A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE ON LIBRARIES

Robert Wedgeworth

Librarian and Professor Emeritus

University of Illinois

November 2007

WHERE ISTHE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY?(A 1980’s question)

TWO LIBRARIES IN ONE:Beginnings of library

automation Preserving the past Planning for the

future Maintaining the

balance Communicating the

transition

GLOBAL FORCES

Economics Technology Demography Culture

GLOBAL LIBRARY ECONOMICS

FUNDING COST OF

MATERIALS COST OF

TECHNOLOGIES COST OF

FACILITIES SALARIES

CULTURE, INC.

MEDIA CONSOLIDATION (BERTELSMAN & RANDOM HOUSE)

MEDIA CONVERGENCE (TIME WARNER)

MEDIA GLOBALIZATION (DISNEY)

WHO PAYS?

Educational institutions Employers Individuals How do you pay?

– By the bottle– by the drink

GLOBAL LIBRARY TECHNOLOGIES

LIBRARY MATERIALS

WORKSTATIONS LIBRARY

SYSTEMS INTERNET

CONNECTIONS TECHNICAL

PERSONNEL

BOOKS AND LITERACY

World book publishing growing U.S. book publishing leveling off Literacy (definition?) Functional literacy Information literacy

READING HABITS

FEWER BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS READ (52%)

SAME INFORMATION FROM TV (16%) NEWSPAPERS READ 15-59 MINUTES

DAILY (66%) Sources:ALA, BISG, Roper

DO BOOKS COMPETE WITH NEW MEDIA?

AS ENTERTAINMENT AS LEARNING TOOLS AS REFERENCE TOOLS AS CULTURAL DIFFUSION TOOLS

BOOKS IN OUR FUTURE

MOST OF WHAT WE KNOW IS IN BOOKS

MORE SPECIALIZED FUNCTIONS FOR BOOKS

BOOKS COMPLEMENT AND COMPETE WITH NEW MEDIA

NO TO FAHRENHEIT 451!!

FROM SPEAKING,TO WRITING,TO READING

TO LISTENING,TO VIEWING,

TO COMPUTING

DIGITAL LIBRARIES

Text Images Multimedia Delivery systems, telephone, cable or

satellite Specialized personnel

User Databasequery

response

GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHICS

POPULATION GROWTH

EMIGRATION CHANGING ROLES

OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

GLOBAL CULTURAL FORCES

LANGUAGE RELIGION EDUCATION MUSIC ART LIFE STYLE

MEDIA AND AUDIENCE DIFFERENTIATION

AGE GENDER ETHNICITY LANGUAGE GEOGRAPHY OCCUPATION INTERESTS

GLOBAL FEARS AND LIMITATIONS

HAVES v. HAVE NOTS INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM COPYRIGHT & INTELLECTUAL

PROPERTY INTERNET WEB SITE SECURITY FILTERS

WHO GETS ACCESS?

Students Workers Children Universal service to schools and

libraries International developments

INFORMATION LITERACY

FINDING INFORMATION EVALUATING INFORMATION USING INFORMATION REFORMING INSTRUCTION (reserves,

lectures, textbooks) FINANCING ACCESS TO

INFORMATION

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOMR.S.V.P.

RACE RELIGION SEX VIOLENCE POLITICS

HISTORY

ONLY COUNTRY WITH ABSOLUTE GUARANTEES OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

FIRST AMENDMENT HAS ALWAYS BEEN CONTROVERSIAL

HISTORICALLY CENSORSHIP HAS BEEN PRACTICED IN ALL CIVILIZATIONS (RVSP)

ARTICLE 19 OF UN DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

SOME INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

UK--Peter Wright and Spycatcher

China and the INTERNET

France and the Front Nationale

Turkey and the Kurds

Japan and textbooks on WW II.

ISLAM and the INTERNET

CHRISTIANS and the INTERNET

Iraq and government secrecy

The world has undergone radical changes throughout the 20thcentury. Many claim the new

millenium will be the NETMILLENIUM.

NET MILLENIUM

DIGITAL LIBRARIES OF CULTURAL INFORMATION

ANALYSIS ENVIRONMENTS FOR CORRELATING INFORMATION

GLOBAL CULTURAL MEMORY

TOWARD A GLOBAL LIBRARY COMMUNITY

ASYNCHRONOUS MULTI-LINGUAL MULTI-CULTURAL

GEOGRAPHICALLY DIVERSE

TECHNICALLY COMPETENT

COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY International in scope Includes all media Tendency to restrict rights of users Focus on pay per use Ignores the value of libraries Government frequently a partner with

commercial interests--WIPO TREATIES

GLOBAL AGENDA

CAPTURING DIVERSITY

CELEBRATING DIVERSITY

CAPTURING DIVERSITY

PROMOTE DIFFERENCE REWARD EXPERIMENTATION EMPOWER EVERYONE INVITE OUTSIDERS IN AND SEND

INSIDERS OUT BE INCLUSIVE

CELEBRATE OUR SPECIAL DIVERSITY--WOMEN

COMMUNICATIONS BALANCE EMPOWERMENT COLLABORATION & TEAMWORK BROAD VISION

NAVIGATING A GLOBAL ROUTE

FOCUS ON DESTINATIONS

REMAIN FLEXIBLE EXPECT THE

UNEXPECTED RECOGNIZE

OTHER EXPERTISE

PAY YOUR WAY