Bibliotecas de Castilla-La Mancha", in Biblioteca pública [Computer file]: garantía de participación ciudadana: Jornadas Bibliotecarias de Castilla la Mancha (2. 2005. Toledo). Toledo: ANABAD Castilla-La Mancha, 2007. 27 Alejandro Carrión Gútiez, “Las tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones en las bibliotecas públicas españolas … .

332 Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez developed by specialized Working Groups. By the dawn of the new millennium the fruits of these initiatives were starting to take shape. Other factors which helped bring about progress at all types of library included: the recruitment of a large number of new, young professionals with a university background in library science, who acted as the clear driving force behind advances; the growing maturity of the professional association structure; and overseas contacts which began little by little to expand, following on from the staging of the 59th IFLA Conference in Barcelona in 1993. In short, over the 1980s and 1990s Spain’s libraries were all forced to deal with similar situations and problems, albeit from a range of starting points, at different paces and with differing levels of resources. Firstly, the actual existence of a service with even minimal resources in terms of infrastructure, collections and personnel, a new organisational reality, as a result above all of the political and administrative restructuring, which took place from the 1980s onwards; the challenge of automating processes and services, seen as an inevitable necessity; and the bottom-up drive towards cooperation that arose from libraries and librarians. All these advances allowed Spanish libraries to achieve a radical transformation from the situation in place barely 20 years earlier. Many substantial resources were dedicated to this purpose, in general succeeding in overcoming the previous obstacles and shortcomings, and placing libraries in a position where they would be capable of playing a key role in Spanish society. Spanish Libraries in the Twenty-first Century: The Consolidation of Cooperation The dawn of the new century marks a new stage in which the progress seen in previous decades finally has blossomed. Although the position of the different types of libraries remains diverse, clear developments have been seen across the board, along with an increased trend towards cooperation, not only between libraries of the same type, but also among establishments of different forms. The progress of individual libraries is taking place now much more within the context of systems and networks, while certain legislative measures have served to sanction previous informal initiatives, for the first time underpinning the joint operation of all elements of the Spanish library system. University libraries, which in the late 1990s represented the cutting edge in their sector, continue to evolve in order to adapt even further to the needs of the university context within which they operate. The cooperation structures developed continue to bed in, with, for example, the REBIUN drafting two Strategic Plans (2003–2006 and 2007–2010), with a particular emphasis on the new model of the library as a Resource Centre for Learning and Research, the

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promotion of information literacy throughout the university community, and the development of the digital library.28 The efforts made in previous years serve to provide one of the first national union catalogues, accessible since the year 2000 over the Internet: the REBIUN Union Catalogue, which brings together the collections of more than 72 university libraries and of the largest network of scientific libraries (that of the CSIC), with over 23 million volumes, and which is seeing a continuous upward trend in terms of queries and record downloads.29 The growing importance of digital information is to a great extent responsible for certain changes in patterns of usage and administration at university libraries. While home lending plateaued from the year 2000 onwards, probably as a result of the greater availability of electronic information, the number of visits to libraries continues to increase,30 because of the new roles which they play as resource centres. Electronic resources are also, along with periodical publications, the main factors behind the increase of 38% in expenditure on acquisitions. The need to rationalise such expenditure provides the basis for the flourishing university library consortia, which had already begun to emerge during the previous 31 decade. In Spain such consortia have been established on a regional footing tied to the funding source for public universities, namely the authorities of the Autonomous Regions. Cooperation is thus underpinned through the establish32 ment of sound, regulated structures dedicated to stability. Public libraries in the new century are meanwhile beginning to reach levels of service similar to those of neighbouring countries. Although we still find a concern with improving the coverage provided by the service, with new libraries therefore still being created, by the end of the decade approximately 97% of the population were living in towns with a stable public library service, while the remaining 3% were dealt with by various mobile or remote services. Public library collections have seen a phenomenal increase to a level of almost 70 million documents, from 39.5 million in 2001. There has furthermore been a far-reaching diversification in the composition of collections, with more audio, audiovisual, and electronic storage media being added to the

28 REBIUN. II Plan Estratégico 2007௅2010. Madrid: REBIUN, 2007, http://www.rebiun. org/doc/plan.pdf (12. Jan. 2010). 29 In 2007 it received 3,382,158 queries and 1,056,252 accesses to its Z39.50 server. 30 Increasing by a factor of 1.5 between 2001 and 2008. REBIUN. Anuario de las bibliotecas universitarias y científicas españolas 2007. Madrid: Conferencia de Rectores de las Universidades Españolas, 2008 http://www.rebiun.org/doc/anuario_rebiun_2007.pdf (12. Jan. 2010). 31 Luís Anglada i de Ferrer, “Colaboraciones y alianzas: la inteligencia social aplicada a las bibliotecas universitarias”, Anales de Documentación, no. 9 (2006), 13. 32 Pérez-Arranz, Fernando, “Los consorcios de bibliotecas universitarias españolas”, Boletín de la Asociación Andaluza de Bibliotecarios, no. 90–91 (2008): 11–28.

334 Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez mix. Between 2001 and 2008, they grew by 239%, and by 2008, represented 14% of all acquisitions.33 The quantitative improvement in collections has led to a gradual improvement in the ratio of resources to the population served. In 2001 the ratio of documents per inhabitant stood at 1.02 for public libraries, still some way short of the international recommendations of the IFLA/UNESCO, of between 1.5 and 2.5.34 The implementation, by the Ministry Culture and the governments of the Autonomous Regions in 2005, of an Extraordinary Plan for the provision of bibliographical resources, succeeded in assigning a budget of over 163 million Euro to this aim up to 2010. According to the latest data available, for 2008, the ratio of documents per inhabitant was already close to the aforementioned minimum level, a national average of 1.48. Bearing in mind that the population of Spain grew by 15% between 2001 and 2008, it is important to recognise that efforts to acquire new resources succeeded not only in absorbing this considerable demographic growth, but also in bringing Spain close to a position where it has almost crossed the minimum threshold. This improvement in collections, along with the diversification of services, constitutes one of the main factors explaining the improvement in the usage figures of public libraries. Between 2001 and 2008, the percentage of citizens with a public library card rose from 17.1% to 25%; annual visits increased by 61.8%, up to 92.6 million; total loans rose by 77%, up to 56.3 million in 2008; and loans per inhabitant increased from 0.84 to 1.20. As for the application of technologies, very substantial progress was likewise made. By 2008, 70% of public libraries already had in place an automated administration system, whereas in 2001 this existed at only 44% of the total. Although progress has been substantial, there are still a considerable number of libraries not using an automated system, with striking differences between regions. The most significant factor in such progress has been the proliferation of regionally-based projects. The public authorities of the Autonomous Regions have played a leading role in facilitating the use of centralised library administration systems by all public libraries within their regions. This has thus served gradually to shape, across most of Spain, integrated public library networks sharing a common administrative system, with one single catalogue for the entire network, and structures for the circulation of volumes and users throughout the network. As a result, whereas in the previous decade the majority of libraries were using small, individual administration systems, these now represent the minority, with a tendency to disappear. During this time the Internet also gained a foothold at public libraries. Whereas in the year 2000, only 28% of such libraries had an Internet connection, by 2008, the level stood at 93%, thanks to joint efforts by the central and regional authorities (the “Internet in Libraries” programme). The expansion of 33 Hilario Hernández (dir.), Las bibliotecas públicas en España: dinámicas 2001௅2005, Madrid: Fundación Germán Sánchez-Ruipérez, 2008, 148. 34 Hernández, Las bibliotecas públicas en España…, 151.

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the Internet access service at public libraries, mostly free of charge, is, together with the expansion and diversification of collections, one of the biggest draws which have succeeded in attracting new sectors of society to such establishments. However, the presence and offering of public library services on the Internet itself has not achieved such progress. In 2008 only 41% of establishments had a catalogue available on the Internet, and only 19% had their own website. As had previously been the case among university libraries, a substantial improvement in public library resources and services has achieved a qualitative leap forward, expressed in the form of a previously untapped capacity for cooperation. The initiatives implemented by the technical staff at the Ministry of Culture and the Autonomous Regions35 are now, in this new century, reaping a number of important rewards. The tasks of various technical working groups have resulted in the publication of guidelines, recommendations and technical standards covering a whole range of issues: the configuration of a public library service itself, urban library systems, Internet access services, library bus services, and so forth. We have also seen the introduction of the first cooperative virtual reference service for the general public, maintained by more than 50 public libraries throughout Spain (known as “Ask: the libraries answer” – “Pregunte: las bibliotecas responden, at www.pregunte.org). Meanwhile, a national public library evaluation project has been set up, serving as an essential source of statistical data revealing the current status of libraries.36 The Biblioteca Nacional is making progress in its developments, maintaining the previous approach in the roll-out of automated systems, while also pursuing greater openness and a higher public profile, moving away from the image of a closed, introspective institution. After more than a decade working with the previous system (SIRTEX), without sufficient progress being achieved on all fronts, a proposal was presented for this to be replaced with a commercially available administrative system with representation and support in Spain. This led to the selection and implementation in 2007 of the SirsiDynix Unicorn system, which is serving as the foundation and core for structuring the services and functions of the Biblioteca Nacional. Previously, in a change which is marking the path for other libraries, the decision had already been taken to adopt MARC21 as the interchange format standard, abandoning the national IBERMARC format developed in the 1970s and 1980s. With this new system, the Biblioteca Nacional de España is working to integrate with its catalogue many previously fragmented initiatives, such as the online Spanish Bibliography, the Hispanic Digital Library, and involve35 Jornadas de Cooperación Bibliotecaria, Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, http://www.mcu. es/bibliotecas/CE/Cooperacion/CongJornadas/Jornadas.html (12. Jan. 2010). 36 Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez, “Las estadísticas de bibliotecas públicas en España: pasado, presente y perspectivas de futuro”, in Congreso Nacional de Bibliotecas Públicas (2º. 2004. Salamanca). La biblioteca pública: compromiso de futuro: actas, Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, 2004: 172–181 http://hdl.handle.net/10421/768 (12. Jan. 2010).

336 Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez ment in such international projects as The European Library and Europeana, and the OCLC catalogue.37 In drawing to a close this overview of Spanish libraries in the present day, we must not overlook school libraries, where development had, except in a very few cases, been practically non-existent in previous years, but which began to achieve greater recognition in the twenty-first century. Although half-hearted attempts were made in the first half of the 1990s to achieve progress within the context of the state education authority,38 the substantial decentralisation of educational powers to regional authorities, along with a lack of continuity in general educational policies, had a negative impact on the development of school libraries. In the past decade, however, considerable budgetary resources have been allocated. In 2005 central government began to cooperate with the regional authorities to improve the school libraries throughout the country. From 2005 to 2008, the two tiers of public administration have dedicated, together, more than 104 million Euro to this programme, with initiatives intended to improve collections, equipment, facilities, services, and the training given to the teaching staff who administer school libraries.39 The automation of school libraries has been extended, thanks to the provision free of charge by the State authorities of an administrative programme specially designed for such establishments,40 although the lacks of stable staff and specialist training, and the absence of true networking, prevent its full potential from being realised.41 However, beyond the traditional libraries, the first decade of the 21st century also saw the widespread emergence of “digital libraries”, systems giving access to the complete contents of documents. Although such systems need not be tied to a physical library, in truth they do represent one of the ways for libraries to move forward on the digital landscape, and constitute a new resource facilitating cooperative projects. Advances in standardisation, such as the definition of the OAI-PMH protocol, laid the foundations for the widespread creation of mutually supportive projects, based on the interoperability facilitated by the efficient dissemination of content over the Internet. In Spain the first open repositories emerged at the beginning of this decade, in the con37 Marina Jiménez Piano, El Sistema Integrado de Gestión Bibliotecaria como motor del cambio, Madrid: Biblioteca Nacional, 2008, http://www.bne.es/es/Actividades/AgendaMensual/ Agendas2008/Septiembre2008/SistemaIntegrado.html (12. Jan. 2010). 38 Conclusiones del Encuentro Nacional sobre bibliotecas escolares (Madrid, 13–15 march 1997). Documento marco: La biblioteca escolar en el contexto de la reforma educativa, Madrid: MEC, 1995. 39 Spain. Ministerio de Educación. Fomento de la lectura y mejora de las bibliotecas escolares: acciones con las CCAA, http://www.educacion.es/educacion/comunidades-autonomas/ programas-cooperacion/plan-fomento-lectura/acciones-ccaa.html (12. Jan. 2010). 40 Abies. In 2006, 60% of school libraries had this program. Álvaro Marchesi and Inés Miret (dirs.), Las Bibliotecas escolares en España: análisis y recomendaciones. Madrid: Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez, 2005, 284. 41 Marchesi and Miret, Las Bibliotecas escolares en España…, 287.

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text of academic and scientific information,42 while the year 2003 saw the first application of the OAI-PMH protocol. The Ministry of Culture has played a lead role in this field. In 2004 it set up the Virtual Historical Press Library (Biblioteca Virtual de Prensa Histórica), a project involving cooperation with other public authorities and bodies, to preserve and disseminate the contents of Spanish general information publications since 1777. By January 2010 this featured 4,721,583 digitised pages drawn from 1,855 organs of the historical press. Along similar lines, 2007 saw the creation of the Virtual Bibliographical Heritage Library (Biblioteca Virtual del Patrimonio Bibliográfico), intended to facilitate and preserve the content of works of Spain’s bibliographical heritage, currently featuring 2,068,999 pages from more than 8,389 digitised titles, including manuscripts and antique printed books (from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries). With the aim of providing one single access point to the various projects being developed in accordance with the OAI-PMH protocol, while also facilitating coordination among the digitisation projects which were beginning to flourish, in 2006 a directory and Open Archives Harvester of digital resources was initiated. The system, which was given the name of Hispana (http://hispana.mcu.es), provides access to more than 1,100,000 digital objects, corresponding to documents from the libraries, archives, and museums of 121 Spanish repositories. In addition, apart from its own projects, the Ministry of Culture has, since 2007, had in place a system of financial grants to facilitate the creation and development of OAI-PMH repositories, which has already provided more than 70 projects with total funding of over 5,700,000 Euro. As for the Biblioteca Nacional de España, it set up in 2008 its Hispanic Digital Library (Biblioteca Digital Hispánica) project, providing complete access to more than 10,000 works from a range of collections, with this figure expected to rise to 200,000 over a period of five years.43 Meanwhile, in the field of digital preservation, work is beginning to compile an Internet archive of “.es” domains. The previous experience of cooperation within the sector, seen at differing levels of intensity since the 1990s, has in this new century enjoyed its great leap forward with the creation by law (the Reading, Books and Libraries Act, Law 10/2007, of 22 June 2007) of a new regulatory framework for the Spanish Libraries System which, while acknowledging the autonomy of each administrative tier (national, regional and local), allows for cooperation to an extent never previously seen in Spain. The Act established the creation of a Library Cooperation Council (developed in detail by Royal Decree 1573/2007, of 30 42 CBUC’s TDX for theses and Dialnet; cited in Julio Alonso, Imma Subirats and Maria Luisa Martínez Conde, Informe APEI sobre acceso abierto, Gijón: Asociación Profesional de Especialistas en Información, 2008, 39. 43 Milagros del Corral, “Unidad en la diversidad: las bibliotecas en la era de la globalización”, Pensamiento iberoamericano, 4 (2009), 228 http://www.pensamientoiberoamericano.org/ articulos/4/102/0/unidad-en-la-diversidad-las-bibliotecas-en-la-era-de-la-globalizacion.html.

338 Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez November 2007), featuring representatives from libraries of all kinds, the public authorities on which they depend and those with interests in the sector, as well as professional staff through their associations. The main functions of this Council, which was assembled for the first time in 2008, are to promote the integration of library systems, to foster the development of libraries, their networks and services, and their mutual cooperation. The Library Cooperation Council meets at a plenary session attended by the senior representatives of the institutions involved and five Technical Cooperation Committees for each type of library: national and regional libraries, public libraries, school libraries, university libraries (represented by REBIUN), and specialist libraries. Alongside these committees there is also provision for the creation of specific Working Groups to handle certain issues or projects.44 As of 2010, there were 15 working groups in operation, dealing with such aspects as library statistics, information literacy, digital collections, standardisation, legal regulations, virtual reference, professional profiles, and so forth, some of which were the continuation of initiatives set up in the late 1990s, within the context of the Library Cooperation Seminars. And they have already begun to bear fruit: the public library evaluation project is being extended to cover all types of library, and in 2010, a website was set up (www.alfared.org) to serve as the main information and communication forum for all those with an interest in the role of libraries in information literacy. The Spanish Libraries System is thus truly being shaped in the twenty-first century, in line with the reality of Spain’s social and administrative structure, thanks on the one hand to the maturity achieved by the various library sectors, allowing them to open up and cooperate with other agents, and on the other the legal recognition of this reality, which has served to sanction and give an official footing to the operational trends and initiatives developed in previous years.

Future Challenges and Prospects Although Spanish libraries have undergone a spectacular change over the past 30 years, there still remain pathways and stages to be covered. In some cases a number of limitations or shortcomings must be overcome, while in others we need simply to continue the progress made in order to adjust permanently to the needs and opportunities of the moment. In the field of public libraries there still exists the problem of the large number of establishments serving small populations, and, which, therefore have limited resources. However, the tendency towards networked operations is a highly positive factor, which is helping many small-scale libraries overcome their isolation, while providing their users with a range of services and 44 Presentación del Consejo de Cooperación Bibliotecaria, Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, http://www.mcu.es/bibliotecas//MC/ConsejoCB/Presentacion.html (12. Jan. 2010).

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information resources far greater than that which they previously enjoyed. The future of public libraries should involve the expansion of the electronic information resources and services available, a process already developed at university libraries. Integration within networks and cooperation are the factors which will facilitate such an increase in the range of services on offer. We are likely to see over the coming years an increase in services offered over the Internet by public libraries, taking advantage of the opportunities of the Web 2.0, allowing cutting-edge initiatives with great user proximity to be pursued without the need for substantial resources. University libraries, with a good level of resources, services and organisational structure, are faced with the challenges of maintaining such levels, while continuing to strengthen their structures for cooperation. A broadening of the experience of consortia beyond the joint procurement of electronic resources, and the expansion of their remit to all Spanish university and scientific libraries, could help improve effectiveness and efficiency in the provision of electronic information services. Meanwhile, alliances with organisations of different types and roles, but with partly shared objectives, is a field which has as yet little been explored, but which is now emerging as one of the greatest routes for development in the sector.45 The Biblioteca Nacional de España and its counterparts in the Autonomous Regions are gradually, although with considerable differences in pace, now bedding in their role as the central institutions for their respective library systems. It should, however, be remembered that social and technological trends are no longer aligned with pyramidal or highly centralised systems, but rather operate in the sense of a network society, as already referred to years ago by Manuel Castells.46 School libraries face the challenge of becoming learning resource centres recognised by and capable of serving the school community.47 Although material issues (infrastructure, equipment, collections) are on the way to being resolved, other aspects, such as the training and stability of the staff who administer them, and organisational aspects such as networking and the integration of libraries within a learning model which more actively involves the student, have yet to be tackled. If school libraries can successfully capitalise or play their part in the new challenges of digital and information literacy, as centres for organisation and access to knowledge, then they will have laid the foundations for the full development of their potential. In general, the future of Spain’s libraries involves a reaffirmation of their role within the knowledge society, upholding their holistic vision of the processes connected with the storage, administration, recovery, and exploitation of 45 Anglada, “Colaboraciones y alianzas…”, 14. 46 Manuel Castells, La era de la información: economía, sociedad y cultura. Vol. I: La sociedad red. Madrid: Alianza, 1ª ed. 1997. 47 Aurora Cuevas Cerveró, Lectura, alfabetización en información y biblioteca escolar, Gijón: Trea, 2007, 174.

340 Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez information. The future is inevitably tied to advances in information technologies, with libraries required not only to exploit successfully progress in this field, but also to work in partnership with other sectors in order to focus future developments. The consolidation of strong cooperative relationships among different library sectors will be complemented by an openness to cooperation with other social agents with which libraries share their objectives, even if in part, as this emerges as one of the most potentially fruitful strategies. Convergence with the other so-called “memory institutions”, archives and museums, a trend which the IFLA has recently espoused as a driving force for progress, could serve to overcome the more-or-less artificial barriers, which are founded more in tradition and the internal organisational structure of the institutions involved than in the interests of the society which they all serve. Working in close contact with technological sectors, libraries should be upholding the experience and knowledge of our sector in underpinning and developing the semantic web, perceived as the next phase in the development of networked electronic information. Meanwhile, libraries could also uncover opportunities in needs associated with the individual and social exploitation of information. In connection with the educational sectors and the world of work, libraries of all kinds could play an important role in furthering the development of skills connected with access to, and the effective and intelligent use of information. Over the coming years we would expect libraries to be in a position to consolidate the social role which they began to carve out for themselves within Spanish society only a relatively short time ago. Their staff is willing to do so, and institutions, even in these times of crisis, perceive the social and even economic rewards involved in the sector. Above all, society is unlikely to turn its back on modern and effective information access services such as those created by means of libraries. It is hard to imagine what libraries will be like in 15 or 20 years, in Spain, or anywhere else in the world. Services will have a technological basis, although with technology in all likelihood both more ubiquitous and transparent, but probably also physical as well as virtual spaces will serve as a meeting point for a community of users. Whatever the case may be, as librarians, we face intriguing challenges in the future, in helping to build a better informed, better trained, and more participatory society.

2.17 Turkey Turkish Libraries and Technology in the Early Twenty-first Century Selma Alpay Aslan If the word “technology” were still used to mean making tools from natural resources and utilizing them, use of technology in libraries would date back to very early periods in Turkey. Large numbers of Assyrian clay tablets, some enveloped and sealed, found in Kaneš (Kültepe) Cappadocia, dated 1952– 1872 and 1842–1792 BC, Hittite tablets (1400 BC) found in Bo÷azköy, placed on wooden shelves in good order; parchment codices of Pergamon Library (281–133 BC)1; fine bindings of manuscripts from the Anatolian Seljuk (AD 1077–1307) and Ottoman Empire (AD 1299–1923) periods, and materials used in them such as marble paper; and the techniques used in the Ottoman period library buildings such as elevation of the floors to avoid humidity, placement of windows to maximize the use of sunlight for lighting, use of textile and other wall covering materials for noise absorption, as detailed by Soysal,2 cited from Arseven, could have been mentioned in detail to exemplify use of early technologies. However, from the last few decades of the previous century onwards, the word technology has become associated with information and communication technologies (ICT) directly. This is probably because the workflow and the services offered in the libraries and almost all other areas of work have become so technology dependent, that we can comfortably say we are ICTdriven in the ways we run our services. The level of technology use in library and information services is affected largely by the policies adopted by the state in the fields of science and technology, culture and education, as the lines of action are defined and financial resources are allocated accordingly. Access to technology and skills and knowledge to implement them are also other important factors. The situation in various types of libraries is quite diverse in Turkey. Therefore, the use of technology in information provision for science and technology, preservation of cultural heritage, public access to information, government information and special libraries, school libraries and media cen1 2

Nuray YÕldÕz, KalÕntÕlar ve edebi kaynaklar ÕúÕ÷Õnda antikça÷ kütüphaneleri : mimarileri, iç düzenleri, çalÕúma sistemleri, kitaplarÕn yazÕmÕ ve ço÷altÕlmasÕ. 2nd ed. (Istanbul: Arkeoloji ve Sanat YayÕnlarÕ., 2003), 11, 24. Özer Soysal, Türk kütüphanecili÷i.(Ankara: Kültür BakanlÕ÷Õ, 1999), v. IV: 17.

342 Selma Alpay Aslan ters, library automation systems, and resource sharing, as well as the role of human resources in technology applications will be reviewed in separate sections.

Information Provision for Science and Technology The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBøTAK),3 which was established in 1963, is the leading agency for management, funding, and conduct of research in Turkey. Since the establishment of the Supreme Council for Science and Technology in 1983, the highest science and technology policy-making body, TÜBøTAK, functions as the general secretariat to this Supreme Council. Currently, Turkey aims to improve the efficiency of education and research activities and to increase the production of scientific publications. In the national science and technology strategy one of the two significant targets established is to increase the gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) to 2% during the period from 2005 to 2013. According to a presentation made by Yetiú,4 President of TÜBøTAK and member of ERAB, European Research Area Board, GERD was 0.52% in 2004 and was expected to be 1% in 2010. Another important indicator is ranking of Turkey with respect to scientific publications. It has gone up from 41st in 1990, to 18th in 2007. Achievement of targets set requires provision of a solid infrastructure for research, including access to information resources. TÜBøTAK, Turkish Academic Network and Information Center, ULAKBIM,5 was established in 1996 to support Turkish research institutions. ULAKBIM comprises the National Academic Network Unit (ULAKNET) and Cahit Arf Information Center (CABIM). ULAKNET, which has undertaken the task of formation of academic network infrastructure in Turkey, offers Internet connections free of charge to all public institutions related to the national innovation system, such as universities, national information and documentation centers, and other organizations which are involved in research activities. However, bandwidth is limited, and affording institutions top it up as necessary. CABIM amalgamated the services offered by TÜBøTAK Department of Informatics and the Document Supply Service of the Documentation Center of Higher Education Council (YÖK), which was established in 1983 and had the 3 4 5

TÜBøTAK, Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Council. http://www.tubitak.gov.tr http://www.tubitak.gov.tr (29. Dec. 2009). Nüket Yetiú, “Turkey : A Global Attraction Centre for Research”. 2009 ERC Conference, March 13, 2009, Istanbul. http://www.fp7.org.tr/tubitak_content_files/Konferanslar/ 13Mart2009/Sunumlar/NuketYETIS.pdf (24. Oct. 2010). ULAKBøM, Turkish Academic Network and Information Center. http://www.ulakbim. gov.tr/eng/ (28. Dec. 2009).

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largest print journal collection in the country for the period of 1983–1996. CABIM runs several services and activities, aiming to create equal opportunities in access to international scientific and academic knowledge among researchers in the country, and thus increase the production of scientific publications and improve the efficiency of education and research activities in Turkey. Services offered by this center are as follows:

–

– – – – –

entering into national licenses, called EKUAL, with leading publishers for major databases to provide access for all Turkish universities and Training and Research Hospitals affiliated to the Ministry of Health; document supply and subject/citation search services; provision of incentives for researchers to publish in international and national scholarly publications; conducting and publishing bibliometric studies for the measurement of Turkey's performance in the production of international scientific publications; archiving e-journals to ensure long term access to basic electronic information sources and; production of some national databases.

The national databases produced are in the fields of medicine (1996–), social sciences (2002–), life sciences (1992–), engineering and pure sciences (1992–), and projects supported by TÜBøTAK (1965–). Except the last one, they are bibliographic databases, and cover national peer-reviewed scholarly journals and contain links to full-text articles in online journals. The number of national scholarly peer reviewed online journals is 100. The majority of the papers are in Turkish, but parallel titles, keywords, and abstracts are available in English. The first international databases made available through national licenses, starting from 2006, were Web of Knowledge and Science Direct. Currently, in addition to these two, ISI Conference Proceedings, IEEE and EBSCOHost Package, which covers Academic Search Complete, Business Search Complete and some other 20 subject-specific databases are offered. CAB and Ovid LWW are available for universities with agriculture and medicine faculties respectively. Plans to increase the number of databases offered had to be suspended in late 2008 because of the worldwide economic crisis. Theses and dissertations submitted to universities are important resources for research activities. The Higher Education Council (YÖK)6 National Theses Center has 175,000 dissertations and theses in print from early 1980s to date. All the physical copies held have been digitized and paper copies are no longer collected. The collection has reached 200,000, together with borndigital ones. Physical visits and photocopy service have been ceased, and full6

Yüksekö÷retim Kurulu. Ulusal Tez Merkezi. http://www.yok.gov.tr/content/view/59/111/ lang,tr/.

344 Selma Alpay Aslan text access is available for theses if granted by the authors. The Center encourages authors to fill a form and allow the Center to offer access to full text of theses. Tonta finds this approach conservative, and suggests that the Center should make all the theses available, but block access if any author objects. He also reports that “the full-texts of more than 25,000 ETD’s (13% of the total) for which authors’ permissions were obtained were made accessible starting from 2008. The usage statistics suddenly boomed. Whereas some 70,000 theses were used by 13,000 researchers throughout 2007, almost 12-fold (813,882) increase in the number of theses used and more than five-fold (73,699) increase in the number of users were observed during only the first quarter of 2008”. 7 Although incentives are in place to encourage the private sector to invest more in research and innovation, research activities mainly take place in the universities. Whether we take the view of German law historian Richard Honig, who asserts that Byzantine and Ottoman traditions can be studied together and dates back the establishment as 1 March 1321, or take an alternative view that it was established in 1453, the Istanbul University is the oldest university still in existence in Turkey.8 However, the first university libraries of Western type were established in two Imperial Engineering Colleges in 1793 and 1795 in Istanbul, which later formed the roots of today’s Istanbul Technical University.9 Ankara University was established in 1946, bringing together several Faculties starting from 1925 and gradually built.10 These early universities followed a model in which libraries were scattered to institutes and departments. Thompson, who wrote a report on Turkish libraries, criticized the lack of central university libraries in 1952.11 The Middle East Technical University, which was established in1956, is the first example of a campus university with a central library. New universities have central libraries. Figure 1 depicts the external appearance of SabancÕ University Information Center building.

7 Yaúar Tonta, “Open Access and Institutional Repositories: The Turkish Landscape,” in Turkish Libraries in Transition: New Opportunities and Challenges, ed. by Didar BayÕr. (Istanbul:Turkish Librarians' Association, 2008), 39. 8 Istanbul Üniversitesi. Tarihçe. http://www.istanbul.edu.tr/tarihce.php (18. Dec. 2009). 9 Bülent Karasözen and Do÷an AtÕlgan, “University libraries in Turkey,” Bibliothek Forschung und Praxis. 32 (2008): 212. 10 Ankara University. Brief history. http://arsiv.ankara.edu.tr/english/yazi.php?yad=11. (27. Dec. 2009). 11 Karasözen and AtÕlgan, “University libraries in Turkey”, 212.

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Figure 1: SabancÕ University Information Center building

The increase in the number of universities was very slow until the end of the 1970s. There has been a substantial increase in the last two decades of the twentieth century, and the growth has rapidly accelerated in this decade. Figure 2 shows the number of universities established within mentioned time periods. Periods

No. of years

No.of universities

1933௅1978 1982௅1999 2001௅2009

45 17 8

19 54 66

Figure 2: Number of universities established between 1933௅2009

Today, there are 94 state universities and 45 private foundation universities. Including some other tertiary institutions, the total number is 148. The number of students in each university reflects large differences, varying from a few thousand to 50,000, and the total number is nearly three million. According to the 2007 statistics, the total number of books in university libraries was 8.6 million. While old libraries have around 500,000 printed volumes, most have smaller print collections.12 12 Ayhan Kaygusuz, “Universities and University Libraries in Turkey,” Paper presented at LIBER 37th Annual General Conference, Koç University, Istanbul, 1௅5 July 2008. http:// www.ku.edu.tr/ku/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2774&Itemid=3340.

346 Selma Alpay Aslan Early use of new technologies appeared with the implementation of automation systems at new campus-style universities with central libraries. Automation in all types of libraries will be reviewed together later. The second wave was the acquisition of electronic resources, firstly on CD-ROMS, later through the web, moving discussions from acquiring CD towers or jukeboxes, to the width of broadband for speedy access. Currently, the main agenda topics for university librarians are access and use of electronic resources efficiently and effectively, including archival issues, such as digitization of suitable collections held and the establishment of institutional repositories. The Anatolian University Libraries Consortium (ANKOS) was established in 2001, with the participation of a few university libraries. The consortium grew rapidly and reached about a 100 members by 2009. ANKOS aims to facilitate member libraries to have access to a good selection of electronic resources, which will meet the needs of the faculty and students in a costeffective way. Licenses numbering 1,234 were signed for nearly 80 packages/products from about 50 vendors in 2009. The number of members participating in a particular consortium shows a variation between five and 89. A list of databases and the lists of participant universities are available at ANKOS website.13 Several studies have demonstrated a strong correlation between the number of publications and the amount of full-text usage among ANKOS member universities.14 Even this finding on its own indicates the value added by ANKOS to research activities in the country. At the time of writing of this chapter, statistical data for ANKOS 2010 licenses was not available yet. However, it can be said that university libraries have been able to maintain their expenditure more or less at a steady level and have not been strongly affected by the crisis, despite the fact that unemployment has increased in the country and there has been a contraction in the economy. Besides databases offered by CABIM centrally, and resources collectively licensed through ANKOS, the University and Research Librarians Association manages the UNAK-OCLC Consortium.15 The National Library has subscriptions to a number of databases and individual researchers who join the Library as members can use them. In addition to these central or collective initiatives, varying number of subscriptions are arranged individually by libraries depending on institutional requirements. The total number of databases provided through various channels can be between 100 and 150 in some large university libraries. But among libraries of the newly established universities, there are also ones which suffice with databases accessible under EKUAL national license only. Effective use of electronic resources largely depends on access

13 Anatolian University Libraries Consortium. http://www.ankos.gen.tr. 14 Phyllis Erdo÷an, and Bülent Karasözen, “Portrait of a consortium: ANKOS (Anatolian University Libraries Consortium),” to appear in Journal of Academic Librarianship, 2009, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib 2009.04.008. 15 ÜNAK-OCLC Konsorsiyumu. http://www.unak.org.tr/unakoclc/ (29. Dec. 2009).

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facilities offered. Almost all university libraries with substantial number of databases use a federated search engine. Besides commercially available resources acquired by the libraries, materials accessible through open archives and institutional repositories (OA&IR) have been gradually gaining importance as an element of scholarly literature. The first initiative in this area came from the Middle East Technical University (METU) Library, with the establishment of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Archive in 2003 in Turkey. The ETD Archive of this English medium university has the full-texts of more than 5,600 theses and dissertations. While 4,600 of them are universally accessible through the web, some have a one year embargo and some are open within the campus only.16 A number of universities and professional organizations offer their journals free through the web, usually together with back-files. Ankara University is a good example of this practice, offering 35 journals together with archives. Through a portal called Ankara Üniversitesi Online YayÕnevi, besides these journals and an institutional repository, some 650 books, news bulletins, and a manuscripts catalog are also available. A set of software developed by Mikrobeta is used for this purpose.17 ANKOS supports the idea of open access and encourages establishment of institutional repositories. The topic started to be discussed in the professional community at meetings in the early 2000s, but the ANKOS OA&IR Working Group was established in January 2006. The group prepared a web page to promote development and use of open archives and the site also can be regarded as a portal to repositories.18 In 2009 “National Intercollegiate Open Access Project” was initiated, to set up a consortium to start building a joint universities repository with the participation of seven universities. Work is carried out in collaboration with Mikrobeta, the owner of MiTOS Open Archive System, which is used for this joint repository. Mikrobeta hosts the data at the same time. The data from four universities which were already using MiTOS were also merged and the number of documents from 10 universities exceeded 8,600 by January 2010. The number of participant universities is expected to grow in due course. International subject-based or general archives are well utilized with noteworthy contributions as well. Turkey's ranking among 105 countries was 8th with 121 journals in DOAJ, Directory of Open Access Journals in December 2009, according to DOAJ by country web page.19 Among subject specific

16 Middle East Technical University. METU e-Theses. http://ww2.lib.metu.edu.tr/en/yan. php?id=208 (15. Dec. 2009). 17 Ankara Üniversitesi Online YayÕnevi. http://onlineyayinevi.ankara.edu.tr (15. Feb. 2010). 18 ANKOS AçÕk Eriúim ve Kurumsal Arúivler. http://www.ankos.gen.tr/acikerisim/index.html (15. Dec. 2009). 19 DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals, DOAJ by country. http://www.doaj.org/ doaj?func=byCountry (3. Jan. 2010).

348 Selma Alpay Aslan repositories, REPEC20 in economics, and e-LIS ePrints in information studies, are quite popular. In eLIS the contributions from 34 European countries totaled up to 6,153 in December 2009, input varying between one to 2,162. Turkey was the fifth, with 335 documents among them.21 Librarians' interest in setting up open archives or repositories can not be very fruitful unless the institutional governance and the researchers share the same objectives. The level of contributions in case of institutional repositories for researchers to publish their own work shows great variations from institution to institution, and success largely depends on institutional policies adopted. In today's world of transition, with a need to be globally competitive and sensitive to crisis, resources are carefully deployed in line with priorities. National centers, university libraries and other libraries, providing information and resources to researchers are relatively well positioned. This is because 2023 Vision22 aims at creation of an affluent society, which is competent in science and technology, is capable of developing new technologies, and possesses the skill of converting technological developments into social and economic benefits, by the centennial of the Republic of Turkey. R&D expenditures almost tripled from TL2.3 billion in 2002 to TL6.4 billion in 2007.23 It is aimed to increase the number of researchers and encourage the private sector to invest in R&D, offering tax exemptions. In such an environment one expects that the increased number of researchers should trigger a higher demand for information resources on a wider range of subject areas, and this should lead to a higher level of investment in information resources and services. It has been declared that R&D activities in TÜBøTAK, universities, and the private sector will continue to be supported in 2010.24 In view of Vision 2023 as briefly explained above, it can be expected that this support should be continuous, so long as the economic conditions allow. Nevertheless, prioritization of R&D and increased allocations should not create a very promising impression, because the allocations were very low in the past, and the improvement is relative. Turkey still has a long way to go to catch up with world leaders in this area, ranking 25th out of the world's 41 highest-spending countries. Annual R&D spending needs to be increased fourfold in order to take a place among the world's top 15 countries, according to

20 EDIRC. Economics Departments, Institutes and Research Centers in the World: Turkey. http://edirc.repec.org/turkey.html (3. Jan. 2010). 21 E-LIS E-Prints in Library and Information Science. Browse by country. http://eprints.rclis. org/view/countries/ (3. Jan. 2010). 22 TÜBøTAK. Vision 2023, 13.04.2007. http://www.tubitak.gov.tr/home.do?ot=5&rt=3&sid= 0&cid=3332 (20. Jan. 2010). 23 Nüket Yetiú, “Turkey: A Global Attraction Centre for Research.” 24 Mehmet ùimúek, 2010 YÕlÕ Bütçesi Genel Kurul'da.... 14.12.2009. http://www.akparti.org. tr/2010-yili-butcesi-genel-kurulda_6531.html (10. Jan. 2010).

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the Global R&D Report 2008.25 Probably because of the determination to close this gap, universities in Turkey have not faced serious budget cuts during the latest economic crisis, as their counterparts in many other countries have. However, it should be noted that it is a management decision how much to allocate to the library within an institution, and the differences in library allocations among university libraries reflect inconsistencies. The proportion of library budgets to the university budgets range from 0.2% to 5%, with the average being 0.6 % only. The total amount of money allocated to all libraries of state universities in 2007 was just about US$35 million. There has been a big variety among libraries of developed and newly founded universities in terms of average expenditure per student.26 Given that level of allocations, with increasing prices in electronic publications market, undesirable licensing models such as big deal, and lack of market information in electronic resources since cost information cannot be exchanged with colleagues from other countries because of confidentiality clauses in license agreements, Turkish librarians too face a real challenge to encounter, like their colleagues in other countries. The preliminary findings of research “based on download statistics of all ANKOS members from SpringerLink and Wiley InterScience e-journal databases show that 39 SpringerLink and 21 Wiley InterScience core journals invariably satisfied one-third of all the download requests. Lists of core journal titles do not change much on an annual basis.”27 The authors think that this data can be used in negotiations with publishers for more favorable “big deals,” but the challenges do not seem to be so easily encountered in view of several factors influencing this market. Karasözen is probably right in quoting from Carbone that, “many publishers are trying to increase their profits in socalled emerging markets, such as Asia, the Near East, Brazil and Turkey, all of which are regions or countries currently experiencing growth in the field of science,” and concluding that, “meeting the needs of their users for scientific information in a cost-effective way will be a challenge for Turkish librarians in the future.”28 Development of open archives has not slowed down this trend so far and probably will not do so in the near future either.

25 DEIK Foreign Economic Relations Board, TAIK Turkish American Business Council, “R&D spending puts Turkey on the map,” Turkey now, 16 September 2008. http://www.turkey-now.org/?mID=7&pgID=599&langid=1 (29. Dec. 2009). 26 Bülent Karasözen, and Do÷an AtÕlgan, “University libraries in Turkey,” 214. 27 Yurdagül Ünal, and Yaúar Tonta, An analysis of the consortial use of electronic journals in Turkey: The case of Springerlink and Wiley Interscience databases. In Susanna Mornati & Turid Hedlund, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Electronic Publishing, ELPUB 2009: Rethinking Elecronic Publishing: Innovation in Communication Paradigms and Technologies, Milan, Italy, June 10௅12 2009 (pp. 535–542). Milan: Edizioni Nuova Cultura, 2009. http://conferences.aepic.it/index.php/elpub/elpub2009/paper/viewFile/132/54 (24. Oct. 2010). 28 Bülent Karasözen, “Consortial Usage of Electronic Journals in Turkey,” Liber Quarterly, 18 (2008): 468.

350 Selma Alpay Aslan

Preservation of Cultural Heritage “Turkey’s Information Society Transformation Policy”29 was developed in context with joining eEurope+ initiative in 2003, which was an expansion of the eEurope initiative to candidate countries. One of the priorities is digitization of cultural heritage for preservation and for easier and wider access. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues usually pose problems in attempts at digitization. However, Turkey has a rich cultural heritage of manuscripts from the periods of Seljuk and Ottoman Empires, which can mostly be digitized without any concern for IPR. While a number of institutions digitize their own special collections, main actors in this field are the National Library and Manuscript Libraries, which are affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The National Library of Turkey (NLT) was opened in 1948.30 It is a depository library which benefits from the Legal Deposit Act, and thus collects national publications. The Legal Deposit Act does not cover electronic resources at the moment. However, a bill has been submitted to the parliament and has been awaiting assent. The total number of physical materials is 2.75 million. Almost 27 thousand manuscripts form the most valuable part of the collection.31 NLT runs hybrid services and makes important contributions to the digitization of cultural heritage. The digitization of manuscripts started in 2004 and was completed by the end of 2008. The Audio Archive which comprises 4,200 gramophone records, produced between the years of 1913 and 1960, was starting to be digitized in 2005. It is planned to make these available to researchers if IPR issues can be addressed. Digital records of books read by volunteers, together with former recordings in audio cassettes transferred into digital format have been made accessible over the Internet for visually impaired members since 2007. The integration to the European Library, which comprises catalogs of European national library collections, was completed in early 2009. The June/July 2009 issue of European Newsletter was edited by the DG NLT, and the issue contained features about NLT collections and services.32 There are thirteen special manuscript libraries in the country affiliated with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture. Half of these libraries are in Istan29 State Planning Organization. Information Society Department, e-Transformation Turkey project. http://www.bilgitoplumu.gov.tr/Portal.aspx?value=UE9SVEFMSUQ9NSZQT1JU QUxWRVJTSU9OPS0xJk1PREU9UFVCTElTSEVEX1ZFUlNJT04= (29. Dec. 2009). 30 Ministry of Tourism and Culture. National Library of Turkey. http://www.mkutup.gov.tr (29. Dec. 2009). 31 Tuncel Acar, “National Library of Turkey,” Presentation made at LIBER 37th Annual General Conference, 4 June 2008, Koç University, Istanbul. http://www.ku.edu.tr/ku/index. php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2774&Itemid=3340 (29. Dec. 2009). 32 European Library Newsletter. June/July 2009 issue. http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/ portal/organisation/newsletter/tel_newsletter_junjul2009.pdf.

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bul. They hold over 100,000 manuscripts. Among them, Süleymaniye has the largest collection, with over 72,000 works. While manuscript collections of some public libraries have been transferred to the special manuscript libraries, there are still some collections in various locations, and they are also being digitized. The local institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will be devolved to local authorities and a bill is being prepared for restructuring the cultural services.33 Within this restructuring, provincial public libraries in six provinces are intended to be converted to manuscript libraries. Thus, there will be an increase in the number of manuscript libraries. Digitized manuscripts from NLT and other libraries' collections are accessible at a devoted website called Manuscriptis.34 There are manuscripts in these collections which date back to the tenth century. Thus, the collection sheds light on a millennium, covering the history of vast lands from three continents which was the Ottoman Empire for 700 hundred years. Manuscriptis currently comprises more than 166,000 manuscripts. Excluding the personal copies across the country, the number of manuscripts owned by libraries, museums, and other institutions is estimated to be around 500,000.

33 Kültür ve Turizm BakanlÕ÷ÕnÕn bazÕ taúra kuruluúlarÕnÕn il özel idareleri ve belediyelere devredilmesi ile bazÕ kanun ve kanun hükmünde kararnamelerde de÷iúiklik yapÕlmasÕna dair kanun tasarÕsÕ. 11.02.2010. http://www2.tbmm.gov.tr/d23/1/1-0810.pdf (3. Jan. 2010). 34 Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Turkey. Manuscripts. https://www.yazmalar.gov.tr/index. php?dill=eng.

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Figure 3: A page from the Koran scripted in 1827, in Khorasan on silk paper by Molla Muhammed Cevad b. Fazl Ali b. Cafer for Sultan Nasiruddin Haydar - With the courtesy of the National Library, Turkey.

Figure 3 displays a page from a very fine Koran with commentary in Persian on each page around the main text and illuminated around the edges, scripted in Khorasan in 1857, on silk paper by Molla Muhammed Cevad b. Fazl Ali b.

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Cafer for Sultan Nasiruddin Haydar, using nesih script. It is from the digitized National Library Collection. Libraries holding rare books usually digitize these materials for preservation purposes, and digitized copies are used in-house. Digitization work is in progress and will probably continue to be so for a long while. It is a learning process at the same time. The things that can be done are limited with technologies and knowledge available at the time, and some may need to be revisited in due course. For instance, the materials digitized at low resolutions in 2003, at the beginning, now need to be re-processed at a higher resolution and watermarks inserted. Advance of storage media with higher capacity also requires attention, to make changes when needed.

Public Access to Information Another dimension of transformation into an information society brings us to the area of information services to public, which encompasses topics such as public access to information, information literacy, bridging the gap between the information poor and rich, and provision of lifelong learning facilities; in other words, spread of opportunities created by information and communication technologies to people for competitiveness and for better lives. Public libraries are the institutions mainly to address these needs. There are 1,156 public libraries run by the Directorate General of Public Libraries and Publications.35 While this number was about 1,500 in mid-2000s, 296 libraries have been transferred to the municipalities within a new policy adopted to decentralize the services. Provincial public libraries are expected to be transferred to special provincial administrations, and the ones in districts and smaller settlements to municipalities. Some municipalities have libraries themselves, apart from the ones transferred. They usually offer free Internet service. Statistical data concerning municipal libraries, which would help to make a judgment on the level of service, is unfortunately not available, and their use of technology is probably at the basic level. Turkey participated in Information Society Technologies 5th Framework PULMAN Project and 6th Framework CALIMERA Project conducted under the European Union Research and Development Program. PULMAN Network aimed “to stimulate and promote best practice in digital services and practices of public libraries and cultural organizations at the local and regional level throughout Europe and in neighboring countries.”36 CALIMERA was, in a way, a follow up to PULMAN Project, and was developed with the idea of coordinating information society technologies for Europe's local cultural insti35 Kütüphaneler ve YayÕmlar Genel Müdürlü÷ü. østatistikler. http://www.kygm.gov.tr/Genel/ BelgeGoster.aspx?F6E10F8892433CFF0D262A49C727F232C312D1DD2E9EA986 (28. Dec. 2009). 36 PULMAN EU IST 5th Framework Project. http://www.pulmanweb.org/ (29. Dec. 2009).

354 Selma Alpay Aslan tutions. Guidelines were produced and translated into the languages of all participating countries in both projects. Training opportunities were also obtained via PULMAN Project for some public librarians. Since library services is not a part of acquis communitaire in the Union, alignment is aimed to be achieved through this kind of concerted action. Reading campaigns are run and book donations are encouraged widely. It is hard to say that a visible investment has been made in libraries particularly in the last few years, beyond routine low-level spending. The bill concerning the devolution of local cultural institutions to the local authorities is to authorize the Ministry to define the working principles of the libraries and the qualifications of the staff who will work in these libraries. Financial support to these libraries is also to be provided. Although economic constraints, the capacity of the local administrations, and general trends in the world do not leave much room for optimism, one should still wish for the tide to turn for the sake of the right to have access to information, social inclusion, and equal opportunities globally and services to be improved when this bill becomes an act in Turkey.

Government Information and Special Libraries IDABC stands for Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Businesses, and Citizens. It is a program adopted by the European Commission in 2004, to encourage development of e-government services. Turkey joined the program in 2007, signing a MoU.37 Government agency websites have been developed to provide information to the public and offer some services through interactive pages. This has helped development of institutional e-libraries, and some of these libraries are run by librarians, such as State Planning Organization e-Library.38 According to the seventh Global E-Government report which evaluates public websites in 198 countries worldwide, Turkey’s public websites ranked ninth in 2007.39 The level of use of technology in special libraries is diverse, naturally depending on the importance given, the need felt for such a service, availability of resources to allocate, and similar factors at institutional level. They usually use a library system, and some of them subscribe to relevant databases. Some

37 Memorandum of understanding between the European Community and the Republic of Turkey on the participation of the Republic of Turkey in the Community Programme on the interoperable delivery of Pan-European eGovernment services to public administrations, businesses and citizens (IDABC). 11 March 2007. Resmi Gazete. No.26459. 20. http:// www.bilgitoplumu.gov.tr/Documents/5/Documents/070311_MemorandumOfUnderstandin gBetweenTheEuropeanCommissionIDABC.pdf (9. Jan. 2010). 38 Devlet Planlama TeúkilatÕ. E-Kütüphane. http://www.dpt.gov.tr/DPT.portal (29.12.2009). 39 eGovernment Factsheet - Turkey - History. http://www.epractice.eu/en/document/288413 (21. Feb. 2010).

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develop digital collections if the organization has suitable materials for digitization.

School Libraries and Media Centers In the resolution adopted by the Istanbul School Librarians Group at their Third Annual Meeting in June 2009, it has been stated that school libraries in Turkey have not received the recognition deserved in educational policies and education system. According to the Status for School Libraries, endorsed by the Ministry of Education, there should be a library in each school, and if the collection size exceeds 3,000 volumes, a librarian should be appointed. However, there are libraries only in 15,405 schools, out of the total number of 55,000. In other words, 72% of the schools do not have a library.40 Some private schools have good libraries. Some of them use a library system and some subscribe to a few databases. However, all these do not imply that schools are deprived of ICT facilities. Schools have computer labs, and some of the Public Internet Access Pointss (PIAP) are set up in schools, as a part of the information society initiative. But with limited opening hours and lack of staff to guide those who need help, they could not be utilized effectively to date.

Library Automation Systems and Resource Sharing With the exception of punch card application by TÜBøTAK in 1970s, use of new technologies in libraries started with library automation systems. Hacettepe University was the pioneer in the country, developing a program in-house in 1969, as recorded in the professional literature.41 In the second half of 1980s, few small libraries started using UNESCO's CDS/ISIS. Mikrobeta, a local firm serving the sector since 1981, produced its first integrated system, KutupB, in the mid-1980s. The successor of this program is currently MøLAS. However, widespread use of systems actually took place in the 1990s. Bilkent University started to develop BLISS Integrated Library Automation System in 1988. Both MøLAS and BLISS are under development for new versions. Yordam entered the market later but became quite popular among university libraries. While about 10 large university libraries use INNOPAC, one has recently selected Symphony. However, most university libraries use locally developed programs and few prefer home developed systems of their own. 40 Serap Kurbano÷lu, and Osman Torun, eds. II. Ulusal Okul Kütüphanecileri KonferansÕ “Bilgi OkuryazarlÕ÷Õ” ndan “Yaúam Boyu Ö÷renme”ye: Sonuç Bildirgesi, 27 Haziran 2009, østanbul. 41 Mehmet Emin Küçük, “Bilgisayara dayalÕ kataloglama ve TÜRKMARC,” Paper presented at Kütüphane- Arúiv – Enformasyon alanÕnda yeni teknolojiler ve TÜRKMARC, 1௅4 Ekim 1991, Istanbul. Istanbul: Türk Kütüphaneciler Derne÷i Istanbul ùubesi. 187.

356 Selma Alpay Aslan About 100 special libraries use MøLAS or Yordam, almost at equal level. Besides about 20 BLISS users, large number of small special libraries which cannot be quantified, use open source or home developed cataloging programs. The Ministry of Education introduced a system to be used in all school libraries in 2009, but it was withdrawn after a short while, to be developed further. Its new version has not been issued yet. The National Library uses Aleph, and the Library of the Grand National Assembly has chosen Koha. Also, 400 public libraries use MøLAS, and 20 municipal libraries use Yordam. Figure 4 shows the spread of known systems among university libraries, and Figure 5 shows installations, including branches, in different locations in all types of libraries, for well-known and widely-used programs. Innopac Symphony Bliss Milas Yordam Kybele

10 1 12 8 58 4

Figure 4: ILS brands used in university libraries (figures 2009).

Innopac Symphony Aleph Koha Bliss Milas Yordam Kybele

10 1 1 2 17 473 151 4

Figure 5: ILS brands used in all types of libraries (figures 2009)

Large university libraries use self-check. RFID is used by a few libraries. Users of products such as Aquabrowser or Syndetic Solutions are again not many. Resource sharing is very important to increase utilization of resources. As mentioned above, CABIM offers a document supply service. The service entails provision of article photocopies from its own collection and from some other university libraries in Ankara, through Joint Document Supply System called OBES. Materials not available in the Center or in one of the cooperating libraries are provided from abroad through OCLC ILL service. University libraries supplement this system with traditional interlibrary loan activities among themselves. The ANKOS Working Group on Collabora-

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tion has developed a software named KITS, Interlibrary Loan Tracking System.42 KITS was tested in 2008 and started to be used in 2009. It has enabled ANKOS member libraries to manage all interlibrary loan processes effectively online. Also,107 of 148 higher education institutions present in the country have registered to use the system, and some 10,000 transactions were processed through the system during the first year of implementation. Union catalogs are of vital importance to identify the location of material required for ILL. MøLAS43 and YORDAM44 have their own union catalogs for libraries using these systems. MøLAS also accepts other libraries interested in joining and holds over three million records from 417 libraries. ULAKBøM launched TO-KAT national union catalog in 2009.45 The number of libraries whose data was loaded counted up to 120 branches from 35 institutions by January 2010. Work is in progress and will probably take some time to be completed. TO-KAT is actually a part of the e-Integrated Library System Project which is one of the components of Information Society Strategy 2006– 2010 Action Plan.46 The recently submitted bill concerning restructuring of cultural services mentioned above, contains a clause added to the listing of the responsibilities of the General Directorate of Libraries and Publications in Article 10. According to this clause, projects are to be developed to pool the catalog data of all libraries affiliated to governmental bodies and institutions in a database for joint use. Libraries of private institutions will be able to join it if they choose. If this bill is passed, it should be expected for all public libraries to be automated and their catalog data to be loaded to TO-KAT. The ultimate aim of the union catalog is to facilitate record sharing among libraries and a nationwide ILL system, as undertaken within Information Society Strategy 2006–2010.47

Social Media, Web 2.0 and Beyond The Horizon Report introduces six emerging technologies that are likely to enter mainstream use in educational organizations over the next one to five 42 E. Çimen, A. Tu÷lu, M. Manyas, S. Çelikbaú, and Z. Çelikbaú, “New approaches for interlibrary loan operations in Turkey: KITS (Interlibrary Loan Tracking System.” Paper presented at the World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and Assembly, Milan, Italy, 23௅27 August 2009. http://www.ifla.org/files/hq/papers/ifla75/143cimen-en.pdf (27. Dec. 2009). 43 MiLAS Türkiye Toplu Katalo÷u. http://www.kutublog.com/. 44 Yordam BT Toplu Katalo÷u. http://yordam2001.bahcesehir.edu.tr/. 45 TO-KAT (ULAKBøM National Union Catalog). www.toplukatalog.gov.tr/. 46 Republic of Turkey. Prime Ministry. State Planning Organization. Information Society Strategy 2006௅2010: Action Plan. ([Ankara]:SPO, 2006), 20. http://www.bilgitoplumu. gov.tr/Documents/5/Documents/060700_ActionPlan.pdf (28. Dec. 2009). 47 Devlet Planlama TeúkilatÕ Bilgi Toplumu Dairesi, Bilgi toplumu stratejisi eylem planÕ 2006௅2010 de÷erlendirme raporu no.4, 117. http://www.bilgitoplumu.gov.tr/Documents/1/ BT_Strateji/091208_BTS_Degerlendirme_IV.pdf (20. Feb. 2010).

358 Selma Alpay Aslan years.48 The six technologies outlined in 2009 edition to watch, in order of timescale, are: mobiles, cloud computing, geo-everything, personal web, semantic-aware applications, and smart objects. 3D was introduced in Turkey in late 2009, and mobile technology is spreading. However, the speed of take up is rather slow, and a large scale use of these new technologies cannot be observed yet. Tonta, who once said that libraries “must move their resources and services to the network as quickly as possible and restructure themselves accordingly ... [if they wish] to become virtual destinations in the vast digital information landscape,”49 came to the point within the same year to say that this is not enough, since more and more web users “live” their lives online in social networking sites, rather than visit library websites as virtual destinations. He states that libraries “should be accessible from within social networking sites without users’ leaving their familiar digital environments” and that they should “build constellations, not destinations” by combining “connectivity, communications, and content”. There are a number of Turkish libraries with pages on Facebook, and social networks are utilized to some extent. If they listen to Tonta, libraries need to move faster.

Human Resources Use of technology requires skilled human resources. There are five Departments of Information Studies currently operational in the country, and a sixth one was established in 2009. The Department in Ankara University, which was opened in 1954, is the oldest one. Undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programs are run. Out of 193 members of staff, 19 are professionals in the National Library. The number of librarians working in public libraries is only 331. Because of poor salary scales and also a general preference to live in large cities, the General Directorate of Libraries and Publications encounters difficulties in finding professionals to recruit. Based on the results of a survey conducted in 2007, Kaygusuz50 reports that the average number of staff in a state university is 22, professional staff averages six per library. These figures are 10 and six for private foundation libraries respectively, which are smaller than the state universities and have smaller collections. Private schools hire librarians, but in 48 L. Johnson, A. Levine, and R. Smith, The 2009 Horizon Report. (Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium, 2009), 3. http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/CSD5612.pdf (18. Dec. 2009). 49 Yaúar Tonta, “Information Services and Web 2.0 : New Challenges and Opportunities,” In Alexandra Vraneš & Ljiljana Markoviþ, Electronic Library: International Scientific Conference, Belgrade, September 25th௅28th, 2008. Proceedings (pp. 237–249). Belgrade: Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Science, 2008. http://yunus.hacettepe.edu.tr/~tonta/yayinlar/ tonta-belgrade-2008-full-text-son.pdf (24. Dec. 2010). 50 Kaygusuz, “Universities and University Libraries in Turkey”.

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state schools usually teachers are expected to run the services, sometimes following a few weeks’ training. Salary scales are not attractive, and those who can pass the required exams and have two years' experience aim to move to library specialist positions. Unfortunately, non-professionals can be seen in all positions at all levels. This is sometimes because the professional skills required for the position are underrated by the management, but in some cases this is simply because the librarians are not interested in the positions offered. From the point of use of technology, this situation may have several consequences, such as incorrect choices in programs which do not conform with professional standards and are not interoperable; underutilization of the facilities offered by the complicated programs purchased; and wrong choices in the purchase of expensive electronic resources, such as book packages or similar products with overlapping content, which lead to the waste of financial resources, and which ends up with inadequate level of service. Certainly there are exceptional situations where librarians who have not developed themselves throughout the years that they were in service can also make such mistakes, and a non-professional with a good background who develops him/herself on the job can demonstrate a better performance. One should be fair in this respect. The Turkish Librarians Association has been struggling for many years to change the status of the librarians within the civil service salary scheme, and there is an expectation that there will be an improvement.

Conclusions This evaluative review has shown that the advancement in the field of science and technology is a priority area, and national information centers, university libraries, and other research libraries serving the researchers are provided with relatively adequate financial and human resources, which enable them to use technology as required, and offer relevant information resources and services. However, global comparisons reveal that resources need to be allocated at a higher level in science and technology if Turkey is to reach the level aspired by Vision 2023. Digitization of cultural heritage within the context of transformation to the information society is another priority area. Resources and technology is again reasonably well-placed in this area, and a great deal of work has been completed. Although in the absence of statistical data on municipal libraries, it is hard to draw a very clear picture concerning library services to the public, the number of libraries using an integrated library system and the number of libraries offering Internet access services demonstrate that the level of service is far from being sufficient. There is a similar situation concerning the libraries and media centers in schools.

360 Selma Alpay Aslan This picture gives the impression that the situation in Turkey more or less follows the global trends, in view of much news of budget cuts and service reductions coming from the States, the Conway Report submitted to CILIP in the UK, concerning the decline in some public libraries and similar reports, news, and so forth.51 One can only wish that this decline in public library services is really not a “rapid slide to extinction,” as put by Philip Pettifor, spokesperson for Libri, a charity which has been campaigning to reverse the decline in public libraries in the UK.52 For Turkey it is more of concern, because the level of service was already seriously lagging behind in comparison to Western countries. However, the decline in certain public services cannot shade the value of knowledge and knowledge-related services, rapidly moving into the virtual space and requiring skillful use of technology to organize and retrieve information. In general, we expect the near future to be sometimes full of frustrations, for instance when we can't access a journal although licensed with perpetual rights, or when tracking down the transferred journals in the depths of virtual world, and sometimes to be full of excitement, for instance when new ways of organizing our work or presenting our resources are discovered. Since IPR issues will need to be solved to go completely virtual, most likely it will take longer than desired to turn physical libraries into “library museums,” where former librarians will be working as library museum curators. And this delay will be hailed by those who adore the smell and touch of the printed book. Nevertheless, in the long run, so long as humankind survives, knowledge will be created, and there will be need for an intermediary to bring the information and the seeker together. It does not matter whether this work is done physically or behind the screens. Thus, the author would like to finish repeating what once was said at a lecture and is still believed, “Even when the time of Star Trek comes where Dr. Spock gets all the information he needs from a computer, no matter what title given, tomorrow's librarian will be there, behind that screen responsible for the organization of that information.”53

51 Patrick Conway, Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals: Professional Standards of Service: a report, CILIP, 28 May 2008. http://www.cilip.org.uk/SiteCollection Documents/pdfs/policyadvocacy/conway_mainreport.pdf (21. Dec. 2009). 52 Philip Pettifor, “The decline of the public library ,” Spiked, 2 September 2005. http://www. spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/757/ (21. Feb. 2010). 53 Selma (Alpay) Aslan, “De÷iúen dünyamÕzda kütüphanecilik,” Lecture given at Ankara University Faculty of Letters Department of Information Studies, on 31 October 2000.

2.18 United Kingdom The History of Library Automation in the United Kingdom Hazel Woodward and Fytton Rowland The history of the use of technology in libraries can be traced back to around the fifth century AD, when the codex replaced scrolls. As Ashworth observes, “The codex is a magnificent invention … it is more easily stored than a scroll and it is easier to find things in; it lends itself to cataloguers because it can have simple metadata of chapter/ paragraph form keyed to pagination.”(Ashworth, 2003) However, the greatest technical development for libraries, and the dissemination of knowledge in general, was the invention of printing in the fifteenth century. At first, printing was used mainly for the dissemination of gospel texts, but by the eighteenth century the more general book trade was developing, and it is no coincidence that libraries as we know them today can trace their origin back to this time. Most people love books. Not just reading books but the look, feel, and smell of books. Old, rare, and beautifully illustrated books, such as the Diamond Sutra from Dunghua and the Lindisfarne Gospels which are stored and conserved in the British Library, hold a particular fascination. But until recently, viewing such items meant a trip to London and even then only bona fide scholars would be allowed to turn the pages. But with the launch of the British Library’s Turning the Pages website (British Library, 2010), anyone with an Internet connection, anywhere in the world, can now view, for example, Mozart’s musical diary – with audio excerpts – or, indeed, the priceless Lindisfarne Gospels. How did we get to this point? Sturges (1999), in his examination of technological revolutions that have affected libraries, discovered that the published proceedings of a conference in 1877 that led to the setting up of the UK Library Association, contained several papers with technical content. The example he gives is Henry Stevens’ Photo-bibliography, which examined the potential of photography to produce multiple images of catalogue cards. But, despite such wonderful examples, the real history of library automation begins somewhere in the 1960s. The development of the computer as we now know it began during the Second World War, with the Colossus machine developed at the Bletchley Park code-breaking centre in central England, whose work probably shortened the war by allowing the Allies to decode German military communications. Like other technologies developed in wartime, such as the jet engine, the computer was further developed for civilian applications, especially scientific

362 Hazel Woodward and Fytton Rowland research. The focus moved to the University of Manchester, where the Atlas machine originated. Meanwhile, in libraries, pre-computer punched-card machines made by IBM or Remington Rand, such as punches, sorters and collators were coming into use. These had the ability to store, reuse, and manipulate data, and were thus valuable in the creation of card catalogues and indexes. By the 1960s, mainframe computers were sufficiently versatile so that their use in stand-alone, batch-mode operations in libraries was becoming feasible. Again, cataloguing was the first application to be automated. A number of libraries in the United Kingdom were pioneers in developing bespoke in-house systems, for example Camden Public Libraries in London for cataloguing, and the University of Southampton library for circulation and acquisitions. These three functions, together with serials control, were the ones that were early candidates for automation. The then Office for Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), a British Government agency, funded two major projects for co-operative development of library systems: BLCMP, based at the University of Birmingham, and SWALCAP, involving the universities of the southwest of England. BLCMP later evolved into a commercial library-systems supplier, while SWALCAP developed a circulation system that was adopted in many academic libraries in Britain, and survived until the late 1990s. By 1973, 135 libraries in the United Kingdom were operating some form of computer-based system (Tedd, 1996). Around the same time, commercial software suppliers began to provide programs for the various library functions. Sometimes it was necessary for a library to buy software for the different functions from different suppliers, each requiring its own dedicated terminal (Lynch, 1991). By the 1970s, online, real-time use of mainframe computers from remote terminals by means of dial-up telecommunications was feasible, though hardly easy. British Telecom’s telephone lines were copper wires, and dial-up calls went through Strowger electromechanical telephone exchanges, which often introduced noise into the signal and thus corruption into the data. But local networks were beginning to appear, and the dial-up method, though crude, allowed for the possibility of limited longer-distance telecommunication. More importantly, the use of separate cataloguing, acquisition, circulation, and serials systems, some of them bespoke, some bought from outside suppliers, was clearly becoming unsatisfactory as networking was adopted. There was also beginning to be a demand on campus for library services to be available remotely, so that users could consult the online catalogue and see the loans situation on the circulation system, for example, without leaving their offices and going to the library in person. This new, networked situation made separate stand-alone systems obsolete. It necessitated library systems that coordinated the different functions, and the “integrated library system” was born. It became usual for the whole system to come from one supplier, though

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sometimes special circumstances in a particular library might require the continued use of a home-made module for one function or another (Lynch, 1991). So far, the computer systems acquired by libraries gave access to resources that existed locally, almost always in printed form, though some microforms might be included in the collection. Access to literature not in the local collection could be achieved by using abstracts indexes (AI) publications, and during the same era the larger of these were themselves being made available in electronic as well as printed form. Like library systems, these worked in batch mode in the 1960s and become online services in the 1970s. Direct access from library systems into the databases of the AI publishers had to wait until the 1980s, and the dream of linking from the AI databases through to the full texts of the serials themselves was not realised until the 1990s and 2000s. What made these developments eventually possible was the creation of the Internet. This had originated in the packet-switching telecommunications networks of the 1970s, and ARPANET, the Internet’s predecessor in the United States, was set up to enable United States Department of Defense research projects to communicate with one another. In the United Kingdom, the (then) Computer Board, a government agency set up to assist universities to acquire increasingly necessary computing facilities, established the Joint Academic Network, JANET, linking all the institutions of higher education and government research laboratories. JANET in turn was linked to the Internet, providing academics in the United Kingdom with early experience of, at least, e-mail and the ability to download remotely held files by the use of file transfer protocol (FTP). University libraries by this time often had OPACs (online public-access catalogues) which did not require any login and were thus not restricted to their own students and staff. JANET enabled people in a university to look at the catalogues of other universities as well as their own, and the idea that each university library was not an independent entity began to be accepted. Until the 1990s, all library IT services had been dedicated to improving access to and retrieval of items that were themselves printed – physical objects on the library’s shelves. The major change in the last 20 years has been in the nature of the information objects themselves, a large proportion of which by now (2010) are themselves electronic items that may well not be stored in the individual library, but are accessed when required from their publisher or from an intermediary. This development has changed the nature of academic libraries profoundly. Rather than “the university library” being a building to which staff and students went to consult, borrow or photocopy printed materials, the library is increasingly an organisation that arranges, administers, and pays for access to digital objects that are stored elsewhere, and are delivered to the user’s own computer. The term “digital library” was coined for this new type of library, but in reality libraries will continue to hold and conserve many physical items for a long time to come. Thus, most libraries are now “hybrid

364 Hazel Woodward and Fytton Rowland libraries”, requiring premises and staff able to deal with both traditional and digital resources. The digital information objects themselves are of two kinds, “born-digital” and digitised. Born-digital electronic publications became a possibility with the introduction of computer typesetting in the 1970s and 1980s, initially requiring re-keying of author’s typescripts by a typesetting company, but more recently taking the digital output of the author’s own computer and, after correction and editing by publishers’ staff, typesetting the material from the author’s keystrokes. By 2000, the majority of scholarly journals were available in electronic as well as printed form, though electronic books were still rather a rarity at that date, owing mainly to difficulty in devising appropriate business models for e-book publishing. The alternative way of providing an electronic document is to digitise a pre-existing printed work. Many libraries have been doing so in recent years, especially for special collections and rare or fragile items, and materials that get limited exposure due to their location, but can be seen around the world once digitised (as in the earlier example of the British Library). However, digitisation of the entire collection of a library is not an economic proposition, and indeed is not necessary if the materials concerned are held by many libraries – each item only needs to be digitised once. The long-established Project Gutenberg (2010), sometimes described as the world’s first digital library, was set up in 1971 to work towards digitisation of major out-of-copyright texts. Michael Hart, its founder, was at that time a student at the University of Illinois in the United States, and he and the project are now based at Illinois Benedictine University. It is based on rekeying of the works by volunteers and proofreading of their work by other volunteers. Thus, it provides the texts of the documents but not facsimiles of the printed pages. In 1971 this was the only approach that would have been feasible. The texts are made available on the project’s website, so users download them directly, free of charge, and libraries are not involved. This volunteer approach is hard to scale up, but in its almost 40 years of operation Project Gutenberg has accumulated over 30,000 digital works. By the late 1970s, with online access to the AI databases established, a few visionary scientists began to imagine electronic versions of the primary literature, the scholarly journals. Early experiments foundered, mostly on the inadequacy of the telecommunications networks and the lack of availability of terminals to the users of the scholarly literature, the academics themselves. The 1980s saw the arrival of personal computers, and, in particular, the MSDOS-based IBM-compatible personal computer. As it became possible to link these PCs to the Internet in the late 1980s, the idea of electronic journals was revived, and some scholars began to launch new electronic-only journals available free of charge. These essentially bypassed both publishers and libraries completely. Users signed up to an e-mail discussion list which was used by the editor to distribute contents lists, and the full texts of papers could then be

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downloaded by using anonymous FTP. These journals, which included PACS Review, a library- and information-science journal, made some headway, but the method of distribution was insufficiently user-friendly for the majority of academics. Academic libraries subscribed to the well-established journals, and users expected to be provided with access to these titles through their library. In 1992, Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist working at CERN, the European Nuclear Research Centre in Switzerland, devised the Internet communication protocol that came to be known as the World Wide Web (WWW). Like ARPANET earlier, it was designed in the first instance to facilitate communication among dispersed communities of researchers working on collaborative projects, in this case high-energy physics projects based at CERN. Simultaneously but coincidentally, the higher education funding bodies of the United Kingdom had commissioned a report on the future of libraries from an expert group chaired by Sir Brian Follett (Joint Funding Council’s Libraries Group, 1993). The group’s remit was to: “1. Investigate the future national needs for the development of library and information resources, including operational and study-space requirements for teaching and research in higher education institutions. 2. Identify ways to meet those needs.” The Follett Report, as it came to be known, of 1993 was not specifically intended to look at information-technology issues and future digital-library and electronic-publishing developments, and indeed it covered other issues such as the provision of library space. But inevitably it did look at the likely future technologies that would affect libraries, and importantly the response of the funding councils to the Follett Report was to set up the Electronic Libraries (eLib) programme funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), which ran from 1994 to 2000, and proved highly influential in setting the agenda for charting the digital future of libraries in the United Kingdom (Duke Jordan, 2006). In part, this influence was a product of fortunate timing. The Follett Report was published just after the introduction of the WWW, but before it had become widely used in the British academic community. If eLib had started a few years earlier, the arrival of the WWW would have disrupted the eLib projects that would have then been in midstream. If it had come a few years later, new habits and practices engendered by the WWW might well have already been entrenched in libraries. Coming as it did almost simultaneously with the WWW, eLib was able to affect practice when it was at its most malleable. The eLib programme was divided into a number of strands, each of which contained several projects. The programme also ran over three phases. The strands were: electronic document delivery; electronic storage of books and journals (digitisation); electronic journals; on-demand publishing and the electronic book; awareness and training; navigational tools (access to network resources); preprints and grey literature; supporting studies; electronic short

366 Hazel Woodward and Fytton Rowland loans; images; hybrid libraries; large scale resource discovery (clumps); digital preservation; quality assurance in the electronic environment; and migrating eLib projects into services. A review of the impact of eLib was published in 2006 (Duke Jordan, 2006), when enough time had elapsed to judge its lasting effects. Of the specific projects funded by JISC through eLib, 20 were still running as ongoing services: eight had become ongoing JISC services, six had become independent services able to survive on a cost-recovery basis, and six were still running locally in the institutions that hosted them. While these 20 are a minority of the projects funded under the eLib banner, there was agreement among the experts consulted during the 2006 review that the eLib programme overall had had an important impact on libraries in the United Kingdom and on JISC. The review concluded that: “‘It [eLib] embedded skills in three key areas in libraries:

– – –

Project orientation, including evaluation and assessment Risk management Collaboration: internal, external, and international

The programmatic nature of eLib also facilitated major culture change in three ways:

– – –

It speeded the change. It affected the great majority of libraries across the United Kingdom HE sector. It developed a cadre of skilled and flexible people who stimulated others and are now going on to become the new leaders of the sector.”

The ethos of collaboration among libraries and librarians had especially been encouraged by the requirement that each project within eLib must involve a consortium of organisations, not just one. The final point regarding newly skilled people seemed particularly relevant six years after the end of the programme, as many of those appointed to fixed-term contracts as project managers or research associates had by 2006 moved into permanent posts in libraries, bringing with them the expertise and contacts that they had developed during their service with eLib. In the early 1990s, the free e-journals that had used FTP to distribute their files transferred to the WWW, and this more user-friendly interface brought them a greater number of users. Then, midway through the period of eLib (1994–2000), the main publishers of scholarly journals began to make their publications available in electronic form. A paper listing available e-journals which appeared at the end of 1995 was aptly subtitled The calm before the storm (Hitchcock et al., 1996), since 1996 was the first year in which significant numbers of mainstream journals were made available in electronic versions. Other publishers followed suit in subsequent years. Unlike the earlier (and continuing) free e-journals, the commercial e-journals are generally sold

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through libraries. This required libraries to devise means of exposing their e-journal holdings to their users. Initially, many did so by providing lists of e-journals on the library website, with links to the individual journals, but while this was useful for accessing a paper that the user already knew of, it did not facilitate searching. In the past 15 years, therefore, vendors of library management systems have had to incorporate software for searching a library’s electronic holdings into their systems. Just as library systems have become more sophisticated in their handing of electronic resources, so also the business models used by the commercial publishers have evolved over the years since the mid1990s. In the print era, most academic libraries used the services of subscription agents to acquire serials. This was logical and efficient, since it enabled each library to place a single order with a single supplier to obtain all their serials, and each publisher to deal with a limited number of buyers, the subscription agents. The agent acted in effect as the hub of a “hub and spoke” system for serials ordering. An unfortunate consequence of t his system, however, was that publishers did not know their end customers, the libraries, and did not know a lot about how libraries and their IT systems worked. When e-journals were launched in the mid-1990s, initially they were coupled with the print subscription to the same journal, and thus purchased through the agents as before. But new IT issues now arose. The subscriber library needed reliable online access to those e-journals it paid for, and the publisher needed to ensure that users who were not entitled to access that journal did not do so. Publishers thus needed to talk directly to libraries for the first time, and some publishers started to ask themselves whether they needed subscription agents any more. Meanwhile, some of the agents transformed themselves into e-content intermediaries, offering batches of e-journals from different publishers as package deals to libraries. Other organisations of different provenance, such as AI publishers and online information service providers, also began to market packages of e-journals, in competition with the traditional subscription agents. This development recognised the reality that a library’s choice of titles to buy is based on the subject-matter of the journal, not its publisher. Despite this, publishers moved quite quickly to a new business model which, became known as “the Big Deal”, whereby libraries that subscribed to some of its journals in printed form could have electronic access to all of its journals for a modest extra payment. This approach transformed the “collections” of smaller United Kingdom universities, some of which experienced a doubling or tripling of the number of serials titles available to their staff and students. In theory, titles in subject areas that the university in question does not teach are of little value, but most institutions found surprising amounts of use being made of such titles once they became available. Arguably, the big deals thus assisted the development of interdisciplinary study, an unintended but benign consequence.

368 Hazel Woodward and Fytton Rowland More recently, though, the inflexibility of big deals has come under criticism, as has the fact that the price of the big deals in a time of budgetary stringency for libraries leads to damage to smaller publishers, whose journals may be highly valued, but whose output is too small for a big deal to be possible. These may now be the only cancellable titles for libraries. Negotiating more flexible and (paradoxically) smaller big deals with the major publishers has become one of the main activities of library consortia. The spirit of cooperation among libraries, arguably encouraged by eLib, has been further developed by the trend toward consortium purchasing of electronic publications. Faced with the large scholarly publishers, newly dealing with libraries directly and without the intermediation of subscription agents, librarians felt that their negotiating position was weak. If libraries negotiate in groups, the balance of negotiating power is more equal. The consortium approach is at its most effective when all the libraries within a given jurisdiction negotiate together. In the United Kingdom, JISC organised the negotiations that led to the National Electronic Site Licensing Initiative, NESLi2 (2010), one of the earlier consortia, and has in turn been active in organising the international body of consortia, the International Coalition of Library Consortia, ICOLC (2010). While libraries and publishers were adapting to the new world of networked information, though, those scholars who advocate electronic access free of charge to the scholarly literature have not been standing still. A strong movement has developed over the past decade calling for scholarly literature in electronic form to be made available to scholars everywhere free of charge – Open Access (OA). Much debate has taken place, in particular on the question of how to maintain a stable and viable system of scholarly communication during any transition to widespread OA. One part of the OA movement that definitely impacts on library IT systems is the trend towards Institutional Repositories (IRs), servers that hold copies of the published research outputs of the university in whatever journals the papers may have been published. IRs may also contain other types of material produced by the university, some of it perhaps not conventionally published. Commonly, the administration of an IR is entrusted to the university library, which therefore becomes to some degree a “publisher” of material emanating from the university in question. Free material, whether in the IR or obtained from an OA publisher, needs to be included in the library’s catalogue and other navigational services, so that it can be discovered by students alongside paid-for materials. One important difficulty for library acquisition and IT departments resulted from the new business models for e-journals. Acquisition decisions became more strategic and complex, necessitating involvement of more senior staff than hitherto, and often the decisions made led to the library purchasing some publishers’ big deals and some intermediaries’ packages as well. Sometimes these purchases resulted in a library buying the same title twice over, once from is publisher and once from an intermediary. When library users tried to access such a title, the software had difficulty identifying “the appro-

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priate copy” and sometimes could not recognise the user as a licensed one. New IT solutions were needed to overcome this kind of difficulty and resulted in the development of link resolver technologies, such as SFX. In 2006, the United Kingdom Serials Group (UKSG) commissioned a research report, Link Resolvers and the Serials Supply Chain, which identified and described a range of problems affecting the efficiency of OpenURL linking. The report recommended “the creation of a group that would determine and promote best practice solutions for the overall community to improve the exchange of metadata with knowledge bases.” The KBART (Knowledge Bases and Related Tools) Working Group (UKSG, 2010) has now been established, chaired jointly by UKSG and the (US) National Information Standards Organization (NISO). Another essential linking initiative to support seamless access for users is the ability to link directly from AI databases to electronic full text in a seamless way, and also to link from bibliographic references in one paper, to the full texts of the other papers to which it refers. These requirements necessitated further IT developments, in this case the establishing of CrossRef, which is the official digital object identifier (DOI) registration agency. It was launched in 2000, in collaboration between publishers, to enable crosspublisher citation linking. It now links many millions of citations to journals, books, databases and technical reports. Over time, publishers basing their charges to a given university on what printed products they had formerly bought became increasingly inappropriate – why should my payments in 2010 depend on what I bought in 1995? Publishers wished to base their charges on the amount of use that was being made of their data – a university with 100,000 students would use a publisher’s materials more than one with 10,000. This necessitated a reliable measure of usage, which both publishers and librarians could accept as accurate and impartial. In 2002, a joint body of publishers and librarians established COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Resources) (COUNTER, 2010) to achieve this end. COUNTER is now an international initiative providing publishers and librarians with standards that facilitate the recording and reporting of online usage statistics for e-books, e-journals and e-databases, in a consistent, credible and compatible way. COUNTER has also worked with NISO on SUSHI (Standardised Usage Harvesting Initiative) to develop a protocol to facilitate the automated harvesting and consolidation of usage statistics from different vendors. For many years, the Library and Information Statistics Unit (LISU) at Loughborough University published the Library and information Statistical Tables (“The LIST”) in both printed and electronic form. This has now been replaces with a website, Library, Archives, Museums, Publishing Online Statistics Tables (LAMPOST) (LISU, 2010). This records data from all kinds of libraries in the United Kingdom, including a breakdown of their expenditures. Any statistics quoted here would soon be out of date, but a perusal of the

370 Hazel Woodward and Fytton Rowland LAMPOST data over a timespan of several years will demonstrate, for example, the trends in expenditures on IT systems, and the ratio of electronic resources spend to printed product spend. It can safely be said that in the United Kingdom very few libraries of any significance do not have a library automation system. Public libraries still have predominantly print collections, but clients who lack computers of their own use the libraries’ machines for Internet access. Even libraries of mainly historical and antiquarian significance, such as those of scholarly societies, will have automated catalogue and circulation systems in place. All the above-mentioned IT developments have made the hybrid library more effective in providing convenient, user-friendly and, to an extent, seamless access for users to the large variety of electronic resources to which libraries now subscribe. But much evidence, both anecdotal and statistical, suggests that the development of Internet search engines, predominantly Google, has led students, and indeed many other people, to treat the Internet as the information source of first and often only resort. This has serious implications for academic libraries. Users who never visit the library, and who do not realise that some of the resources that they identify on the Internet are in fact paid for by the library, may come to regard the library as inessential. Expensive resources, especially information-discovery resources like AI databases, may be cancelled if fewer and fewer people are using them, and many such cancellations by libraries may make the AI publishers’ businesses non-viable. Students and others may not understand the limitations of online full-text searching of the Internet, as provided by Google and its competitors, and may not appreciate the amount of intellectual effort that goes into an AI publishing operation and other activities providing metadata. The world is becoming more and more dependent on Google, and while the fundamental benevolence of Google has not been in doubt until now, some people have concerns about handing a monopoly over information to any one organisation. Their fears have been increased rather than assuaged by the development of Google Books. In order to achieve the objective of once-only digitisation on a large scale, Google has embarked on a large-scale digitisation project in collaboration with some major libraries. Part of the agreement is that the library supplying the material for scanning is provided with a digital copy for its own collection. The Google programme has proved controversial, though. So far as out-ofcopyright material is concerned, people fear that material that is in the public domain will be taken back behind a tariff wall, once digitised by Google. Publishers, too, have concerns about Google’s digitisation of in-copyright material. Although Google charges for it, there is fear that it could “escape” and that illicit electronic copies would thereafter circulate on the Internet. Many journal publishers have digitised their own back-runs back to volume1, issue 1, and made them available to current subscribers, so that they can have a complete run of the journals in digital form.

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A further Google service that may tend to undermine library usage, or at least to undermine students’ perception of the value of the library, is Google Scholar. This provides the familiar Google interface applied to searching the scholarly literature. Recent research (Norris et al., 2008) suggests that a student performing a comprehensive search on a given topic cannot depend on Google Scholar alone. Much scholarly material is available via the standard Google search, so the student needs to search both, and of course neither Google nor Google Scholar will retrieve full-text material for which payment is required. The interaction of Google, Google Books, and Google Scholar with the Open Access movement, on the other hand, will ensure that a substantial amount of scholarly material is available free of charge on the Internet. If this availability undermines the financial stability of libraries and of publishers too much, the provision of good quality information to future students may be jeopardised. Developments in IT will continue to impact upon libraries. The new generation of library catalogue systems, for example Summon, Primo, and AquaBrowser, are providing library users with an “academic Google” type interface to resources, making information searching much quicker and easier than in the past. Cloud computing applications are being developed alongside Web 2.0 services such as wikis. The next “big thing” for libraries to tackle is mobile devices. E-book readers are readily available in the marketplace, Sony’s reader and Amazon’s Kindle probably being the best known examples. The ability to download e-books to the iPhone is already in place, and Apple’s iPad was launched in Spring 2010. Technology is moving rapidly and will continue to do so. It is an exciting time for libraries, providing that they react quickly to new applications and continue to develop the systems and services required by the Google Generation. But the research library does not exist in isolation. It is part of an institution, the university or research institute that is serves. The future of the library and of IT within it will be bound up with the future of the institution, and Clifford Lynch of the Coalition for Networked Information has recently said (Lynch and Carleton, 2009) that “the future of research libraries will be shaped by broader developments at research universities in the areas of creating, sharing, disseminating, and curating knowledge. Universities face fundamental policy choices in all of these areas that have been recast by developments in information technology.” This article discusses trends in digital scholarship practices across the humanities, science, and social science disciplines and examines implications for academic institutions and their research libraries as a means of framing these policy choices. Another relevant recent contribution came from Martin Bean, Vice-Chancellor of The Open University in the United Kingdom, in a keynote speech at the Association for Learning Technology Conference (ALT-C) in September 2009. He identified a wide variety of technology-driven changes that have occurred in the world in recent times and which have profoundly influenced the way in which the present

372 Hazel Woodward and Fytton Rowland generation of students lives their lives. Universities need to adapt to these changes in the way in which they provide education and intellectual content to their students. The library has always been part of the essential infrastructure of any university or research institute, and in the digital age it will become an integral part of the IT foundations that carry the entire weight of the institution. To do so, however, librarians will need to abandon many of their cherished beliefs and practices, and recognise that they will need to do their work through a constantly changing range of technologies. The students will adapt, and librarians will need to make sure that they do too, if they wish to retain the students’ respect.

References Ashworth, J.M., Knowledge and digital information, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 12, 2003, 331–337. Bean, M., Innovative Scepticism. Keynote address at In Dreams Begins Responsibility, the Association for Learning Technology Conference, 9 September 2009, Manchester, UK. British Library. Turning the Pages, 2010 Available at: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ ttpbooks.html. COUNTER, 2010. Homepage.Available at: http://www.projectcounter.org/. Duke Jordan Ltd., Impact study of the JISC eLib programme: Final Report, October 2006. Bristol: Joint Information Systems Committee, 2006. Available at: http://www.jisc. ac.uk/publications/reports/2006/elibimpactstudyreport.aspx. Hitchcock, S. M., Carr, L. A. and Hall, W. A Survey of STM Online Journals 1990–95: The Calm before the Storm. In: Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists, sixth edition (Mogge, D.,ed.). Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries, 1996, pp. 7–32. Available at: http://eprints.ecs.soton. ac.uk/742/. ICOLC, 2010. Homepage.Available at: http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia. Joint Funding Council’s Libraries Review Group. Report, 1993. Available at: http://www. ukoln.ac.uk/services/papers/follett/report/. LISU. LAMPOST (Library, Archives, Museums, Publishing Online Statistics Tables), 2010. Available at: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/dis/lisu/lampost.html. Lynch, C. The system perspective. In The evolution of library automation: Management Issues and future perspectives (Pitki,. G.M., ed.) Westport, Connecticut: Meckler, 1991, pp. 39–57. Lynch C. and Carleton, D.E. The Impact of Digital Scholarship on Research Libraries. Journal of Library Administration, 49(3), 227–244, 2009. NESLi2, 2010. Homepage. Available at: http://www.nesli2.ac.uk. Norris, M., Oppenheim, C. and Rowland, F. The Citation advantage of open-access articles. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 59(12):1963– 1972, 2008. Project Gutenberg, 2010. Homepage. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/ Main_Page.

2.18 United Kingdom ௅ The History of Library Automation in the United Kingdom 373 Sturges, P. Onward march of technology, Library Association Record, 101(1), 1999, 38–39. Tedd, L. Information technology in libraries: A blast from the past, Managing Information, 3(1/2), 1996, 27–30. UKSG, 2010. KBART. Available at: http://www.uksg.org/kbart.

2.19 Uzbekistan Libraries in Uzbekistan: Past, Present, and Future Marat Rahmatullaev and Akram Khabibullaev Early Times Uzbekistan is one of the former Soviet Union countries that became independent in 1991 after more than 100 years of Russian rule, and almost 70 years being under communist regime. Uzbekistan is located at the heart of Central Asia and borders with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. The history of Central Asia dates back to ancient times, and its territory was the land of old civilizations. Earliest written materials found in Central Asia are the inscriptions on stones, wood, and parchments that belong to the first – third centuries CE. During pre-Islamic times, the people of Central Asia were predominantly nomads, although there were some sedentary inhabitants like the Soghdians, Khorezmians, and so forth. Primary historical documents reveal the existence of writing systems and books in Soghdian and Khorezmian languages before Arab conquests in seventh century CE. The famed scholar, historian Abu Raihan al-Biruni (973–1048), reported that Arabs, after having conquered Central Asia, their leader Qutaibah ibn Muslim destroyed the writings of Khorezm (southern part of present Uzbekistan), killed its scholars and burned their books. “For after Kutaiba ben Muslim Albahili had killed their (Khorezmians) learned men and priests, and had burned their books and writings, they became entirely illiterate.”(Biruni 1879, 58) In the eighth century Central Asia became part of the caliphate. Arab conquests and expansion of Muslim power in Central Asia led not only to the mass conversion into Islam, but also resulted in spreading Arabic, which became the language of scholarship. Most of the local scholars and learned men became fluent in Arabic and made a great contribution with their works to all areas of Arab-Islamic civilization. Bukhara was one of the main Central Asian cities where the arts and sciences flourished, particularly during the times of Saminids Empire (819–999). As evidenced in historical documents at real libraries, collections of books with their catalogs existed in Bukhara as early as the tenth century. Most of them were royal libraries and played an important role in the intellectual life of the cities. For example, a great scholar Abu Ali ibn Sina (980–1037), who is known in Europe as Avicenna, described in his autobiography a royal library of Samanid:Amir Nuh ibn Mansur (reigned 976–997). “I asked him (amir) to permit me to go into their library, to get to

376 Marat Rahmatullaev and Akram Khabibullaev know it and to read its books. He gave me permission and I was admitted to a building which had many rooms; in each room there were chests of books piled one on top of the other. In one of the rooms were books on the Arabic language and poetry, in another, on jurisprudence, and likewise in each room [were books on] a single science. So I looked through the catalogue of books by ancients and asked for whichever one I needed. I saw books whose names had not reached very many people and which I had not seen before that time, nor have I seen since.”(Cohlman 1974, 36–37) In addition to the royal courts, there were a number of madrasahs (Islamic schools) in Bukhara that had libraries adjoined to them. One of the oldest madrasahs of Bukhara, Farjak, had a collection of books and manuscripts and was burned down during the great fire in Bukhara in 937. In 995 Abu alAbbas al-Mamun became shah of Khorezm, who made his court the center of learning and place of attraction for literary men and scholars from all over the Islamic world. Some historical sources reported that he asked al-Tha’alibi (961–1038) to be in charge of his private library around 1011 (Khalidov 1985, 245). The city of Marv, located in the farther south of Central Asia, also was one of the great Muslim cultural and intellectual centers. Arab geographer, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229), reported that there were 10 rich libraries when he left Marv in 1219, and he had not seen the like anywhere else in the world in terms of size and excellence. Two of these libraries were located in the main mosque, four of them in different madrasas, one of them in Damiriyah khanaqah (hostel for Muslim mystics), and three in personal libraries. The holdings of the Aziziya Library, endowed by sultan’s drink maker, Atiq alZanjani, reached 12,000 volumes. Yaqut al-Hamawi writes about the access to these collections, “The use of these collections was so convenient that at any given moment I had at home two hundred volumes or [even] more, without having to leave a deposit, [even though] their value amounted to as many dinars. I gorged myself with these collections and benefited from them, and they made me forget [my own] people and family.”(Soucek 2000, 115) Another great library was established by imam Shihab al-Din Khiwaqi (d.1220) in main shafii mosque of Khorezm, which was not inferior to Marv libraries. In the first half of the thirteenth century, the Mongol invasions were in fact disastrous. They ruined main Central Asian cities, deported numerous scholars, and destroyed libraries with their books and manuscripts. After that, the intellectual and cultural life in Central Asia finally was restored only at the end of fourteenth century. During the reign of Amir Timur (1370–1405) and his descendents, Samarkand became a center of scholarship and science. The spoils from Timur’s campaigns to other countries, that included scholars and artisans, along with manuscripts and rare books, were transferred to Samarkand. Timurid ruler, famous astronomer, Ulughbek (1394–1449), built an observatory in Samarkand, and its library collection reached 15,000 volumes in different subjects: astronomy, mathematics, geography, philosophy, history,

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and so forth. After the assassination of Ulughbek in 1449, the observatory was destroyed and manuscripts in the library were plundered. It is worth mentioning that sufi shaykh Muhammad Parsa’s (1345–1420) personal library in Bukhara contained numerous manuscript books. Today these manuscripts, bearing Muhammad Parsa’s personal seal, can be found in Tashkent, Saint-Petersburg and some other European libraries. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Shaybanid rulers came to power in Central Asia. Ubayd Allah khan (1533–1539) was not only ruler but also a famous poet, whose collection of poetry is available at the Oriental Institute’s library in the form of beautifully illuminated manuscripts. According to some historical sources, he had a good personal library holding mainly religious literature. In 1599 the Ashtarkhanid dynasty came to power in Bukhara. These rulers, especially Abd al-Aziz khan (1645–1680) and his brother Subhan Quli khan (1680–1702), were book lovers. The latter built a Dar al-shifa (hospital) in Bukhara with an extensive library, mostly containing medical literature.

Russian Conquest and Soviet Period In the early nineteenth century, Russia attracted to the region’s natural resources and strategic importance, began the conquest of Central Asia. By 1876 all three khanates Bukhara, Khorezm and Kokand, became part of the Russian Empire, having limited autonomy. One of the well-known libraries of that time was amir’s library in Bukhara that occupied several rooms. Holdings of this library included valuable and rare books in different languages, and on the eve of the conquest of Bukhara by Bolsheviks, its holdings numbered 47,500 volumes of manuscripts and lithographs. At the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, Central Asian intellectuals created personal libraries. One of the judges of Bukhara Sadr-i Ziya (1865–1931) had cataloged his own personal collection of rare manuscripts gathered by him and his father throughout their lives. Soon after Sadr-i Ziya’s death the library was confiscated and transferred from Bukhara to Tashkent. The city of Khiva in Khorezm also was a scientific and cultural center of Central Asia. The last ruler, Muhammad Rahim khan (1865–1910), was not only a book lover but also a great poet, who wrote under the pseudonym Feruz. Holdings of the existing court library grew and were significantly enriched during his reign. The Russian military commander, Kaufman, plundered this royal library in 1874 and sent the majority of rare manuscripts to St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia. At the end of the nineteenth century, Russian scholarship on the Central Asian region began to develop. Many scientists immigrated to Tashkent to carry out research on the region’s history, culture, language, and literature. The Russian Academy, Geographic and Archeological Societies and other

378 Marat Rahmatullaev and Akram Khabibullaev academic institutions decided to support their research with literature. The first shipment of hundreds of donated books arrived in Tashkent in 1868, which was a starting point of the establishment of the Turkistan Public library. In May 1872 the Russian scholar Nikolai Vasilevich Dmitrovskii was appointed as the first director of the library. In 1911 the Pushkin Association of Tashkent established a Public Library named after the great Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy. Thus, on the eve of the Bolshevik revolution there were two public libraries, an indefinite number of private libraries, and several reading rooms in the Turkestan region. The Russian revolution that took place in 1917 led to the creation of the Soviet Union and the rule of the authoritarian communist regime. In 1924 Uzbekistan Soviet Socialist Republic (UzSSR) was established and became part of the Soviet Union. As of October 1934 there were 2,555 libraries in Uzbekistan. Among them, 1,397 functioned in rural areas. During the reign of the communists, the Russian language dominated in all spheres of life in Central Asia, including Uzbekistan. Most scholarly publications and research were in Russian, and libraries held predominantly Russian language materials. Only approximately 20–30% of collections consisted of books in Uzbek language. One of the top research libraries of Uzbekistan is the Fundamental Library of Academy of Sciences (FBAN), which was founded in 1933. In 1944 the Soviet Government (Sovnarkom) included it in a limited list of the largest libraries of the USSR entitled to receive a free copy of every publication in the country. The Library holds three million volumes. During World War II a number of research institutes, universities, scholars, and librarians transferred to Central Asia, especially to Tashkent, from Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Accordingly, publishing of books and journals also increased, which led to greater libraries. Today, the Uzbekistan Library Association’s website lists 27 main public libraries, including the Central library for the blind, 31 research libraries under the Academy of Science, four specialized libraries, and 56 university libraries under the Ministry of Higher Education.

After 1991 The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and, as an independent country, Uzbekistan began significant reforms in all areas of political, economic, and social life. Obviously, the main attention was concentrated on economic development and financial stability. The development of telecommunication systems also was given a priority, as an important element of reforms. Librarianship in Uzbekistan was not given serious attention in the early 1990s, and all libraries for a long time continued functioning under policies and rules inherited from the Soviet Union. At the end of the 1990s, the library associations in regions, the Library Association of Uzbekistan, and the Na-

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tional Library of Uzbekistan took the initiative in carrying out some projects that became a starting point in the introduction of innovations to librarianship. The process was also supported by Uzbek government, which issued rules and decrees oriented to the implementation of advanced information technologies. The work on computerization and automation of libraries in Uzbekistan began in the middle of the 1990s, when important special documents and decrees were issued by the government bodies. Especially, the State Committee for Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan provided support to the work on automation of libraries. However, the development of information technologies in the libraries remained at low levels, because of high prices of Internet access and monopoly of providers. The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers “On measures for working out the Program for the development of computer and information technologies during 2001௅2005, and ensuring wide access to international information systems of Internet” (May 23, 2001 No.230) significantly stimulated development of the Internet and its use in libraries. At the end of 2000, the NATO Science Committee launched the project aimed to bring global Internet connectivity to educational and academic institutions at eight former Soviet countries, five in Central Asia and three in Caucasus. This project planned that the connection to the Internet would be through satellite, establishing dishes and network equipment in the eight countries and central distribution point in Hamburg, Germany. This project mainly was supported by the NATO Science Committee, which provided funding and organized it; electronics company CISCO Systems, which donated equipment; and also DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron) of Hamburg, which agreed to host the central distribution point. Uzbekistan was chosen as the starting point of this project for the following reasons: enough availability of technically well-equipped educational and scientific institutions; presence of highly qualified specialists; and support of main international organizations. Thus, the scientific and educational network of Uzbekistan UzSciNet was established. At the beginning it provided free Internet access to libraries and educational institutions. The UzSciNet is still providing Internet services to the National Library of Uzbekistan and main regional public libraries on a commercial basis. In 2000 the Fundamental Library of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan took the first steps toward developing electronic libraries and library consortia, starting the project for creation of the Model Automated Library (MAL). The main aim of this project was the creation of a model library with fully automated functions, making it a training center for librarians, and improving the level of service, including providing free access to electronic resources. The MAL became the first library in Uzbekistan where main functions, such as acquisitions, cataloging, and user services were automated. The project has developed and created the Academic Libraries network that provided several academic institutions’ libraries with access to the electronic

380 Marat Rahmatullaev and Akram Khabibullaev information resources of the Fundamental Library of the Academy of Sciences. The network also made easy exchange of information between institutions and helped libraries to create their own electronic databases. Most libraries and universities didn’t have enough funding to subscribe to commercial electronic databases. But in 2000, after becoming a member of the international consortium eIFL Direct (Electronic Information for Libraries Direct), 84 libraries received access to scientific educational electronic resources of the United States and other Western countries. The international publishers, such as EBSCO, ProQuest, Emerald, Springer, IOP, and others offered great discounts for their databases on CDs, or for access to them through the Internet. The annual presentations of the top electronic publishers became a good tradition in Uzbekistan. Uzbek President’s Resolution “On organization of Information and Library Support for Population of the Republic” (June 20, 2006, # PR-381) placed librarianship and implementation of new information technologies among the top priorities in the country. The Resolution led to significant changes in the organizational structure of libraries in Uzbekistan. All public libraries that were under control of the Ministry of Sports and Cultural Affairs had been transferred into the jurisdiction of other ministries. The 14 regional public libraries were renamed Information and Library Centers (ILC) and the administrative control over them was transferred to the Communications and Information Agency of Uzbekistan. During the last two years, ILCs received the funding for rehabilitation from the Agency and were equipped with new computers connected to the Internet. Also, the Republican Information-library Center was created, in order to coordinate the work of ILCs. University, college, and school libraries had received a new name, Information Resource Centers (IRC), and administration of a few college libraries was also transferred to the Agency. Some special libraries such as the Library for the blind, remained under the Ministry of Sports and Cultural Affairs. It was decided to leave the medical libraries, as they were in the past, under the Ministry of Health Care. According to the Resolution, IRCs and ILCs not only have to be equipped with computers and connected to the World Wide Web, but also they have to become centers for developing national information resources, electronic libraries, and databases. As stated in this document, the main task of IRCs and ILCs was the creation of electronic libraries and databases that combine all their information resources in the union catalog. Thus the Resolution emphasized the need for creation of electronic catalogs, especially the electronic union catalog. In addition, the Interdepartmental Council, coordinating the activity of the information-library system of the Republic, was created in 2006. The council is a collegial body that coordinates and directs activities of the informationresource centers, information-library centers, and libraries of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The main tasks of the Interdepartmental council are: implementa-

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tion of strategic priorities for developing and functioning of the National information-library system and National information-library resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan; managing and coordinating the work of the information-library centers and information resource centers; and making recommendations on optimal functioning of the IRCs and ILCs in the light of scientificinformation activities in the country and abroad. The libraries and departments of the higher and middle special education system are actively engaged in creating their own electronic resources, and textbooks and providing access to scientific-educational electronic resources. During the last 10 years the use of Russian automated library system IRBIS has provided a chance to train qualified specialists in more than 40 libraries and to create electronic resources. The national library and majority of ILCs have experience of creating electronic catalogs and full-text databases. There are also several automated library systems developed locally. One of them, KARMAT, which meets all international standards and requirements, can intensify the process of library automation. There are different versions of KARMAT for schools, lyceums, colleges, universities, and scientific-technical information centers. In addition to creating an electronic catalog and providing access, the system enables the development of full-text databases, to serve remote users and maintain usage and other statistics. More than 30 important projects in the sphere of librarianship have been realized during the years of independence in Uzbekistan, including: the Educational Computer Center in the public library of Namangan region; the Libraryinformation network in Surkhandarya region; educational computer labs and the centers for legal information in regional libraries; and a series of workshops and international conferences. During the years from 2000 to 2006 the Library Association of Uzbekistan, the National Library of Uzbekistan, and regional library associations had been the main initiators of projects on automation and creation of information-library networks. It is of great significance for the development of rural areas to equip their libraries with computers, to provide access to the Internet, and to establish information and library networks. One of the largest projects in this sphere was the “Creation of the advanced information–library infrastructure in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Phase-1, Surkhadarya region,” planned by the Library Association of Uzbekistan and Library Association of Surkhandarya region in 2001. The inhabitants of the Surkhandarya region, besides having economic and social problems, have a great need have access to the current information about the situation in Central Asia, especially in the bordering Afghanistan. There are 420 public libraries in the villages of this region, which are great venues for information circulation. However, these libraries were not connected to the Internet. In 2002 the information network was created in this region, which included 20 libraries with only aim of providing open access to different kinds of information. The educational center in Termez, the capital

382 Marat Rahmatullaev and Akram Khabibullaev city of Surkhandarya region, had trained librarians to use new information technologies and apply contemporary methods of library management. But, it was also significant that 20 libraries received modern tools of receiving and exchanging of information, such as the Internet and email. In many regions the local administration provided financial support to libraries and their projects for connection to the Internet. These libraries had become a place where people not only gained knowledge, but also they could communicate with friends and relatives by sending and receiving email, one of the main missions of modern libraries. There is another example of establishing information-library network covering rural libraries. In 2003 the project for creation of the training and consulting center in Namangan region was successfully completed. The sole object of this center, under the Namangan Library Association, was the training of librarians for up-to-date methods of library management and using new information technologies in providing services. In 2003 more than 1,000 librarians and users had taken a course of computer literacy and Internet search skills. The project made a tremendous impact on the development of technology in Uzbekistan, and the experience extended to other regions of the country as well. As it is known, conferences provide an opportunity for attendees to exchange information, evaluate views, sharpen ideas, and extend knowledge. It is worth mentioning that another important and successful project of the Library Association of Uzbekistan is the international conference, “Internet and Library-Information Resources in Science, Education, Culture and Business. Central Asia.” The conference first started in 1999, and now it is held regularly once every two years in different regions of the country. The project aimed to hold a conference not in the capital city of Uzbekistan but in regional centers. This is a kind of advocacy or recommendation to local administrations for support of libraries and librarians. Thanks to these conferences in Samarkand (1999), Bukhara (2002), Urgench (2006) and in Ferghana (2008) the libraries received support from federal and local governments. They also have been able to establish contacts with foreign partners and realize different library projects. The conferences are attended by scholars and leading specialists of library and information science from all Central Asian republics Russia, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and other countries. The main objective of this conference is to stimulate the work of libraries, archives, and educational institutions in applying new information technologies to library operations. Usually main themes and topics of this International conference panels are:

– – – –

Methods and tools of managing libraries, The effect of new technology on reading habits, Electronic databases and electronic publishing and development of national electronic information resources, Possibilities of a cooperative information exchange,

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New forms and methods of providing library services.

Two other projects are currently underway. Funded by the European Union’s Tempus Program and Asian Development Bank, these two projects are aimed to train specialists and to develop a system for distance education of students in the field of library and information science. The first one of these two projects, the Textbook development project, is carried out by the Ministry of Public Education and financially supported by the Asian Development Bank. The main goal of the project is to improve the quality of basic education by establishing an efficient way of providing affordable textbooks, and other educational and instructional materials. The project indeed will play a significant role in training highly-qualified librarians and information specialists. It includes four components: 1) to empower public education policy by reforming curriculum, modernizing testing, grading systems and related research; 2) to create sustainable system of providing students with affordable textbooks, and to strengthen the basis of the textbook rental scheme; 3) to develop textbook publishing by encouraging authors, to implement Copyright law, to promote participation of private sector in printing and publishing; and 4) to develop school libraries in 1,000 pilot schools by providing space, furniture, books, other instructional materials, audio visual equipment, and computers. The second phase of the project’s component four, called “The development of school libraries,” is aimed to solve problems of computerization, automation, training of school librarians, and improvement of library services. Thanks to this project, 1,000 pilot schools have received computers and other equipment, and 1,200 librarians have attended computer literacy courses. Also, 28 highly-qualified librarians became trainers empowered to teach computer skills, including library automation systems. In line with the project and its components, school libraries will be modernized and developed as instructional resource centers. The second international project is aimed to develop services and upgrade library staff skills. This project, called “New Masters Programme on Library and Information Science,” is financially supported by the European Union’s Tempus program and started in 2009. The main goal of the project is to bring Library and Information Science education, including lifelong learning, into line with European standards. The project participants are Armenia, Georgia, Italy, Latvia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan. The project will result in the following achievements:

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The level of training of library staff will significantly increase because of improved teaching standards. The information library services will be more effective because of highly-qualified librarians. The new system for lifelong learning and training of library staff will be created.

384 Marat Rahmatullaev and Akram Khabibullaev

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New technologies for developing e-libraries, distance education and open access to scientific educational resources will be applied.

Most of the local and international projects are currently initiated by the National Library of Uzbekistan, one of the oldest libraries in Central Asia, with a collection of more than 10 million items, 3.5 million of which are publications of national printing. It stocks more than 250,000 valuable print materials, and 16,000 rare books and unique manuscripts belonging to the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries. Until recently, the international cooperation has been organized in a traditional way, through exchange of literature. At present the collaboration and cooperation with companies that provide subscription to periodicals both in print and electronic form, such as EBSCO Information Services GmbH (Germany), and EBSCO Publishing (United States), are greatly expanding. The cooperation and partnership relations with other centers and national libraries of different countries are also expanding. At present, there are seven signed and functioning agreements on partnership and cooperation. The memorandum of cooperation between the National Library of Uzbekistan and the National Library of Iran was signed on January 5, 2005, in Samarkand, during the First Vice-President of Iran, Mohammad Reza Aref’s, official visit to Uzbekistan. The Agreement of Cooperation with the National Library in Warsaw was signed on November 3, 2004. In 2007 the Agreement with the Biblioteca Alexandrina, and in 2008 the Agreement with Egyptian National Library and Archives were signed. These agreements provide an opportunity to develop new forms of partnership with national libraries of foreign countries. The existing professional relations with libraries of the former Soviet Union, such as the Russian State Library, the National Academic Library of Kazakhstan, and the national libraries of Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Ukraine are expanding. The renewed agreements with these libraries include different ways of cooperation, such as librarians exchange program, joint workshops and conferences, research projects, construction of common information space, and so forth. The National Library of Uzbekistan has been a member of the consortium “Eurasian Library Assembly” (Bibliotechnaia Assambleia Evrazii) since December 2005. The cooperation and partnership relations between the National Library of Uzbekistan and Malaysian National Library have already yielded good results, both in the exchange of specialists and in the training of library staff. The Malaysian Technical Cooperation Program (MTCP) has been supporting and organizing training courses for the specialists of Uzbekistan. Up to 2008 more than 280 specialists, including librarians, participated in various seminars and courses. The National Library cooperates closely with international foundations, organizations, and embassies. Over the last decade more than15, 000 volumes were received as gifts and donations from foreign partners. The Library has

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been a member of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) since 1995. In 1997 the Library became a member of the Association of Users and Developers of Electronic Libraries and New Information Technologies (ɗȻ ɇɂɌ). Since 2005 the Library has participated in activities of the nonprofit consortium, Eurasian Library Association, the main goal of which is to create common library-information space. It should be noted that Uzbekistan is carrying out a wide range of reforms to introduce and apply new information technologies in libraries, despite economic hardship. The most important task at present is to create an advanced information and library network, based on large libraries of Uzbekistan, such as the National Library, regional public libraries (ILCs), and information resource centers of leading universities, in order to develop nationwide union electronic catalog. The joint efforts of these leading libraries in the creation of a union electronic catalog would not only significantly reduce expenditures of other libraries, but also establish an effective information infrastructure for providing most sufficient services. The National Library of Uzbekistan, leading universities, the Fundamental Library of the Academy of Sciences, and information library centers can play a significant role in the creation of a corporate system for the intensive information exchange throughout the country. Such a corporate system would be the first stage of a virtual library, which would help to reduce the time of the search for necessary information, to create competitive products and information resources, and to improve the exchange of data between organizations in the Republic.

Conclusion Despite the positive happenings mentioned above, Uzbekistan is still far behind in automation of library operations. Only a few libraries use the Russian automated system, IRBIS, for their acquisitions, cataloging, and circulation operations. However, library leaders fully understand the importance of applying latest developments of information technology and the Internet into library services. In February 2010 the special working group was created in Uzbekistan. The main objective of the group is to develop a Concept and “Program of formation of an electronic library in all information resource centers, libraries, and creation of integrated library network in the Republic” for the period of 2010–2015. The program is currently under discussion, and the working group is collecting information on the status of new technologies and staff qualifications in libraries. The concept includes two paragraphs: goals and objectives; and priorities of developing an integrated information-library network in Uzbekistan. In this concept the gradual computerization and automation of all libraries, the creation of a center for cooperative cataloging, the development of an electronic

386 Marat Rahmatullaev and Akram Khabibullaev union catalog, the digitization of rare books and manuscripts, and international collaboration are indicated as main objectives.

Notes Biruni. 1879. The chronology of ancient nations. London: William H. Allen and Co. Cohlman, William. 1974. The life of Ibn Sina : A critical edition and annotated translation. Albany, NY: Sate University of New York Press. Khalidov, A. B. 1985. Arabskie rukopisi i arabskaia rukopisnaia traditsia. Moskva: Nauka. Soucek, S. 2000. A history of Inner Asia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Bibliography Biruni. The chronology of ancient nations. London: William H. Allen and Co., 1879. Cohlman William, trans., The life of Ibn Sina : A critical edition and annotated translation. Albany, NY: Sate University of New York Press, 1974. Kasymova, A. G. Bibliotechnoe Delo v Uzbekistane. Tashkent: Uzbekistan, 1968. ʊ Uzbekistonda Kutubkhonachilik Ishi Tarikhi : Madaniiat Instituti Va Madanii Oqartuv Tekhnikumlari Studentlari Uchun Uquv Qullanmasi. Toshkent: Uqituvchi, 1977. Khalidov, A. B. Arabskie rukopisi i arabskaia rukopisnaia traditsia. Moskva: Nauka, 1985. Kormilitsyn, A. I. Sudby knig: Biblioteki vostochnykh rukopisei na territorii Uzbekistana s drevneishikh vremen. Tashkent: Fan, 1994. Rakhmatullaev, M. A. Informatsionnye tekhnologii v bibliotekakh. Tashkent: Natsionalnaia Biblioteka Uzbekistana, 2003. ʊ “Progressivnye modeli podgotovki kadrov dlia informatsionno-bibliotechnogo obsluzhivaniia,” Mir Biblioteki 4 (2008): 40–44. ʊ “Nauchno-obrazovatelnaia i nauchno-tekhnicheskaia informatsiaa v seti elektronnykh bibliotek,” in Tekhnologii sozdaniia i ispolzovaniia nauchno-tekhnicheskoi i nauchno obrazovatelnoi informatsii v seti elektronnykh bibliotek. Tashkent: Natsionalnaia Biblioteka Uzbekistana, 2009. Rakhmatullaev, M. A., Karimov, U. F., and Mukhammadiev, A. Avtomatizirovannaia sistema korporativnykh informatsionno-resursnykh tsentrov (KARMAT-M). Tashkent: Natsionalnaia Biblioteka Uzbekistana, 2009. Soucek, S. A history of Inner Asia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Spain, Victoria. “Report on the state of library conditions in Uzbekistan,” Central Eurasian Studies Review 5, no. 1 (2006): 40–44. Subtelny, Maria. “The making of BukhƗrƗ-yi sharƯf: scholars and libraries in medieval Bukhara (The library of KhwƗja Mu‫ف‬ammad PƗrsƗ),” in Studies on Central Asian history in honor of Yuri Bregel, edited by Devin DeWeese. Bloomington, Ind.: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 2001.

About the Contributors Selma Alpay Aslan graduated with a MLib from the University College of Wales, Aberysthwyth, United Kingdom, and has been Library Director, TOBB University of Economics and Technology since 2005. She was Director of the Veterinary Faculty Library Ankara University and worked for the British Council, Ankara, Turkey .She chaired many committees including the IFLA 61st General Conference, Istanbul’95 Local Organizing Committee. She has written a number of articles, conference papers, panel talks, and book chapters on topics such as use of technology in libraries, information society, information policy, and European Union projects concerning libraries. Boris Badurina is a research assistant in the Library and Information Sciences Department at Osijek University, Croatia. He has PhD in Library and Information Science from Zagreb University. He is active in the Croatian Library Association, and in 2006 was awarded the Eva Verona Award for young librarians. Badurina has several publications to his credit in numerous international and Croatian journals. Anne-Marie Bertrand has been chief librarian of the Roubaix Public Library and Nantes Public Library in France. She has a Ph.D. in history from the University Versailles-Saint Quentin and a Habilitation à diriger des recherches from the University of Paris. Dr. Bertrand was manager of the research office of the Bibliothèque Publique d’Information (Paris), in charge of the Public Library studies at the Culture Government Department and Chief Editor of the Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France. She is currently Director of Enssib, The French Library School and has many publications to her credit. Alex Byrne BE(Elec), University of Sydney, GDipLib, CCAE, GDipAdvLib, CCAE, MA University of Canberra, PhD, University of Sydney, Australia is a professional librarian, researcher and writer with a deep interest in the roles of memory institutions, the complexity of issues relating to Indigenous peoples and transmission of knowledge, and emerging modes of scholarly discourse. He has been the University Librarian at the University of Technology, Sydney since 2000, following posts in library and university management at several other Australian universities. Alex served for decade in leadership positions with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Committees including Chair of the Federation’s Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression during its formative years 1997–2003. He has been elected Fellow of both the Australian Library and Information Association and the Australian Institute of Management and has

388 About the Contributors over 300 publications to his credit. He was president of IFLA from 2005– 2007. Lorne D. Bruce received graduate degrees in Canadian History (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario) and in Library Science (University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario). He served as chief library administrator for the Town of Hanover and Township of King Public Libraries in Southern Ontario, Canada. Bruce joined the University of Guelph Library in 1982 and served in several public service and collections development positions, most recently as the Head of Archival and Special Collections. He has received several funding awards including the Ontario Heritage Foundation and Canada Council publication and research grants. Lorne has published widely on a variety of Canadian library and book history topics. Philip Calvert is the IST Programmes Director and Senior Lecturer in the School of Information Management at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He has a Ph.D. in Information Science, MSc (Computing) from Staffordshire University, MLS from Loughborough University, and BA from Warwick University, United Kingdom. Christine Deschamps studied English at the University of Paris, La Sorbonne, in France and at the University of Cambridge (UK). She studied librarianship at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Bibliothèques, and has M.D. degree in Librarianship. She was instrumental in establishing a new department of computer-based bibliographic searches, specialising in Medicine at the Bibliothèques Interuniversitaire de Médecine. Ms. Deschcamps was honoured with many French decorations including Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (1993), Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (1998), and et Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (2001). She was president of IFLA from 1997–2003 and retired from the French Civil Service in September 2003. Altay Goyushov is Assistant Professor of History at the Baku State University in Azerbaijan. He was head of research at the Institute of Oriental Studies at Boxum University and member of a research group at the Center of Anatolian Studies of France in Azerbaijan. Professor Goyushov has also been a Fulbright Scholar at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., USA. He has also been on a lecture tour in Paris, France at the invitation of the French School of Social Sciences, and at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Princeton University, New Jersey, USA to talk about the “Modern History of Turkish Nations” and “Azerbaijan Language, Literature and History”, respectively. His educational degrees, including the degree of Candidate of Science of History, are from Baku State University in Azerbaijan. Joaquín Selgas Gutiérrez is the Libraries Planning Head at the General Subdirectorate of Library Coordination, Spanish Ministry of Culture. He has a degree in History from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, and postgraduate studies in librarianship. Earlier, he was Managing Director of the

About the Contributors 389

Regional Library of Castille-La Mancha. He has served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Section for Library Buildings and Equipment of IFLA, and in 2007 he was elected as a member of the IFLA Governing Board for the period 2007–2009. Since October 2005, he is also an Associate Professor of Library and Information Science at the Toledo’s Faculty of Humanities of the University of Castille-La Mancha. Joaquín Selgas is the author of several articles in Professional journals and has participated as a lecturer in courses for professional management and modernization of services of public libraries and information literacy. He has been a speaker at several national and international conferences. Anchi Hoh is Special Assistant to the Chief of the Asian Division of the Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA, and Chief Executive Director for the Asian Division Friends Society. She holds a PhD and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies (University of Manchester, England), an MA in Jewish Studies from Gratz College, Philadelphia, USA, a Certificate in Arab Studies (Kuwait University), an MLS from the University of Maryland, College Park, USA, and a BA in Arabic Language and Literature from National Chengchi University, Taiwan. Hoh has abundant leadership experience in library professional organizations, including the Middle East Librarians Association (MELA), the Association for Research and College Libraries - Asian, African and Middle East Section (ACRL-AAMES), and the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA). She was president of MELA during 2009–2010. Anchi Hoh was selected to be an Emerging Leader by the American Library Association in 2007. She has won several awards and has many publications to her name. Srecko Jelusic is an associate professor at the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Zadar in Croatia. He is currently Vice Rector for International Relations, Publishing and Libraries. He holds a Ph.D in Information Science from the University of Sarajevo. Dr. Jelusie has edited several books and journals during the last three decades and has many publications to his credit. Áts József is Head of the Department of Methodology Centre of Library Network at the University Library of Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary. Earlier he served as Head of the Knowledge Centre at the Budapest Bank, Chief librarian at the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (the Central Bank of Hungary), Librarian, knowledge worker at the National Communications Authority, System librarian at the Corvinus University of Budapest and System librarian at different libraries of Eötvös Loránd University and Semmelweis University. He has BA and MA in Teacher of History and Expert in Library Sciences and a Postgraduate Degree - Expert in Library Information Management from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. He also has a Postgraduate Degree - Expert in Information Technology of Banking Business from Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary.

390 About the Contributors Akram Khabibullaev is Librarian for Middle Eastern, Islamic, and Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. He holds a MLIS from Rutgers University, New Jersey, and PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the Academy of Sciences, Uzbekistan. He was the Middle East Cataloger at the University of Chicago Library and was a member at the Institute for Advanced Study, He was visiting Fulbright scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and received an Imam Bukhari fellowship from the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. Dr. Khabibullaev also worked at al-Beruni Institute for Oriental Studies in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Péter Kiszl is an Assistant Professor and Faculty Coordinator for Libraries, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. He has a BSc in Economy and Commerce, Masters and Ph.D. in Library Information Science. Dr.Kisze has published many articles in the field of Library and Information Science. Kelly Ann Kolar has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Russian Studies, Master of Science in Library and Information Sciences, Master of Arts in History and is a PhD candidate at the History Department of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), USA, specializing in Russian History with an emphasis on information institutions. She completed her MLIS at UCLA in 2004 with the thesis “Development of Independent Library Associations in Leningrad and Moscow, 1985௅1991,” which explored transformation in Soviet libraries during the Perestroika period. Ms. Kolar has worked as a curator at The Wende Museum of the Cold War, an archival assistant at the UCLA Performing Arts Special Collections, and a reference librarian and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Library Science at West Los Angeles College, California. She has received a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship for 2010–2011 to conduct research in Moscow for her dissertation, “What Kind of Past Should the Future Have? The Development of the Soviet Archival System, 1917௅1938.” Her research explores the development of the archival administration and its effect on the Soviet historical memory. Biljana Kosanovic is employed at the National Library of Serbia, Belgrade as Head of the Department of Scientific Information. She is the national coordinator of the Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) and serves on the editorial board of the professional journal Infoteka. Ms. Kosanovic has a master’s degree in Informatics from the University of Belgrade. She has published 25 papers on use of scientific information, consortia and open access. Claudia Lux was President of IFLA from 2007 to 2009. She is the Co-Chair of IFLA-IPA, a working group of librarians and publishers about common problems in their professional field. She has been active in different committees and groups in IFLA and was chair of the German Library Association. She has a diploma in Social Sciences and a Ph.D. in Chinese Studies and also has a Ph.D. and Master’s in Social Science degree from the University of Bochum. Dr. Lux also has a Library Science degree from the University of Co-

About the Contributors 391

logne, Germany. Before joining her present position as Director General of the Central and Regional Library Berlin, Germany, she was director of the Senate Library in Berlin, and librarian in the East-Asian department of the State Library in Berlin. Dr. Lux has published books and articles on many aspects of librarianship including the library systems in China, Virtual Libraries, and the German Library System. She has visited many countries to speak on Librarianship and Libraries. Beverly P. Lynch is a Professor at the Graduate School of Education Information Studies and was director of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Senior Fellows Program and California Rare Book School. She received her B.S. from North Dakota State University, M.S. in Library Science from the University of Illinois and PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. She Served as President of the American Library Association 1985–86 and was Executive Director of the Association of College and Research Libraries 1972–1977. Dr. Lynch is the recipient of the Joseph W. Lippincott Award for distinguished service to professional librarianship from the American Library Association and received the ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award for significant contribution to academic/research librarianship and library development. She has served on many committees and was chair of the International Relations Committee of the American Library Association from 2008 to 2010. She was Dean of the Graduate School of library and information science, UCLA, University Librarian and professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and President of the Center for Research Libraries and has published six books and over 100 papers. Stela Filipi Matutionovic is director of the Library at the University of Belgrade, Serbia. She served as Vice President of the Serbian Academic Library Association from 2001௅2009 and was elected President of the Management Board in 2009. She serves on the editorial boards of the professional journals Infoteka and Organizacija Znanja, bulletin of the Serbian Academic Library Association ”Visokoskolske Biblioteke”. Dr. Matutionovic has published 90 papers on library automation and development trends, scientific bibliographies, bibliometrics, and communication processes in science. She has presented over 60 papers at national and international conferences. She has Master’s and PhD degrees from the University of Belgrade. Heather Lea Moulaison is Assistant Professor at the University of MissouriColumbia, USA. During the 2008–2009 academic year, she taught as a Fulbright Scholar at the Ecole des sciences de l’information in Rabat, Morocco. Her research interests include organization of information, comparative librarianship, digital libraries, and online social networking. She has written and presented papers at numerous local, national, and international conferences on many library-related topics. Moulaison earned a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University, and MA in French and a Masters in Library and Information Science (MSLIS), both from the University of Illinois

392 About the Contributors at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Before joining her present position, she taught at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Deák Nóra is Librarian at The Library of the School of English and American Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. Earlier he was Subject Librarian at the University Library, Kossuth Lajos University, Debrecen. Mr. Nora is a Graduate in English and Russian languages and literatures from Kossuth Lajos University, Debrecen and also has a degree in Library and Information Sciences from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. Liladhar R. Pendse is Librarian/Curator for Slavic, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies at Princeton University Library, USA. Before joining his present position, he was European and South Asian Studies Librarian at the Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He completed his MA in Latin American Studies, and MS in Library and Information Science from the University of California, Los Angeles. Earlier he received his M.D in Internal Medicine from the Minsk State Medical Institute, Republic of Belarus in Europe. Dr. Pendse is a recipient of many awards and fellowships, has published articles in various library publications, and is an active member of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL/ALA) of the United States. Marat Rahmatullaev is Chair of the Department at the Navoi National Library of Uzbekistan, Professor at the Institute of Culture, at the University of Information Technologies in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He received his Candidate of Science from the Institute of Cybernetics, Academy of Science, Uzbekistan and Doctor of Science degree in 1994. He is author of 7 books, more than 100 scholarly articles and 28 library projects in Uzbekistan. Reggie Raju holds a B.A. Degree from the University of Durban, Westville, South Africa, Higher Diploma in Library and Information Science, a Master’s degree in Information Science and a PhD in Information Studies from the University of Natal, South Africa. He has been in academic libraries for more than 25 years and currently is the Director for IT Services and Communication at the University of Stellenbosch LIS. He has publications in national and international journals and has presented papers at national and international conferences. Fytton Rowland was originally a biochemist, and entered information work in 1967 as editorial assistant at the Biochemical Society. He moved on to research work on chemical information retrieval, first at Oxford University, England, and then with Royal Society of Chemistry. He received his Master’s and PhD from the University of Cambridge in England. Dr. Rowland was a Senior Lecturer in Loughborough University and retired in 2008. He is a freelance information consultant and has over 100 publications to his credit.

About the Contributors 393

Mina Sellers graduated from the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Anthropology and received an M.A in Library Science, from the University of Chicago, USA. She has worked over three decades in small public, medical, university and college libraries. She has been the Information Services Librarian at Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colarado, USA for the last 15 years. Martha A. Speirs has been the University Librarian at the American University of Nigeria in Yola, Nigeria since 2005. She is a member of the Nigerian Library Association, the American Library Association, and the African Studies Association. She has a Bachelor’s of Science Degree from the University of New Hampshire, Durham, and a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA. She also has a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the Simmons College, Boston, USA and a Masters in English and Comparative Literature from the American University in Cairo, Egypt. Ms. Speirs was previously Head of the Library at the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research in the U.A.E. and Director of Technological Services at the American University of Cairo, Egypt. She has published articles focusing on the digital divide, library resource sharing and the use of ICTs for development in Africa. She has been involved in the development of ICT based grant-funded projects in Ghana and Egypt and is the Founder of a community based NGO, the Karatu Library Foundation based in Yola, Nigeria. Christine Stilwell is a Professor, Information Studies, Sociology and Social Studies, Humanities, Development and Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa. She holds a PhD in Information Studies from the University of Natal. She served as Director of Discipline, Information Studies, and since 2008 has been rated by the National Research Foundation rating as an established researcher. Dr. Stilwell serves on the Editorial Advisory Committee and was a founder member of the journal: Innovation: appropriate librarianship and information work in southern Africa. She also serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards of South African Journal of Library and Information Science, Mousaion, and is a peer reviewer for the South African Journal of Information Management. Ivanka Stricevic is an Assistant Professor at the Library and Information Science Department, University of Zadar, Croatia. She has a Ph.D in Information Science from the University of Zagreb, Croatia. She was chair of the IFLA Libraries for Children and Young Adults Section from 2003 to 2007. Dr. Stricevic has many publications to her credit and has received the Ivan Filipovic State Award (in the field of education) and Kukuljevicava Povelja National Award in Librarianship. Xiangjin Tan is the Director of the Public Library Research Institute in Shenzhen, China. He graduated in 1963 from the Library Science Department (Wuhan University), the first and the most prestigious library program in

394 About the Contributors China. After 24 years of service in Beijing with the later 14 years as the Deputy Director of the National Library of China, he moved to Guangzhou and became a professor at the Library Science Department, Sun Yat-Sen (Zhongshan) University. He was the Department Chair and the Associate Dean of the School of Information Technology and Management during his term at the University. He was also the Vice President of the Library Society of China, for three consecutive terms. Professor Tan has been recognized by the State Ministry as a Specialist with Outstanding Contributions since 1992. He retired in 2000. Ellen Remona Tise was President of the IFLA (2009–2011) and is the Senior Director, Library and Information Services at the Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She has a Lower Diploma in Library and Information Science, Bachelor of Arts, Higher Diploma in Library and Information Science and BBil (Honours) from the University of Western Cape, South Africa. Ms. Tise previously held the position of University Librarian at the University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa, was Deputy University Librarian (Client Services) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Systems Librarian at the University of the Western Cape, Brakpan City Library and the University of the Free State. She has served on the Governing Board and Executive Committee of IFLA between 2001 and 2005, and between 2007 and 2009; the IFLA Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) Advisory Board, 2003–2005; the IFLA Africa Section Standing Committee, 2001–2007 and was chairperson of the National Committee for the IFLA 73rd World Library and Information Congress, held in Durban, South Africa, in 2007.Tise’s experience at senior management levels in the profession includes being the first President of the Library and Information Association of South Africa from 1998 to 2002; Director of the Sabinet Board since 2003; OCLC Members Council Delegate from October 2005 to May 2008 , and member of the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award Advisory Committee, 2007. She is an Honorary Member of the Golden Key International Honor Society, as well as of the Library and Information Association of South Africa and serves on the International Advisory Committee of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme. President Tise has published many articles in professional journals and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences, seminars, and symposia. Klára Varga is a Computer Engineer at the University Library, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest in Hungary, and was a Computer Technology instructor at Bolyai János Military College. She has a B.Sc Programmer Mathematician degree from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, and M.Sc Computer Program Designer and Mathematician from József Attila University, Szeged. She has many publications to her credit. Benjamin T. Wakashige is Administrative Director of Libraries and Educational Resources at Central New Mexico Community College, Albuquerque,

About the Contributors 395

USA. He has a Masters in Librarianship from Emporia State University, Kansas, USA. Mr. Wakashige has served as president of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, New Mexico Library Association, and New Mexico Consortium of Academic Libraries. He has directed six academic libraries and was the State Librarian of New Mexico. Mr. Wakashige has several publications to his credit. Hazel Woodward has been the University Librarian and Director of the University Press at Cranfield University, United Kingdom, for over 11 years. Prior to that, she was at Loughborough University Library as Head of Electronic Information Services. She has published many papers in the professional literature on digital library issues. She is very active professionally, being currently the Chair of the Join Information Systems Committee (JISC) Journals Working Group (which oversees the National e-Journals Initiative, NESLi2), a member of the JISC Collections Board, and Chair of the Board of Directors of Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources (COUNTER). She is the Serials Group (UKSG) editor of Serials, and serves on the organizing committee of the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC). In 2009 Dr. Hazel was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for “services to higher education”. She has B.A. degree from Leeds University and PhD from Loughborough University, United Kingdom. Peter R. Young was the Chief of Asian Division of the Library of Congress, United States, director of the National Agricultural Library Chief of Cataloging Division, Assistant Chief of the MARC Editorial Division and CDS Customer Service Officer. He also served as Executive Director of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS), an independent executive branch agency advising the President and Congress on National Library and Information Service policies. Mr. Young held many other positions including directing Faxon’s Academic Information Services, Library Systems Analyst and Sales Support Librarian at CL System Inc, Assistant Librarian and Head Cataloger at the Franklin and Marshall College Library. He has A.B in Liberal Arts from the College of Wooster, and M.S.L.S degree from Columbia University, New York, USA. He was President of the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) and head of the U.S Delegation to the FAO Consultation on Agricultural Information Management in Rome. Mr. Young and has presented papers at many national and international conferences. Ying Zhang is the Research Librarian for Asian Studies at the University of California, Irvine, USA. Prior to her current position, she worked at Rutgers University Libraries as the interim East Asian Librarian and at Sun Yat-Sen (Zhongshan) University Libraries (China) as a research librarian and the Web master. She earned a B.A. in Biology from Ocean University of China, a M.L.S. from Sun Yat-Sen (Zhongshan) University (China) and a Ph.D. degree

396 About the Contributors in Library and Information Studies from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, USA. Dr. Zhang has coordinated several projects at local, regional and national levels and is the author of many articles and books.

About the Editor R. N. Sharma is dean of the library at Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New Jersey, USA. He is an active professional and has won many awards, grants, and honors, including the Academic/Research Librarian of the Year Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries(ACRL)/ALA for 2005, and the Humphry/OCLC/Forest Press Award in 1997 from the American Library Association (ALA), for his significant achievements and contributions to international librarianship. He was also honored by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association in 2010 for his outstanding service to the organization and promotion of Asian/Pacific American Communities and by the Asian/African and Middle Eastern Section (AAMES) of ACRL for his distinguished service to the Section (2011). He is the author/editor of 11 books and has published over 250 articles, book chapters, editorials, interviews, conference reports, and book reviews in various journals of Asia, Europe, and the United States. He was editor of Library Times International from 1984 to 2010, and has served on many editorials boards of books and journals. Dean Sharma has served on over 35 committees of the American Library Association, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), and the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association(APALA). He has chaired many committees, including the International Relations Committee, and the Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Section (AAMES) of ACRL, the Humphry/OCLC /Forest Press Award Committee, and the Near East and South Asia Committee, both Subcommittees of the International Relations Committee of ALA. Sharma was President of the Asian/Pacific American Librarian Association (APALA), has organized many conferences, and has presented over 30 papers including keynote addresses at national and international conferences including ALA, ACRL, and IFLA conferences. He is listed in over 20 bibliographical dictionaries, including Who’s Who in the World, Contemporary Authors, Who’s Who in Education, Who’s Who In America, Directory of American Scholars, Dictionary of International Biography, and International Dictionary of Distinguished Leadership. He was honored in 2008 with a festschrift entitled “Challenges for South Asian Resources and Information Services: Essays in Honour of Dr. Ravindra N.Sharma,” edited by Rajwant Singh Chilana, published by the Concept Publishing Company. Sharma was director of the library at West Virginia State University, director of the library at the University of Evansville, Indiana, head librarian at Penn State University-Beaver Campus, assistant director of Public Services and Collection Development at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and reference librarian at Colgate University. He has a bachelor’s degree (Hon-

398 About the Editor ours) and MA in history from the University of Delhi, India, a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas, and a PhD from the State University of New York, Buffalo. He has visited Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East on many library assignments.