The Impact of Information Technology on Library Operations in the Past Three Decades and What to Anticipate for the Future CALA Mid-West Chapter Annual Meeting May 3, 2003 Andrew H. Wang Executive Director OCLC Asia Pacific

Evolution of Library Information Technology Papermaking and printing Microfilming Telephone Typewriting and duplicating Computers Mainframes, mini-, and micro-, laptops, palms CD ROM and DVD Telecommunications networks Campus networks, the Internet, and wireless The Web

Co-existence of Information Technologies Paperless society prophesized in 1960’s, but demand for paper has continued to increase New and old technologies co-exist Microfilm and paper TV, radio, and newspaper Internet, telephone, and postal service New technologies stimulate an increase in information flow and cause a re-distribution of the use of existing technologies

Paradigm Shift From Traditional Library To Digital Library Library Building => Virtual Library (You go to the library => The library comes to you) Traditional Library Design, size, location of the library building Other than warehousing library materials, library building has other important societal functions Digital library Electronic resources, hardware, software, telecommunications

Paradigm Shift From Traditional Library To Digital Library Ownership => Access Traditional library “Buy and own” books and journals, etc. Digital library “Annual subscriptions” for access

Paradigm Shift From Traditional Library To Digital Library Just In Case => Just In Time Traditional library 80% of books and journals, etc. “purchased and owned” have never been used Buy and own – “just in case” Digital library Document delivery, print on demand, pay per view, etc. – “just in time”

Paradigm Shift From Traditional Library To Digital Library Unlimited Use => Pre-Defined Limited Use Traditional library “Buy and own” books and journals, etc. for unlimited use by any users Digital library Number of simultaneous logons (concurrent users) 12 month subscriptions By registered users only

Paradigm Shift From Traditional Library To Digital Library One At A Time => Many At A Time Traditional library One book or journal can be read by one user at a time One user can read one book or journal at a time Digital library One database can be accessed by many users at the same time One user can access many databases or journals at the same time

Paradigm Shift From Traditional Library To Digital Library Take Your Time => Don’t Waste My Time! Traditional library Users wait for weeks or months for the library to purchase books or journals or through ILL Users spend hours or days going through printed pages to find and compile information needed Digital library Users want the information right away!

Paradigm Shift From Traditional Library To Digital Library Isolation => Cooperation Traditional library Do everything by myself and for myself Digital library Cooperation to eliminate unnecessary duplication of efforts Cooperation to increase resources through sharing

Is WWW A Digital Library? WWW is very resourceful and useful, but Too much information on WWW is not wanted Much information wanted is not on WWW on a free-of-charge basis Information on WWW is disorganized Authenticity and reliability It is there today, but gone tomorrow WWW is digital, but not a library!

Shall We Make WWW Part of the Library？ As a library portal CORC (Cooperative Online Resource Catalog) QuestionPoint Integration

Your library is here to serve you through the Website!

Patron The patron can now see a picture of the librarian in the corner and initiate their chat session in the “chat box” located in the upper right.

A Global Cooperation Model Request Manager Member Profiles Requesting Library Patron Answering Library Librarian QUESTION QUESTION NOTIFICATION NOTIFICATION Results Store SEND ANSWER GET ANSWER RESOURCES Simultaneous Access to Multiple Catalogs, Web Resources, Print Resources, Subject Specialists Searching the Knowledge Base EDITED Q & A Knowledge Base

Real Time Local (Chat) Interaction Example Inst 1 Patron Ref Lib Ref Lib Local KB Patron Chat window Librarian Chat window Library web page Librarian Chat Monitor Graphically, here is an example of a real-time interaction with the service at the local level using QuestionPoint’s chat functionality. A patron accesses the service through a link on the library’s homepage. One of the options in the library’s patron view of the service is to open a chat session, which the patron does. This action causes notification to be sent to a librarian’s chat monitor. The librarian sees the patron-initiated session and accesses it in much the same way she would pick up a ringing phone. The librarian may be from of a single institution or representing a group of libraries (a consortium). The librarian may search the local knowledge base first. She may look at Web sites or consult databases. She may call other librarians or institutions, look up facts in ready reference books, or consult her own knowledge on the subject. She may pull information from all of these resources in order to provide the patron with the most authoritative and up-to-date information. Call others Own knowledge Global KB Web sites & databases Look up In references

Routes to best-fit profiled institution QuestionPoint Global Component LOCAL DIGITAL REFERENCE SOLUTION QuestionPoint Local/Regional Component LSSI Convey Locally created solution -------------------------------------- Exhausted local knowledge or seeking expertise globally. Question answered. Submit question to global component Request Manager Routes to best-fit profiled institution Profile DB This is how the global component works. A patron submits a question to the local service. It could be a home grown solution, LSSI, Convey or QuetionPoints local component. A local reference librarian picks up the question and routes it through the global component. When the librarian submits a question to the global component (network), it travels first through the Request Manager, which is a routing algorithm that matches key information in the question against records in the profile database in order to find an institution that is most likely to have an answer. The Request Manager finds the best match and forwards the question to that institution. After the question is answered, the Q/A pair is automatically placed in a queue, where it is picked up by a global editor for review and possible inclusion in the global Knowledge Base. The answered question is also immediately sent back to the questioning library. As with a local knowledge base, the global knowledge base is built using questions that have gone through an editorial process. An editor at the global level reviews questions in the Q/A Queue to determine if they meet current quality and content standards. After an editor qualifies a question for inclusion in the global KB, she “activates” it, which makes it available for searching. Profiled institutions available for question services Ref Lib Ref Lib Ref Lib Global Administration- Q & A Editing Global KB

A Digital Library Integration Example OCLC ILL Link Document Supplier Link End Users Web Electronic Database Resources Cataloging Metadata OCLC Z39.50 Or Web Single Source for Multiple Resources FirstSearch -A&I -Full Text -Union Catalogs netLibrary eBooks eJournals QuestionPoint End Users

The Library and The Information Technology Shall libraries be driven by the information technology? Shall libraries play an active role in making use of the information technology?

Thank you! Questions? 敬請指教！ 王行仁 敬謝