College and Research Libraries ..... ALEXANDER SCHURE From the Chair of the Presidency Libraries must exploit various new technologies to control the infor- mation explosion. In spite of past failures and resistance by librari- ans to the use of the new technology, lessons have been learned on how it can be employed successfully. Greatest immediate impact is seen in the use of the computer, miniaturization, broad band com- munication, video reproducers, and graphic devices. IN THEIR CONSIDERATION OF LIBRARIES, there are several areas in which most college presidents agree: ( 1) it requires time and money to improve services; ( 2) an answer must be found to the cost and physical expense of library buildings; ( 3) the retrieval efficiency of the conventional library must be im- proved; ( 4) the inflationary cost rises presently reflected within the library must not bear a growth ratio within the total cost of college operations greater than the rising cost of other essential services within the institution; and ( 5) it is quite possible for a college presi- dent to take the view that the library of his institution hgls become too important to be left to the librarians alone. An explanation of the last remark lies in the changing nature of our in- stitutions and their administration. A major emphasis for many institutions is a deep concern for maintenance of enrollment. The competition among public and private sister institutions for the ~~traditional" entering freshman Alexander Schure is president, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury. This article is based on an address deliv- ered at the ACRL College Libraries Sec- tion program meeting, ~'The Task of Col- lege Libraries in the Seventies,', in New York, July 1974. 1881 grows fiercer. The declining birth rate seems to indicate that this source for most schools will shrink, at least in the immediate future. The one trend which heartens most administrators is the growing emphasis in continuing educa- tion. It has produced a new college mar- ket for adults and a series of alterna- tives to traditional education. The thrust of both of these directions is to turn much of education and many of the students away from the local central campus. The information contained in the college campus library must even- tually be able to reach these students easily. This requires techniques and technologies more sophisticated than those available in most libraries. INFORMATION AND LmRARIEs Modern campuses mirror the transi- tions occurring everywhere. A host of social, economic, scientific, and techno- logical factors are remolding our society and, along with it, the nature of mod- em education. Dr. Andrew R. Molnar of the National Science Foundation, de- scribing the information explosion the world is undergoing, notes "90 percent of all the scholars who have ever con- tributed to the body of scientific knowl- edge are alive today." He adds: Information is increasing exponential- From the Chair of the Presidency/ 189 ly and can be expected to double in the next twelve years. H a given dis- cipline or specialization could be as- sumed to contain one one-thousandth of all knowledge, and if a scientist were to read at the rate of 3,000 char- acters per minute (about the rate at which we read a novel), and if he were to read thirteen hours a day for 365 days per year, it would take him twelve years to read everything in his specialty. At the end of this time, he would find that he was twelve years behind in his reading and that the vol- ume of new materials had doubled. Sixty years ago, a scientist would be required to read twenty-five minutes per day. Twelve years from now he will have to read continuously, day and night, every day of the year.l A statement from the National Advis- ory Commission on Libraries gives an apt summary on the condition of li- braries-what is now and what probably will be: The purpose and general character of library services have not changed greatly over the past forty years. What have changed for most libraries are the range and volume of demand and use. The rapid and pervasive growth of specialization in new subject matters, together with an increasingly large and literate user population, has placed se- vere burdens on libraries of all kinds. . . . If the libraries are to do more than keep pace-i.e., to provide better and broader service than they now do-a much more aggressive and integrated approach to improvement will be needed. . . . It will be necessary to think in terms of more interdependent modes of operation. It will also be necessary to take better advantage of the developing·technology.2 · In his 1945 article in Atlantic Month- ly, Dr. Vannevar Bush wrote: The summation of human experience is being expanded at a prodigious rate, and the means we use for threading through the consequent maze to the momentarily important item is the same as was used in the days of the square-rigged ships.3 Since that statement the expanded range of available communication tech- nology cail be de-monstrated by even a partial listing of communication (and library applicable) technologies, includ- ing: ( 1) multiplex radio, high speed facsimile, laser, satellite transmission, microwaves; ( 2) LP disc and paper rec- ords, video and audio recorders, discs and playbacks; ( 3) television, color tele- vision, interactive cable television, cas- sette television; and ( 4) computers and data processing, minicomputers and mini peripherals. We come then, not surprisingly, to the application of technology as it relates to the library, a process still in its in- fancy. Relatively few libraries really use the sophisticated technologies in any major fashion. This is both understand- able and not too disturbing. Just as it has taken the aerospace industry from 1903 to 1973 to move from Kitty Hawk to a probe of Mars, it is likely we shall see (in some shorter span than that sev- enty years) library technology having the impact and capabilities that its most enthusiastic proponents advocate for it. At this moment, though, the technol- ogies we have on-line in most library fa- cilities, while varied, are basically primi- tive. THE COLLEGE PRESIDENT AND TECHNOLOGY Administrators see their library facil- ities in terms of their actual capacity to serve the constituency of their institu- tions; and from this vantage point they proceed to assess priorities with respect to the economics of the library opera- tion. In critical budget times, answers to the urgent fiscal problems confront- ing administrators and trustees are not likely to come from the presently avail- able hardware and systems convenient- ly described as "library technology." In the present state of the art it is prema- 190 j College & Research Libraries • May 1975 ture to anticipate technology as the means of reducing the relentlessly rising costs of library services. Yet increasing potentials for relief by way of technol- ogy are on the horizon. To quote James Koerner of the Sloan Foundation, "His- tory suggests that new technologies are often overrated in the short run but vindicate their prophets in the long run."4 College presidents have obvious con- cerns as they ponder decisions to be made with respect to their recommenda- tions for funding library projects re- lating to technology. They have learned painful lessons with similar causes. The failures of the past, easily identifiable, are quite parallel to the rationale for lack of success to date with educational technology and are worth recapitulat- ing: l. The equipment or hardware used has often fallen short of claims made for it. The more complex and advanced the hardware sys- tems, the more serious the prob- lems of reliability, maintenance, and incompatibility with other sys- tems. 2. Institution-wide standardization is not present. Further, the obsoles- cence rate of hardware is substan- tial, requiring capital ·investment for new or improved systems con- tinuously. Then the programming or software has not kept pace with hardware development. 3. Not enough fundamental research has been carried out to identify with precision the direct nature and needs of library and informa- tion researchers. It is necessary for us to know more about the fashion in which information utilization takes place with heterogeneous groups of library users. 4. Past failures reflect a number of additional factors. Projects are of- ten begun without definitive articu- lation of purpose; without prior at- tention to the technical compo- nents of the project; without di- rect involvement of the partici- pants, particularly librarians; with- out thorough orderly evaluation; or without adequate understanding of the attitudes of librarians to- ward the whole concept of tech- nology within the library. LmRARIANS AND TECHNOLOGY Since administrators interact with li- brarians, it is helpful to suggest ration- ales as to why working librarians tend to resist technology: l. The basic conservatism of the li- brary establishment. 2. Fear of the effects of library tech- nology on the professional librari- an's role and responsibilities. 3. The ineptitude and insensitivity of the equipment manufacturers. 4. The insensitivity and ineptitude of administrators. 5. A minimal or nonexistent involve- ment of professional librarians at the various steps of the process of introduction of technology. Another major cause for resistance of the librarian lies in the apprehension engendered by an increasingly sophisti- cated library technology. Librarians are hesitant to acquire new responsibilities which they may not be professionally equipped to handle. They fear that technology may be library replacers in- stead of library extenders. They are concerned that they may lose what they regard as "the essence of professional being"; and that they will face compe- tition from an inhuman, unpaid adver- sary. Technology within the library brings to many librarians a vision of in- vasion of their authority, a loss of au- tonomy, degradation of their profes- sional privacy, and an ultimate separa- tion from the library user. Their inter- From the Chair of the Presidency j 191 pretations are those consistent with views of a downgraded position, with loss of prestige, autonomy, recognitions, and rewards. A RoLE FOR LmRARY TECHNOLOGY The converse of the reasons we learn from our failures are guides to a for- mula for success in library technology applications. Thus, as essentials we can state: 1. A recognized and generally agreed upon need must exist. 2. Objectives to be achieved must be stipulated and must guide the projects. 3. An organizational structure must exist which makes success possible, or at least does not in advance as- sure failure. 4. Leadership must be exerted at the right level of authority, responsi- bility, and control. 5. Librarians must participate in their support of the project. 6. Rationality and available econom- ics must determine the use of the techniques selected. In 1966 a new view of libraries and information centers was presented at Princeton University. It was suggested that it may be useful to set aside the concept of a library as a collection of books and instead think of it as one part of the business of information transfer, as one segment of the con- veyor belt which moves the product of intellectual activity, whether a poem or the specifications for a housing project, from the mind of the creator to the mind of the receiver. Within the framework of the con- straints already referred to, some ad- ministrators really believe that this dec- ade will bring substantive advances within domains of technology applied to libraries. The systems most likely to have the greatest impact are: Computers The great strength within this tech- nology lies in its capabilities to process vast amounts of information. Increased availability of large-scale time-sharing and dedicated minicomputers may make available greater ranges of access to in- formation. Miniaturization Microfiche technology now allows sub- stantial amounts of information to be placed on transparent material. It can then be used either through enlarge- ment on a reading machine or reproduc- tion onto paper. Other microforms are now used increasingly. It seems logical to expect even larger microform collec- tions. The introduction of direct infor- mation transfer between computers and various microforms and of increasingly sophisticated ultramicroform technol- ogy is not too far in the future. It seems logical that, as costs of microfilm continue to decrease and quality to in- crease, electronic access to such micro- forms will come into increased popu- larity. Broad Band Communication These are systems capable of trans- ferring very large numbers of visual or audio electronic signals to allow any kind of educational transmissions to au- diences at almost any distance. Coaxial cables, microwave, satellites, and lasers give a capability to structure large num- bers of telecommunications networks with almost unlimited capability. These networks can bind public and private institutions together to send informa- tion directly into homes or offices. Video Reproducers The capacity to store in compact form motion pictures on tape decks or on films for replay at the convenience of the user, when coupled with broad band technology, offers promise of com- 192 j College & Research Libraries • May 1975 bining video and computer technology. We can, through this combination, send to new audiences any amount of infor- mal programming with illustrations and sound. Further, videotapes do not even require a transmission system. They need only access to a playback device. Books and Graphic Devices The availability of inexpensive copy- . ing machines and the breakthroughs in graphic techniques are reflected in the use of one of the earliest major visual arts, the book. Similarly, in the devel- opment of photocomposition the com- puter may well provide the libraries with several options not feasible in the past. CoNCLUSION It is important to differentiate be- tween trends and the most likely reality. In the next five years, from my view- point, printed materials will remain as the primary carriers. Professional li- brarians will continue to be the rna jor catalogers and handlers of information stored within libraries, although they will be aided in many instances by the systems just described. Use of all of the sophisticated technological systems will undoubtedly increase. Administrators must be wary, however, that their pri- orities are the correct ones and that they help allocate to the librarians continued funds to be spent for the art of the technologically possib~e. REFERENCES 1. Andrew R. Molnar, "Education and the Knowledge Society" (Washington, D.C.: Na- tional 'Science Foundation, 1972), p.l. 2. Douglas M. Knight and E. Shepley Nourse, eds., Libraries at Large (New York: Bow- ker, 1969), p.283. 3. Vannevar Bush, "As We May Think," re- printed in his Endless Horizons (Washing- ton, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1946), p.l7- 18. 4. James Koerner, "Educational Technology: Does It Have a Place in the Classroom?" Saturday Review of Education 1:46 (May 1973).