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Less is more: A creed for the new millenniumMichael Middleton KEYNOTE for Association of Parliamentary Libraries of Australasia ABSTRACT The refinement of information service from parliamentary libraries is considered with respect to the concepts of user empowerment, intermediation, knowledge management, constituency, and digitisation. An attempt is made to show how these may improve the value of information and its provision. Introduction I skimmed back through a number of this conference's earlier proceedings to see what had been occupying you in the past. I noted from the first meeting a recurrence of certain themes. As a group you have always concerned yourselves with such matters as: Practice (housekeeping methods and collection management) and perhaps more than anything, you have pursued approaches to provision of Research and information services. I'll call these perennial issues, ones that no doubt will occupy us at length during this meeting. Is it appropriate to pursue my theme of 'less is more' for these? I think not - although in relation to technology at least, some of you may have seen the whimsical efforts circulating on the Internet recently, that attempt to reconcile the complexity of technology with the simplicity of haikus… I would like to overlay the perennial issues with what I'll call the millennial issues. None of these is distinct from the perennials, but I think that they are worth focusing on in their own right, because of the attention to them that is presently being paid by the profession as a whole. They are: Empowerment Issues for the new millenium Empowerment It should be said that empowering users with all the information that they need, does not necessarily mean that they will make the right decisions using it. This might be illustrated with the anecdote of the construction workers. In computing, the 'end user' is spoken about with mixed feelings by IT professionals. It is agreeable to be able to provide the ultimate users of information with the power to carry out their own tasks with their own software. However, from an institutional perspective, there are countervailing drawbacks. These include loss of standardisation, purchasing control, data quality, and training coordination. These have been ameliorated in some cases by creating information centres to reacquaint the users with the expertise available concerning the software. In libraries, we also have had reservations about leaving users to their own devices. We know that when they seek known items, they often have difficulty identifying them in the structured way that cataloguing principles demand. ("I want that report on schools put out by the education department last year" may be referring to a conference proceedings dealing with teacher training published five years ago - but by which education department?). We know that when they seek general subject material, they often have difficulty expressing the scope and context of a topic, as well as the relationships between aspects of the topic - and that their orientation may well change anyway, when some 'relevant' material is found for them. Nevertheless, software development is progressively providing increasing functionality for information retrieval together with desktop delivery, making us think that the end users are capable of getting directly to their required material and using it effectively - but are they? In many cases they lack the information literacy. (I'm assuming here a constituency of parliamentarians and their associated researchers) Information literacy The information literate person is able to engage in independent self-directed learning, has values that promote information use, uses information technology and systems, has developed an information style, has knowledge of the world of information, approaches information critically, and implements information processes (Bruce, 1995). There have been increasing attempts at all levels of the education in recent times to promote information literacy so that students effectively use information for critical thinking and problem solving. How many of the characteristics apply to your own user community? Probably some do - I would expect that there is in most, a finely honed critical approach to information, and no doubt a personal information style. However, to what extent are they apprised of the world of information pertinent to their needs, and to the processes for obtaining it? Instructional role The empowerment of end users through information literacy, means that it is incumbent upon library staff to take an increasing instructional role, and to prepare themselves for it by such mechanisms as undertaking train-the-trainer programs, producing orientation sessions, or devising contextually appropriate examples. I should add that in the education of librarians, this is an area that we (the Schools) are increasingly emphasising, either explicitly through units within courses that deal with instruction, or implicitly by requiring students to present some assignments in an instructional manner. To defend my theme here, I would say that the Less time that we have to spend assisting users to do what they should be doing independently, then the More time we can devote to the types of tasks that support the end users' information processes. Among these are the tasks of intermediation. Intermediation The wonderful term 'disintermediation' has been bandied about in our professional conferences and journals in recent times (Kinghorn, 1996; Fourie, 1999), as authors grapple with a perceived diminishing role for information workers in the digital information environment. The empowerment of the user that I referred to earlier, is seen to be disadvantaging the librarian. I'm not sure that this is so. In addition to a proactive training role, there are other practices that may be given increased attention. In particular, the role of the cataloguer and indexer which has certainly be diminished in libraries that have used cooperative cataloguing systems, or outsourced aspects of their technical services, may find new directions, though probably under a different rubric such as Knowledge organisation. There are elements of this in practices such as filtering, web classification, and metainformation for which there are considerable opportunities. Filtering Individuals may set up their own filter systems, but library-based ones may be created and maintained for current awareness purposes - selective dissemination of information under the new guise of 'push technology'. Web classification You can impose multiple classification systems on the Web rather than try to classify the whole field of knowledge. Although, there are many sites on the Web that are attempting to use library classification systems (Dewey, LC, UDC) for structuring access to knowledge, I think that we are more likely to see domain-specific schemes being developed. These will provide mediated access to relatively specific fields of knowledge using less compromising classification schemes. Therefore Parliamentary libraries for example, will need to develop schemes, or use existing schemes to provide organised, but independent access to areas such as health, education, information technology and the like. You may find links to online versions of a number of these schemes at a site that I maintain (Middleton, 1999). Metainformation/metadata Promulgation of the AGLS (Australian Government Locator Service) in particular, means that there is a more formalised requirement to provide indexing, categorisation and maintenance of web pages that are created for a government organisation - thus opportunities for site maintenance (Web 'mastering' if you like) using information skills, exist both within and beyond the library. So there may indeed be Less personal intermediation, that is compensated for by More impersonal intermediation through creation and maintenance of interfaces structured for specific user groups or users. Knowledge management I've introduced this subject because of its current interest, not least among law librarians, who have taken up the cudgel for it as a strategy for establishing knowledge centres in law practices that see themselves as learning organisations. Knowledge management is regularly used to describe procedures for taking advantage of intellectual capital in enterprises, and making best use of the knowledge of organisational personnel. If there is a difference from what has been practiced long since by security agencies, librarians and business analysts, it is the recognition of the ability of information technology to support the systematisation and dissemination of knowledge, and the need for structured organisational learning processes to facilitate this. To take a North American slant on it: "the systematic leveraging of information and expertise to improve organizational innovation, responsiveness, productivity, and competency." (Kaplan, 1999) Does it have any relevance to the parliamentary environment? I think it may, if only for what may be political advantage in substituting an apparently new advance (with its associated hyperbole), for something that you have been carrying out in the normal course of duties for sometime. However, the parliamentary milieu, harbouring as it does, diverse political interests, cannot be expected to share information for mutual benefit in the way that a business might. Information and knowledge Unfortunately, a lot of hyperbole about knowledge management, does not take time to examine definitions, or distinction between information and knowledge. Information scientists usually strive to make a differentiation that goes beyond dictionary definitions, and builds in a continuum from a distinction between data and information. Some of these 'information' definitions adopt an approach in which information is self-contained and has a kind of objective existence independent of use. Alternative approaches have information defined by its use and human interpretation. The latter requires information to be constructed by the cognition of receivers. These approaches can be reconciled, if you accept that information is being analysed at a different level of interpretation for different purposes, and that the apprehension and contextualising of information makes it knowledge (tacit knowledge to distinguish it from documented knowledge, or information). Managing knowledge or people? The tacit knowledge, so important for knowledge management, has to be expressed in some way to be managed. It must therefor transit back through an information stage and be managed as information. If it's not recorded, the sharing of knowledge takes place by conversations or meetings particular to the organisational culture and governed by human resources management. The learning organisation The term has been used in contexts ranging from schools to corporations. In such cases we can generally assume that it involves leadership that focuses on learning and the employees' identifying and pursuing a common purpose. Their objectives would regularly be collectively reviewed and modified if necessary. There would be continuously evolving more effective and efficient ways of accomplishing the purposes by improving communication channels, developing collaborative structures, running professional development programs, and managing information in a concerted manner. Knowledge, being intrinsic, cannot really be managed, but by having Less hyperbole about knowledge management and More practice of information management, the knowledge of the users may be enhanced. Digitisation The digital library is a concept that has been with us for some time, and which in some cases parliamentary libraries are leading. Digitising as we go So much of the newly created documentation - be it text, sound or image, is created in digital form, that the digital collection is something we have 'available to hand' as the individual items are created. The collection does not of course become a digital library until the intermediation produces the organisation that enables us to find what we want (at least some of the time!) from it. Retrospective conversion We are familiar with this term in relation to conversion of old catalogues to new, particularly MARC-based, ones. Increasingly we may apply it to the source, rather than the reference information. When catalogues have been converted, the opportunity has often been taken to 'weed' parts of collections (or at least, parts of finding aids). We can take the opportunity to be similarly discriminating with source material. Much material does not justify the cots of conversion, but the rich heritage of Australia's parliamentary libraries (Tillotson, 1988) exemplified, in the case of where we are now, by the O'Donovan collection, lends itself to research and identification of new compound digital documents. For example historical information about Australian States and New Zealand warrants wider exposure both within the libraries and beyond. The hybrid library Therefore, assuming that we have the digital finding aids in good order, we can provide consolidated access to both the digital material, and the 'legacy' material for which we are custodians, and we can draw from the legacy material to enrich the digital collections. Digital finding aids In short if we attempt Less to digitise everything in our collections and More to be selective - for a specified requirement, perhaps certain images from an old book, or a transcript from some government records, rather than the documents themselves - then the progressive digitisation process will be most effective. Constituency The restricted constituency that is served by parliamentary libraries, means that devices such as protection of intellectual property may be interpreted much more freely. However, there must surely be a significant amount of material that is not constrained, which could be more widely disseminated in the interests of democracy. I'm not speaking of contemporary cabinet minutes here, but of material from historical documents, and perhaps images of the parliamentary process. Do we know whom we serve? The parliaments of course, serve the people. Although the parliamentary libraries are not resourced to provide for the general public, it would seem reasonable if the rich resources to which they are party, can at least within intellectual property constraints, be made more widely available for the benefit of the community. This is working on the assumption that the process is one that is incidental to the principal information provision procedures. A case for wider dissemination The present technology enables us for example to provide parallel servers that could concurrently provide for internal secure use, and limited external use of public material. If appropriate management processes were to be instituted, it would be possible to distinguish that material available to an internal server, from that which is to the general public. If we take Less than the whole of what is being made available to our prime constituency, we can using digital technology selectively make More than hitherto available to the wider community. Value Nicholas Negroponte (1995) tells a story about declaring the value of a laptop computer when he signed in with it to a large corporation. He estimated it in the millions because of the value of the bits, rather than the value of the hardware. This was done to value the information rather than value the hardware. We have for some time, and with not a great deal of success, been at pains to value information in the same way that we value other resources such as labour and buildings. Some progress has been made, for example through the work or King Research. However the intangibility of information, the fact that it may be given away, and still be retained, its propensity to leak, and its great sensitivity to time, place and perception make economic valuation of it, highly problematical. I have tried to point to some areas where information can be valued more by judiciously stemming its flow, rather than by leaving the floodgates open. We have within our capacity the ability to enhance the value of information by providing for our users the level of discrimination that reduces their anxiety about 'infoglut', one of the manifestations of our rapidly changing times. It was anxiety about change in a spiritually impoverished (American) society that Colleen McCullough (1985) used in her novel which gave me the subtitle for this presentation. It came out to less than favourable reviews. Her fictional society turned to a messianic leader. Perhaps, the deliverance that our information seekers will seek in terms of information provision at least, is alleviation of the anxiety by delivering the right information to the right people at the right time. I trust that with these preliminary comments I have provided a stimulant for your ensuing deliberations. References Australian Government Locator Service (1998) [Online]. Available: http://www.naa.gov.au/govserv/agls/ [July 14, 1999] Bruce, C.S. (1995). 'Information literacy: a framework for higher education'. Australian Library Journal 44,3, pp.158-169. Fourie, I. (1999) 'Should we take disintermediation seriously?' Electronic Library,17, 1, pp.9-16. Kaplan, R. (1999, July 13) Knowbits. KnowldgWORKS News, 1, 11 [Online]. Available E-mail: knowldgWORKSNews@lists.webvalence.com. [July 12, 1999]. Kinghorn, C. (1996). 'What to do when disintermediation looms'. In: Raitt, D.I. & Jeapes, B. (Eds.) Online Information 96 Proceedings.20th International Online Information Meeting. Learned Inf. (Europe), Oxford, UK, pp. 363-6. McCullough, C. (1985). A creed for the third millenium. Harper & Row, Sydney. Middleton, M.R. (1999) Controlled vocabularies [Online]. Available: http://www.fit.qut.edu.au/InfoSys/middle/cont_voc.html [July 14, 1999] Negroponte, N. (1995). Being digital, Hodder & Stoughton, Rydalmere, NSW. Tillotson, G. (1988). Australian parliamentary libraries, 1840-1980's. In: Rayward, W.B. (Ed.) Australian library history in context: papers for the Third Forum on Australian Library History, UNSW, July, 1987. UNSW School of Librarianship, Sydney. |