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Keeping the pace with the users
VISIONS edited by Don 1. Bosseau amd Susan K. Martin
Keeping Pace with the Users by Susan K. Martin
T
he article In the Apnl 4 199-I N~H Yorker hy Nicholson Bdher entltled Dwxrds gl\ es us ample opportumty to look at the other qlde of Strategic Visions *’ hou do Ilbrdry user3 respond to the goals that we set tor ourselves and tor our institution5 > The effort to focus on strategic wslons for llbrdnans began because ot the bellet on the pti of many llbranans that we as a protesslon tie tallmg behind other protebslons and Indeed ma) be falhng hehmd users In our adoptlon ot InformatIon technology We tend to look ‘It those H ho tie presum&ly. ahead ot us In lmplementmg mtormatlon technologies and berateourselles for not being turther ahead We should be, we reason the leaders In the use of mfonnatlon attcr all. HT are trained dnd educated to be the protebsslonals M ho know ho\\ people seeh and locate Intormation hlr Baker has brought bxh to our dttentlon the tact that Eden It the general populace uses computers. there IS not yet an understanding ot the economics and logic of computerized system5 as compared H lth their parent manual systems Those ot us 1%hoare llbranans ha\ c prob&l) ,111recel\ed at least three or tour copleb ot that article tram non-llbrman tnends (some of the articles actually scissored out of the magazine I one friend who IS a \sry brlpht and perceptive perlon told me that she learned a gredt deal trom Baher s article’ For years we hake told ourselves that we cannot get too tar dhead ofour users. because then MC would be llhely to lose them I still belleke that this 1s the case and the puhl~c response to Bdher 5 ti~cle shou 5 H hy Indeed. whj did the rV~n I’ot-hrt decrde to publish the article at all ’ Is there somethlng Inherently fascinating ahout cnrd catalogs’ No. but dppxentlj some portion of the population of Ilhr,uy users still bellekcs that something IS being t&en d~a> from them H hen the c,ud cdtrllog IS replaced bq dn online catalog We hale not concentrated suttlclently on bnnglng our patrons along \\ Ith us as \\e t,ilk among ourselves about becoming the Ilbrane~ and hbranans ot the Zlst century Oh most ot us probably ensure that our ad\ ISO~J comnuttees or boxds of directors know and understand what 15 happening to the mstltutlon, tar H hlch they bear home responslblllty And It 15not eq to reach the thousands and mllllons of remarnmg library users But there are \\a>> of doing It dnd we must tahe the time to find and exploit those ways Llbranes iile surrounded b) arcane \ oc,lhul,anes. complex procedures ,md cconomlch that are unclear at best As Itbrannlns,
It IS Incumbent upon us not only to mole our mstltutlons Into the Zlst century but to expldm to our users ho\\ and why me are doing so We are, db a group quite Ignorant ot puhl~c relations technques that \hould communlcdte to our funders. admlmstrators, and users the choices th,lt he (and they, habe and the costs ot those choices To sun 11t: and flounsh we as a protessron wll need to ddd th,lt &II to our eker-gro\hrng set ot ahlImes to deal u Ith d rapIdI> -changing em lronment Not many people have responded to NIcholson Baker Patnch J hlax 111the June 29 ISUT of the Clmt~rcle of Htghet Ghwttott, wrote a Point of VITW p~ecrt entitled ‘U’hat s Wrong H Ith ScrappIng the Card Catalog’ HIS article Ha> \ery Hell done and stands r4most alone In Its effort to mform dnd educate In reaching for the 2 I st centug. Ilbranans must bnng Ilbrq user5 along w Ith them To Ignore them H III be tantamount to fallure because then our funding and ddnumstratl\e agencies L~III not undcrbtand II /IV u e are doing \I ht N e are doing Let us ha\ e more loices Joining hlr MaK in hi\ ericellent ettort to explain our vision
Keeping Pace with the Users by Susan K. Martin
T
he article In the Apnl 4 199-I N~H Yorker hy Nicholson Bdher entltled Dwxrds gl\ es us ample opportumty to look at the other qlde of Strategic Visions *’ hou do Ilbrdry user3 respond to the goals that we set tor ourselves and tor our institution5 > The effort to focus on strategic wslons for llbrdnans began because ot the bellet on the pti of many llbranans that we as a protesslon tie tallmg behind other protebslons and Indeed ma) be falhng hehmd users In our adoptlon ot InformatIon technology We tend to look ‘It those H ho tie presum&ly. ahead ot us In lmplementmg mtormatlon technologies and berateourselles for not being turther ahead We should be, we reason the leaders In the use of mfonnatlon attcr all. HT are trained dnd educated to be the protebsslonals M ho know ho\\ people seeh and locate Intormation hlr Baker has brought bxh to our dttentlon the tact that Eden It the general populace uses computers. there IS not yet an understanding ot the economics and logic of computerized system5 as compared H lth their parent manual systems Those ot us 1%hoare llbranans ha\ c prob&l) ,111recel\ed at least three or tour copleb ot that article tram non-llbrman tnends (some of the articles actually scissored out of the magazine I one friend who IS a \sry brlpht and perceptive perlon told me that she learned a gredt deal trom Baher s article’ For years we hake told ourselves that we cannot get too tar dhead ofour users. because then MC would be llhely to lose them I still belleke that this 1s the case and the puhl~c response to Bdher 5 ti~cle shou 5 H hy Indeed. whj did the rV~n I’ot-hrt decrde to publish the article at all ’ Is there somethlng Inherently fascinating ahout cnrd catalogs’ No. but dppxentlj some portion of the population of Ilhr,uy users still bellekcs that something IS being t&en d~a> from them H hen the c,ud cdtrllog IS replaced bq dn online catalog We hale not concentrated suttlclently on bnnglng our patrons along \\ Ith us as \\e t,ilk among ourselves about becoming the Ilbrane~ and hbranans ot the Zlst century Oh most ot us probably ensure that our ad\ ISO~J comnuttees or boxds of directors know and understand what 15 happening to the mstltutlon, tar H hlch they bear home responslblllty And It 15not eq to reach the thousands and mllllons of remarnmg library users But there are \\a>> of doing It dnd we must tahe the time to find and exploit those ways Llbranes iile surrounded b) arcane \ oc,lhul,anes. complex procedures ,md cconomlch that are unclear at best As Itbrannlns,
It IS Incumbent upon us not only to mole our mstltutlons Into the Zlst century but to expldm to our users ho\\ and why me are doing so We are, db a group quite Ignorant ot puhl~c relations technques that \hould communlcdte to our funders. admlmstrators, and users the choices th,lt he (and they, habe and the costs ot those choices To sun 11t: and flounsh we as a protessron wll need to ddd th,lt &II to our eker-gro\hrng set ot ahlImes to deal u Ith d rapIdI> -changing em lronment Not many people have responded to NIcholson Baker Patnch J hlax 111the June 29 ISUT of the Clmt~rcle of Htghet Ghwttott, wrote a Point of VITW p~ecrt entitled ‘U’hat s Wrong H Ith ScrappIng the Card Catalog’ HIS article Ha> \ery Hell done and stands r4most alone In Its effort to mform dnd educate In reaching for the 2 I st centug. Ilbranans must bnng Ilbrq user5 along w Ith them To Ignore them H III be tantamount to fallure because then our funding and ddnumstratl\e agencies L~III not undcrbtand II /IV u e are doing \I ht N e are doing Let us ha\ e more loices Joining hlr MaK in hi\ ericellent ettort to explain our vision