Technology boosts 'Ii:brary access
Michael Ridle y, BA '75, remembers rifling through dra we rs full of index cards lO find a library book when he was a student at U of G, but he doesn't remember ever see ing a computer termin al in the library ... or in any of his classroom s. "Computing wasn't a component of our studies," he say s, "and the library still used a manual system to check out books." Now back on campus as chief librarian, Ridley says most stud ents use a computer every day. They ce rtainly do eac h time they visit the library. Even though Ridley didn't see them, lhere we re computer hackers at work on ca mpus in the early 1970s. T wo years after he graduated , Guelph became the first uni versity in North America to have a fully in tegrated online library system. The card catalogue Ridley remembers wa s replaced by computer tcrminals that let students type in the name of a book. the auth or, the subject matter or the general area of inter esl ... and immediately see on the screen a comp lete listing of everything in the li brary that fit the catego ry. Under the direction of fonner chief li brarians Margaret Beckman and John Black, Guelph's GEAC and SearchMe catalogue systems were developed and so ld lO dozens of other uni versity librari es They made money for the Uni versity and .gave Guelph an internalional profile in the develop ment of technologies to manage the operational side of librari es. But now, the commercial world bas caught up, says Ridley, and il' S lime lO turn Guelph's unique talents to work in the academic arena. He predicts the next 20 years will bring enormous change in the way primary material is acccssed. Dri ve n by the global nature of the In ternel, technology is moving to the point where students can recei ve lheactu al infor mation on co mputer, not just the ca ll num ber. The permanent material is not a book on a shelf, bUl a computer di sk or an elec tron ic blip over the airways. The first sign of change on the academ ic fron t was the influx of abstracts, scie ntific indexes and journals on CD-ROM disks. Th ey are cheaper to produce, cheaper to buy and actually get used more often be cause of the search capability of CD-ROM. As more publications are deli ve red elec tronically - by disk or over the Inlernet libraries wi ll be helping their users get ac cess to information that rests outside the li 14
brary, virtuall y anywhere in the wo rld. With the uni versities of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier, Guelph also has a tri-uni versity library consortium in co llections de velopment, and students have access - via computer - to more than seven million volumes in the three library catalogues. "In fact," says Ridley , "we're moving loward a single catalogue system."
Material is now routinely exc hanged through inler-library loan, and the three uni versitics will soon establi sh a centra l SlOr age facility for seldom-used materials. Students wiJl be able to search the on line cata logue and request ajournal art iele, which will be fa xed from one of the other li braries or the storage facility. Such access and retrieval wo uldn 'l be pos sible without loday's computer technologies. Students can also use electronic publica tions available in each library. Already , Guelph students can access about 50 elec tron ic journals. In the fulure, universitics and jjbraries will become electronic pub lishers. Guelph is already doing that by pub li shing the results of facult y research and course material offered online. In another arena , U of G is ha ving preliminary di sc us sions with Agriculture and Agri-Food Can
ada and the Ontario Mini stry of Agricul ture. Food and Rural Affa irs to establish lh e campus as a publisher of agri-food lit erature and information. "We wan t to create an electronic environ ment for the many publications we all pro duce in the ag l'i-food area," says Ridley. of G cou ld produce and maintain the collection and ensure its preservation." Th e realm of electronic publi shing is dy namic and progress ive, but not without its problems. Studcnts will benefit from global access to ongo ing research, where informa tion is being constantly upd aled. Bul publi cations in flu x don't provide a baseline for comparison and leave li braries with the problem of how to preserve a document when it has no beginning or end. Libraries will also be called on to give credibility to online publication s. Whether the medium is print or electronic. the principJes of publish ing are the same, says Ridl ey. "We still have to weed ou tlhe renegadc publishers and the bad matcrial. " An author ca n post a documcnt to the Internet on hi s or her own , but readers wi II know th at and ca n acce pt or reject the materi al on its own merit, he says. "The bonu s is that e lectronic publish in g is more affordable and gives sludenlS access lo more diverse opinions on thc In lemel than we cou ld ever hope 10 have in print publishing. " Sludents can get lheir own id eas out into lhe public realm and receive immediate criticism in relurn. "Criti ca l debate is a norm on the lnlernel," Ridl ey says. He sees an extension of library access go ing hand in hand wi th U of G' s plilns to ex pand distance education and open lea rning. The Uni vcrsity may ha ve students who are never see n on 'Campu s, but they require the sa mc resources. Di stance ed ucation is also an area where co mputer tec hnolog ies may create greater links betwee n academic and co mmunity libraries. Th e purpose of a library is to help stu dents get acccss to informa tion. Tradition ally. this has meanl bringin g resources (books) into the library, wh ere students can use them. BUI more and more, the library is go ing to its users. Studenls can go on lin e at the U of G Library from a classroo m, resi dence room, office or even from home. The library of the [ulure ma y nOl be a ph ysica l place, but a resource that is in constant nu x. It will be affected by our attitudes and the way we use information and gain knowledge, Ridley says. Cue/ph Alumnus
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