Public services in peruvian libraries

Int. Libr. Rev. (1986) 18, 305-315

Public Services in Peruvian Libraries BRUCE B O N T A * INTRODUCTION

Libraries and information centers in Peru radiate vitality to any visitor from abroad who is interested in the ways people assist one another in finding information. While the international tourists that clog Cuzco and M a c h u Picchu do not frequent them, they hum with Peruvians who are seeking an education or who are simply trying to find information. In many ways a visitor to the incredible Inca and pre-Inca ruins, and the spectacular museum collections of art works from those civilizations, does not gain as rich an understanding of Peru as does the visitor to the libraries and information centers of the nation. A microscosm of Peru, they exemplify the contrasts that mark virtually every aspect of the country: a few thrive and prosper reasonably well; many are severely lacking in resources, though the library staffmembers are trying very hard to do the best they can within their limits; and a few not only lack almost all types of materials, but the staffs are obviously quite discouraged about the situation. The conditions which affect librarianship in Peru, and the ways Peruvian librarians respond to provide services to their publics, the subject of this article, contrast with the practices familiar to a visitor from the United States. Before we 'explore these conditions and responses, however, the circumstances which prompted a North American librarian to visit Peruvian libraries should be explained. The Pennsylvania State University, in the United States, has had a very well developed exchange relationship with the Escuela de Administracion de Negocios para Graduados (ESAN) in Lima, Peru, for over a decade. Courses taken at either institution are acceptable for degrees at the other, and undergraduates, graduate students, and some faculty are regularly involved in highly profitable work at the partner institution. The College of Business Administration at the Pennsylvania State University has been the chief beneficiary and conduit for the US side of the exchange, since ESAN is primarily a college oriented toward offering the degree of master of business administration, as the Spanish name implies. * Pennsylvania State University Library, University Park, PA., USA. 0020-7837/86/040305 + 11 $03.00/0

9 1986 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited

306

B. ~ONTA

The director of the library at ESAN has also been an enthusiastic supporter of the exchange concept, and a successful three-month exchange of librarians in 19731 led her to propose in 1984 a reactivation of the program. With financial support from both institutions, the librarian exchange was initiated in 1985 in a non-simultaneous fashion so that each participant in the exchange would have the benefit of working closely with the other. I worked at the ESAN library for three months, February through April, while their reference librarian worked at Pennsylvania State approximately the same months in 1986. As part of the exchange, each participant was expected to engage in a major professional project which would be beneficial to the home institution, the host library, and of course to the participant. I chose, as my project, to visit as many Peruvian libraries as possible, not only during the three month formal work period but also during the month of M a y when my family and I traveled extensively throughout Peru. M y particular focus when I visited the libraries and information centers was on public services--what levels of service were provided and what were seen as priorities. O f the 20 libraries (including ESAN) visited, seven are academic, 11 are special libraries or information centers, and one is a public library. I also visited the national library. Seven of the special libraries serve primarily the social sciences and business, while the other four are mostly science or technical libraries. By visiting those libraries during a relatively short period of time-four m o n t h s - - I expected to gain a broadly representative picture of the nature of library service as it existed in the spring of 1985 in Peru. I hope my perspective as an outsider gave me a detached and open mind concerning the true problems and issues of Peruvian librarianship. I tried to get into open-ended discussions with librarians about the nature of their public services, but I took copious notes on whatever topics came up. The observations presented here, therefore, are based on the perceptions of numerous Peruvian librarians who talked freely about their professional issues plus a review of the relatively small amount of current Peruvian literature which relates to those issues.

COSTS

AND

FINANCES

One of the fundamental issues facing library service in Peru is the incredible cost of materials or supplies that have to be imported. Everything from plastic overlays for cards in a card catalog to computer hardware may cost twice as much as in the United States. In a country 1M. Westerman (1974). Libraries for the business community in Peru--an update. Special Libr. 65, 345-350.

PUBLIC

SERVICES

IN

PERUVIAN

LIBRARIES

307

where locally produced goods such as food may range from somewhat cheaper than the US to vastly cheaper (perhaps one-fifth of the cost in dollar terms), and with salaries and budgets all at a much reduced scale, the net effect is to make purchases from abroad of all supplies and information-related products comparably much more difficult than in the United States. With materials costing more than in the US, the amount of money available for library support is generally much less. Peru is a relatively poor country--its 1982 gross national product, per capita, was $1155--and there is not much money in the budgets of academic institutions, associations, government agencies or the other parent bodies for the needs of libraries. Reviewing Peruvian library literature over the last ten years, this issue of poor budgets is pointed out repeatedly. In a 1975 survey of Peruvian university libraries, 24 out of 29 respondents provided budget figures for both the libraries and the universities for the year 1974, and all but a few received a very small percentage of the overall institutional budget. While the compilers of the survey were not able to make an exact determination, the libraries appeared to be assigned an average of 0.45% of their university budgets. One institution reported the amazing high of 27.98% , the next highest was 2.01%, and all of the remaining fell below 1 per cent, with the lowest figure, 0.07%, coming from one of the public universities in Lima. t In 1980 two surveys were carried out, one of social science libraries and the other of science and technology libraries; 41 social science libraries and 89 science/technology libraries responded. In the social science group it was reported that 80% of the libraries were lacking in basic necessities due to a lack of financial support. 2 The survey of science and technology libraries gave more information about one of the major budget problems faced by Peruvian l i b r a r i e ~ t h e y cannot be sure of funding within their organizations. Librarians are almost always limited to sending lists of materials they need to the parent organization, since they do not have their own separate budgets. 3 A 1980 seminar, Guidelines for the National Policy and Plan for Information for Development, succinctly summarized the situation with the statement, " T h e inadequacy of financial and information resources and their uneven

I L. M. de Cuadra y Elba (1977). Recursos y Servicios de la Biblioteca Universitaria Peruana. Asociacion Peruana de Bibliotecarios, I Congreso Nacional de Bibtiotecologia e Informacion, 1419 de noviembre de 1977. p. 8, 9, 19. Consejo Nacional de Investigacion, Centro Nacional de Informacion y Documentacion Cientifica y Tecnologiea (1980). Seminario Nacional sobre Politica y Planificacion de la Informacion para el Desarrollo, Lima, 20 24 de Octubre de 1980. Documento Principal de Trabajo (Version Preliminar, PERU/SNPPID/CNI/6). p. 20. ~Consejo Nacional de Investigacion . . . (1980), pp. 7-8.

308

B.

BONTA

distribution" is one of the key issues impeding proper provision of information in Peru.1 From the librarians who shared their 1984 or 1985 budget figures with me, a very diverse picture emerged, ranging from the central library of a university of 10 000 students that had a $400 annual budget for books--the library received no periodicals whatsoever--to the library of a specialized government agencey which received excellent financial support in its efforts to buy current editions of everything in its special field. Remarkable contrasts, from very discouraging to upbeat and positive. However, most of the libraries appeared to have budget deficiencies which severely limited their collections and staff. A complementary problem in Peruvian higher education and libraries is the almost complete lack of private support or philanthropy, either corporate, foundation, or individual. One of the few exceptions was the construction five years ago of the library of one of the nation's major universities--it was funded by a large Peruvian bank. With that and a few other cultural projects sponsored by large banks as the notable exceptions, there is virtually no tradition of private philanthropy in the country.

LIBRARY

COLLECTIONS

Clearly one of the major results of insufficient budgets is the inability of librarians to develop really adequate collections. This can be an especially acute problem in the academic libraries. The 1975 survey of 29 university libraries revealed that the n u m b e r of books available per student varied widely. Three of the highest responses (22"31, 21 "08, and 17"81 books per student) were from universities in Lima, but three of the lowest (1.20, 0-40, and 0-012 books per student) were also from the capital. The 17 universities reporting from the Peruvian provinces had collections which ranged from 14.94 down to 1.51 books per student. 2 A related collection development problem faced by m a n y libraries is the difficulty of obtaining government documents. Except for the Biblioteca Nacional, the National Library in downtown Lima, and the library of the Universidad Nacional Agraria, which serves as the National Agriculture Library, there is no system of providing depository copies of Peruvian government documents to libraries. In fact, librarians have to work very had to obtain their documents: a librarian must cultivate contacts in the government ministries and aggressively P. M. de Goni (1981). The experience of Peru in planning a development-oriented approach to information. UNESCO J. Inf. Sci. Libr. Arch. Admin. 3, 128. 2 Cuadra y Elba (1977), p. 16.

PUBLIC

SERVICES

IN

PERUVIAN

LIBRARIES

309

seek documents from the appropriate agencies. The director of one university library said that most of the time of the social sciences librarian was "wasted" visiting ministries trying to obtain publications. While this was clearly very important work, it took time away from other vital activities such as public service, she felt. Another collection development problem in academic libraries is that they have to spend a large amount of money buying textbooks for their collections. The reason is that m a n y of the students are too poor to buy the texts themselves, so the libraries must supply them if the educational missions of the academic institutions are to be met at all. Because of this orientation, however, the academic libraries have a limited amount of money left over for materials which would support research by the faculty. According to several librarians, even the better departments in the better academic institutions have few professors who are active researchers, a situation which is at least partly attributable to the lack of research collections in the libraries. LIBRARY USE A N D

CONTROL

The 1975 survey of university libraries showed that the use of reading rooms ranged from two libraries which reported highs of 64 and 61 uses per student per year down to two that reported 0-03 and 0"05 uses per student per year. The latter figures were from universities with about 11 000 and 7500 students, respectively. Circulation of library books also ranged widely, from one which lent an annual average of 97 books per student down to several which lent virtually nothing. 1 In somewhat of a contrast to these figures, however, a 1980 survey of Peruvian university libraries ascertained that virtually all of the respondents, 13 out of 35 institutions, offer the basic public services: they lend materials, have reading rooms available, and provide some reference service. 2 All of the academic libraries visited in 1985 were crowded with patrons. Two-thirds or more of the seats were taken by mid-morning, and I was told that the libraries are frequently completely jammed, with all seats taken. The students appeared to be working very hard; several librarians said that their students are highly motivated and often try to find additional materials to read on their subjects. The nonacademic libraries I visited also had a lot of users, though the number depends on the nature of their parent institutions or agencies, their size, and their missions. Despite the general perception from m a n y librarians that their libraries do not have nearly enough money to provide more than the basic resources, there is no question, judging by the number 1Cuadra y Elba (1977), pp. 10, 11, 20. 2Consejo Nacional de Investigacion... (1980), pp. 48--49.

310

B. BONTA

of library users, that Peruvian libraries meet a very important need for educational support and information. Because of the scarcity of resources, Peruvian librarians prefer to have closed stack libraries. Only two of the ones I visited had open stacks. The need to carefully control the collections extends to loan periods, which are generally very brief, typically just a few days, and to the number of books which m a y be borrowed, typically only a few at one time. The Pennsylvania State University Library seemed like a different world whenever anyone would ask about our circulation policies (up to 50 books for undergraduates, 200 for graduate students and faculty, with borrowing periods of four weeks for the former group and the entire semester for the latter, subject to recall). Furthermore, many of the Peruvian libraries carefully control the use of their collections by people outside their parent institutions by limiting them to specific days of the week, restricting them to particular times of day, or other such measures designed to limit overcrowding and over use of scarce resources. ACCESS

TO

INFORMATION

Several factors affect the manner in which Peruvian libraries are able to provide access to information. These include particularly the lack of security in the Peruvian mail system, the nature ofinterlibrary lending, and the relevancy of international indexing services. These factors need to be looked at separately in order to understand the solutions which Peruvian librarians employ in providing access to library information. The first issue to consider is the lack of security in the Peruvian postal system, which causes the frequent delay of letters and, a more serious issue, the loss of packages. The result is that librarians normally cannot send their materials by mail to other libraries. Within the Lima metropolitan area materials are frequently sent by special messenger between libraries or the patrons will go themselves to the libraries that have the works they need. However, libraries outside Lima are more or less cut off from access to the library resources of the capital, except where special arrangements have been made to send photocopies by mail. A creative solution to this problem has been devised by one library in Lima, which functions as the resource center for a Latin American association of research agencies in its field. This library responds to interlibrary loan requests by reducing articles or documents to microfiche and sending the fiche through the mail; this gets around the postal security problem since the fiche can be sent quite easily in an ordinary envelope, indistinguishable from a routine letter. 1C. R. Bartone (1982). Planning regional document-delivery services for the water decade: the Latin American and Caribbean region. UNESCO J. Inf. Sci. Libr. Arch. Admin. 4, 258-259.

PUBLIC

SERVICES

IN

PERUVIAN

LIBRARIES

311

In part because of the lack of security in the mails, Peruvian librarians have not been able to establish a nation-wide interlibrary loan system. Some librarians said they provide no interlibrary loans, while most indicated that they borrow and lend only to cooperating members of library associations. Several said they can obtain materials from international sources but because of the cost and time involved, interlibrary borrowing from other countries is clearly not a regular source of informational materials. Peruvian librarians, of course, recognize that their lack of access to international information is a serious problem. The 1980 seminar, Guidelines for the National Policy and Plan for Information for Development identified "extremely limited access to information produced in other countries with adverse consequences for the assessment, evaluation and selection of foreign science and technology" as one of the major problems which hinder information development in Peru.1 One result of limited access to international information is that most librarians see little reason for providing bibliographic access to materials which probably would be completely unavailable to their patrons anyway. A visitor from the United States notices immediately the general lack of international bibliographic sources in Peruvian libraries. The stronger libraries include in their collections some of the very basic indexing/abstracting services from North America and Europe, but other libraries have none. In addition to the difficulties of obtaining in Peru works referred to by those sources, another reason for not subscribing to the major international indexes and abstracts is that, in the applied social sciences especially, they tend to include relatively little from Latin America. Since researchers often have a primary need for Latin American information, where problems, issues, research, and solutions may be highly relevant to their needs, the globally-focused (or to be more accurate, the industrialized-world-focused) information access sources appear to have little relevance. Furthermore, since the large international online bibliographic databases are usually based on the same indexing of industrialized world journals, online literature searches are not only very expensive for Peruvian libraries and their patrons but they are also perceived, like the paper indexes and abstracts, as being not highly relevant to their needs. Librarians in the better institutions commonly prefer to provide access to international bibliographic information by making index cards (on which they often write abstracts as well) for articles in the journals they receive. These index cards are filed into their public catalogs, often interfiled with cards for books and other materials. This has resulted, IGoni (1981),p. 128.

312

B. BONTA

in some cases, in the development of excellent, integrated, in-house information access systems. O f the 41 social science libraries surveyed in 1980, in fact, 59% had a card catalog which included analyses of journal articles. 1 This indexing practice provides an interesting contrast with comparable practices in the United States. North American librarians, especially academic ones, because they have a wealth of published bibliographic works--indexes, abstracting services, bibliographies-tend to develop in-house access systems for their book collections only. They therefore often make a clear distinction between a catalog of a library collection and the tools that provide access to the contents of journals and other materials. In Peru, however, the situation is quite different: the clear distinctions between bibliographic access to articles and to books do not exist, which allows, as has already been indicated, for a viewpoint that information access systems should be integrated even if only in card catalog form. ORIENTATION AND REFERENCE SERVICE The provision of orientation and reference services is one type of library public service about which this librarian's observations differed a bit from the responses given by Peruvian librarians on the various surveys. The authors of the 1975 survey of university libraries viewed reference (or reader's advisory) service as one of the three basic library services, along with providing reading rooms and circulating materials. A lack of specific statistical data, however, hampered making an exact assessment of the extent of reference services, though 22 of the 29 offered some form of orientation service. 2 The 1980 survey of social science libraries reported that 100% offered both reference and instruction services. 3 The 1980 survey of 89 science/technology libraries pointed out that library users generally lack good library use habits, they are unable to handle reference works and catalogs, and they are not normally exposed to any library orientations. 4 In fact, one of the general objectives for information development stated in Peru's 1980 National Information Policy was "to improve the circulation and use of information by training its users. ''5 O f the seven academic libraries visited in 1985, orientation programs l ConsejoNacionalde Investigacion... (1980),p. 21. 2Cuadra y Elba (1977), pp. 10 11. ConsejoNacionalde Investigation... (1980),p. 21. 4ConsejoNacionalde Investigation. . . (1980),p. 10. 5Goni (1981), p. 129.

PUBLIC

SERVICES

IN

PERUVIAN

LIBRARIES

313

appeared to be quite important in five of them. These programs vary in purpose and scope, as the institutions themselves do, but in general they tend to acquaint potential users with the libraries, collections, regulations, services, etc. One library requires attendance at an orientation for all new students before they are permitted to use the library; in several others a librarian goes into all the classes of a required general studies course on campus to talk about the library. Only one library, however, goes beyond the orientation stage into a course-related instruction program. At that library, classes are brought into the reference room and given instruction on how to use the major indexes, abstracts, and other bibliographic resources found there. Reference services are offered by many, though not all, of the libraries visited, a contradiction to the surveys mentioned above. In general terms, the better funded and staffed libraries offer very extensive reference services to their patrons. In contrast to academic libraries in the United States, where reference librarians normally help their patrons understand what they must do to find the information they seek and then turn them loose to search by themselves, in the better Peruvian academic and special libraries the librarians work with the users continuously, making certain they have successfully gotten everything that the library collections can possibly supply. Some of these libraries make distinctions in the levels of reference service they will provide, charging a fee for the more complex, involved services. One librarian indicated, however, that she sometimes offered advanced levels of service to patrons without charging what her printed regulations stipulated, since she felt that providing needed information was more important than collecting money from those who might not be able to pay. On a less encouraging note, three of the seven academic libraries keep their reference collections in a location that only the staff have access to. Thus, patrons either have to ask for reference books that would answer their questions, or hope that the staffwill be able to help them. The reasons given for the absence of a reference room and reference service were a lack of funds--reference materials could only be made available for direct public use in an area that could be continuously monitored by staff, I was told.

PUBLICATIONS

AND

OTHER

SERVICES

Publications represent another important aspect of the public service efforts of Peruvian libraries. M a n y of the libraries visited issue, with some frequency (monthly or even semi-monthly), a table of contents service for faculty or functionaries of the parent institutions, with a

314

B.

BONTA

photocopy service provided for desired articles. A number of libraries also issue bibliographical bulletins, usually including books, documents, and periodical articles added to their catalogs. These publications are frequently issued in a helpful subject-classified arrangement, and some include indexes of various types. Two libraries have begun issuing computer-produced indexing/abstracting services which have taken over the functions of the bibliographical bulletins. T h e y are carefully done works which are based on thesauri of major libraries or agencies. Furthermore, several libraries have published special catalogs of their theses, lists of their periodical collections, and special topical bibliographies. Most of these publications are handsome, effective works which appear to serve their purposes well. Also, several of the libraries provide an alerting service for users, faculty, functionaries, or paying subscribers. Requestors fill out a profile and receive alerting notices when material of interest is received. One rather minor service, noticeable because of its absence, was the lack of display areas for new books, a very common feature of North American libraries. Only one of the 20 libraries had a prominent new book display, open for the public to browse through, and a second had glass-fronted, locked cabinets in which new books are normally displayed, though there were none in them the day I visited. At that library a patron would have to ask a staff member in order to actually look through one of the new books.

CONCLUSIONS

Observers of librarianship in Third World countries have been criticized for writing purely descriptive articles without providing analytical, comparative evaluations of the situations being described. 1 This criticism is not entirely fair to librarianship in the developing countries. Librarians in those nations, at least to judge by the ones in Peru, have m a n y traditions, priorities, styles of interpersonal relationship, and perceptions of information needs for their peoples which are different from those of the industrialized countries and within which they must work in order to provide library services. Although analysis and comparison are unquestionably valuable ingredients in promoting international librarianship, the cause of Third World librarians and library development can also be served effectively if their differing practices are understood by the profession in the industrialized countries. For there is no question that Peruvian librarians are really excellent proI A. Rooke (1983) Assessment of some major journals of international/comparative librarianship. Int. Libr. Rev. 15, 245-255.

PUBLIC

SERVICES

IN

PERUVIAN

LIBRARIES

315

fessionals: they are well trained, broadly knowledgeable people who are doing their best to support the educational and informational needs of their country as it struggles to develop its economy, resources, and society. An interchange of information and ideas about librarianship between the industrialized countries and Peru may be more important for Peruvians at this point than the rigidly analytical approach so cherished by Western-style thinking. For example, a US librarian can be shocked initially that so much of the collection in the Peruvian academic library is devoted to textbooks and so little to research materials, but an understanding of budget resources and educational priorities leads to sympathy for the way the collections have developed. The same visitor could be surprised at the seemingly rigid control measures imposed on collection use, but the cost and difficulty of securing materials, plus some understanding of Peruvian social conditions, imply that these strict circulation and use policies, though they appear regrettable to the outsider, may indeed be necessary. At least the books are normally findable! The outsider is easily puzzled by the lack of what might seem to be standard bibliographic tools--international abstracting and indexing services--but an understanding of the difficulties ofinterlibrary lending, the lack of resources even within library networks, and a lack of relevancy to Latin American interests leads to an acceptance of the stage that Peruvian libraries are in, bibliographically speaking. The libraries and information centers which this outsider visited have as many differences as libraries have anywhere else. But they have certain common aspects, including very heavy patron usage, dedicated staffs, and (with a few exceptions) budgets that are inadequate to provide the kind of information resources that Peruvians need. Among some Peruvian librarians there is a mentality of poverty ("We can't do that we're a poor country, you know"), but the majority reflect a hopeful and energetic framework that indicates a strong determination to forge ahead and make progress for their libraries. Librarians in the rest of the world should be understanding and supportive of Peruvian library development, especially those efforts that will provide stronger public services.