ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries April 1 9 9 2 /2 4 3 Access technology in academic libraries B y M ary J o L y n c h Most libraries offer access to remote databases a n d CD-ROM I n the last 20 years, four technologies have changed dramatically the w ay users gain access to bibliographic information. First ca online searching o f databases stored o n com ­ puters in distant places. Initially this w as done primarily through librarians, but gradually end- user searching becam e popular. Next came the o n lin e p u b lic access catalogs (OPACs) for searching the library’s holdings. Then came the opportunity to search comm ercial databases ow ned or leased by the library in the shape of CD-ROMs. Most recently, those databases are available through the catalog in the form of locally m ounted tapes. The literature gives abundant evidence of the w idespread use of these four technologies. W hole journals are devoted to som e of them and articles appear frequently in general peri­ odicals. W hole conferences are devoted to one or more o f them and many meetings at general conferences. But does every academ ic library offer all of these services? H ow does their avail­ ability vary by type o f academic institution? Those questions w ere answ ered as a by­ p ro d u ct o f th e recen t study o n A lternative Sources o f Revenue in A cadem ic Libraries sum ­ marized in the O ctober 91 issue o f C&RL News. For that study a four-page questionnaire was mailed to a sample o f over 800 academ ic li­ braries stratified by the four basic categories in A Classification o f Institutions o f Higher E du­ cation published in 1987 by the Carnegie Foun­ dation for the A dvancement of Teaching: two- y e a r i n s ti tu t io n s , li b e r a l a rts c o lle g e s , com prehensive colleges and universities, and me doctorate-granting institutions. R espondents w ere asked to describe their revenues in the most recent fiscal year, from five possible “al­ ternative” sources of revenue: services, sales, and special events; com puterized catalogs and databases, searching and printing; fines and replacem ent charges; gifts and grants; and li­ b rary endow m ents. This article is based on an­ swers to the section of the questionnaire on com puterized catalogs and databases. Before asking if re v e n u e w as d eriv ed from those sources, the form first asked if four specified services w ere offered. Answers are show n here in figure 1 (figure 3 in the report) w hich shows, by Carnegie category, the percentage of respon­ dents offering each type o f service. Not a revenue source Most libraries do not charge for these services— except for searching of rem ote databases— and this is not a major source of revenue. Tables in the full report show that a good num ber of libraries that charge do not actually receive the funds. The tables also show that students re­ ceive som e or all searches free in many librar­ ies. The report notes that many respondents added comments to the questionnaire about fi­ nancing of remote database searching and warns that “w e are not entirely confident in our data about revenue from this service.” The author is confident, how ever, a b o u t th e inform ation show n in figure 1. The only caveat to be noted here is that the data w ere gathered in April 1990. What of the future? Evidence from the literature indicates that if the study w ere repeated in April 1992 the per­ cen ta g e o f libraries offering these services w ould be higher, especially for CD-ROM and locally m ounted tapes. The Office for Research Mary Jo Lynch is director o f the Office fo r Research a n d Statistics at the American Library Association (Bitnet: U08774@uicvm) 2 4 4 /C&RL News Figure 1. Percentage o f respondents offering searching o f computerized catalogs and databases, by type o f source. an d Statistics (ORS) an d ACRL h o p e to gather Ed. Note: A lternative Sources o f R evenue in data o n access tech n o lo g ies again in a few A c a d e m ic Libraries is available for $10 from: years. Will w e w an t to ask ab o u t the sam e four O rd er D epartm ent, American Library Associa­ technologies? O r will o ther access technologies tion, 50 E. H uron St., Chicago, IL óO óll; (800) b e m uch m ore im portant then? 545-2433. ISBN: 0-8389-5742-0. ■ (Rader cont. fro m page 242) for w o rk experience an d job exchange abroad. Likewise o ther library associations are estab­ lishing international com m ittees an d taskforces to address library-related international concerns. But m uch m ore w ork is n e e d e d o n a b ro ad er scale to dev elo p international library co opera­ tion an d inform ation sharing, an d ALA must assum e a leadership role in this area. American librarians n eed to su p p o rt inter­ national library activities in term s o f global in­ fo rm atio n tech n o lo g ies. T hey m ust b eco m e leaders in building the global library com m u­ nity an d share their library expertise w ith li­ brary com m unities in u n d erd ev elo p ed co u n ­ tries an d new ly em erging dem ocracies. This becom es especially im portant at a time w h en m any U.S. citizens see m ore o f an isolationist role for th e U.S. in w orld affairs. It is notew orthy that U.S. librarians’ interest in international activities continues to grow , especially since Eastern Europe has changed so dramatically. O u r international colleagues are hop in g that w e will share o u r experience, expertise, an d resources w ith them to guide th em in the developm ent o f their o w n library a n d inform ation services. To h elp bring this about, w e must w ork to w ard increasing the n u m b e r o f libraries an d institutions w hich will actively support exchanges w ith foreign librar­ ians o r offer internships an d practica. We must also internationalize the curricula in the library schools across the country to provide future librarians w ith the understanding o f an d skills to deal w ith international library an d informa­ tion concerns. T h ro u g h n ew electronic inform ation an d com m unication technologies th e w orld is b e­ com ing a global inform ation village, and librar­ ies m ust b e a vital p art o f that developm ent. Librarians m ust be d eep ly an d meaningfully involved in helping to sh ap e the global infor- m ation/scholarly comm unity o f the future. Only through involvement in international library and inform ation activities can w e ensure this will h ap p en . ■