The focus

Publisher Summary

This chapter focuses on the purpose of a special library and discusses various ways of exploring the need for a special library in a particular environment. A special librarian may often be asked the question, what is the library for? The answer will be different for different libraries but the chapter presents some of those possibilities. A special library exists entirely for service to its parent organization. Once it exists, it may also do other useful things, such as serving another clientele, sharing its resources with local or regional users, or preserving a worthwhile collection. The first step is to read existing documentation and everything relevant to form a picture of the present or proposed role for the library. In exploring an existing library service, rather than starting from scratch, it is helpful to go through existing statistics, which may be a source of useful qualitative data about users and their needs.

'Now does my project gather to a head:

My charms crack not; my spirits obey, and time

goes upright with his carriage' [1]

What is the library for?

A special librarian may often be asked this question. It can be a source of great embarrassment as you flounder to compress all the wonderful possibilities into three snappy sentences but it is not a stupid question. Indeed it is one that should be asked frequently. The answer will be different for different libraries but here are some possibilities.

'The Library is to provide information to the staff of this organisation so that they can provide a better service to the public, (or produce a better product, or make more profit).'

'The Library fulfils the organisational mission statement to .'

'The Library does the following tasks . that would otherwise have to be done by staff who cannot spare the time from their important jobs of .'

'The Library allows the organisation to fulfil its objective (need, wish) to inform its clientele (public, employees) about .'

'The Library saves the organisation money by reducing the number of copies of books (newspapers, standards .) that need to be bought, by making sure everyone using online services can do so efficiently, by ensuring that only one person has to scan new serials, by .'

'The Library provides expertise not otherwise available in the organisation which results in .'

'The Library is the cheapest possible form of quality assurance making sure that we have the latest (standards, acts, best practice information .)'

It is worth working out one or two answers to this question that are true and relevant to your own situation. It may save you from difficult situations or help you exploit an opportunity. It will also help you to focus on what you are really doing and why. Special librarians often have the delightful experience of feeling really needed by at least some of their clients but beware of complacency.

Working for the organisation

A special library exists entirely for service to its parent organisation. Once it exists, it may also do other useful things such as serving another clientele, sharing its resources with local or regional users or preserving a worthwhile collection. If it is not serving the parent organisation in a way the organisation wants, and changing in the way the organisation is changing, then the special library has no function and in any financial or political squeeze, it has no future.

It follows that one of the most important tasks for the special librarian is to know about the organisation, its staff and its clients. Nor is this a 'once off task. Change is a characteristic of successful organisations and Yvonne Butler, for example, suggests that 'if you have worked in the same organisation for more than a year, it is time to commence learning again about your organisation'. [2] The point was also made succinctly by another practicing librarian, 'What you are told on your first day will be of no use to you in three years time because everything will have changed'. [3] There is a checklist at the end of this chapter that suggests some ways of learning about the organisation.

Why is this point belaboured, not only here but in the special libraries literature in general? One reason is the distance between the librarian and most of the library's clients. This distance will often include educational differences, in type if not in level. There will often be a gender difference. The situation is still that about 70-80% of librarians are women while women make up less than 50% of the general work force. There may well be an emotional distance in that librarians are socialised into the concept of service, a concept to which many people in government and corporate worlds are strangers. The librarian may be willing and even eager to ignore all these distances but are the clients? This is a hurdle to be jumped as quickly and athletically as possible. As Meg Paul says, 'A service oriented library is one whose users are seen as partners to be consulted not as passive recipients of services provided by the library in its infinite wisdom'. [4]

Another difference in expectations may be a consequence of clients' previous experience with other sorts of libraries. They may be used to public or educational libraries where, because of staffing levels, they have been expected to find materials and information themselves and where the emphasis is on teaching the client to be self sufficient. They may also have developed ideas of library service at an earlier stage of technology and be unaware of what can now be provided. Re-education may be needed.

Once the librarian knows something about the organisation, the next step is to find out how library services can support its activities and objectives.

Existing documentation

The first step is to read everything relevant to forming a picture of the present or proposed role for the library. There may be plans or policies. There may be files or reports about the circumstances that led to the appointment of a librarian. There may be documents relating to emphasis, style or collaboration in the use of information which set a framework for subsequent operation of the library. It is helpful to have absorbed this background material before starting any new data collection.

It is also useful to know how information literate the organisation is, both in theory and in practice, because this will strongly influence how the staff respond to a librarian. Is the role of information recognised in corporate documents? Has there been an information audit? Is there an information plan? Does everyone know what you mean when you ask these questions?

Existing statistics

In exploring an existing library service, rather than starting from scratch, there will probably be some records of past usage. These may include, at least, numbers of loans, online searches and reference questions and details of interlibrary loan requests. These are useful data since they describe what people actually did rather than what they think they did or believe they would like to do. However, they do not necessarily reflect what is most important about the services of the library, or what could be important, so don't rely on them as the sole source of information.

If you or your predecessor have kept a day book or diary as suggested in chapter 6, this may be a source of useful qualitative data about users and their needs.

Surveys

One obvious way to find out if the library is providing the services needed by the staff of the organisation is to ask them. This seems simple to the uninitiated and becomes progressively more complicated with examination of the theory and literature of social surveys. Small special libraries will rarely have time to conduct an extensive or sophisticated survey but this does not mean that this technique is totally closed. Get advice if possible, especially if there is in-house expertise in this area.

One can learn from the techniques adopted by larger special libraries. For example Barbara Armstrong describes the surveys undertaken by the Telecom library system. [5] Given the resources, it may be possible to enlist the help of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the country's most expert social survey organisation. If possible borrow or adapt a survey form that someone else has found successful. If you plan to undertake a survey and you must work alone, then here are a few tips that might help.

Keep the questions simple. Make the survey form as easy as possible to complete. Think carefully about what information it is essential to know and exclude everything else. Interpret all the questions in every possible way and make sure the wording is unambiguous. Avoid unusual or jargon words. Plan the analysis and use of the results and frame the questions to make this easy. Include at least one open ended question so that even if things are not perfect with the controlled questions there may be some useful...