Planning your technology mix: decision factors that meet user needs
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045092 |
| Published date | 01 June 1991 |
| Date | 01 June 1991 |
| Pages | 319-324 |
| Author | Ruth Pagell |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
Planning your technology
mix: decision factors that
meet user needs
Ruth Pagell
Lippincott
Library,
University
of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia PA
19104-6207,
USA
Abstract:
As library/information center managers, we face
an array of information access choices.
With
an increased
demand for distributed machine-readable information, we
are all examining networking alternatives, using either
locally loaded tapes or CD-ROM databases,
in
place of or
in addition to online timesharing sources. The decision of
what information to provide in which machine-readable
format is indeed a complex one for all the players on the
information scene — users, librarians/information
specialists, systems specialists and commercial information
providers. Therefore, we must cooperate and communicate
to insure the success of the next generation of information
products.
Successful managerial decisions will be based
on
strategic
planning and on evaluating a wide range of characteristics
beyond
the
cost and technology factors usually
described.
This paper examines some of these factors from the
perspective of the library manager concerned
with
serving
user needs.
1.
The players
1.1.
Users
Library users are not a homogeneous group. Within our own
institutions, we may find individuals with a range of needs
and
capabilities.
The type of information products we provide
should be related to these factors. We must determine, with
our
patrons,
whether they should be 'users' or 'end users'.
For this article, three types of searchers are identified
(Pagell 1989):
1.
Professional — these sophisticated searchers, often
librarians and information professionals, have a good
knowledge of search techniques and of applying
computing technology to information delivery. They
may or may not have a good knowledge of
the
subjects
they are searching. 'They are us' and we are not the
people for whom we are designing the new access
services.
2.
Researchers/Practitioners/Graduate Students — these
are the knowledgeable end users. They know their
subject fields and the terminology associated with it.
They want to perform their own research in their offices
or labs on one or two well-targeted systems.
3.
Personal/Occasional/Student — these naive end users
know little about searching, computing or often even
the subject they are searching. They are common in
public or academic library settings. This user group is
the target of many CDs and potential networks.
1.2. Librarians/information specialists
Change is the order of the day and our roles must change in
relation to our users and our information sources. The de-
cision to provide remote access to local information is also a
decision to loosen control over the information and to see
ourselves not as intermediaries but as consultants, trainers or
coaches.
This move should be seen as an opportunity rather than a
threat. We are no longer the accompanist at the keyboard; we
are now the consultant who works with the client to identify
the type of information required, the most efficient infor-
mation source available, and the most effective way to access
the information.
1.3. Local systems departments
It is foolhardy to make a network decision without input from
a systems specialist. The support can come from a de facto
'systems person' or
a
systems department within the library or
the organisation, or from an outside consultant.
Management literature abounds with articles about the
place of information systems in decision making and plan-
ning (Caro & Sethi
1989;
Davenport et al
1989;
Radnor 1986;
Sinclair 1986). There is an increased emphasis on includ-
ing technology planning in strategic planning. Library lit-
erature occasionally addresses this topic (Downes
1987;
Raitt
1987).
In the library setting, systems people should be the
support, not the decision makers (Jaffe 1991).
The Electronic Library, Vol. 9, No. 6, December
1991
319
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