The university library is part of the infrastructure of a university, that which forms the framework within which the university fulfils its purpose as a centre of higher education and research. To put it bluntly - no library, no university! All research begins and ends in the library. Those who wish to obtain information within a field of research have to start their quest in the research library, often with the help of expert advice from a member of the library staff. The tradition in research circles of establishing a "Stand der Forschung" for a research field which is well-nigh comprehensive, and thereby capable of showing how a specific research project can contribute towards fresh insights, becomes still more important and demand still more bibliographic knowledge due to the internationalisation of research. It will be increasingly more important to provide a documentation and reference service at the research libraries which can supply the pioneers of research with up-to-date and relevant literature.
The research library will also be an important recipient and distributor of the published material when a completed research project is published. These two functions, on the one hand help to find relevant literature by means of a professionally competent documentation and reference service where modern computer technology and international databases are used in combination with more traditional reference literature, and, on the other hand, the purchase, registration and lending of literature, are the primary tasks of a research library. The one aspect is as important as the other. Nevertheless it should be emphasized that the registration of literature must be seen in relation to the function it has, namely to make it possible to retrieve relevant literature for the customer. Registration has no intrinsic value; its application can only be legitimised by its efficiency at tracking relevant literature easily, though much energy has been used by libraries throughout the years to try and establish an intrinsic value for registration. It is therefore important that we subordinate registration to the needs of the customer - and I am thinking here of cataloguing, classification and indexing.
When establishing the priority of tasks in a research library, one is always obliged to choose between emphasising services which attach importance to the competence of the content of literature and those which involve the registration of the literature collection. Traditionally the University of Tromsø Library has clearly under-emphasized the content side catastrophically in that there have always been far too few subject specialists on the staff able to meet students and researchers on a professional level. This would seem to be being corrected now, as the University of Tromsø has made the University Library an area of special investment, and has thereby improved the staff of field specialists. The tasks of a field specialist within a research library, in addition to literature selection, will be the systemisation, classification and indexing of literature, literature advice to the user, bibliographic work, information on the literature collection, and should also include participation in education and research. The latter involves the research librarian understanding the problems and methods of research, and having knowledge of developments within the research field and the latest research results. Research libraries should employ people who can partake in an active dialogue with researchers on what information requirements the different projects have. In order to activate such a dialogue, the research librarian should have such a level of professional competence as makes the dialogue meaningful, should be aware of developments within the field, and should have a personal knowledge of research methods and common theoretical problems within the field.
We are facing a great challenge at the universities and other academic institutions in making researchers and students fully aware of the possibility of useing all the potentialities and competence of the library and in there being motivated to do so. If you want to make the users of the library conscious about using the subject infrastructure, you must qualify the field specialists, motivate the research librarians to be engaged in library research, promote the services of the library and take part in pilot projects which can make people think: "So was müssen wir auch haben".
A key condition for giving the research librarians practical opportunities to be adequately competent within their field and for giving an up-to-date service within their discipline is to give the individual research librarian enough time to concentrate on a distinctive field within his/her own discipline. Therefore a research librarian requires a solid and relevant research experience. Research training is just as relevant for the research librarian as for other academics at the universities. In this way the conservators at the University Museums are in the same position as the research librarians at the University Libraries.
A research library is a rather complicated organism which only functions totally, if all links in the system are functioning. Therefore a good research librarian must take part in a number of common tasks of relevance to the totality of the documentation and reference service of the library. At the same time each research librarian must be allowed to organize his/her time in a way that ensures that a certain amount of her working time can be devoted to research that is relevant to the library. In the carieer system for research librarians, library research should count just as much as other kinds of research.
Just like other academic positions, research librarians to a large extent create their own daily tasks. But if one was to try to structure the various tasks in a more systematic way, it could be done as follows:
1. internal work related to acquisition, such as selection of literature classification/subjectindexing and collection care 2. individual guidance of users, including solving individual problems of documentation and reference for singular researchers and students, courses in using the tools of documentation and reference, and doing more basic and longterm orientated work like library research.
Selection of literature must be made in a broad and representative way within the research librarians own subjectfield. Therefore one has to follow the research front litterature and grey literature within the different paradigms in the disciplinary environments and try to build up the collections retrospectively. This is especially important in the case of the arts, the humanities and the social sciences. The research librarian ought to be in close contact with his/her disciplinary colleagues in order to be acquainted with the latest research front literature and ought to read the relevant book reviews.
To perform classification and subject indexing properly requires that one chooses systems of classification and subject indexing that suit the medium of registration. That means that it is not always evident that an electronically based catalogue should have the same subject retrieval system as a printed catalogue. If the library has open shelves, it is important to work with an arrangement that can support the user in his/her orientation among the collections without reference to the catalogues. To organize a good arrangement in a library with open shelves requires a rather good specialist knowledge and an idea of how the researchers wish to meet the collections of the library.
Collection care comprises building up collections retrospectively, putting existing collections up to date, keeping the collections in proper, and systematic order, working with special collections, collections with old valuable unica collections of manuscripts, book care and conservation, presenting collections of special interest in exhibitions, or making them available in other forms.
The user orientated service in the research library of today and tomorrow is meeting great challenges. The tasks concerning information management and courses in information attached to the different disciplines and subjects are becoming still more important. The work with information and documentation is expanding and taking up still more of the total working time of the research librarian. The individual tasks as far as the users are concerned will consist in answering specific questions of reference. In order to be able to carry out qualified reference work, the research librarian must have a good knowledge of the relevant bibliographic sources concerning his/her field both in printed and electronic form. Besides this it is necessary to keep an eye on the grey litterature, proceedings etc.
In the organized user training one must take as one's point of departure the use of subject bibliographies, bibliographic databases etc. But in order to be a good detective, which is absolutely necessary if one's to follow all traces leading to the relevant literature, semiotics must be a central element in the training of the users. Concerning long term planning of library services, development projects and research are necessary. In its most simple form, it is a question of producing lists of literature for different purposes of studies and research. Further working with subject bibliographies and specialized bibliographies must be a permanent on-going project for all research librarians. Large research libraries ought to take on the responsibility for building up and taking care of bib-liographic database projects. But a research library also ought to have a kind of archive function for manuscripts and author archives, and it ought to publish critical text editions of particulary valuable literature, both of fictional authorship and old, not easily obtainable texts of historic, cultural and intellectual historic importance. Such publications would also be of interest within the fields of scientific research and medicine.
Besides this, commented, analytical articles with presentation of themes and actual issues within the subject or discipline will be useful library research. Professional treatment and presentation of different collections with unique or special documents demand high professional competence.
Sometimes in the dissemination of information other media than book shelves and databases should be at one's disposal. Mediation in a more didactic sense must be understood as a central task for the information specialist. An important initiative is the setting up of exhibitions - arranged by competent staff with an insight into the importance of the collection for research. Another important initiative is the arranging of lectures, professional seminars and other ways of educating the user.
Last, but not least, in connection with a user orientated guidance service, it will be useful to collaborate with the various disciplinary environments at the university concerning specific library projects related to study programmes, research projects, scientific conferences etc. As the University of Tromsø has initiated the work of evaluating the need for library and documentation studies here, it is important that all the following aspects of modern information studies are taken into account:
For all that, I do not believe it is right to invest in an education which presupposes a bookless society. In the foreseeable future, the book will still have a place as one of the most important media for the storage of information.
I will now present a number of aspects of such an education which in my opinion, are important within the perspective of "Information for Research", and at the same time will point out some of the consequences for the University Library as a central element of this education.
One of the most interesting features of a documentation education is the fact that it is based on a flexible model for library and archive studies which assumes a combination of other university and higher education subjects within the framework of a bachelor's degree. I see this as a clear strengthening of library education professionally when compared to the three years' course which up to now has been given at the state College of Librarianship and Information Science in Norway. Professional archivist studies are not available elsewhere in Norway.
I also see a unique opportunity in a Norwegian context for ensuring a responsible, professional library and archive education for both university librarians/subject specialists in research libraries and for archivists in the state archive system. University librarians or archivists would therefore be able to have an in-training education should they not already have such an education. Such a training opportunity is otherwise very badly lacking in Norway.
A number of important signals within research and education policy have been given in recent years through the publication of a number of public reports on research and higher education. Libraries are given an important function in the accumulation and dissemination of knowledge in all these documents. An important part of the futher work of evaluation will be the definition of some of the signals which have emerged in these reports.
Information will be a keyword in today's and tomorrow's society. A well developed library and archive system with relevantly educated personnel is a condition for meeting the challenges of the information society. It is not enough to know a lot; it is just as important to provide institutions and personnel which can systemise, store, secure and, not least, retrieve relevant information. The library and the archive will have a key position in society.
The archive and library service need to answer the following questions:
What is it possible to preserve? Can new techniques preserve more? What should be disposed of? How can that which has been preserved best be secured? How can we make the preserved material most easily retrievable? How can we cooperate with those who need information in order to separate the relevant from the irrelevant in specific processes for seeking information?
The traces which human activity in society leave behind are the potential sources for researchers. Traces which are preserved and can be retrieved in the future will to a decisive degree characterize our understanding of why society has become what it has. The training of the source critical abilities of researchers will however only correct to a small degree the distortion which occurs during the transition between society itself and the traces which society leaves behind which can be used in a analysis of society. Firstly, much is lost in this transition between society itself and the traces which can at all be preserved for prosterity. Besides, only a port of the potentially preservable material will actually be preserved - only that for which society "wishes to be remembered" will be preserved. In the next round, much of the preserved will be systematically or accidentally destroyed for posterity. At the next transition, the question will occur whether that which has been preserved is retrievable. It will be the responsibility of the researchers to sort the relevant from the less relevant from that which is retrievable. An important task for information workers will be to make all relevant material available.
In such a perspective, libraries and archives will be "laboratories" for scientific research. The challenge for these "laboratories" is as follows:
It will be important to study places and media for storage of documentation. How do they function? What kind of effect in scientific, educational and social respects do these institutions of storage have?
A third aspect in connection with a humanistic and social scientific approach to the study of documentation will be to analyze ways of storage and systems of retrieval in institutions storing different kinds of documentation, especially libraries, but also archives and museums. In society today it is absolutely necessary to have a deep insight into the electronic media of storage and retrieval systems. Information research must be open to many disciplines. It must try to attract people who have various scientific backgrounds and a common interest in profiling their research towards library, information, and documentation.
The challenges for universities and their libraries will be great in the years to come as these institutions will obtain greater freedom and independent administrative responsibility for their allocated resources. The university community is therefore confronted with a big trial of its abilities, where there is a need for getting priorities right, for efficiency measures and not least for a thorough consideration of the function of the library in research.
The evaluation which has already taken place gives a clear picture of the need the information society has for the education of archive and library personnel. An information education should, in my opinion, give clear indications of what the professional profile future information personnel should have: a basic well-informed training in documentation, archive or library science, and a choice of options for subject specialisation for a bachelor's degree in the subject the candidate will "inform on". It is also quite possible to build upon this education to gain a higher professional qualification. In this case, the subject specialisation chosen for the bachelor's degree would form the basis of a higher degree study. In this way, librarians can qualify for higher positions as subject specialists and research librarians. This would help to avoid professional rivalry in university libraries. The assignments and designation of appointments would depend to a large extent upon at what level of qualification one decided to stop. It has been established without doubt that there is a need for a greater professional insight over and above technical library skills for personnel in research libraries than has been the case with the traditional professional education. The choice of placing the library education within the studies for a bachelor's degree is important as it ensures a deeper grade of knowledge than just library/archive science, and it ensures the possibility for further studies to obtain a master's degree. This education will make research libraries more able to collaborate with the academic staff and thereby give a better service.
Documentation and library science studies at the University of Tromsø will hardly demand a large number of new appointments. Much of the teaching competence which is required is already avaiable at the University. It will be important to profile the studies and channel the subject areas which will contribute to the education into the necessary tracks in order to give the education a consistent character. We must also assume that it will be possible to build up blocks of study within documentation and reference studies which will contribute to other studies at the university. For example, it should be possible for a course in library relevant documentation and reference searching in international data bases and other sources to be part of the qualification for both a master's and doctor's degree in many subject areas. At the Norwegian Technical University in Trondheim, for example, such a course could give points towards the degree of Dr. of Engineering.
There is, however, no doubt that the University Library will take a central place in the documentation education. It is therefore necessary to point out a number of consequences this will have for this institution within the university system.
The function of the university library as a "laboratory" for researchers and students will demand a strengthening of the library's functions, in resources, appointments and not least organisationally. This must be done to make the university competent to receive the documents produced by the information society, to build up the collections retrospectively, build up specialised collections, make them easily available for research purposes, secure research-decisive material both in complexity and breadth and, not least, make the university library operationally capable of accepting the challenge of starting a new study option in documentation science, library science and archive science (and here the State archives will also be included). In this context the importance of the University Library as north Norway's leading documentation and reference centre, both for the University and for other centres of competence, should be emphasised.
Should this study option be realised without a strengthening both resource-wise and professionally, there is a danger that it will weaken the service function that the University Library has for its traditional users. This would especially affect the collaboration which the library's subject specialists have within the field of information retrieval. It is therefore my opinion that the strengthening of the University Library both with resources and qualified personnel is an important condition for starting such a course of studies. However, there is much to indicate that this strengthening is already well under way because of the investment the University of Tromsø has made in the University Library in recent years.
Aktuelle arbeidsoppgaver for universitetsbibliotekarer innenfor rammene av et universitetsbibliotek blir også diskutert. Det er alltid slik at bibliotekets nytte må vurderes av dets brukere, ikke av seg selv. Den brukerorienterte veiledningstjeneste blir trukket fram som særlig viktig for bibliotekets berettigelse. I tillegg til individuell veiledning blir organisert undervisning og langsiktig tilretteleggingsarbeid i form av biblioteksrelevante utviklings- og forskningsoppgaver poengtert.
Infrastruktur har først og fremmest indirekte nytte. Å investere i bibliotek for et universitet må derfor lønne seg i den forstand at de pengene som brukes der, må gi bedre forrentning av investert studiekapital og forskningskapital enn å bruke de samme pengene på andre ting. Men forrentningen må vurderes i et langt tidsperspektiv. Nedskjæringer i infrastruktur vil på den andre sida først merkes etter en viss tid. Det nytter ikke å vanne avskårne blomster. Dersom rotsystemet er borte, dør plantene etter en stund uansett hvor mye de vannes. Infrastrukturen er universitetets rotsystem. Det blir også argumentert for at vitenskapelige samlinger og samlingspleie må få en renessanse i vitenskapen. Disse vil være identitets- og miljøskapende for institusjonen og de vil i seg selv være forskningsskapende og samtidig virke som limstoff i universitetenes iboende tendens til faglig pulverisering.
En planlagt informasjons- eller dokumentasjonsutdanning ved Universitetet i Tromsø blir sett som en mulighet for å bygge opp et bibliotekfaglig forskningsmiljø i Norge, hvor også det faglige personalet ved forskningsbibliotekene blir trukket med. Et forskningsbaseret universitetsfag innenfor informasjons- eller dokumentasjonsvitenskap vil kunne bestå av tre elementer, en humanistisk basis hvor dokumentasjonsbegrepet og formidlingsaspektet stå sentralt. Hvilke mekanismer og strategier gjør seg gjeldende i bevaringsutvelgelse av dokumenterbar viten og hvilke muligheter har vi for å nå ut med denne viten? Faget må også ha en samfunnsvitenskapelig tilnærming hvor kunnskapsakkumulering ses som sosiologisk fenomen. Endelig må måter å lagre og gjenfinne informasjon innenfor dokumentasjonscentraler som bibliotek, arkiv og museer analyseres. Elektronisk dataregistrering vil her stå sentralt.
Informasjons- eller dokumentasjonsforskning må åpne seg mot mange fag. Den må trekke til seg folk med bakgrunn i ulike vitenskaper, men som har som fellesnevner at de ønsker å profilere sin forskning mot bibliotek, informasjon og dokumentasjon. Det faglige personalet ved universitetsbibliotekene vil i framtida også stå overfor nye utfordringer fordi rammebetingelsene ved universitetene vil endre seg. Undervisningsformene vil bli mer projektorientert. Biblioteksbehovet vil bli større enn ved undervisningsformer med faste pensumlister og oversiktsforelesninger. Økt fjernundervisning vil stille store krav til desentraliserte bibliotektjenester. Universitetene blir tvunget til å satse mer på den faglige kompetanse ved sine bibliotek. God infrastruktur gir komparative fortrinn om å bli framtidas budsjettvinnere innenfor høgere utdanning og forskning.
| 1. Årgang : | Nr 1 1994 | Nr 2 1994 | Nr 3/4 1994 |
| 2. Årgang : | Nr 1 1995 | Nr 2/3 1995 | Nr 4 1995 |
| 3. Årgang : | Nr 9 (Db.Nr) 1997 | Nr 10 1997 | Nr 10b 1998 |
| 4. Årgang : | Nr 11(Db.Nr) 1998 |