Telematics for Libraries - Special Feature
The "Telematics for Libraries" sector of the Community's specific programme in the area of telematic applications of common interest supports actions aimed at facilitating access to library resources and promoting the interconnection of libraries, both directly with other libraries and within the European infrastructure. This CORDIS special feature provides an overview of the aims and activities of the European Union in this important sector. Research and development in the "Libraries" sector of the Telematics Applications programme (hereafter referred to as the Libraries programme) aims to help increase the ready availability of library resources across Europe and to facilitate their interconnection with the information and communications infrastructure. The two main orientations are: the development of advanced systems to facilitate user access to library resources; and the interconnection of libraries with other libraries and the developing "information highway". INTERVIEW WITH MRS. ARIANE ILJON, Head of Unit XIII/E-4, responsible for the Libraries programme - Mrs. Iljon, as Head of Unit responsible for the implementation of the Libraries programme, could you please outline for us your views on the changing role of libraries in the Information Society. The electronic age is generating the possibility of libraries without walls, where people can learn at a distance or access information using electronic media. Nevertheless, libraries as we know them will continue to exist. They will remain a central reference point and will, in addition, rapidly become a focus as a place from which to access the new electronic services and to seek advice on them. - In your opinion, therefore, increasing access to information via electronic services will not reduce the need for libraries? The need for libraries not only stems from their wealth of experience in managing and storing information but also from their essential democratic and educational roles. Firstly, some people cannot afford the equipment necessary to access information electronically, while others do not have the facilities for the long term storage of large amount of information. Libraries are also an essential source of specifically local, but vital, information which falls outside the scope of other service providers. At the same time, certain libraries provide targeted information for education, science and markets, for example for SMEs. Some play an important role in adult education, providing vocational training and advising on course and electronic learning material. Others have long provided services for certain disadvantaged groups, such as the visually impaired. - A new call for proposals under the Libraries programme, the second under the Fourth Framework Programme, is to be published on 17 December 1996. How will this contribute to the continued importance of libraries in the information age? The generic but also very precise fields proposed for the call are designed to modernize the library world and build an effective information infrastructure, helping to tackle certain major problems and providing test beds. Under the Third Framework Programme, the Libraries workplan addressed each library function with its respective protocols and services separately, as it is rather complex to address several functions and integrate them in first generation projects. Now that the issues and the technical difficulties involved are clearer, the focus is on developing a better integrated service, building on the know-how generated from previous projects. The new work plan under the Fourth Framework Programme looks beyond the library as an information gatherer, classifier and storer, to the role it can play in helping its users access outside information - the internet phenomenon. Beyond their traditional functions, emphasis is now also on other activities libraries can pursue and how they can intermediate and apply their information management know-how. Librarians must adapt to this process and learn to share resources. The roles of the librarian, whose main purpose was to preserve knowledge, and the documentalist, who concentrated on providing access to information, are now converging. - How will the call continue the objectives of the programme? The new call will be very important. It will be the last under the Fourth Framework Programme and will essentially be the "real" call, since many who responded to the previous call had perhaps not understood the focus of the new work plan. The initial Libraries' programme, under the Third Framework Programme, was a start-up exercise, promoting awareness and a project-oriented culture and providing a broad action plan. The "Telematics for Libraires" sector of the Telematics Applications programme builds on this but has a different structure. Interested parties have now had more time better to understand the philosophy behind the work plan and this should produce better proposals. - How would you like to see the current call extend participation in the programme? There are roughly 96,000 libraries in the European Union (this is a realistic order of magnitude but the different statistical methods applied by individual Member States hinder a more accurate assessment). Therefore, the Libraries programme aims to reach key players and opinion leaders who can produce multiplier effects, within the complex and extensive libraries world. This is why the current work plan also encourages libraries to create new alliances - with both traditional and new partners. Firstly, libraries and publishers must cooperate on developing devices and services geared to the new world of electronic publishing and document delivery and on providing better access to the bibliographic information which leads to the information itself. Secondly, libraries must cooperate increasingly with new players entering the electronic publishing world who are very different from paper publishers. - Could you outline the role of libraries in the Commission's information policy? Libraries are among those public services which are essential to the European Commission's policy. They can make an important contribution to a wide range of issues raised by the Information Society in relation to, for instance, citizens' rights, the social effects of new technologies, education, culture and copyright protection. In this context, the European Parliament has requested the preparation of a Green Paper on the role of libraries in the Information Society and this will be on the European Commission's agenda in 1997. In the years ahead, we can expect to see a renewal of interest in the libraries of Europe, now that they have real opportunities to work together, combining their traditional human networks with access to networked literature, reference material and services. We believe very strongly that the alliances we are encouraging between publishers, technical partners and librarians will be catalytic in demonstrating the added value that Europe can offer users of library services, whether they be students, researchers, businessmen - or simply citizens seeking a more ordered approach to the vast array of electronic and traditional resources which are now available. The CORDIS special feature also includes (see TEXT field): - An overview of the aims and achievements of the programme; - Initiatives for public libraries (the PubliCA concerted action and the "Public libraires and the Information Society" study); - Cooperation between European national libraries (the COBRA+ concerted action); - Libraries and networking; - The European Commission and copyright issues (ECUP+); - Libraries of the future ... digital?; - HARMONICA: a concerted action on music; - Exploitation ... crucial but difficult; - Library cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe; - The "Telematics for Libraries" web site; - "Telematics for Libraries" publications.