Competition and Cooperation In Libraries and Universities

1
Competition and CooperationIn Libraries and
Universities

• INULS Conference,
• Galway, 15 June 2007
• Terry Hanson
• University of Chichester

2
Introduction

• Cooperation-Competition Spectrum
• More of a dialectical process
• In a number of situations
• The university
• The library profession
• The information world
• The university world

3
University Convergence Trend

• Half of UK universities converged
• Broad definition
• Management convergence
• Service convergence
• Pragmatic response in 1980s
• Ensure strategic leadership for IT
• Librarians very influential
• Situation different now

4
University The Curriculum

• Information skills
• Librarians goal integrate into curriculum
• Tutors goal not the same
• They are subject oriented, not transferable
  skills oriented
• They dont value information skills highly, and
  they tend not to possess them
• They see them as secondary, if you have a problem
  ask a librarian
• They will support information skills in
  principle, outside of curriculum time

5
University Learning Environment

• Takes lead from the learning and teaching
  strategy, must adapt
• Also from student expectations (consumerism, IT
  familiarity, etc.)
• Librarian role in designing new environment,
  opportunity for leadership
• From Library to Learning Centre, one-stop-shop,
  other services
• Role in online learning environment
• A challenge to traditional notion of library
• Competition in University and in Library

6
Library Profession 1

• Information skills agenda
• Why do we do this?
• What are our objectives?
• Pure it should be done by someone
• A role for ourselves
• Reduce pressure on reference desk
• What right do we have to say it?
• What evidence for importance?

7
Library Profession 2

• Library service models
• Proactivereactive continuum
• Proactive
• Information skills in curriculum (ideally by
  tutor?)
• Objectives
• Teach the student to fish? Feed for life
• Reduce impact on reference service?
• Insist that they learn the skills, dont make it
  too easy
• Reactive
• Feed for a day
• Information skills through informal library use
• Through interactions at the reference desk
• Supply-side, not demand management
• Allow the customer to be imperfect, to be right!

8
Information World 1

• Librarians used to be gatekeepers, mediators
• Guarding access to information world
• Seen to be necessarily mysterious
• Needed mediation
• AI companies complicit
• Together, became complacent?
• Boiled frogs?

9
Information World 2

• Information world was re-shaped
• But not by the library profession
• Nor even by information companies
• New paradigm the postmodern oracle
• Created by, e.g. Google, Wikipedia
• Never mind the quality feel the width
• The answer is good enough
• How lib profession responds to this

10
Information World 3

• Embrace and improve
• Recognise value in less formal approach
• Work with others to improve tools
• Through educational role, show both approaches
• Accept that sometimes good enough for them is
  good enough for us

11
University World 1

• JISC and the universities
• Beneficial centralisation?
• Co-operative model
• Competition too
• If no JISC, the money would go to the
  universities
• So, does JISC add value?

12
University World 2

• Case study JORUM
• National repository of learning materials
• Based on notion of willing co-operation
• Not invented here, so dont use
• Disinclination to make market-ready, so dont
  contribute
• Alternative approach?

13
Conclusions

• Information and education world is increasingly
  complex
• Who brings order?
• Who builds the new information environment?
• Long-term dialectical process has seen
  development of an active librarianship
• Well-placed for leadership role?