Putting Imagination Online: Public Libraries, The Internet and Literature

The Internet is

• a means of communication
  • one to one e.g. e-mail
  • one to many e.g. discussion lists
  • real time communication too e.g. web-casts and videoconferencing
• a source of information
  • Individual's home pages
  • Company web pages
  • Academic information
  • Databases
  • Enthusiasts
• a way of making information available
  • available 24 hours a day
  • available around the world

Ideas for Online Public Library Literature Services

• Making it possible to make reservations online
• Developing the library web site to be more user friendly e.g. pictures of the staff
• Developing guides to web resources
• Hosting resources for local writing groups
• Hosting online author chats
• Developing interactive story tools
• Publishing online advice guides on literature topics e.g. how to get your book published
• Publishing information about new books
• Making available relevant video clips
• Providing competitions
• Hosting bulletinboards
• Developing a downloadable archive of audio books
• Providing publisher information
• Doing book orders online
• Developing a national genre listing tool
• Using the web to do book selection with other libraries

Issues To Be Considered if Developing these Services

• Lack of funding
• Lack of staff time to develop these new services
• Lack of relevant staff skills
• Lack of suitable skills
• Competition for time, space and resources with existing services
• Security
• Raising user expectations and then not being able to meet them
• Copyright
• Are these the sort of services which libraries should be providing?
• Do readers want these kind of services?
• Are public libraries missing out and these services are already being provided by other organisations?
• The Internet is so disorganised!
• Would these kind of services be better developed at a national level rather than by individual library authorities?
• Data protection issues
• Who has editorial control over these resources?
• Technical problems - maintaining the site, having space for the site

Overcoming Some of the Issues

• Train staff in partnership with other organisations e.g. other authorities, other agencies
• Make use of willing volunteers from the public - they might have the skills and be free
• Start researching what the public want and develop a case for providing it
• Find funding from anywhere - just because you don't have the money in your budget doesn't mean that you can't get it from somewhere else
• Get the service going first and then seek funding - it will probably make it easier to find some
• Seek sponsorship from commercial companies
• Make use of the resources that you've already got - you might already have the staff with the right skills and enthusiasm to develop these services!