ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 3 2 0 / C&RL News The W a y I S e e It Recruiting the best and the brightest By Anne K. Beaubien We m ust act now to ensure the strength o f our profession I m agine the qualifications o f th e ideal “in­formation czar” o n every cam pus in the year 2001: som eone w hose credentials com bine eral arts, com puter sei- . ence, an d inform ation studies. W here are w e going to find one such person, let alone sev­ eral thousand, if w e do not m ake a conscious ; and consistent effort to recruit today? And the problem is not limited to the future; it is w ith us now. Ask Anne Beaubien a n y a c a d e m ic lib rary personnel officer about the available pool of candidates w ith (a) science o r social science degrees, (b) both sp o k en an d w ritten fluency in any foreign language, o r (c) first-hand know l­ edge o f the struggles an d aspirations o f mi­ norities in our culture. We must address these shortages w ithout delay. I have chosen recruitm ent to the profes­ sion as my presidential them e as a w ay o f in­ creasing the variety of talents and backgrounds of those entering the field o f library an d infor­ m ation science. ACRL has initiated a num ber o f activities in this area. Be sure to attend the ACRL President’s Program in San Francisco to hear about the positive effect w e ’ve had on the profile o f librarians in career guidance materi­ als. Details about these activities and about our efforts in minority recruitm ent will be covered in ACRL’s annual report. li Three forces are battering our field right now, forces w hich will only becom e harsher in the future. These forces are not new —funding, tech­ nology, and access—bu t if w e keep them firmly in mind, w e will b e better able to spot people w ith the strength and ingenuity to turn troubles into opportunities. Those are precisely the in­ bd­ ividuals w e should urge to enter the profes­ sion. Funding As g o v ernm ent app ro p riatio n s falter, tuition dollars d ecrease, research grants shrink, and investm ent incom e declines, colleges a n d uni­ versities o f all sizes have difficulty m aintain­ ing e v en their m ost basic assets. Intensifying th ese strains for academ ic libraries are the falling exchange rate, m adly increasing seri­ als prices, an d th e w ide range o f physical for­ mats to b e acquired. Even in relatively flush p eriods, b u d g e t officers are m ore likely to allocate m o n ey for p lan t ex p an sio n a n d re n o ­ vation th a n for less visible, yet equally u r­ gent, projects like collection conservation and dev elo p m en t. Decisions in this environm ent are never easy and often am ount to a tough choice betw een people (staff) an d things (books) w ith service caught in the middle. Resource sharing must go far beyond interlibrary loan to becom e an acquisitions principle. Collection m anagers can n o longer determ ine w h at to buy b ased o n the institution’s mission, but m ust justify w hat not to buy based on cooperative arrangem ents w ith o ther institutions. Now that printed indexes are searchable in electronic form and w hole docu­ ments can be retrieved from full-text databases, w e m ust think again about ow nership, deliv­ ery, access, an d perhaps the most touchy issue o f all, fees. A nne K Beaubien is ACRL ’s 53rd president. She is the head o f cooperative access services a t the University o f Michigan in A n n Arbor. Bitnet: usergbmO@umichum.bitnet; Internet: anne.beaubien@um.cc.umich.edu mailto:anne.beaubien@um.cc.umich.edu M ay 1992 / 321 F reed o m o f inform ation is n e v e r free infor­ m ation. T h e first p h ra se is a p h ilo so p h ical p o ­ sition, th e s e c o n d is a n eco n o m ic reality. A rgu­ m ents against charging fees are m an y b u t they all e n d in a d e b a te a b o u t w h o sh o u ld subsi­ dize th e cost o f m aking inform ation available an d w h e th e r subsidies sh o u ld b e b o rn e directly b y u sers o r indirectly by th e library, p a re n t in­ stitution, o r g o v ern m en t. Issues com plicating th e d e b a te in clu d e th e definition o f prim ary clientele, th e distinctions b e tw e e n basic an d special services, a n d d eterm in in g th e cost-per- u se o f resources, especially w h e n staff inter­ v e n tio n is necessary. Technology M icrochips are to th e late 20th century w h at m o v ab le ty p e w as to th e late 15th: th e m eans o f dissem inating k n o w le d g e a n d ideas quickly to a large audience. Five h u n d re d years ago p e o p le only n e e d e d to b e literate a n d able to afford printed books to benefit from G utenberg’s b re a k th ro u g h . In a d d itio n to th o s e criteria, to d a y ’s c o n su m e rs m u st u n d e rs ta n d h o w to o p e ra te all sorts o f m ach in es th at p ro cess or co m m unicate inform ation, from te le p h o n e s an d p h o to c o p ie rs to calculators a n d com puters. T h e sam e “g a d g e ts” th a t m a k e inform ation easier an d faster to identify, obtain, reconfigure, a n d sh are also req u ire an im m ense investm ent in b o th capital a n d highly e d u c a te d labor. Fur­ th e r m o r e , c o n d itio n s a re n e v e r s ta b le . N o s o o n e r d o e d u c a to rs, b u s in e s s le a d e rs, a n d g o v ern m en ts a d o p t o n e inn o v atio n — overnight m ail delivery, for instance— th a n a n o th e r tech ­ n o lo g y su ch as facsim ile transm ission com es alo n g to co m p ete w ith o r su p p la n t it. Inform ation providers, especially in th e p u b ­ lic sector, are alw ays cau g h t— n o t b e tw e e n a ro ck a n d a h a rd place, since n o th in g rem ains stationary for long—b u t b e tw e e n an ever-higher tide o f inform ation an d a flash flood o f dem and. T h e tech n o lo g y w e u se to control th e form er a n d satisfy th e latter is o ften o b so le te before w e m aster it. E ven m ore trying th a n th e n e e d fo r co n ­ tinual e q u ip m e n t u p g ra d e s a n d staff retraining are th e increasing, a n d increasingly o p p o se d , ex p ectatio n s o f library users. Som e w a n t us to teac h th e m everything so th e y can b e self-suf­ ficient, w h ile o th ers insist w e instantly pro v id e co m p lete d o c u m e n ts to th eir desks. T h e p o s ­ sible, h o w e v e r costly, b e c o m e s th e required. B ecause tech n o lo g y sp e e d s inform ation flow, p e o p le assu m e tim e is sav ed w h e n in fact m ore a n d m o re o f it is sp e n t o n planning, im p lem en ­ tation, a n d explanation. Access T he last m e m b e r o f th e trium virate o f c o n cern s o n m y m ind is access to re c o rd e d inform ation. F u n d in g a n d tech n o lo g y obvio u sly influence access, b u t so d o old -fash io n ed factors like p ro ­ fessionalism , m arketing, a n d c o m m itm en t to ex cellen t service. I o ften h e a r th at o u r role is changing, that librarians are n o lo n g e r getters, m arkers, a n d k e e p e rs o f inform ation. In stead w e are s u p ­ p o s e d to b e “inform ation specialists,” train ed to d isco v er a n d p ro d u c e inform ation o n d e ­ m a n d a n d o ften to h e lp ev alu a te a n d m a n ip u ­ late it as w ell. I think b o th th ese im ages are w rong. O u r role has n o t ch an g ed , o u r tasks an d m eth o d s have. Civilization will alw ays n e e d th e ex p ertise w e bring to th e cap tu re, o rgani­ zation, a n d retrieval o f k n o w led g e, w h e th e r th e m e a n s w e u se is a cardfile o r an o n lin e d a ta ­ base. T he real ch allen g e o f access is to a p p ro p ri­ ately m ark et o u r collections a n d services to o u r c u rren t a n d p o ten tial clientele. In h ig h e r e d u ­ c atio n “ap p ro p ria te ly ” im plies a co n stan t effort to s u p p o rt teac h in g , learning, a n d investiga­ tion. W e m u st m ark et o u r talents as library in­ structors, research consultants, a n d all-purpose p ro b le m solvers w h e th e r o u r w o rk is selection, acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, reference, p reserv atio n , o r an y o th e r specialty, n o t th e least o f w h ic h is adm inistration. G o o d access is n o t autom atic in libraries. It is b a se d o n a desire to serve th o se w h o in­ quire. N o policy can p ro d u c e this desire, al­ th o u g h policies can d estro y it. E ach e n c o u n te r w e hav e w ith users is u n iq u e, taking th e p e r­ so n a n d th e n e e d as a unit. W e m ust re s p o n d to this u n iq u e n e s s as w e assist th e individual, w ith o u t e ith e r patro n izin g o r p reach in g . F ind­ ing an sw ers a n d m atching u sers w ith sources is a fine b u t ultim ately frustrating occupation. O u r real goal as acad em ic p rofessionals sho u ld b e to stim ulate th o u g h t a n d fu rth e r inquiry, w hich in turn leads to m ore conversations ab o u t access. So w h e n I th in k a b o u t recruiting, I think a b o u t th e co lleag u es I w a n t to w o rk w ith in th e fu tu re o n th e se critical issues o f funding, tech n o lo g y , a n d access. I w a n t to b e co n fid en t th at th e b est p e o p le — p e o p le w ith the b a c k ­ g ro u n d , character, e d u catio n , a n d ex p erien ce (Beaubien cont. on p age 3 23) M ay 1992 / 3 23 four different w ays p u b lish ers are d ealin g w ith electronic storage a n d u se o f journal articles. For a n u m b e r o f years science p u b lish ers have b e e n distributing full text w ith o u t graphics elec­ tronically th ro u g h STN. B ecause o f th e loss o f im p o rtan t graphics, h ow ever, u sers see su ch access as a surrogate, n o t a su b stitu te for th e co m p lete article. A nother m e th o d o f distribution has involved CD-ROM collections o f b it-m ap p ed articles from selected journals, a n a p p ro a c h e m p lo y e d by UMI. A d o n is is a d o cu m en t delivery service sold o n subscription, em ploying a sim ilar ap p ro ach . It is a CD-ROM collection o f articles from 360 bio m ed ical journals from 30 different p u b lish ­ ers, a n d th e su b sc rip tio n p rice is a b o u t te n p e rc e n t o f the list price o f th e p a p e r co p y o f th e journals plus a charge for e a c h co p y m ade. P u b lish e rs m ay also g ra n t p e rm iss io n to o th e r organizations th at req u est electronic ac­ cess to pro v id e d o c u m e n t delivery. A lthough n o t m an y large p u b lish ers h av e y et ag reed to p ro v id e that access, Elsevier’s H unter thinks that w ill change. She cited U ncover 2 as o n e su c­ cessful collaboration. P ublishers are also u su ­ ally w illing to perm it co rp o rate u se o f th e elec­ tronic inform ation b e c a u se th ey are unlikely to e x te n d access b e y o n d th e c o m p a n y to com ­ petitors. Some universities, such as Cornell and Carnegie-Mellon, have also succeeded in making experimental arrangements w ith publishers. Elsevier is considering a n o th e r ap p ro ach . Its Tulip (T he U niversity Licensing P rogram ) p ro ­ p o sal w o u ld lo ad the p a g e im ages o f 42 jour­ nals in m aterial science o n to an In tern et server for n etw o rk distribution to a d o z e n participat­ ing universities. T h e universities w o u ld th e n b e licen sed to redistribute th e articles th ro u g h ­ o u t th eir cam p u ses using w h a te v e r local sys­ tem a n d procedures seem ed appropriate to their users. From th e p u b lish e rs’ p o in t o f v iew the m ajor issues are n o t technical, b u t legal an d econom ic. Such an u n b u n d lin g o f services in­ volves significant risk. A d ecisio n is e x p e c te d later this year. EBSCO's perspective R ounding o u t th e program , EBSCO vice-presi­ d e n t Tim Collins p ro v id ed th e p ersp ectiv e o f a p u b lish e r a n d subscription agent. EBSCO p ro ­ d u c e s A c a d e m ic Abstracts, providing abstracts fo r 10,000 general referen ce m agazines, as w ell as serving as a su b scrip tio n a g e n t fo r libraries. Collins thinks th e biggest ch a n g e in th e in­ d u stry h as b e e n th e p h e n o m e n a l g row th in in­ form ation w ith its im plications for publishers, libraries, an d researchers. Libraries are looking for w ays to control th e rising cost o f acquiring the incredible surge in p u b lish e d inform ation. Increasingly th ey are relying o n electronically p ro d u c e d abstracts from w h ich p atro n s select th o se articles th e y w ish to exam ine. T hose ar­ ticles are th e n p u rc h a s e d th ro u g h a d o c u m e n t delivery system , ob v iatin g th e n e e d to buy, catalog, bind, a n d shelve p a p e r c o p ies o f e n ­ tire journals. As m o re institutions c h o o se to cancel su b ­ scrip tio n s a n d su b stitu te d o c u m e n t delivery, p u b lish ers are co n sid erin g h o w to price their p ro d u cts a n d services. T heir a p p ro a c h , acco rd ­ ing to Collins, h as b e e n m o re intuitive th a n scientific. If th e p u b lish er o f inform ation in elec­ tronic form b eliev es th at inform ation will b e infrequently consulted, h e will p ro b ab ly charge a high initial p u rc h a se price in o rd e r to recover costs. If, h o w e v e r, h e b eliev es his p ro d u c t will b e c o n s u lte d v ery o ften , h e w ill p ro b a b ly b e in c lin e d to p ro v id e th e p r o d u c t as in e x p e n ­ sively as p o ss ib le , rely in g o n p e r-u se ch arg es to re c o v e r his in v estm en t. After setting charges based o n intuition, publishers then measure the effect o f that pricing policy and revise it as experi­ ence dictates. EBSCO has used this approach in marketing hundreds o f its CD products. EBSCO ’s se m in a r, a tt e n d e d b y a p p r o x i­ m ately 60 librarians, c o n c lu d e d w ith a b rief q u estio n a n d a n sw e r p eriod. ■ (Beaubien co n t.fro m p age 3 21) to un d erstan d these im m ensely difficult forces— are read y at all levels o f o u r pro fessio n to m ake w ise decisions b a se d o n fact rath er th a n illu­ sion. I w a n t to co n fer w ith p e o p le w h o will se e all sides o f an y p ro b lem , w h o have th e creativity a n d en erg y to th in k n e w thoughts, w h o can m otivate th o se a ro u n d them , yet w h o will acc e p t real constraints a n d b e w illing to ch an g e their o p in io n s w h e n necessary. T hose are m y p e rso n a l reaso n s fo r advocating recruit­ m ent. I h o p e y o u will sh are them . This h as b e e n a n im m ensely exciting year fo r m e, o n e I will n e v e r forget. As it w in d s d o w n , I w a n t to th a n k A lthea Jenkins, C athleen B o u rd o n , Mary Ellen Davis, Sheila D elacroix, a n d M argaret Myers an d all th eir very cap ab le staff for unfailing su p p o rt. T he association is in ex cellen t h an d s, a n d I a m h o n o re d to have w o rk e d w ith its staff a n d w ith so m any m em ­ b ers to accom plish o u r co m m o n goals. ■ CRLN_53_5_320.pdf CRLN_53_5_321.pdf