Law, D. (2003) Are Librarians still under pressure? How to deal with it? Policies at national, institutional and individual level. In: Knowing to decide: Scientific and technical information for health decisions - 6th Regional Conference for Information in Health Sciences, May 2003, Puebla Mexico. This is an author-produced version of a presentation made at the 6 th Regional Conference for Information in Health Sciences, Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in Strathprints to facilitate their private study or for non- commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the url ( of the Strathprints website. Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to The Strathprints Administrator:

Are Librarians still under pressure? How to deal with it? Policies at national, institutional and individual level Professor Derek Law, Centre for Digital Library Research, University of Strathclyde

The University of Strathclyde 18c > James Watt > Steam Engine > Industrial Revolution > Environmental Pollution 19c > David Livingstone > African explorer > British Empire 20c > John Logie Baird > Television > Baywatch and Big Brother 21c > Arthur Van Hoff > Javascript > pop-up windows

Peeping into Utopia Relevance and co-operation Professional self-confidence The Library as place Data Management Training Preservation

The global village in Malawi $30 annual income 90% unemployment 18hr a day powercuts 60% HIV positive Unlimited access to e- journals 10 x 286 computers in the medical school 20% of under 5’s die Life expectancy 43>38

Why bother getting involved? Leave it to the market? But we want to change society Leave it to big countries? But one size doesn’t fit all And Sandra Braman scared me! Small is beautiful? Finland, Latvia, Singapore Leave it to publishers? But they have no grandmothers We are producers not just consumers

Librarians with attitude

Trust Me I’m a Librarian “People become librarians because they know too much. Their knowledge extends beyond mere categories. They cannot be confined to disciplines. Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the masses. They preserve every aspect of human knowledge. Librarians rule. And they will kick the crap out of anyone who says otherwise.” (Olson, 2000)

Old Wine in New Bottles The future lies in the past The International Library Movement Co-operation, co-operation, co-operation UAP and UBC Document Supply Selection, storage and support

So you think you know more than the Internet? “It is not the strongest, the fastest or even the most intelligent species that survive. It is always the most adaptable” Charles Darwin

User not technology driven The Library as place Second most used public service In the USA there are more libraries than Macdonald’s Staff and students are library conservatives Images are available to all A picture is worth a thousand words – unless it’s a.jpeg Communities share a history as well as a present Librarians can collect and interpret that

Information arbitrage Identifying products Identifying value for money Is the Pareto Principle relevant? Independent, authoritative and right

Law’s Laws URL’s survive 75 days on average 404 messages No quality control on the Internet No version control 7x24 access is a myth Law’s First Law: “Good information systems will drive out bad” ©

A rose by any other name Taxonomy Ontology Semantic web Metadata The organisation of knowledge

Producers not mouse potatoes OAI SPARC BIOMED Central The end of big deals? The failure of the STM model Scientific learned societies are more rapacious than publishers Publishing supports research NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND

Law’s Laws Law’s Second Law: “User friendly systems aren’t” © Law’s First Law: “Good information systems will drive out bad” ©

Training and Library as Place  The satisfied inept – staff as well as students  13% get information from the Library  But it’s also a: cybersandpit dating agency learning space 7x24 chatroom Training ground

Data preservation and trusted repositories Clearing the study Building research collections for the future Digital Asset Management Repository standards

Trusted repositories: the five Maori tests Receive the information with accuracy Store the information with integrity beyond doubt Retrieve the information without amendment Apply appropriate judgement in the use of the information Pass the information on appropriately

Seek forgiveness not permission Go to new places Investigate, report, plan and IMPLEMENT Let the organisation know you are doing this Lights are hidden under bushels for a reason It is better to be approximately right than precisely wrong He who pays the piper may call the tune – but that doesn’t guarantee an audience