Home | Information Services for social and 
economic development (Summary)
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SCOPE

Issues dealt with in this guideline include:
Range of users
Resources
Services
Service delivery
Staff skills and training
Co-operation and partnerships
Publicity, marketing and outreach
Charges and licences

POLICY ISSUES

"Knowledge, skills and information are becoming more important to our lives economically, socially and as citizens. Libraries have a central role to play in ensuring everyone has access to the resources, information and knowledge they need." (Framework for the future: libraries, learning and information in the next decade. DCMS, 2003). Equality of access to information and to learning is vital if everyone is to have the opportunity to achieve their full potential. As we move towards a more knowledge-based society driven by digital technologies, the need to ensure access to information for everyone adds a new dimension.

Public libraries have always offered information services, and some have offered specialised services e.g. business information, local studies, music, etc. ICT has changed these services exponentially, both in terms of the content and method of delivery. Access can now be provided to information from all over the world, at great speed, via sophisticated delivery channels. Libraries therefore need to be aware of a wide range of sources of information, from free to expensive commercial publications, and of the technology available to communicate with users.

Information services can be tailored for the needs of a range of user groups, defined by the type of information they require. Libraries need to be aware of other agencies which also work with these user groups, and understand what they do, in order to complement rather than duplicate their work, and to enable accurate referral (see co-operation).

The demanding nature of information work requires trained and experienced staff, and some staff will require specialised and technical knowledge. Staff training is therefore a matter of policy (see training).

Libraries, museums and archives help to develop a strong local economy by supporting local business and industry. An important aspect of economic development involves attracting tourism and inward investment. Museums and archives as well as libraries can contribute to promoting the region to the rest of the world.

It is the policy of the European Commission to make Europe an information society and a competitive knowledge-based economy. (See Towards a knowledge-based Europe, Oct.2002,). The aim is for EU citizens to have direct and interactive online access to knowledge, education, training, government, health services, culture and entertainment and financial services, in order to support the growth of e-business.

E-business embraces both e-commerce (trading online) and the use of ICT to transform traditional business procedures. The EU will be working throughout 2003 to stimulate e-business.

The EU is keen to maintain a diverse cultural heritage. Local history research helps to foster a sense of community, and local digitisation projects, which help people digitise their own material, or material from the library, archive or museum in new combinations, creating virtual tours around buildings or towns, or based on families or themes, add an exciting dimension to this. Cultural facilities greatly support the economy of a region by stimulating tourism and attracting inward investment. (See diverse cultural content.) People anywhere in the world can obtain access to what is local information to its originators, so opening up the world to virtual cultural tourism. TRIS, the European Cultural Heritage Trials projects, stimulate the implementation of innovative products and services in the cultural heritage sector. One such project is BEASTS (see links).

Libraries, museums and archives are well placed to have an input into the development of a knowledge economy. They can provide direct online access via PCs in libraries, they can provide facilities for online learning, their staff can provide training, and they can provide access to information to support the growth of e-business.

GOOD PRACTICE GUIDELINES

• Resources should be made available in a cost-effective way. They may be kept in digital or paper format depending on the level of demand, space occupied, cost etc. Increasingly however information will only be available in digital format requiring the equipment and skills to use it. Digitised information has many advantages; it can be accessed in a variety of ways, used in integrated library systems, tailored to users' requirements, and delivered on demand to enquirers anywhere and at any time.
• Consideration needs to be given to how users communicate enquiries to the library and facilities made for visits to the building, telephone calls, e-mails, visits via web sites, talking to staff over chat lines, voice mails, bulletin boards, FAQ facilities, etc. The access needs of disabled people must also be catered for.
• Technology should be used to provide seamless access to a range of information. For example use should be made of resource discovery techniques to provide access to information from a combination of sources, from the local library, from other libraries, from archives and museums, from locally digitised materials, from the web, etc. and regardless of format.
• People have now come to expect to be able to access services whenever they need them. This means hours of opening must be suitable for the local community, and that virtual access should be possible at any time, both for local people who need remote access when the library is closed and for the global community.
• People, including other organisations and businesses, will not necessarily know the range of information services the library can provide, so marketing will be necessary.
• Trained and experienced staff are a resource. As well as providing the service, they can train other staff and also users and groups of users, both inside the building and outside.
• Many countries have set up networks of organisations to provide advice, training and assistance. These organisations are often willing to co-operate with libraries, recognising that libraries have expertise in the area of information retrieval. Such organisations may be willing to contribute to the cost of, for example, expensive subscription services. It is common for specialised libraries to be members of consortia which helps to provide services cost-effectively.
• Information resources are often expensive and their use is not limited to one group of people. It is therefore useful to have access to it through the public library service where it is available to all.

Range of users
Citizenship and democracy depend on having an informed citizenry, who know about their responsibilities and rights. Access to excellent sources of information empowers individuals, helping them to improve their lives though, for example, careers information, learning opportunities (through books, informal learning, information about courses). The information services provided by a public library should be able to support a wide range of users. The following list is not exhaustive, but gives examples of the possible users and the type of information they might require:

• individual members of the public, who need information for a variety of reasons, including leisure purposes;
• people seeking to find out how decisions which affect their lives are made, who need national and local government information, legal information, and community information (see e-government);
• volunteers, who need information about opportunities for volunteering and about the area in which they choose to work;
• people interested in the local history of the area. These might be local people, but often they are from elsewhere in the world investigating, for example, their family history. The local studies information held by the library and the local record office may be unique;
• people moving into the area, who may need information about local amenities - schools, leisure facilities, local government offices, transport etc.;
• visitors to the area, who need information about transport, accommodation, places to visit, maps, etc.;
• parents and carers, who need information on child development, health, education;
• carers of older people, who may need information on health, benefits, residential accommodation;
• cultural tourists from anywhere in the world who may have found out about the area from, for example, a museum website, and wish to visit, and so contribute to the economy of the area;
• large businesses, who can satisfy most of their information needs in-house but who may require occasional support;
• SMEs, who may require a great deal of information, and may also want to use office software;
• local authorities, who may need legal, statistical or geographical information about the area;
• professionals, e.g. lawyers, accountants, who may need access to information to keep up to date in their subject area etc.;
• people from outside the area looking to set up a business in the area, who will require general information about the economic, social and cultural infrastructure as well as information about the employment situation, skills available, land and buildings available, etc.;
• start-up businesses, who need legal and financial as well as commercial information, and may require help and instruction in the searching for and use of information;
• job-seekers, who require commercial information, newspapers and magazines, and may also need office software on which to write CVs and job applications. They may also need access to lifelong learning facilities in order to develop their skills;
• advice agencies and voluntary organisations, who may need legal information;
• students, especially those following distance learning courses, but also those studying at local colleges. Colleges libraries not always in a position to provide all the resources which their students need, but may be able to provide other services of use to non-students which the public library cannot supply. Co-operation with college libraries can be mutually beneficial;
• schoolchildren, for homework support;
• teachers, who need information to support their courses;
• school governors, who may need educational law and local government information.

Resources
Information resources are eminently suited to digitisation, making searching of huge amounts of data easier and quicker. The following are examples of the types of resources which may be provided by public library information services, many of them subscribed to in digital format:

Home | Information Services for social and 
economic development (Summary)
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