ferguson.p65 300 College & Research Libraries July 2000 ‘Shaking the Conceptual Foundations,’ Too: Integrating Research and Technology Support for the Next Generation of Information Service Chris Ferguson Basic approaches to reference service have not altered in recent decades despite dramatic changes in user needs, customer service technologies, and transformations in other areas of the library. Rather than add more layers of experimental services that deplete resources and increase com­ plexity, information service should be reconceived to include new partners in support of the use of technology while undertaking substantially new approaches to on-site and network-based information service. By reengineering organizations in ways that bring librarians and technolo­ gists together within a common service environment, information service agencies can more effectively meet our users’ needs by moving more fully and flexibly into the network as changing circumstances warrant. ight years ago, Jerry D. Campbell wrote a controver­ sial article that was among the first of a wave of publications, listserv discussions, professional meet­ ings, and “rethinking” institutes on the future of reference service.1 Nearly a de­ cade later, his notions of (1) automating a large portion of reference service, with librarians engaged in new roles such as consumer analysis; (2) mapping new routes to new sources of information; and (3) putting users in touch with needed in­ formation within a largely electronic en­ vironment have become commonplace. In the meantime, the world has changed dramatically, but fundamental approaches to academic library reference service have not. In the 1970s and 1980s, cataloging and acquisitions were infused with technology in ways that led to online catalogs, greater interinstitutional collaboration, and, ultimately, consider­ able reengineering of cataloging opera­ tions. In the 1980s and 1990s circulation and access services, driven by the rapid emergence of online catalogs, automated circulation systems, electronic reserve readings, and advances in document de­ livery and interlibrary loan (ILL), under- Chris Ferguson, Director, Doheny Memorial Library, Information Services Division, at the University of Southern California; e-mail: cdf@usc.edu. The author gratefully acknowledges valuable comments on early drafts of this manuscript made by Phyllis Mirsky, UC San Diego; Beverly Lynch, UCLA; and Richard Werking, United States Naval Academy. An early version was presented to the 1999 ARL/UCLA Senior Fellows in August 1999. 300 mailto:cdf@usc.edu ‘Shaking the Conceptual Foundations,’ Too 301 went fundamental changes in both the way they do business and the business they do, including multi-agency collabo­ rations for the delivery of core services. The next generation of academic reference service must, in fact, broaden and deepen its presence in the network by reconceiving the parameters and nature of informa­ tion service. Reference librarians have indeed made heroic accommodations for tech­ nology and major adaptations to new formats and communication media. Though somewhat dated, the sentiment of James Govan remains valid today: The smoothness with which today’s library staff have assimi­ lated nationally networked catalog­ ing, online searching, online local catalogs, microcomputers, local networking, compact discs, and the wide variety of other systems based on digitized information, while at the same time quietly schooling their patrons in the use of these sys­ tems, is a largely unrecognized miracle in American higher educa­ tion over the past decade and a half.2 Nevertheless, academic library refer­ ence service remains very much the same in terms of organizational structures, ser­ vice philosophies and designs, and eco­ nomic models. Reference service is the last frontier in libraries to engage in ex­ tensive interinstitutional collaboration for the delivery of basic services within digital environments, perhaps because it is the last to remain structured primarily around physical objects and the library as place.3 In recent years, many experiments in new approaches to reference service such as e-mail, videoconferencing, and coop­ erative approaches through the network have been undertaken in an earnest de­ sire to meet users’ changing needs.4 Al­ though these have been worthwhile at­ tempts to move more fully into the net­ work where users are going, reference service has a considerable way to go in order to meet user needs in an increas­ ingly complex and digital environment. The next generation of academic refer­ ence service must, in fact, broaden and deepen its presence in the network by re­ conceiving the parameters and nature of information service. And in so doing, ref­ erence librarians must translate the core values of equity of access, personal ser­ vice, and service tailored to individu­ als—the hallmarks of twentieth-century American libraries—in ways that retain their proximity and relevance for a gen­ eration of students and faculty who will have grown up with the Internet and the World Wide Web. As it stands, though, academic library users have not taken to these new offer­ ings in large numbers because reference services have not been adequately inte­ grated within their information-seeking “space,” either within the network or on- site within libraries and computing cen­ ters. Students and faculty still need to make a concerted effort to find these ser­ vices, a prospect all the more difficult in cyberspace. Nor are these offerings typi­ cally associated with services academic library users frequently employ while communicating and researching, such as hardware and software support. Much less are they routinely available when and where they are most needed— twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and within an electronic research context. Janice Koyama expresses this more elegantly: Cyberspace users are not confined by, or concerned with, building and reference desk hours nor the differ­ ences between the two. They defy categorization by a geographically based service provider that defines for itself its primary users. They prefer anonymity to in-person, over-the-desk delivery of reference service and feel free of the captive 302 College & Research Libraries July 2000 nature inherent sometimes in the personal interview controlled by the librarian.5 Moreover, reference librarians have not truly internalized or assimilated these new offerings into dynamic new service models but, rather, have con­ ceived them largely as overlays or add­ ons at the margins of existing service models—additional strata that require additional support when organizations should, instead, be reengineered to re­ lease resources for systemic change. Rather than struggle to maintain the sta­ tus quo, librarians should invest heavily in the research and development of new tools, systems, and interagency affilia­ tions that increase organizational agility and lead in uncharted new directions. Much like earth at the center in the Ptolemaic cosmology of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, academic library refer­ ence service remains structured stead­ fastly around physical objects and the li­ brary as place. Users must come to the library and must seek the help of librar­ ians to use it. At some visceral level, li­ brarians know that a Copernican model is emerging wherein information and services flow to the user. This in turn is radically transforming the librarian–user relationship, yet librarians persist in the fading Ptolemaic model by overlaying new service after new service, much like epicycles in a Ptolemaic cosmology, with­ out fundamentally altering underlying service models or reengineering organi­ zations for a new way of looking at the universe.6 Libraries are moving away from struc­ tures built up over decades (even centu­ ries) around the print collection, on-cam­ pus classroom, and manageable growth rates in published information and, in­ stead, are moving toward structures de­ rived from digital communication, dis­ tributed learning, and an overwhelming surge in the creation and distribution of knowledge in multiple formats. Often this seems an inordinately slow and painful march that constrains creativity, deters meaningful action, and even lulls us into believing that these powerful trends can be resisted. Meanwhile, funding agencies hold service providers more and more ac­ countable, higher education enters an era of transformational change, and technology drives basic changes in the way that information seekers acquire and use information.7 We also witness the emergence of electronic scholarly communication systems, knowledge networks, commercial document deliv­ ery systems, and the electronic book. “Disintermediation,” as some describe it, is in full motion—reference librarians be­ ing the intermediaries and the ones be­ ing “dissed.” Conventional reference transactions and circulation statistics have begun a downward arc as students and faculty move more deeply into the Web, and the distance/distributed learn­ ing ship is about to leave port without information service providers aboard in substantial numbers.8 It is time for a different approach. Foundation for a New Approach to Information Service All too frequently, a vision of the future is derived from a comfortably realistic understanding of current resource con­ straints and organizational limits. Or one imagines fantastic, high-tech sys­ tems as a panacea, yet lacks the where­ withal to realize them. We should, in­ stead, envision a desirable future for reference and related information and technology support services in a largely digital environment, then work back­ ward to assess what resources and or­ ganizational structures are needed to realize that vision. In this way, we may be able to undertake an orderly transi­ tion from a largely print to a largely digital environment. Of course, the future is highly flexible and all-embracing when viewed from the present, but the next generation of infor­ mation service must, at minimum, rec­ ognize the convergence of information services and information technologies, ‘Shaking the Conceptual Foundations,’ Too 303 address the implications of ubiquitous and portable computing, and provide a reinterpretation of our enduring service values for a new age. Convergence of Information Services and Technologies Less and less differentiation is being made in the minds of users between digi­ tal information and the way to get it. They are exhibiting less and less patience with multiple agencies responsible for what seems to be one process with little distinction among hardware, software, content, and the help needed to make it all work. This phenomenon may be most visible in an information commons, a concept proliferating rapidly among aca­ demic libraries that combines elements of libraries and computer user rooms. Donald Beagle aptly described how these new environments are breaking down boundaries among users and service pro­ viders alike, forcing reconceptualizations of how information and technology sup­ port services are provided along with the conventional divisions of labor behind them.9 In the University of Southern California’s Leavey Library, the presence of electronic information resources, a full array of network navigation tools, and productivity software (including basic multimedia development tools) on each workstation in the information commons has driven the need since it opened in 1994 for a three-dimensional service model of navigation assistance, comput­ ing support, and research support.10 Ubiquitous and Portable Computing The pressing challenge now is to support this kind of integrated information-seek­ ing and service-support environment on a large scale and in remote locations as expectations for library, user room, desk­ top, and laptop workstations converge. User environments must be sustained where it is equally easy to find and use both print and digital information re­ sources and where it is just as easy to re­ ceive reference or instruction assistance as it is to obtain help in support of soft­ ware or hardware. Information retrieval support services must be as accessible as an online catalog, a digital object, a Web browser, or a software application is for someone roaming with a laptop com­ puter on most campuses today. The ex­ tent to which this ideal is achieved is the extent to which our enduring service values are preserved in this new context. New Values for a New Age If equity of access, personalized service, and services tailored to individuals are enduring values that warrant reinterpre­ tation for a new era, librarians must re­ double their efforts to bring information services into the network in humane ways and on a human scale.11–12 This means providing a full range of support for users’ technology and information needs to match the growing complexity of their work environment. It means finding ways to be available for real-time assistance wherever users may go and whenever they may go there—on-site or remote, 2 p.m. or 2 a.m., weekdays or weekends.13 To make the technology work for all and in ways that meet individual needs, reference librarians must recognize that current approaches to information ser­ vice are neither sustainable nor scalable to this massive new frontier. New service models, new roles for information pro­ fessionals and the different kinds of or­ ganizations behind them, and new rela­ tionships with other agencies must be de­ vised as we shift our collective gaze from our earth to their sun. Imagining a New Service Model It is tempting to think that the prolifera­ tion of digital technology and the emer­ gence of the digital library will one day enable libraries to effect overnight a mas­ sive shift from print collections, tradi­ tional classrooms, and heavy reliance on fixed space for collections and services. We must, instead, recognize the need to maintain for the indefinite future a range of on-site services that embrace print col­ lections even as we seek place and mean­ http:weekends.13 http:support.10 304 College & Research Libraries July 2000 ing in an emerging digital world. In an integrated service environment that fully supports contemporary uses of both print and digital resources, then, the par­ ticular challenge is to build unified ser­ vice delivery models for both on-site and remote service that rely on common ser­ vice providers and training programs, collaborative approaches to service, tools for collaborative service delivery, and a shared set of service values. What might be some approaches to information service that integrate refer­ ence with technology support, are avail­ able at all times, make use of existing cus­ tomer service technologies, and can be accessed from a variety of locations and through multiple communication modes? A student studying at home navi­ gates the Web, looking for informa­ tion related to a paper due the next day. She intuitively moves through clustered subject fields before set­ tling on a gateway for a topic that captures her imagination. Along the way she has worked closely with a subject expert who advised her as she invoked electronic user aids, selected information re­ sources, and sought scholarly infor­ mation on Web sites. At a recom­ mended gateway, she finds links to an ample number of electronic in­ formation resources, guides devel­ oped by subject experts, additional links to Web sites, full-text docu­ ments, descriptions of printed re­ sources, and entry points for a va­ riety of additional services and re­ sources that expedite her research. From a workstation in the library, a student launches a metasearch en­ gine that simultaneously searches online catalogs for printed materi­ als, local digital library holdings, and scholarly resources on the Internet. After constructing a search strategy with the assistance of a li­ brarian with whom he just met, he sets a series of parameters for his search that defines the resources to be queried and the type of informa­ tion sources expected. The results of the search aggregate by docu­ ment type, location, and format, and each gathering includes in­ structions for locating or ordering delivery of the items. He decides to retrieve the printed books and ar­ ticles a bit later and begins to down­ load some of the documents found on the Web. A nearby consultant assists him in formatting and stor­ ing the information for later use. An information specialist sits at a computer workstation in the cus­ tomer support center. The worksta­ tion receives and queues incoming email, chat, telephone, and video modes of requesting information and services from workstations in a variety of locations— homes and offices, information kiosks around campus and in residence halls, and public service areas. Transactions include ready-reference questions to which he responds immediately with a combination of electronic and print resources at hand; in- depth reference questions that he forwards to subject specialists on call; network support service re­ quests that he enters into the cus­ tomer support system; and requests for consultations that he books on experts’ electronic calendars. The social sciences librarian leaves the office of a sociologist with whom she just consulted on some journal subscriptions and electronic book purchases. Returning to her office down the hall in the social sciences building, she is just in time to begin her shift as the on-call so­ cial sciences expert. A short time into her shift, while working on a web-based gateway to information resources and services for a field within her responsibility area, she ‘Shaking the Conceptual Foundations,’ Too 305 notices on her calendar that an ap­ pointment has been made for a stu­ dent during her office hour later that day. She then receives her first reference question of the day, routed to her from the customer support center. These vignettes are not science fiction. The technologies and services described are currently available in other service settings and are well within the reach of academic librarians. To understand how others are meeting these challenges, one need only place a telephone order with a major retail service provider at 2 a.m. or visit the Land’s End Web site, where real-time personal assistance is available around the clock for selecting and order­ ing a desired product even while navi­ gating its Web pages.14 All the components are readily at hand: twenty-four-hour libraries, tech­ nology help desks with interactive and other customer-support capabilities, in­ creasingly rich electronic information collections, sophisticated document de­ livery systems, electronic reserves, ever­ more-powerful intelligent agents and search engines, and the commitment and values of reference providers determined to realize the full potential of these new technologies and environments. Only our imaginations and perceived organi­ zational constraints prevent us from bringing them together in stimulating new combinations for our students, fac­ ulty, and staff. The next generation of information service must not only advance the notion of integrated information service both on-site and remote, but it also must rec­ ognize elements common to both and be supported by an organization that en­ ables librarians and technologists to work closely together in designing sys­ tems, delivering services, allocating re­ sources, and exploring new possibilities. To imagine more easily how this no­ tion of integrated information service TABLE 1 On-site/Remote Service Matrix Services Available Services Available on Premises to Remote Users Staffing First-Tier Gateway Services Second-Tier Intermediate Services Third-Tier Expert and Specialized Services Basic use and finding questions related to core information resources, supported software, and hardware trouble reports General research support and initial triage of complex software or hardware issues; referral to experts on call or by appointment Subject or resource experts by appointment or during office hours Asynchronous user aids, search engines, etc.; Web service interface, telephone, etc., to Customer Support Center General e­mail reference and computer consult­ ing; general support of research communities by assigned liaisons; referral to experts on call or by appointment Subject or resource experts by appointment or during office hours Paraprofessionals, students Paraprofessionals, computer consultants, librarians Librarians and computer consultants with high­ level subject or instruc­ tional expertise http:pages.14 306 College & Research Libraries July 2000 might map to a complex service environ­ ment and to begin to understand the pos­ sible benefits of service and organiza­ tional redesign, table 1 outlines an on- site/remote service matrix. An important aspect of this model, beyond the integration of reference and computing support services into a com­ prehensive information service, is that it begins to break down conventional bar­ riers between physical and electronic space. Both users and service providers are thus able to transition more flexibly from one to the other over time and as circumstances warrant, providing the latitude to adjust the allocation of re­ sources according to the predilections and changing needs of library users. To achieve this model, it is necessary to refine the concept of tiered service within all service contexts, make interme­ diate-level service available twenty-four hours a day, create new roles for librar­ ians and technologists alike, and seek new organizational structures that support and encourage these directions. If successful, we will have acknowledged the conver­ gence of information services and tech­ nologies, responded to the emergence of ubiquitous and portable computing, and found ways to bring the values of equity of access, personal service, and services tailored to the individual fully into the network in humane and scalable ways. Integrated Services On-site On-site information service models must fully support the entire range of contemporary user needs: information search, retrieval, and management us­ ing both print and electronic resources; communication with others (e.g., e-mail, chat, video); and the ability to shape in­ formation into reports and presenta­ tions (e.g., presentation software, pro­ d u c t i v i t y s o f t w a re , a n d b a s i c multimedia development tools). These resources are typically available in com­ puter user rooms and on personal desk­ top and laptop computers. As users in­ creasingly draw on this full range of resources while working from homes, offices, user rooms, and laptops, they plug in elsewhere on campus and ex­ pect the same in libraries. The great suc­ cess of the information commons con­ cept, which typically provides a rich computing environment of this kind, is raising expectations for other venues. More efficient and effective ways of sup­ porting all their needs on all our sites must be found. However, most libraries have yet to create electronic research environ­ ments that combine information resources, asynchronous tools and instructional aids, and real-time assistance. Although on-site services such as cir­ culation and reference must continue to be supported, a commitment also must be made to explore different ways of pro­ viding these services that enable their ex­ tension into the new environments that library users are entering. An integrated approach to information service that in­ cludes reference and technology support does not mean elimination of on-site, one-on-one service; but it could mean a tiered service that optimizes the use of high-level subject expertise, pooling of resources through shared service points, on-call availability of experts for both in- person and network-based service, and the freeing up of resources for increased investments in new tools and technolo­ gies that benefit all users. An important dimension of integrated information service on-site is efficient and effective referral to the next level of expertise, when appropriate. To do this well, a service culture that views refer­ ral as a positive, rather than a negative, outcome is essential, as is a clear sense of responsibilities, competency levels, and referral thresholds.16 Another key component is a collabo­ rative service environment wherein li­ brarians and technologists work as peers to receive, assess, and resolve service re­ quests. Requisites for these shared enter­ prises include an electronic calendaring http:thresholds.16 ‘Shaking the Conceptual Foundations,’ Too 307 system for scheduling ap­ pointments, office hours for subject experts, and customer relationship management (CRM) soft­ ware. CRM software en­ ables a customer service representative to record a service request, display a customer ’s service history, locate similar service re­ quests (cases) for rapid and uniform resolution of problems, assign cases for resolution, and monitor the quality of service over time.17 Applied to the ref­ erence service environ­ ment, CRM software al­ lows multiple service units to participate in a collabo­ rative service, combine work flow for both on-site and remote entries to the service, achieve economies of scale by reducing re­ dundancies and sharing expertise, obtain greater standardization in re­ sponses to common in­ quiries, and facilitate peer coaching and other quality assurance programs. To sustain a successful, integrated, on- site information service, the parent or­ ganization must have full participation of library and technology personnel for staffing, training, and referrals; the abil­ ity to hire, train, and evaluate employ­ ees with minimal ambiguity in assign­ ments, responsibility areas, and report­ ing lines; and calendaring, CRM, and other collaboration software. Remote Integrated Services These days, most libraries have worked hard to present robust collections of elec­ tronic information resources such as online catalogs, full-text databases, elec­ tronic journals, information gateways, electronic reserves, and now electronic books. Most colleges and universities also have developed collections of electronic FIGURE 1 Representation of an Internet Call Center Information Service In-take Sources Reference Desks Interactive Video Infornation Kiosks Telephone World Wide Web (Forns, Chat, Audio) Electronic Mail T Information Specialists using Electronic FAQs Print and Electronic Reference Sources Full Array of Communications Technologies Service Protocols Customer Relation Management Software T Information Service Delivery Modes Experts on Call Electronic Calendars for Appointments Telephone FAX Interactive Video CRM Service Request Tickets Electronic Mail user aids, reference resources and search capabilities, and other user-directed re­ sources. However, most libraries have yet to create electronic research environments that combine information resources, asyn­ chronous tools and instructional aids, and real-time assistance. Such an environment would enable a user to obtain, even while interacting with the information re­ sources and self-directed aids, in situ as­ sistance of knowledgeable staff in formu­ lating research strategies and solving navigation problems. We are closer to realizing this ideal than may be apparent. Many of the es­ sential tools and operational components needed in addition to those found in most academic libraries can be found in well-run technology support services on many campuses: a core service philoso­ phy not unlike that of librarians; tiered service models that triage service re­ 308 College & Research Libraries July 2000 quests for immediate resolution, referral to an expert, or posting to a case pool for collaborative resolution; and underlying technologies that enable collaborative ap­ proaches to problem resolution, efficient use of experts, and twenty-four-hour op­ eration through a variety of communi­ cation modes. If what typically are sev­ eral reference services at a given institu­ tion can be merged into a unified service that draws on CRM software for collabo­ rative operation, the stage will be set for integrating reference with the technology help service and creating an integrated information service that can be made available through the network as well as on-site. The remaining critical component for such a service is the Internet call center, which integrates telephone, e-mail, chat, video, and other inputs into a single in­ coming queue within a powerful work­ station (see figure 1). An information spe­ cialist can employ FAQs, voice-recogni­ tion database queries, a ready reference collection at hand, electronic reference and other information resources, accu­ mulated service histories within a CRM system, and a variety of service proto­ cols (hardware, software, reference) in di­ rectly resolving queries, referring to ex­ perts on call, or making appointments with experts. The Internet call center thus anchors an integrated, real-time information ser­ vice for remote users in much the same way that a library’s information desk serves as the point of departure for vari­ ous services at multiple levels of need. As the intermediate-level entry point for Web, telephone, and other remote inputs, the center can operate around the clock to immediately resolve low- and interme­ diate-level questions and problems while facilitating access to expert assistance at a later, mutually convenient time.18 To achieve this degree of integrated information service for remote users, the parent organization must have rich ac­ cess to, and routine participation of, staff proficient in automatic call distribution (ACD), computer-telephone integration (CTI), CRM software, and Internet call center technologies. Getting from Here to There: Beyond Collaboration Common elements of on-site and remote service within an integrated information service environment present several unique opportunities. Tiered service, col­ laborative approaches to question/case resolution regardless of mode of entry, a common set of experts available on call and by appointment, and physical and electronic information desks are the com­ mon elements. These in turn provide the Creating a service environment that fully meets the information service needs of academic library users has not been easy so far and likely will not be any easier here on out. By definition, transformation almost never is. opportunities of common hiring and training programs, cross-training and fa­ miliarization among experts, and econo­ mies of scale that allow increased flex­ ibility in the allocation of resources for the greater and long-term good. A by- product of these synergies, and the rou­ tine interaction of librarians and tech­ nologists, should be the ability to make more substantial investments in research and development of new services and technologies for the ultimate benefit of all users.19 In addition, new career paths become available for paraprofessionals and professionals alike. In this integrated service environment for both on-site and remote users, our enduring service values can be reinter­ preted and sustained in meaningful ways by promoting user satisfaction that derives from personal contact and by in­ creasing the ability to verify customer satisfaction in arenas not currently moni­ tored well. As the ability to support all users’ information-seeking needs in­ creases, including technology support, these services and service values are bet­ ter represented within distance and dis­ http:users.19 ‘Shaking the Conceptual Foundations,’ Too 309 tributed learning environments. An en­ hanced ability to collaborate with other information service providers to deliver services through the network is yet an­ other collateral benefit.20 Within so dynamic and challenging an environment, a premium must be placed on development of Web-based gateways and other electronic resources, collabo­ ration, research and development, and alternative physical locations. Librarians can—and indeed must—explore the new roles that have been forecast for us for many years now. Generally speaking, these new roles must include the: • integrator, who balances current ex­ pectations for on-site service with emerg­ ing demand for network-based services; • collaborator, who transcends ad­ ministrative lines and works effectively with others from and within other orga­ nizational cultures; • colleague, who resides in an aca­ demic user community (virtually or physically) and participates in its cre­ ation, management, and distribution of information and knowledge; • “access engineer,” who develops gateways, leads research and develop­ ment projects, designs search engines, and re-purposes intelligent agents;21 • leader, who facilitates change by bringing people and resources together in innovative and productive ways. Equally important is the nature of the parent organization in which the inte­ grated information service and librarians in these new roles are expected to pros­ per. The need for integrated, tiered ser­ vice both on-site and remote; combined hiring, training, and evaluation of em­ ployees; a cadre of experts that includes both librarians and technologists; and the deployment and ongoing support of ACD, CTI, CRM software, and Internet call center technologies suggests the need for an organization that brings li­ braries, computing, and telecommunica­ tions more closely together than ever before. Carried to their logical conclu­ sion, these needs mean a different kind of organization that embraces new and broader definitions of library, just as tra­ ditional notions of reference service are recast as a broader and more relevant information service. How difficult is it under the current circumstance to imag­ ine customized electronic intelligent agents at the service of users and service providers alike? How difficult is it to imagine such agents arising out of the work of librarians and technologists af­ ter collaborating closely for an extended period of time while designing and de­ livering the next generation of informa­ tion service? As Warren Bennis observed, “All of us are smarter than any of us.”22 Librarians need technologists, and vice versa. They need each other for combined strategic planning, joint research and de­ velopment projects, the technology lead­ ership now expected of all information agencies, the development of unified ser­ vice interfaces, increased capacity to raise funds, and additional budget flexibility and leverage. Any number of models ex­ ists for integration of libraries and comput­ ing. California Lutheran University has successfully undertaken one of the purer forms of integration that began with con­ siderable preplanning and redesign of jobs, organization structure, and processes.23 The University of Southern California re­ cently initiated an integration that contin­ ues to refine what integration at a large re­ search university means.24 And the Ander­ son School of Business and the university libraries at UCLA converged the school’s library and information technology depart­ ment to form a hybrid unit at an institu­ tion that otherwise retains separate library and computing organizations.25 In the fi­ nal analysis, it may well be that all trans­ formational change, to paraphrase Tip O’Neill, is local. In the end, each institu­ tion must seek its own way.26 Creating a service environment that fully meets the information service needs of academic library users has not been easy so far and likely will not be any easier here on out. By definition, trans­ formation almost never is. So it becomes all the more important to keep one’s eyes on the prize—on our users’ sun, as it http:organizations.25 http:means.24 http:processes.23 http:benefit.20 310 College & Research Libraries July 2000 were—and to effect the changes needed to foster creative and orderly movement into the future, no matter how daunting those changes may seem now. The game has changed. We face an array of possibilities and challenges that will leave no library un­ touched. We are, whether we want to or not, about to become much more than we are now—or much less. How we respond to the chal­ lenges and take advantage of the opportunities will define our role in modern society for some time to come.27 Notes 1. Jerry D. Campbell, “Shaking the Conceptual Foundations of Reference: A Perspective,” Reference Services Review 20 (1992): 29–35. Campbell in turn has been the keynote speaker in a series of “Rethinking Reference Institutes” conducted by Ann Lipow through her Library Solu­ tions Institute beginning in 1993. 2. James Govan, “Ascent or Decline? Some Thoughts on the Future of Academic Libraries,” in The Future of the Academic Library. Proceedings of the Conference Held at the University of Wiscon­ sin, September 1989, ed. E. P. Trani (Champaign, Ill.: Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Univ. of Illinois, 1989), 24–44. 3. Steve Coffman and Matthew L. Saxton, “Staffing the Reference Desk in the Largely Digi­ tal Library,” Reference Librarian 66 (1999): 159–60. 4. Surveys of these efforts are available in Bernie Sloan, “Service Perspectives for the Digital Library: Remote Reference Services,” available from http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~b-sloan/e­ ref.html [April 2000]; Chris D. Ferguson and Charles A. Bunge, “The Shape of Services to Come: Values-based Reference Service for the Largely Digital Library,” College & Research Libraries 58 (May 1997): 254–58, 260; and the University of Leicester ’s ELITE Project Site at http:// www.le.ac.uk/li/distance/eliteproject/index.htm (Apr. 2000). 5. Janice Koyama, “Http://digiref.scenarios.issues,” Reference & User Services Quarterly 38, no. 1 (1998): 51. 6. The counterpoint of Ptolemaic and Copernican cosmologies when characterizing old and new paradigms is a common device. The only other application of this metaphor to reference service that the author is aware of is Pamela Snelson, “Understanding Remote Access and Its Importance for Reference Services,” in Lynne M. Stuart and Dena H. Hutto, eds., The Changing Face of Reference (Greenwich: JAI Pr., 1996), 182–83. 7. For starters, see Eli M. Noam, “Electronics and the Dim Future of the University,” Science 270 (Oct. 13, 1995): 24—26; for a call to arms, see Carla J. Stoffle et al, “Choosing Our Futures,” College & Research Libraries 57 (May 1996): 213–25. 8. The average number of reference transactions among ARL members decreased 5.8 per­ cent from 1997 (201,248) to 1998 (189,524) alone and a total of 10 percent from 1995 (210,558) to 1998. The average number of circulation transactions for ARL libraries dropped 7 percent from 1996 (758,944) to 1998 (705,872). (http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat/ [Apr. 2000]). 9. Donald Beagle, “Conceptualizing an Information Commons,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 25, no. 2 (Mar. 1999): 82–89. 10. Deborah Holmes-Wong et al, “If You Build It, They Will Come: Spaces, Values, and Ser­ vices in the Digital Era,” Library Administration & Management 11, no. 2 (spring 1997): 81–82. 11. Ferguson and Bunge, “The Shape of Services to Come.” 12. What Bonnie A. Nardi and Vicki L. O’Day refer to in Information Ecologies: Using Technol­ ogy with Heart (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Pr., 1999) as achieving humane application and purpose by using “technology with heart” in “local habitations” (preface). 13. A point to be made more fully below is that this does not mean high-level expert assis­ tance is available around the clock. However, it does mean that intermediate-level assistance is always available for immediate gratification issues and to schedule appointments with, and oth­ erwise refer to, experts. 14. http://www.landsend.com/ [Apr. 2000], which enables a customer to talk on the phone with a service agent while both are navigating the Web site and to shop on the site with another customer in a different location. These features are made possible in part by Webline software (http://www.webline.com). Webline also is being used in support of a collaborative, Web-based reference service under development by the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System (MCLS), a multitype library cooperative that serves more than fifty libraries in Los Angeles and Orange counties. When completed, the reference service will support remote users, operate twenty-four http:http://www.webline.com http:http://www.landsend.com http://www.arl.org/stats/arlstat Http://digiref.scenarios.issues www.le.ac.uk/li/distance/eliteproject/index.htm http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~b-sloan/e ‘Shaking the Conceptual Foundations,’ Too 311 hours a day, include referrals to experts, and accommodate expansion to academic and school libraries. 15. This table, and much of the conceptualization behind it, was developed by Deborah Holmes-Wong, director of consulting services, Information Services Division, University of South­ ern California. 16. The literature on tiered reference service is reviewed in Soo Young Rieh, “Changing Ref­ erence Service Environment: A Review of Perspectives from Managers, Librarians, and Users,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 25, no. 3 (May 1999): 179. 17. Clarify, a popular CRM system, is currently being used by the USC Customer Support Center, an information technology help desk, for IT service request intake, report tracking, and service delivery. USC librarians are experimenting with Clarify as a tool for collaborative refer­ ence service with the prospect of combining information and technology service support in the relatively near future. For more information on Clarify, visit http://www.clarify.com [Apr. 2000]. 18. A model consonant with that of Steve Coffman, “Reference as Others Do It,” American Libraries 30, no. 5 (May 1999): 54–56. 19. For examples of where some of these R&D investments might lead, see Deborah Holmes- Wong, “Richness vs. Reach: Using Technology to Overcome Economic Impediments to Refer­ ence Service,” Reference Librarian 66 (1999): 201–11. 20. See note 14, above. 21. A term coined by Campbell, “Shaking the Conceptual Foundations.” 22. Warren Bennis and Patricia W. Biederman, Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Col­ laboration (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1997), frontispiece. 23. http://www.clunet.edu/iss/main.html [Apr. 2000]. 24. http://www.usc.edu/isd [Apr. 2000]. 25. http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/resources/acis/[Apr. 2000]. 26. A theme that permeates Larry Hardesty, ed., Books, Bytes, and Bridges: Libraries and Com­ puter Centers in Academic Institutions (Chicago: ALA, 2000). It emphasizes the variety of experi­ ence in the integration of computing and libraries while underscoring the need for such integra­ tion to arise from, and be shaped by, local values and aspirations. 27. Roy Tennant, “Determining Our Digital Destiny,” American Libraries 31, no. 1 (Jan. 2000): 55. http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/resources/acis/[Apr http://www.usc.edu/isd http://www.clunet.edu/iss/main.html http:http://www.clarify.com