Libraries in a cold climate

Are you a library and information professional, or do you call on the professional expertise of library and information professionals to help you in your work or when studying? Do you believe that library andinformation professionals should be allowed to develop their professional expertise to support information in whatever formats it is found in? Like a blog? Or a wiki? Or through tweets on Twitter? Or via a Facebook group? Or on YouTube or Flickr?

It seems like a no-brainer. If it's information you're after, head to the library. Libraries have embraced computers, online databases,e-books and e-journals as they arrived on the information scene. In the early days of the internet going mainstream, many people first accessed the WWW through their library - a college or university library, a public library, a library in the work place. If it's you wanted information, you went to the library. Asked a librarian. They'd been there, done that and could give you the top ten hot tips for getting information out of new sources.

But not any longer. The social networking or Web 2.0 tools andt echnologies are blocked to many librarians. In many public libraries,social networking sites are blocked as a matter of policy at network level for all staff who use the local authority network. And that includes library and information professionals.

In many companies, employees are blocked as a matter of policy from using social networking sites in case they 'abuse' the privilege and waste time at work. And that includes library and information professionals.

In many schools and colleges, social networking sites are blocked as a matter of policy to protect the students from using them on the premises. But the ban includes library and information staff.

Many government organisations ban access to social networking sitesfor all staff for unclear reasons, perhaps for security or to prevent time wasting, as a matter of policy. And that includes library andinformation professionals.

Although I could make a good case for not censoring access to online tools that are not illegal or age inappropriate, that is not my issue here. My issue is with information professionals not having access tothe new channels that information is travelling along. Channels that some of their library users are already using outside work, school, or the facilities provided by the public library. Channels that many of their library users should be aware of, as they are carrying information that is important to their work, study or interests.Channels that some of their library users will be receiving poor-quality information through, because they don't understand the provenance of the sources they are accessing.

In some UK public libraries, things are so bad that on one side ofthe counter, library users can freely access social networking sites via PCs linked up to the People's Network, but on the other side of the counter, library staff are blocked on their own PCs from accessing those same sites. The customer side of the counter - free access. The professionals' side of the counter - no access. This is the situationin many of the UK public libraries today: one counter, two cultures. Is this really the best way serving users of public library services? Of any library services?

I've been working professionally with Web 2.0/social networking forover 3 years now. I devise and run a series of seminars for library and information professionals on using these tools and technologies in their work. I love bringing new tools into the workplace, love giving people the confidence to experiment, love being part of a day where people get to 'play' professionally and use their creativity.

And social networking tools are designed to be quick to learn, easy to use, great for talking to people, and either free or very, very cheap. I work with librarians across all sectors, and I knew as soon as I started using these tools myself that they would be great for librarians. Great as new ways of accessing information and great as tools to use to share information with library users and with each other.

I was shocked when I learnt that course attendees, all professionals,struggled with access to the tools and sites we used after the first seminar way back in 2006. I find it unbelievable that this is still the case for so many colleagues three years on. It is, in my opinion, de-professionalising the library and information profession.

I have tried my best to help individuals to put together a casefor access to social networking tools and technologies. But I am writing of my frustration here in the hope that I can continue the conversation with other library professionals and perhaps with the people who block their access. I am optimistic that if we can talk about the barriers in different sectors and different organisations we can start to understand them. And then, hopefully, we can start to take them down and move all libraries into the twenty-first century.

A couple of days ago, I heard an early-ish morning news report on the radio. Bleary-eyed, I managed to make out that Arnold Schwarzenegger was about to terminate textbooks and make all school kids learn from the internet. At least, that's what it sounded like. As a plot for an action movie, wasting textbooks wasn't grabbing me. Taking a few minutes to adjust to the day, I remembered that Arnie is no longer a movie star but the Governor of California. I woke up. Now I was interested.

Several cups of tea later, with no further mention of this news story, I was still intrigued. Was Arnie really saying that kids should be let loose on the internet in preference to using set texts? Was he threatening the education of a generation to save a few dollars?  I distinctly remembered saving money being mentioned several times. But then, it was a news story, and a coherent plan to move to e-books rather than keep on with paper-based textbooks might not be seen as sexy in media circles. But hell,this is a Web 2.0 world and I am the centre of my own information hub!

So I went online. I found the original scare story and it did rather gloss over the real situation. And, be still my beating heart, the real situation was rather exciting! The BBC story declared -

"From thebeginning of the next school year in August, maths and science students in California's high schools will have access to online texts that have passed an academic standards review.".

Wow!

Following the money, I zoomed over to the FT and found that saving money was important -  full details, including figures in the article -  but also that the State of California is "... one of the biggest purchasers of school textbooks in the world so the transition to digital learning could have big implications for publishers..."

Wow!

Arnie, bless him,is looking to save money. He's also worrying about the heavy bags of books carried by Californian kids and, of course, the strain on the planet from killing all those trees to make textbooks. But... but.. he is also highlighting that a more efficient way of publishing information that is regularly updated has got to be to publish digitally. Cost-saving is never a bad thing, of course. And I love trees. And good posture is fine habit to get into when young.

But the really, really hot news is that Governor Schwarzenegger, even with his need to economise, still has a significant budget.

Now I am excited!

The storm that passed over my teacup first thing whad been whipped up on the back of letting children loose online to learn by themselves. But that, it turned out,  isn't the case at all. California is one of the most technologically-forward spots on the planet, and this story, a story that seemed to get lost by the mid-morning coffee break in themain stream news,  is the first real plan on a large scale I've seen to separate form and content. Surely here it is the content that's important?

I am very excited to see how this develops, when a customer with a large budget starts talking digital to publishers. I'll be keeping a watch on this story, and, well, in Arnie's own immortal words, I'll be back.

More and more library blogs have been appearing online over the past 2 or 3 years. Although the practical application of social networking tools in libraries is a significant part of my professional life, I haven't been tempted to blog before. I suppose that although I use blogs as one way of keeping current in my work, I wasn't really convinced I had anything new to say.

In the past few weeks, that?s changed. The current economic climate is harsh for libraries, but also offers lots of opportunities. Working in consultancy, training and research, I meet many people in all the library sectors, and I find that more and more I am wanting to share my own outlook and pass on ideas from one sector to another. I like putting people in touch, linking them up, helping things to grow and develop. I hope this blog will be another place to do this.

Also, I have found that I have a lot on my mind. A few big thoughts, many frivolous thoughts, and opinions I want to say out loud. From Arnie terminating books in California (of which more in a later post) through my ever-present enthusiasm for resource sharing and on to the hurdles facing many colleagues outside the academic sector in trying to learn and use new social networking tools, I want to have conversations. And I think this blog could a good place to start them.