Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal February 2004 Volume 2 (1)

People’s Network

Developing e-content

What comes next after the NOF-funded services in all Scottish public libraries? Hazel Lauder explains.

For nearly a year now, users of public libraries in Scotland have been accessing freely KnowUK, KompassUK, Newsbank, and the Statistical Accounts of Scotland. These are financed through the NOF Residue Fund, money left over from the People’s Network in Scotland and managed by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC).

A group of representatives from a number of local authorities decided that the residue funding should be used to provide quality information services on an equitable basis across Scotland. No matter where a public library is, how small the library is, how urban or rural, the same range of information services should be available to everyone.

It was recommended that the services provided should contain four elements; general information service; business service; newspaper provision; and Scottish content. Training for library staff in using the services has been provided as part of the subscription.

Monitoring and evaluation

Each service provider makes statistics on use available to the Heads of Public Libraries and SLIC, including number of sessions, the number of searches carried out, the number of full records accessed and the number of searches with no results. The services are available until December 2004 – SLIC aims to establish if there is evidence for sustainability beyond this. Future funding may come from local authorities, on a consortia or national basis. The statistics demonstrate the considerable cultural change which library staff have experienced.

Lessons

Some important lessons have been learned for future e-content development. Some basic steps have been taken to encourage use including:

• providing access from the Library homepage
• placing icons on desktop
• allowing remote access authenticated by the library management system
• Removing the barrier of passwords by accessing via IP address

Staff awareness about the services and good customer care practice is essential.

There have been some excellent examples of marketing – articles in the local press and Council newspapers, special taster sessions. Some authorities produced their own publicity material. SLIC has played an important role in encouraging this best practice.

E-content Group

Senior library managers are now examining collaboration on information services and e-learning. Following a mapping exercise to establish the services available and how they are accessed, the group is looking at developing a consortia approach to e-services. Delegates from 25 authorities attended a demonstration day involving 10 service providers in September at Edinburgh University. This indicates the amount of interest from authorities in developing e-services.

E-learning

A national approach has been used to provide e-learning on an equitable basis to public libraries across Scotland. Funding from the NOF Residue Fund and local authorities now provides access to basic ICT course work and a customer care module. The system will provide tracking of user progress and a platform for other learning.

Future issues

A number of issues need to be tackled to allow e-services to develop. It is essential that public libraries aim to provide remote access and IP access to information services. For many public libraries sustainability for both the People’s Network and the services operating across it are major issues. Evidence of the use made of both the equipment and services has to be gathered to give strength to the case for sustainability.

There are many areas where cross-sectoral collaboration in e-services will bring mutual benefit. In the public sector considerable resources are deployed in identifying quality resources on the web, especially for children. Future projects will take steps to bring together the similar work that takes place within education. The possibilities of cross-sectoral consortia purchasing of online information services needs to be explored.

By working together, within and across sectors, we will be able to maximise the benefits that ICT, the Internet and e-services bring to the communities we serve across Scotland.

Hazel Lauder is Community Librarian, North Lanarkshire Council.

Information Scotland Vol. 2 (1) February 2004

Information Scotland is delivered online by the SAPIENS electronic publishing service based at the Centre for Digital Library Research. SLAINTE (Scottish libraries across the Internet) offers further information about librarianship and information management in Scotland.