Library (institution)

D

International Library Programs

Several professional organizations and private foundations around the world work to promote international cooperation in establishing new libraries and in improving service at existing libraries. These organizations also provide librarians with international forums in which they can exchange ideas, develop networks for sharing resources, and create compatible standards and protocols for various library procedures. Some of the most prominent international library programs are those sponsored by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA); the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the International Federation for Documentation and Information (FID); the International Council on Archives (ICA); the British Council; the United States Department of State; and the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL). Private foundations also promote increased and improved library services around the world.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is an independent association that represents libraries and library associations around the world. The organization maintains headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands. It advises libraries on matters such as interlibrary loan practices, copyright laws, library building design, and development of legal deposit regulations that entitle national libraries to receive copies of every work registered for copyright in their respective countries. It also stimulates cooperation among writers, scholars, publishers, and libraries, and it assists librarians in promoting literacy and universal access to knowledge. In addition, IFLA advocates the formation of a worldwide information network.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) promotes international cooperation in the areas of education, science, culture, and communication. As part of this mission, UNESCO funds programs for the construction of libraries around the world and for the improvement of existing library services. For example, its support has enabled countries in the Middle East to establish the Arab Information Systems Network, through which member libraries can share collections and services. UNESCO maintains headquarters in Paris, France.

The International Federation for Documentation and Information (known as FID) is one of the world’s oldest and most influential international library organizations. FID was founded in 1895 in Brussels, Belgium, by bibliographers Henri LaFontaine and Paul Otlet, who first developed the Universal Decimal Classification system. Today, FID maintains headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands. Over the years, FID has been responsible for creating standards for microfiche reproduction; conducting research on the theoretical aspects of information; and promoting research on the impact of information, communications, and knowledge on national economies and society.

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The International Council on Archives (ICA) is an alliance of archival institutions, professional associations, and individual professional archivists. Founded in 1948, the ICA is concerned with the management of records and archives in all media and formats throughout their life cycle. The council also facilitates and promotes the use of records and archives by scholars and the general public. Areas of ongoing interest include maintenance of electronic archives, disaster preparedness planning, and automation of archival resources. The ICA has its headquarters in Paris, France.

The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international network for education, culture, and development services. It has established libraries in many countries of Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, all managed by local staff. It has also developed an online library based in Helsinki, Finland, that is available to other libraries around the world. The British Council has headquarters in London and Manchester, England.

The U.S. Department of State, through its Office of International Information Programs, maintains about 150 information resource centers in more than 110 countries. These centers were administered by the United States Information Agency until 1999, when the agency was abolished and its functions transferred to the State Department. The centers feature electronic equipment that can rapidly deliver information promoting U.S. interests to foreign governments, media, and educational institutions. In developing countries, the State Department supports public libraries that encourage study and understanding of American society and institutions. The department has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) encourages the development of school libraries and library programs throughout the world. Founded in 1971, the IASL also promotes collaboration among libraries in all countries, including the lending and exchanging of library materials. The organization maintains headquarters in Seattle, Washington.

Private philanthropic organizations also provide leadership in the establishment and maintenance of libraries around the world. In the early 20th century the Carnegie Corporation of New York was instrumental in establishing free public libraries in Africa, Latin America, and the South Pacific, but the organization stopped this program in 1917. Today the Ford Foundation, based in New York City, provides vital financial support for libraries in the developing nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

VIII

Trends and Challenges

Libraries of all types are experiencing a period of radical change. Technological and social developments that began in the late 20th century have fundamentally altered the ways libraries accomplish their traditional missions of selecting, organizing, preserving, and providing access to information.

A

Growth of Information and Technology

Electronic sources of information and low-cost microcomputers have introduced unprecedented changes to the services and operations of modern libraries. Computing trends that began in the 1980s have enabled low-cost digital storage of information, rapid transmission of data across computer networks, and sophisticated retrieval and processing of electronic documents and information. These changes—especially the rapid spread of the Internet—have reshaped the feasibility and economics of information distribution so radically that they have permanently altered the ways in which librarians perform their work. Against this background of increased information availability and technological innovation, libraries are developing new, at times revolutionary, methods of providing users with access to an ever-expanding amount of information.

A

1

Automation of Library Functions

Libraries first sought to automate their internal operations in the 1960s. The Machine-Readable Catalog (MARC) project, begun in 1966 by 16 American libraries, established a standard format for electronic versions of the card catalog. Because a number of libraries collaborated to form the MARC standard, they shared the enormous burden of creating records for the electronic catalog. By 1972 libraries around the world were using and contributing to the development of the revised MARC standard, known as MARC II.

The potential of saving tremendous amounts of time and money through shared cataloging led to many other cooperative projects among libraries. In the United States and Canada, several regional organizations grew out of these efforts, including the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC), a computer network for Ohio’s college and university libraries; the Research Library Information Network (RLIN) of the Research Libraries Group, a consortium of libraries founded by Columbia, Harvard, and Yale universities and the New York Public Library; and the University of Toronto Library Automation System (UTLAS). In addition to the initial goal of providing shared cataloging, regional organizations offer an array of services to libraries, including online acquisitions services and interlibrary loan systems.

Many of these regional organizations evolved to become national and international networks. Large organizations that share catalogs with one another are known as bibliographic utilities. Their massive catalogs compile materials from many member libraries, creating a vast resource for catalogers and researchers alike. For example, OCLC eventually grew to become the Online Computer Library Center, which serves as an international library computer service, bibliographic utility, and research center that by the 1990s contained more than 41 million records in its union catalog, known as WorldCat. Similarly, the UTLAS consortium of Canadian libraries was purchased by the U.S. firm Auto-Graphics, which set up a subsidiary in Canada to run this shared catalog of Canadian library databases. The new name of this service is AG Canada.

In the early 1980s some libraries began to feature online public access catalogs (OPACs), which allow users to access the libraries’ catalogs via computer. Previously, the high cost of acquiring the new computer technology and the difficulty in using the first software programs meant that libraries had to restrict use of online catalogs to a few specially trained librarians. By the 1980s, however, advances in technology and reductions in cost allowed libraries to begin offering public access to online catalogs. For example, the University of California system introduced its massive online public access catalog, MELVYL, in 1981.

Today, online public access catalogs are a common feature of all types of libraries. They have replaced and integrated four separate card catalogs: one each for author, title, and subject, as well as a card for the call-number shelf list. Online catalogs allow for rapid searching in each of these designated fields, as well as in some fields—such as the type of publication or the language in which a work was written—that were not searchable in the past. Since they were first introduced, online catalogs have been enhanced by the addition of keyword searching, which allows a user to search for works using any word in a given field. Online catalogs also typically allow users to determine whether a given item has been checked out by another user, and if so, when the item is due back in the library.

A

2

Automated Research

As early as the 1960s some researchers gained improved access to information with the introduction of electronic databases that contain abstracts and indexes of library holdings. These databases—known as abstracting and indexing (A&I) databases—contain publishing data for articles and books as well as abstracts that summarize each work’s content. By the early 1970s, commercial online services provided researchers with ways to remotely search through large databases, such as the Dialog Information Retrieval Service (DIALOG), the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (MEDLARS), and the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database published by the U.S. Department of Education. Several other commercial databases now provide researchers with access to an enormous amount of information. For example, the DIALOG Corp., Dow Jones Interactive (a division of Dow Jones & Company), and Lexis-Nexis (a division of Reed Elsevier) all enable researchers to search for a single word or phrase in the full text of millions of articles published over many years.

The first abstracting and indexing databases—like the first online library catalogs—were very expensive and difficult to use. They generally required a trained researcher who worked as an intermediary for library patrons searching for information. Beginning in the mid-1980s, however, commercial vendors began publishing databases on CD-ROM. These databases were less expensive to produce and easier to use. The new format allowed users to quickly search databases with relatively little assistance from trained professionals.

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