Home | Information Services for social and 
economic development (Summary)
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Community information (see also resource description and e-government)
Providing this type of information is a very important function of public libraries since they are the only organisations with the knowledge, contacts and skills produce it. The public needs up to date information about the range of organisations which make up the civil society in modern Europe. Public libraries should focus on local organisations: national organisations are well covered by commercially or centrally-produced directories. This type of information is clearly suitable for digitisation and it is now very common for public libraries to provide information about local organisations of all kinds through the library website. Community information databases should be searchable by subject, place and by organisation name and should provide links to other community information pages in the same region. The sorts of information provided may include:

• Local events
• Local voluntary groups including organisations for various social minorities such as old people, children, people who have types of illnesses, charities, residents organisations, sports clubs, hobbyists, etc.,
• Self help groups
• Sexual minorities
• Political organisations and pressure groups
• Administrative bodies
• Political representatives
• Schools and colleges, private tutors
• Tourist information
• Local newspapers
• Local government information e.g. who does what and at which office
• Transport information e.g. times of buses and trains
• Lists of businesses though there is no point in duplicating the yellow pages.

Cultural information (see also diverse cultural content, resource description)
Libraries, museums and archives can all contribute to providing access to cultural information, which may include:

• museums, art galleries, places of interest, local, national and international;
• local events - theatres, concerts, cinemas etc.;
• local studies - current and historical information about the area;
• local religious organisations;
• leisure facilities - sports facilities, local clubs and societies;
• travel guides;
• music, drama, art;
• local voluntary groups including dramatic and choral societies, photography clubs, gardeners' clubs, bellringers etc.
• tourist information;
• local newspapers.

Business information

• directories of companies, both national and international;
• collections of statistics both national and international published by official and other bodies;
• technical information including standards such as DIN, BSI or ASTM;
• legal information such as enactments and regulations locally in force and EU directives;
• information on patents, manufacturing and trading;
• information relating to the creditworthiness of companies either locally or nationally;
• newspaper reports on commercial and business subjects;
• information about government departments, chambers of commerce, professional organisations, trade associations, local government organisations etc. which may be of use to business;
• information for those starting up new businesses e.g. trade names, company names, grants, registration etc.;
• information on importing and exporting including customs tariffs;
• local community information of relevance to businesses e.g. local events, local voluntary groups, political organisations and pressure groups, administrative bodies, political representatives, trades unions, employment agencies, tourist information, transport information, local government information, local businesses.

Community information is best provided in electronic format. (see also e-government, diverse cultural content, and resource description).

Legal information (see also e-government)

• national laws and regulations applicable to the whole country;
• national laws and regulations applicable only to the local area;
• European directives and regulations;
• international law such as environmental regulations, human rights declarations, etc.;
• solicitors and barristers, locally and nationally;
• the court system locally and nationally;
• the police service, the prison service, the probation service, the criminal injuries service;
• local legal advice services such as citizens' advice bureaux;
• welfare benefits and rights;
• taxation law;
• employment law, health and safety law, trades union law, etc.

Services
Specialised services which may be offered include:

• literature searches on any subject;
• genealogical searches;
• specialised business services such as searches for technical standards, patents or regulations, credit checks on companies, searches for EU tenders, in depth reports on the recent history of selected companies, mailing lists of companies for marketing purposes.
• training on the use of electronic sources of information which may be available freely e.g. on the Internet. Users may need both technical help to find information, and also help in evaluating the information they find. People often find too much information, especially on the Internet, and then have no idea how to select what they really require. Training can be offered both in the library and elsewhere, e.g. in a village hall, in a school or college, on a business or organisation's own premises;
• the creation, hosting and managing of websites for local community groups;
• facilities for groups or individuals to digitise local materials so adding to the local cultural heritage;
• computers, not only for Internet searching, but also loaded with office software so that people can write letters and reports, do homework, produce publicity materials, do accounts, prepare presentations, and design web pages etc.;
• computers for particular uses e.g. dedicated to websites on particular subjects, or with access to subscription databases;
• special areas of the library dedicated to, for example, health information, or careers information. These areas might be staffed at advertised times by staff from another organisation; for example officers from the local careers department might be available in the careers section to offer advice and hold interviews, or staff from a local college might attend to advise on courses. Careers sections can be linked to learning centres (e.g. learndirect);
• special areas of the library for music and drama with sets available for loan to drama groups, orchestras and choirs;
• referral to other specialist services such as advice bureaux, chambers of commerce, local authority departments;

Service delivery (see also delivery channels, multimedia digital service delivery, integrated library systems)
This is the area where technology promises great potential for libraries. People now expect a service to be available whenever and wherever they need it. Communication with users will need to be by a variety of methods (e-mail, contact centres, chatlines, videoconferencing, internet delivered by broadband and satellite, wireless networks, mobile phones, kiosks, digital and interactive TV, as well as the traditional visits to the library, telephone calls and fax) to meet the needs of all users. ICT now makes possible some very exciting developments in this area. For example, integrated library systems are moving on from housekeeping applications to providing access to content through resource discovery and guided access methods (see the guideline on integrated library systems). Examples of delivery methods include:

• Contact centres, such as Essex Libraries' Answers Direct. Enquiries are taken by any means - from a web site, by e-mail, by telephone or fax, or in person - and dealt with by the most appropriate member of staff, which makes efficient use of specialist staff and allows other staff to contribute and gain skills and experience. Enquiries are logged using enquiry management software which tracks the progress of each enquiry, and allows enquiries to be passed to other staff when someone goes off duty, important when a library is open long hours. The management software also gives useful information on usage and can monitor the effect of any advertising and so enable targeting of publicity to audiences who might be underusing the system. They can also incorporate FAQ (frequently asked question) facilities as a way of making the best use of specialist staff and of making the service available around the clock.
• "Ask a Librarian" services. These are now available in many countries. Libraries throughout the country work together to provide the service usually on a rota basis. Questions are placed on an enquiry page which is automatically routed to one of the participating reference libraries which receives it as an e-mail message. Librarians respond by e-mail to the enquirer as soon as possible. (See links.) It is now possible to run these services in an international basis (see the Library of Congress QuestionPoint service in Links).
• "Talk-to-a-librarian" services. These use chat lines and co-browsing techniques to allow enquirers to talk to a librarian in real time. A good example is Gateshead Library's ASAP service. (See links).
• Portals such as "Bizigate" in Denmark which integrates access to a range of different sources and presents them through subject gateways. (See links.)
• Portals such as "Bibliotheek" in the Netherlands which uses a unique search engine, Aquabrowser, to search both simultaneously and with associated terms. Primary sources are the national book title database, selected educational sources, a short version of the Newspaper database and the digital newspaper archive, all full-text. In the near future, the virtual library will expand through additions from various partners, a digital reference service and information desk, a virtual meeting place for literature lovers and links to local library systems for directly borrowing materials and make reservations. (See links.)
• Increasingly people will require services tailored to their particular needs. (See the guideline on Personalisation.)
• Web pages. Most libraries, museums and archives now have web pages. As these can be seen anywhere in the world the potential for promoting the service and the region is immense.
  • In the case of libraries they can provide virtual tours of the library, access to catalogues (with facilities for placing requests, renewing loans etc.), community information databases, local studies materials (with digitised documents, photographs etc. able to be viewed), links to other relevant web sites, FAQ services, bulletin boards, news of coming events, and ask a question pages (sometimes linked to national "Ask a Librarian" services).
  • In the case of museums they can provide virtual tours of the museum with pictures of and information about exhibits. There are some very exciting interactive museum sites. (See the links in diverse cultural content.)
  • In the case of archives they can provide the possibility to read records, documents and manuscripts online. (See links.)

Home | Information Services for social and 
economic development (Summary)
Full Text: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4