ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ Septem b er 1998 / 601 THE WA Y I SEE IT Only change is constant Three librarians consider what their jobs will be like in five years by Helen H. Spalding, Deborah Abston, and Mark Cain Ed. note: This is the first in a series o f columns in which we will invite librar­ ians to comment on aspects o f librarianship. This question was posed to each respondent: “It is said the only constant is change. Tell us how your jo b responsibilities/functions will be different five years fro m now. ” We welcome your responses and will print them as space allows in “Letters to the Editor. ” In addressing chang­ ing library service de­ mands and sources of support, administra­ tors need to under­ stand more outside of the library arena to build successful part­ nerships, recruit and retain outstanding Helen H. Spalding staff, develop quality services, design useful facilities and computer infrastructures, culti­ vate new sources o f support, and position their libraries for the future. Partnerships are being formed with new colleagues, such as non-academic libraries, museums, K-12 schools, and corporations. There is increasing interdisciplinary collabo­ ration on campus and among universities. Initiating and negotiating these partnerships call upon new skills to work successfully with dissimilar cultures, communication styles, per­ ceptions, priorities, and values in new rela­ tionships. Innovative means o f insuring eq­ uitable contribution, mutual benefit, and ac­ countability will be conceived, requiring unique agreements, contracts, and fee ar­ rangements without precedent. Collaboration also may lead to greater strength in the markets where w e procure the collections, systems, services, and data­ bases. In the past, it was easier to define our students and faculty and the dividing line between that primary client group and oth­ ers. We will be developing policies and pro­ cedures for providing services to students and faculty at a distance who may be affiliated with other institutions at the same time, and to the general community whose public li­ braries are sharing databases o f collections and patrons with academic libraries. This diverse user group will require accommoda­ tion for wide differences in cultural and edu­ cational background, in physical and learn­ ing abilities, and in service expectations. Our gifts, grants, and contracts sources also are changing, and an increasing amount o f ad­ ministrators’ time will be spent in marketing new service initiatives to funding sources, and in fund and friend raising. Larger numbers o f our workforce are re­ quiring more leave time or temporary, About the authors Helen H. Spalding is associate director o f libraries at the University o f Missouri-Kansas City, e-mail: spaldingh@umkc. edu; Deborah Abston is a reference librarian at Arizona State University Libraries, e-mail: dabston@mainex 1 .asu. edu; Mark Cain is executive director o f lnformation Services & Support a t the College o f Mount St. Joseph, e-mail: mark_cain@mail.msj.edu mailto:mark_cain@mail.msj.edu 602 / C&RL News ■ Septem ber 1998 part-time alternatives to address the health needs o f themselves or their parents. The recruitment and retention o f qualified em­ ployees are requiring administrators to de­ sign greater flexibility in the workplace. Candidates are not just looking for a job, but for a lifestyle. We will be exploring ways to support the increasing investment needed in staff training and designing new positions requiring specific skills and cre­ dentials atypical for traditional libraries, such as digital engineers, educational tech­ n o lo g ists, p e d a g o g y sp ecialists, and graphic designers. If new resources are not developed at the pace o f new service needs being gen­ erated, reallocation o f traditional services and functions will have to be made. Li­ brary administrators must make difficult choices at a risktaking pace and survive the political landmines inherent in such change. But they also have the opportu­ nity to provide leadership for their cam­ puses in making the dramatic changes re­ quired o f them because o f similar trans­ formations in their resource base and mar­ ket.— Helen H. Spalding W h ile in library school several years ago, I had an assign­ ment to write a paper on what I thought the library world would be like in 25 years. Even though I am a fan o f science fiction and think o f myself as Deborah Abston somewhat imagina­ tive, my future library was rather bland. Mind you, this was before the explosion of the Internet and the Web. What will my job be like in five years? What comes to mind is more o f the same. Advents in the world o f technology will af­ fect our jobs in the same ways they do now. Our jobs will be more complex due to more and larger databases o f information. Interac­ tions with library users will last longer due to their bewilderment at the vast arrays of information sources available for their use. We will be scrambling to learning how to use these databases and stay one step ahead of our users. I know that some think less instruction will be required and that the how-to’s on using these information sources are evident, but in my experience that is not the case, so we will be doing more instruction than ever— both in-person and in classes. To some of you, that probably sounds exactly like your job today. Even though I feel there will be just as much patron interaction, I also think I will be more isolated from my peers and library users in some ways. Technology has already affected the ways in which we communicate; even tele­ phone usage is down for me. I sometimes don’t even see my colleagues for a few days at a time, even though we are at work every­ day. I will know more about computer tech­ nology than I do at the present time, there will certainly be a lot more to know. I am on my third computer in eight years, in five years I will be on my fifth or sixth. In five years, my job will be somewhat depressing, exciting, frustrating, and fulfill­ ing, just like it is now. I will feel dumber and smarter, pretty much like I feel now.— Deborah Abston I am chief informa­ tion officer of a small, liberal arts college, with responsibility for the li­ brary, instructional and administrative comput­ ing, networking, insti­ tutional research, and strategic planning. As a manager, I will Mark Cain continue to plan, man­ age the budget, super­ vise staff, and do a certain amount o f politick­ ing. Yet because of the rapid changes in tech­ nology and the increasingly competitive higher education market, some things will be differ­ ent. Strategic planning in all parts of my opera­ tion will be a constant activity, but the plan­ ning timeframe will be shorter— two to three years instead o f five. It may even begin to look tactical instead of strategic. Distance learning will become more promi­ nent, and I will have to devote more time to supporting the development o f entire aca­ demic programs online. This will have an ef­ fect on the library, and w e will need to plan C&RL News ■ Septem ber 1998 / 603 for electronic reserves systems, home deliv­ ery of monographic and other “hard-copy” materials, and remote (probably Web-based) library use instruction. We will be installing wireless networking in the library and elsewhere on my campus. With more and more students, faculty, and staff using laptops instead o f specially- configured and hard-wired public PCs, we will need a common interface. That interface will likely remain the Web. We will spend less time configuring machines and more time design­ ing user interfaces/front ends. There will be less focus on the acquisi­ tion and servicing of technology— whether that technology is in the library, on a fac­ ulty/staff member’s desktop, or in a com­ puter lab. More important will be fostering the effective use o f that technology to im­ prove research, learning, and service; to streamline administrative processes; to re­ duce costs; and to increase revenue. A great deal o f attention will be given to process reengineering. In the library, this will mean reconceiving library technical processes and helping users redesign tried-and-true but now obsolescent research methodologies. Finally, I expect to spend a greater portion of my time on the values of higher education, discussing all, protecting some, discarding oth­ ers. (I see this as an extension of the impor­ tant dialogue ACRL began last year.) Progres­ sively more confused by our fast-changing world, we in higher education will check this headlong progress against our ethical bedrock, asking some important questions along the way. “Who are we? What do we stand for? What are we trying to accomplish?” In planning services and systems, it will be in part my responsibility to ensure that new services and systems take advantage of tech­ nological advances without betraying our core values.— Mark Cain You r opinion is sought C&RL News wants opinions from librarians, faculty, and administrators in all types of aca­ demic institutions, holding a variety of posi­ tions. To be considered as a respondent to a question-based “Way I See It” column, please send your name, title, institution, e-mail ad­ dress, and photo to “Way I See It,” C&RL News, ACRL/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago IL 60611- (Crimea ’98 continued fro m p. 596) A n IFLA update Leo Voogt provided plenary attendees with an overview of recent developments within IFLA, characterizing them as indicative of a strong period of growth and serious invest­ ment in information technology. He pointed out that one of IFLA’s cornerstones has been, and remains, the volunteer effort of many ex­ perts and specialists from around the world. While he applauded the growth and de­ velopment of information technology within the context of IFLA’s activities, he made a point of stating that “efforts must be fed by elec­ tronic communication, but cannot flourish without personal communication.” For this to occur, he argued for a strong need for IFLA to continue to rely on personal networks, networks that can be established and maintained during IFLA’s general confer­ ence, and, he added, during important regional events like the Crimea conference. The g lo b a l perspective Phyllis Spies, vice president, Sales and In­ ternational OCLC, presented “OCLC and Mem­ ber Libraries: Architects of the Global Library.” Using a PowerPoint presentation, Spies de­ scribed the viewpoints of various persons from different countries throughout the world. Her presentation explored two points: one, the key trends in the global information mar­ ketplace and, two, a brief characterization of OCLC’s strategic international directions in light of these global trends. She spoke about the information revolution, comparing and con­ trasting it to the industrial revolution, point­ ing out that “technology’s effects on us today are different from those of the industrial revo­ lution. They are more democratic, more per­ sonal; more subtle and profound.” Crimea ’98 was indeed an interesting and rewarding experience. It has become the domi­ nant conference throughout central and East­ ern Europe and annually provides an excel­ lent forum and context for large numbers of librarians throughout the region to intermingle, to network, to exchange views and experi­ ences, and to profit from one another.