Why do we need to reimagine libraries? Margaret Allen, CEO State Library of Western Australia

The exhibition, Treasures from the World’s Great Libraries in 2002, was the impetus for change. The national and state libraries developed a provocation paper in 2007, The Big Bang. Its seven main messages were:

1. access is the primary driver of the business of libraries;

2. digitisation can no longer be ignored, it is a core part of library business; can mass digitisation be achieved collaboratively?

3. every library job will change;

4. the web is changing expectations and behaviour;

5. some activities will no longer be done, but productivity gains also need to be made;

6. experimentation and risk are necessary;

7. clients’ spaces need to be welcoming, and allow clients to be independent.

Some challenges:

The OCLC 2005 study was influential. Current library resource allocation focuses on the people coming in the door, but this needs to be reversed. Visitors to the SLWA building to use library services peaked in 1997-98. Reference queries: in 1998-99 staff answered 206,000 enquiries – this was reduced to 80,000 last year.

Long-held paradigms of copyright and ownership are being challenged. Australian Newspapers is a powerful example of how online content is of interest around the world, attracting an international community.

Publishing changes: there is a trend away from ordering hard-copy non-fiction because the material is mostly online. The speed of technology changes will affect the NSLA five-year plan for its Reimagining Libraries initiative.

Innovation could come from any sector – many of us are enriching our knowledge by employing people from non-library backgrounds. In some cases, we need to set aside long-lasting beliefs.

Workflow indicators:

A lot of things peaked in 1997/98, but a new set of indicators also arose from that time – number of website hits, digital image counts, first archiving of a web site to PANDORA.

Reimagining libraries has three strategies: ‘one’ library – the ability to receive the same suite of services from all national, state and territory libraries in Australasia; transforming our work culture to ensure that it is agile; and accessible content – improving both its management and delivery. In SLWA, there are no longer books on the ground floor.

Project 4 – Delivery.

Individuals ordering resources to their place of choice, led by the State Library of Western Australia. WA is uniquely placed to work on this, given the size of the state and its far-reaching public libraries. The benefits of the project include:

1. faster delivery online, less staff mediation

2. larger collections accessible to non-traditional library users

3. increase of the use of the national interlibrary loan services

4. provide a consistent borrowing experience across all the libraries concerned

“Where there is no vision the people perish.”

Questions:

1. with one library approach, content delivery will be improved. Are we surveying users to find out impact of the improvements? Yes, one of the work packages is to generate performance measures. Will test with the WA music collection.

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