ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 5 1 2 / C&RL N e w s H ie future of reference IV: A response b y N ancy Elder T o set the stage I w ould like to consider “W hen does the future start?” For m odem academ ic libraries I w ould propose that future began about five or six years ago w hen our financial circumstances began to change drastically. Ms. Eaton’s comments bring to our atten tion som e interesting ideas regarding the forces w hich will shape the library of the future. I w ould like to focus particularly on h er thought that “economic forces will shape the future li brary m ore than either user needs or evolving information technology.” First I will review the scenario she has set from a different perspec tive, and then return to som e o f the implica tions of the economic forces that will be at w ork in our future. Recall that Ms. Eaten has set a scene of evolv ing library services—not a transformation but a transition. I believe technological evolution will come to us as naturally as the printing press, op en stacks, or photocopiers did. Certainly, w e n eed to keep abreast of developm ents, install new equipm ent and services as they prove vi able and cost-effective, and continue to exam ine new technology for its utility in libraries. So while I am as anxious as the next to have newer, niftier equipm ent, technology will ar rive, and i w ith it, in its ow n good time. We need to be op en to change, ready to acquire new, relevant skills— but one perspec tive on these new services hints that they do not represent substantive change in the deliv ery of information. Let us consider the current “w orkstation.” Think of it this way: Print mate rial with a photocopier? This w orkstation to gether w ith various catalogs, indexes, and da tabases allows a user to identify, locate, and record the information of interest. If the station — ’’information station” is more relevant in the context o f libraries— consists of a computer with modem, scanner, fax, printer, etc., the user will still be identifying, locating, and recording the information he needs. So, if technology will pretty much arrive on its own accord, where should our energy be directed’ Let us return to the question of the economic forces which will be shaping our future. the Part o f the transition process will be the decisions about the econom ics of the materials and access to them. What will the library pay for, and in w hat formats? What should the us ers pay for? What is baseline service? What is value-added service? Regardless of w ho pays, there must be greater concern for getting the full value from the materials w e do acquire (through ow nership or through “access”). H ow can reference librarians participate in this full-value process? • Be open to new ideas and services; give up old preconceptions. • Be ready to redefine reference service. • View reference from a new perspective as technology changes. • Give up the “but that’s not my job” rationale. • A dopt a “take a risk” approach. • Consider services from the user’s view point. • D on’t assume w e know what users need or want; find out for sure. • V a lu e th e u n iq u e l y h u m a n sk ills: prototyping, flexibility, judgment, intuition, abil ity to recognize similarity, ability to make in ferences. We must find ways to add value to our ser vices and our materials. As creativity consult ant Roger Von Oech expressed it, w e must give ourselves “a w hack on the side o f the h ead ”1 and op en ourselves to creativity in library ser vice. In Value-Added Processes in Inform ation Sys tems, Robert Taylor defines value-added activi ties in information systems as “those processes that produce, enhance, or otherwise strengthen the potential utility o f messages in the system.”2 Taylor also describes 23 values for information systems. Looking more closely at a few of these gives us som e ideas w here w e might begin to add value to our system. He divides the 23 val ues into six general categories: 1) ease of use, 2) noise reduction, 3) quality, 4) adaptability, 5) time savings, and 6) cost savings. N a n c y Elder is hea d librarian, Life Sciences Library, the University o f Texas a t A ustin Septem ber 1 9 9 2 / 5 1 3 With that general framew ork, let’s exam ine a few specific values an d h o w w e might add that value in the m aterials an d services w e p ro vide. My idea h ere is to present a few ideas w ith the intention o f getting you thinking cre atively— rem em ber that w hack o n the side o f the head— about adding value: 1) d o rem ote reference for docum ents CDs; 2) chapter/sec- tion analytics; 3) “reference n o te b o o k ” field, for reference staff to ad d notes; 4) local title field, for distinctly local titles; 5) C enter for Re search Libraries records; 6) o n lin e journals project; 7) p ointer in UTCAT from journals w e o w n to relevant indexing tools; 8) reader lev els: basic, u n d erg rad u ate, advanced, p rofes sional; 9) treatm ent codes: popular, scholarly, a p p li e d , th e o r e tic a l, p ic to ria l, la b o r a to r y m anual; 10) better options for downgrading from UTCAT; 11) function to identify new ly acquired materials in UTCAT. T h e se are a few id e a s fo r v a lu e - a d d e d services an d options building o n th e existing infrastructure. As electronic delivery m oves into the reference room , w h eth er slowly o r quickly, directly or indirectly, there will still b e a sig n ifican t ro le fo r th e lib rarian . As a service organization our role will evolve farther away from w arehousing to a higher, m ore professional level of adding value to materials and services. Let m e leave you w ith an idea I discovered in a bo o k on telecom m unication systems. While th e phrases runaw ay costs an d cost overm ans are familiar, think about runaw ay benefits or benefit overrruns.3 P erhaps w e can challenge ourselves for the “future o f reference” to p ro d u ce a benefit overrun by value a d d ed to our services an d materials. Notes 1Roger V on O ech, A W hack on the Side o f the Head: H ow to Unlock Your M in d f o r In n o vation (N ew York: W arner Books, 1983). 2R obert S. Taylor, V alue-A dded Processes in Infortnation Systems (Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Pub lishing Corp., 1986), p. 203. 3J. L. King, J. L. and K. L. Kraemer, “Cost As a Social Im pact of Information Technology” in N. L. Moss ed., Telecom m unications a n d Pro d u c tiv ity (R eading, Mass.: A ddison-W esley, 1978), p. 112. The future of reference IV: A response b y D e n n is D illo n N ancy E aton has given u s o n e version o f the future. H ere is another. In 1998, resp o n d in g to pressure from librar ians, academ ics, publishers, an d th e general public, Congress approves a one-line change to the tax code. Publishers will n o w be able to take substantial write-offs for every subscrip tion and b o o k sold to libraries. A $1,000 jour nal n o w costs libraries $29-95. Publishers hail the m ove as revitalizing th e industry, universi ties praise it as saving scholarly com m unica tion, librarians rejoice because it m eans con tinued free access to information. W hy did this happen? Because libraries, like schools, hospitals, an d roads are w h at e co n o mists refer to as social capital. T hey are all es sential to th e functioning o f a m o d e m dem oc racy. If citizens w an t their schools, libraries, an d roads im proved, politicians will find the m oney o r they w o n ’t get reelected. If there are b etter w ays to get inform ation th an from li braries, th en libraries will get their budgets cut. If publishers, academ ics, and librarians truly b e lieve that th e scholarly com m unication process is breaking d o w n th en this is a societal p ro b lem requiring political attention. Will eco n o m ics b e the m ajor determ in ate o f th e future li brary? O f course. W h en have th ey not? B ut it is librarians w h o will determ in e w h at th e fu tu re library is like. Ju st as w e have in the past, w e will m ake th e d ecisio n o n th e inform ation mix an d th e inform ation services th at w e will offer. Will electronic publishing help us p u t the u ser an d inform ation together? Som eday yes. Right n o w there are a few obstacles, b u t as R obert W eber has noted, “ the chief problem s are n o t technical but political. W hat is lacking at th e m om ent is a bro ad consensus that this is the kind of technology infrastructure that w ould D e n n is D illon is assistant f o r reference services operations, the University o f Texas a t A u stin