The Electronic Library Manager's Guide To Being Different
| Date | 01 April 1988 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb044810 |
| Pages | 233-234 |
| Published date | 01 April 1988 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Editorial
The Electronic Library Manager's Guide To
Being Different
With so many journals in the library and information field covering what appears to be similar areas
(such as microcomputers, information technology, online, electronic and optical publishing) maybe
it's an opportune moment to review and restate the aims and goals of The Electronic Library and how
I try to make it different from the rest.
If you are different from the rest then it usually means that something about you stands out, makes you
noticeable in a crowd — it might be that yellow gardenia in your hair, the candy coloured Porsche you
drive,
your flaming red hair and green eye
shadow,
your cute Cowboy Kate fringed
buckskins,
your tooth-
paste ring of confidence, your whiter than white shirt, whatever. The fact is, though, that it is you who
usually deliberately makes the effort to be different from others — by the way you speak or dress or be-
have or
live.
You become, in effect, the product of your own imagination—and the greater your powers
of imagination the greater your capacity to be different from others. You might do it to be noticed, you
might
do
it
as
a way
to
retain your own identity, you might
do
it to prove
a
point.
You can consequently be
labelled
as
an
eccentric,
or
a
rebel,
as
an
exhibitionist,
a
show-off,
a
right twit, or someone with good taste.
Most products try to be different and stand out from their rivals or competitors. This is one of the key
points in marketing and selling and advertising. Difference, however, means nothing unless it is recog-
nised
as
such by the user/customer and can affect him/her
in
some
way.
If your product
is
sufficiently
dif-
ferent from others by virtue of its price or contents or style or size or usefulness, then it will at least catch
people's eyes and once that hurdle has been overcome then it stands a much better chance of being used.
To sustain use the product has to be perceived as worth the money on a continuing basis. It has to main-
tain certain standards of usefulness or value or taste.
Journals in the library and information field are no different and are just as much products as anything
else.
While I'm not going to analyse (at least here and now) how they
all
differ and try to attract custom in
a limited market, it
is
interesting
to note
how some journals
are
now starting to include or revamp columns
and sections — possibly in response to competing journals, possibly in response to readers' needs. For
example, the ASIS Bulletin has recently jazzed up its information products section and the better layout
now includes photos; at the end of last year Online and Database magazines started a library micro news
section which includes a peripheral press type column of relevant journal
articles.
OCLC, recognising the
growing use of micros in libraries has created a new magazine containing tips, tricks and how to's for
micro users of the OCLC database.
How then is TEL different? What are its aims? In a world where greater emphasis is placed on compu-
ters for library, information and documentation purposes, it is inevitable that journals cover much the
same
things,
chase the same
news,
review the same software
packages,
describe
the same
products.
It thus
comes down, at least partly, to the philosophy behind the journal. I see TEL as a catalyst—a vehicle for
bringing futuristic and/or practical information and knowledge which you, the reader, can then adapt to
your own environment. TEL tries to make you aware of developments that maybe you wouldn't normally
come across and give you ideas that you maybe hadn't thought of. Unlike some journals, TEL does not
concentrate on micros — it also includes mini and occasionally mainframe developments. In addition it
attempts to embrace
all kinds
of new technology which
is
or could potentially
be
used for information pur-
poses.
It tries to take readers out of the narrow, restrictive library rut and broaden their horizons, stretch
their minds—the June 1988 editorial is an example of
this.
I have always strived to bring to readers information about what was happening at the leading edge of
libraries.
There are plenty of other clichés that could be used
to
convey what
I
aim for—being at the fore-
front of information technology, pushing back the frontiers of knowledge, pioneering the
way,
acting as a
pathfinder and
so
on. This
has
not always been easy for several
reasons.
It
is
often difficult
to
find out what
is happening early enough, especially where developments in private or commercial companies are con-
editors
PAGE
The
Electronic
Library,
August
1988.
Vol.6,
No.4 233
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