From a local and closed to an international and virtual library: A case report
| Pages | 475-484 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045600 |
| Date | 01 June 1997 |
| Published date | 01 June 1997 |
| Author | Per‐Olov Andersson,Per Olsson |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
From
a
local and closed
to an
international and virtual library:
a case report
Per-Olov Andersson
National Institute
for
Working Life, S-171
84
Solna, Sweden
E-mail: per-olov.andersson@ niwl.se
Per Olsson
Karolinska Institute Library and Information Centre, S-171
77
Stockholm, Sweden
E-mail: per.olsson@kib.ki.se
Abstract:
One
of
the
main
challenges faced
by
libraries
is
to present
their services
and
holdings to
patrons
in
a
truly professional
and
user-friendly
way.
The
standard
library
software available
does
not
usually
adapt
to new
technology
as
quickly
as
library users
and
staff would
like.
However,
such limitations need
not be
accepted.
By
thinking
in terms
of
small-scale,
incremental development
and by
using general computer
soft-
ware,
an
ambitious library
can
create
a
technologically
up-to-date information browsing instrument even
though finances
and
resources
are
limited. This paper describes
the
strategic
and
technological steps
involved
in
such
a
process.
1.
Introduction
The Swedish National Institute for Working Life
is a
governmental research, training
and
development
agency with about 450 employees.
Its
subject areas
are occupational safety
and
health, working life,
organisational and labour market research.
The library
of
the Institute, with about 15 employees,
is
a
national resource library.
Its
goal
is to
provide
access on
a
national level
to
all the Swedish and the
most important foreign research reports, journal
arti-
cles,
books
and so
forth
in the
subject areas
men-
tioned
above.
It
also provides library services
to
cus-
tomers abroad
on
Swedish research documents
in
these fields.
One
of
the main challenges
of a
national specialised
library which provides both
a
domestic and an inter-
national service
is
the need
to
make both the library
and available literature 'visible':
in
other words,
to
reach
out to
potential customers.
In this paper
we
will discuss
the
technical imple-
mentation
of the
visionary ideas about
how to
fulfil
the national and international goals
of
the
library.
We
will illustrate
the
advantages
of
relying
on
local
expertise rather than
on
external vendors
or
consul-
tants,
and the
value
of
incremental, small-scale
developments rather than attempting,
in one
giant
step,
to
implement
the
complete and definitive
solu-
tion.
2.
From
an
integrated library system
to
a
linked separate systems
solution
In 1990 the library had about 20 000 book titles
in its
card catalogue.
An
additional
10 000
references
to
reports, journal articles
and so on
were searchable
in
an
online 'grey literature' database, ARBLINE,
mounted
on the
MIC-KIBIC Medlars-system (Elhill).
The ARBLINE references were subject indexed
according
to a
thesaurus constructed
in-house.
The
thesaurus terms were
in
English, based
on the
idea
of
a
potential international usage
of the
database.
About 70%
of the
referenced documents were pub-
lished
in
Swedish,
the
rest mainly in English.
In 1989, when the Tinlib library automation system
was purchased,
the
strategic decision
was
made
that
all
items
—
books, reports, journal articles
and
so on — were now to be treated in the same
way,
i.e.
registered
in
Tinlib, subject indexed with thesaurus
terms,
and
transferred
to MIC for
updates
of
ARBLINE. Old card catalogue items and all new cita-
tions were keyed into
Tinlib.
The old ARBLINE refer-
ences were imported from
the
online system into
Tinlib,
to
make loan registrations possible.
ARTICLE
The Electronic Library, Vol. 15, No. 6, December 1997
475
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