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Report Presents New Visions for Information Access

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Seven leaders in the information field describe their visions for libraries and information access in a new publication from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The volume presents papers from the international conference "Emerging Visions for Access in the Twenty-first Century Library," held in April 2003 in San Francisco. The conference, hosted by CLIR and the University of California, was supported by Documentation Abstracts, Inc.

"Libraries in the twenty-first century have a unique and critically important role to play in providing resources and services that create and sustain a nation of learners," writes Robert S. Martin, director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, who gave the conference's keynote address. Formal educational institutions, such as schools and universities, can link with informal educators, such as museums, libraries, and public broadcasting stations, to create "bold new models of integrated action" in providing people with opportunities for lifelong learning.

Three contributors consider the role of their libraries as civic institutions. Jens Thorhauge, of the Danish National Library Authority, describes progress on the "Danish model," wherein legal structures have been established that enable libraries to optimize their cooperation and serve the greatest number of users. Gary Strong, formerly of the Queens Borough Public Library, underscores the critical role of the librarian in serving the library's diverse patron base. By providing a physical place for learning activities, along with new means of empowering people with information, he writes, the library of the future will claim a stronger, and more central position in the community. Robin Stanton, pro vice-chancellor for information at the Australian National University, describes his institution's work to build an integrated information infrastructure that responds to the evolving needs of distinct communities of academic users.

Emphasizing the need to fully integrate information technology with the traditional library, Michael McRobbie, vice president for information technology and chief information officer at Indiana University, asserts: "If we are to fully exploit the promise of technology, the university itself must break down the barriers that divide its traditional decentralized units and commit to a new way of doing business." He envisons "library systems of collaboratively held collections that capitalize on integrated IT infrastructure and provide wide, yet organized, access to distributed information."

The theme of broadening access to scholarly resources was addressed by two contributors who discussed new models of information access. Michael Eisen, cofounder of the Public Library of Science, believes that open electronic access to scholarly publications would benefit scholarship greatly. The Public Library of Science plans to provide peer-reviewed scholarship electronically, without charge. Daniel Greenstein, executive director of the California Digital Library, describes the "layered library" model that is emerging at the University of California. In that model, campus libraries "build upon a range of common or utility services" to better meet the distinctive needs of their own faculty, students, and civic constituencies.

Emerging Visions for Access in the Twenty-first Century Library is available on CLIR's Web site at http://www.clir.org/pubs/abstract/pub119abst.html. Print copies can also be ordered through the Web site.

The Council on Library and Information Resources is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the management of information for research, teaching, and learning. CLIR works to expand access to information, however recorded and preserved, as a public good.

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