Future-Oriented Internet-Based Services in Public Libraries

By Hapel, Rolf

Description
Professional Publication

Excerpt
Introduction: This paper will try to identify the Internet-based services that public libraries may offer at the beginning of the new millennium. The authors are aware of the difficulties and the limits of this exercise. Indeed, technical, social and political conditions are changing so quickly that any finite plan would be difficult to adhere to. The authors are well aware that the term ¯future-oriented® used in connection with public library services could indicate that the services described are yet to be invented, let alone implemented. However, the main idea of this publication is to give a description of current cutting edge-services that are using state-of-the-art Internet technology and which are currently being offered to end-users in the more advanced public libraries. Thus, a public library, which in fall 2000 will be capable of presenting most or all of the described services, certainly could be declared advanced. Although the paper therefore aims at identifying and classifying Internet-based services developed by public libraries, it also contains a discussion of potential services that might not have been implemented yet. The paper will discuss the range of value-added services as well as the possibility of networking between public libraries as a means of creating large-scale content of quality in small and medium-size entities. The authors are aware of the considerable differences between the level of Internet penetration in various countries and the corresponding differences in the level of services offered by public libraries. The examples of services mentioned in this paper are intended to give an overview and not to cover the full spectrum of library Internet-based services. Some libraries may be disappointed to find that their particular service is not mentioned, but the main idea has been to present good examples of the various types of services, not necessarily the best within the various services.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Why public libraries are needed in the digital age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Irrelevant and restricted information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The economy of the knowledge society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Legitimacy, economy and development of public libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Internet-based services in public libraries ? categories and examples of best practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1 General library information on the web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.1 Homepages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.2 Homepages + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1.2.1 General features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1.2.2 Annual reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1.2.3 Virtual tours and maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.2.4 Library business services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.2.5 Library sites for children and young adults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1.2.6 Orders and forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2 OPACS (Online Public Access Catalogues) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.1 WWW-OPAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.2 WWW-OPAC + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2.3 Notification services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 2.4 SMS, WAP and other services based on mobile device connectivity . . . . . . 21 3 Electronic resources ? collections and connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 3.1 Internet access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 3.2 e-zines and e-journals (licensed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.3 e-zines, newsletters and other subscribed services (published by the library) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 3.4 e-texts and e-books (licensed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.5 e-texts and e-books (published by the library) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 3.6 Subject guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 3.7 Citizen Nets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.8 Electronic exhibitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30