The Role of Libraries and Information Centres in the Global Forest Information Service Roger Mills Oxford Forestry Institute August 2000

There’s no future in it  Libraries are dead  Everything can be delivered to the desktop  All electronic systems are intuitive and can be worked by anyone, anywhere in any language

The Harry Potter Phenomenon  Get people talking  Get them wanting more  Sell on content  Repackage for specific audiences  Translate widely

Who needs paper?  Web sites growing daily  Connectivity growing daily  Investment growing daily  BUT  More new journals every year  Paper consumption growing every year

Send for Harry…  Challenge the nightmare  Power of the individual  With a little help from our friends  Separate good and bad  Get info from library and the Forest of Information

It’s all too much  How do we store it?  How do we access it?  How do we preserve it?  Maybe….

We need libraries!  And fortunately  We’ve got them!  C. 400 of them  Let’s talk!

GFIS – the theory

GFIS – the reality  Two tin cans and a piece of string  Needs someone to talk and someone to listen  And vice versa

The digital dilemma  Format v. content – Sylva online  Fire, flood, infestation destroy treeware  Many more ways of destroying e-ware  Egyptian hieroglyphs = 1980’s word processor  Medieval scribes = reformatting  It costs!

Not getting enough  Money  Staff  Space  TIME  So we need INGENUITY in managing ‘stuff’

Manage it!  Find it  Teach it  Deliver it  Digitise it  Archive it  Network it  Hotlink it  E-publish it  Copyright it  Publicise it  Talk about it  Love it!

Finding it:  Libraries locate, describe and classify relevant resources – in all formats  Library catalogues include ‘physical’ electronic resources – CD-ROM, DVD  And may include ‘virtual’ resources – web sites

Teaching it  Systems are not transparent  Novices need flywheels  Power users need brakes  Formal v. informal instruction  On-line help, documentation, hand- holding  It’s for you

Delivering it  Lending and loss  Photocopies and snail mail/courier  Fax and  Copyright  Ariel  Full-text

Digitising it  Choosing  Costing  Setting technical standards  Preparing material  Quality control  Indexing

 As we move into the electronic era of digital objects it is important to know that there are new barbarians at the gate and that we are moving into an era where much of what we know today, much of what is coded and written electronically, will be lost forever. We are, to my mind, living in the midst of digital Dark Ages; consequently, much as monks of times past, it falls to librarians and archivists to hold to the tradition which reveres history and the published heritage of our times. - Terry Kuny, Consultant, National Library of Canada

Archiving it  Retrieval software  Web access  Archive format  Hardware  Speed  Location  Refreshment

Networking it  Machine talk  Person talk  LANs and WANs  CD-ROMs – problem software  Cost and confidentiality

Hotlinking it  A –B –C –D – got it!  Hit the spot first time  Select and buy.com  Index – abstract – full-text  Brand loyalty

E-publishing it  Idea – creation – dissemination – use  Reformat – reformat – reformat  But how?  Cut out the middleman  Drop in the ocean  Shine like a star  Peer review?

Copyrighting it  It’s mine!  What is intellectual property?  Cf. human genome  Preventing mutation  Just rewards

Publicising it  Tell me a story  Harry Potter  Packaging  Labelling  Networking  Network of networks

Talking about it  Dragon Naturally Speaking  Watch my lips  It’s down!  How does it fit in?  How do I fit in?

Loving it  No fortunes to be made  GFIService  Because it’s worth it – we’re worth it  IFF4 mandate: ‘…best use of existing institutions, mechanisms and networks, including national, regional and international information systems’

Getting on with it  Directory  Protocols  Distance learning  Document delivery  Digitisation centres  Archiving centres  Payment collection mechanisms  Full-text hotlinks  E-publishing standards  User education