Managing the Electronic Library: A Practical Guide for Information Professionals

Citation

Haythornthwaite, J. (1999), "Managing the Electronic Library: A Practical Guide for Information Professionals", Library Management, Vol. 20 No. 5, pp. 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1108/lm.1999.20.5.1.1

This dauntingly vast collection of essays is, in fact, a timely and practical compilation of papers on topics relating to the electronic library, by a range of information managers who are active in the field. As the foreword indicates, “The general approach of the book is to take a comprehensive look at how libraries in a broadly similar situation grapple, theoretically, and practically, with the transition to the electronic library.”

The book concentrates on UK academic libraries and is, therefore, aimed especially at senior and middle managers in academic libraries in the UK, although much of the material could be seen as relevant to libraries in other countries.

Essentially this is a book about change, about:

the constant pressure to do more with less;

the recognition of the potential for new service possibilities;

the implementation of these services;

the adoption of more flexible working practices and management structure;

making a reality of end user empowerment;

the effective management of the change process (for both staff and users).

The book is divided into sections and each section starts with an overview, which is followed by case studies. There are, for example, overview chapters from Lynne Brindley on information strategies and from Derek Law on convergence, and these are followed by case studies on how individual libraries have addressed these issues by a variety of practitioners. “Convergence of academic support services”, by Derek Law is a useful survey of the state of play. He points out that in the majority of cases the services have been converged under the management of the university librarian and that there remains a distinction between the success of convergence at institutional level and on the ground. At institutional level convergence is perceived as a success but he believes this “success” is not true at operational level. He reports on attempts to instigate joint help desks being thwarted and problems of communication. Derek Law writes of the hybrid multi‐skilled staff required in the emerging hybrid library and quotes Geleijnse′s experience at Tilburg where, although students use the library as a physical space more and more, faculty members use it less and less, since more and more resources are now available at the desktop.

The convergence case studies provide a fascinating range of examples of how convergence can be accomplished and provide practical insights into how the process can be managed.

Section 3 is entitled “Managing change” and should be required reading for all library managers who currently confront the necessity of change on a daily basis.

The Edge Hill University College experience is interesting; here ASSIST (access for students and staff to information services and technology) grew out of a co‐operative grouping of library services, computer services, the learning development unit and mediatech services. This model is not one of formed convergence but of a “bottom‐up” arrangement with each service retaining its own head. The paper by Catherine Edwards and Ruth Jenkinson provides a practical account of an alternative route.

It is especially helpful that some of the papers explore topics on which very little has been written; for example, the section on “Resourcing and budgeting isues”.

Peter Brophy′s overview paper on management information provides a masterly survey of the state of the performance indicator art.

The choice of authors has been made with care and a wide range of sizes and types of libraries are described in the case studies. The reader will be left with a detailed view of where academic libraries are today, especially in terms of the rocky road to the electronic library of the future. It is clear that most university libraries currently provide a hybrid service and are grappling with the financial and planning decisions required to move from the traditional paper‐based culture to a more and more electronic one.

Unusually for a compilation of this kind, Managing the Electronic Library has a very welcome index and a helpful biographical section, “About the authors”.

This is a timely and practical book. Indeed, it can be unreservedly recommended to any library and information manager as probably the most useful and up‐to‐date collection of essays he or she is likely to read this year.