8______________________

PANEL ON EDUCATION/TRAINING RELATED TO NIT AND GII

Library Fellows Program: Agents for Change

Robert P. Doyle

Director, International Program
American Library Association
Chicago, IL 60611-2729, USA
robert.p.doyle@ala.org

In many ways I feel like an impostor. Not only am I not a techie, in some ways I am closer to a Luddite than a cyberspace traveler. Frankly, I do not navigate well on the Internet -- many days I find it hard just to get and respond to my e-mail. And I, like many others, print out my e-mail messages and file them with all my other paper communication. FTP, FAQ, the Web, gophers, listservs. I sort of know what these all are, but I am not a user. Some of you may be already be tuning out, suspecting that I cannot possibly offer anything of use to you. Others I suspect, however, are secretly saying "that’s me too."

Gathering, collecting, organizing, and retrieving information has become infinitely more complex with the ever-spiraling movement in technological capabilities. Where once a reference library was adequate with an encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, and other books, now any sort of information search or research must include a stop in cyberspace. All of us are trying to cope with these changes, and hence this meeting.

I share two things with you here: First, what ALA is currently doing, and then what I have observed as I have worked with more than 100 individual librarians on special projects across the globe.

First, ALA. The ALA Executive Board approved two weeks ago the esta-blishment of an Office for Information Technology. Nothing so clearly illustra-tes the need for this office as does the emerging Global and National Information Infrastructure. It is clearly reshaping everything associated with library and information work, from where people go to find a picture of the Grand Canyon to where they find the population of Guam. The many issues associated with the information infrastructure are dispersed across ALA's offices and divisions: Research, Intellectual Freedom, the Washington Office, the Library and Informa-tion Technology Association (LITA), and so on. ALA requires a tangible, urgent organizational response mechanism -- one that brings dedicated and focused resources to bear in ALA's fight to ensure that the public's information needs are met. The statement of purpose for the new office is:

The Office for Information Technology is charged with promoting the development and utilization of electronic access to information as a means to promote the public's right to a free and open society. The Office's staff works with other groups in the public policy arena to secure policies favorable to libraries and full intellectual participation for all the public. The Office supports the ALA Washington Office staff as it helps educate federal legislative and administrative officials about the essential and unique roles that libraries must continue to have in the information infrastructure and directs its activities to support the Washington Office in carrying out ALA's legislative and regulatory policies. As a unit within ALA's Public Policy and Programs Department, the new office is concerned with policy development on the macro level. Its work will not include programming, continuing education, or information/advisory compo-nents. ALA hopes to have the office staffed and ready by next spring.

Of course, ALA has many other policies relating to information access. I suspect many of you already know them. Therefore, I do not plan to relate them to you -- I am not the right person for that. I will mention briefly, however, that the ALA sponsored a meeting just a year ago here in Washington, DC. The meeting brought together representatives from 15 national library and informa-tion associations to discuss national policy issues, questions, and principles in the areas of telecommunication and information infrastructure. The major principles and questions identified that must be used to guide the development of the national information infrastructure were:

• First Amendment;

• Privacy;

• Intellectual Property;

• Ubiquity; Equitable Access, and

• Interoperability.

I have copies of this brochure (for copies of the proceedings please contact the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) at ALA Headquarters).

In the United States, the library community is playing a role in the National Information Infrastructure evolution and debate. There certainly is a need for the vision of stakeholders other than from industry. And, librarians need to tell their story well in order to reshape their role perceived by many now that will limit the scope of their potential contributions.

In terms of the global information infrastructure, I briefly describe program that I think has and will continue to make a difference in advances beyond the National Information Infrastructure: the Library Fellows Program, the program that I direct.

The Library Fellows Program, which began in 1986, is funded with a grant to the American Library Association from the United States Information Agency (USIA) under the auspices of the Fulbright-Hays Act. The program's purposes are:

1. to increase international understanding through the establishment of pro-fessional and personal relationships and the accomplishment of mutual goals

2. to promote international sharing of resources and to establish enduring professional and institutional linkages

3. to develop and enhance the fellows’ professional expertise to benefit both their home institutions and the development of librarianship in the host countries

4. to reinforce the concept of libraries as essential democratic institutions

5. for non-U.S. librarians to acquire familiarity with U.S. society and know-ledge of contemporary librarianship as practiced in the United States.

Fellows are given the opportunity to share their expertise with librarians from other countries and to learn from their overseas colleagues' experiences. When the Fellows return home, they bring increased awareness and understanding and share that understanding with their colleagues.

Since 1987, 107 fellows have left their libraries, some traveling thousands of miles to improve library service. Some teach, some manage, some recommend, and some plan. Others collect, organize, and analyze. All encourage communi-cation and cooperation with libraries in their countries. All learn that libraries near and far share many of the same problems and are facing the same issues. And, in many, if not most or all these libraries, one of the issues is the informa-tion infrastructure. They may not call it that or have a ready acronym or cute name. Most of the proposals submitted have some aspect of automation or technology included in the project description. Many are seeking to automate library functions such as cataloging, classification, and circulation. Others are interested in gaining expertise to tap into the many online database services.

Of the 107 fellows' projects, the vast majority -- almost 85% -- either traveled to or came from developing countries. More than half had as a primary goal the improvement or expansion of technological resources. With the exponential growth of online services and increasing access to the Internet, coupled with an even greater growth in the material available on the Net, we expect that the demands for training and education in the use of these technologies will spiral incredibly.

Although there are many similarities in the projects goals, there is no systema-tic methodology to assure that the projects advance the concerns of the global information infrastructure. Yet, I believe it does in ways that are not immediately obvious. What I observed is that the individual impact of one person working on a project -- whether abroad or at home -- goes far beyond the limits of that one individual or project. Zhores Aleksandrovich Medvedev said in The Medvedev Papers (1970):
Science and technology, and the various forms of art, all unite humanity in a single and interconnected system. As science progresses, the worldwide cooperation of scientists and technologists becomes more and more of a special and distinct intellectual community of friendship, in which, in place of antagonism, there is growing up a mutually advantageous sharing of work, a coordination of efforts, a common language for the exchange of information, and a solidarity, which, in many cases, is independent of the social and political differences of individual states.

What I discuss now are a few of the projects, particularly those that had as their primary components the introduction or expansion of technological resources.

In our first class of fellows, in 1987, Elizabeth Steinhagen traveled from Idaho to Chile. One of her goals was to bring the Instituto Chileno Norteamericano Library "to center stage on the library scene in Chile." Once a progressive insti-tution, the 50-year-old library now lagged behind in automation. Interest in technology was growing, but not one Chilean library owned a CD-ROM drive. Using a donated system, Steinhagen conducted database searching demonstra-tions for information professionals and set the wheels in motion for the establish-ment of the country's first demonstration center of compact disc databases. She succeeded in bringing the library back into the national spotlight and helped the institute’s plans for a variety of long-range projects centering on automated information processing, access, and delivery.

In 1988, Isabel Stirling left Eugene, OR for the Documentation Center of the Higher Education Council of Turkey to teach database searching in Dialog and other sci-tech databases. Stirling worked daily with the searchers, explaining the basic structures of various databases, training workers in search strategies, teach-ing them shortcuts for the most frequently used databases, and showing them how to order new chapters for updating database manuals. She held seminars for reference librarians and a graduate seminar at Hecettepe University. Her influen-tial role helped library personnel in Ankara become more proficient in their knowledge and use of database services. What is more, the door to intercultural understanding and exchange was opened much wider.

The next class of fellows included Ione Austen, who went from Silver Spring, MD to Kampala, Uganda from September 1988 to May 1989. She was to teach at the East African School of Librarianship at Makerere University. Her course-work covered new media, theory and practice of bibliographic control, catalog-ing, and microcomputers. Microcomputers was to have the greatest impact on students. Teaching materials were scarce in Uganda, and students had to share texts. Auston made the laptop computer she had brought with her available to students, faculty and staff. Every spare moment was used. Auston knew that her training would be useless in the long run without access to computers and thus drew up a comprehensive automation proposal that was eventually accepted by UNESCO.

Auston summed up her experience by saying:

In a country the size of Oregon with a 50 percent literacy rate, more than 28 tribal languages, an impoverished economy, frequent power outages, few paved roads little publishing other than newspapers, and a street value for every item, including books and magazines, just how important are libraries? Certainly, they are luxuries for the immediate future. Only a small percentage of the Ugandan population can be characterized at present as avid readers with a strong sense of cultural preservation and respect for the printed word. Yet at the same time, information has become an essential ingredient for conducting everyday life. Accountabi-lity is slowly being introduced by the government, and various ministries, banks, and businesses are acquiring microcomputers as means to this end. I think my students are in a position to contribute to the effective opera-tions of these offices and to the recovery of Uganda's economy. Also, in 1988, Ruth Pagell, from Philadelphia, proceeded to Bangkok, Thailand and the Asian Institute of Technology Library and Regional Documentation Center (AIT). She provided hands-on training in computerized library services. The first phases of her project shared a common goal: make the new information management technologies an integral part of the Institutes' operations. AIT hoped to become a pioneer for the region by installing an integrated online sys-tem. During her stay, she taught students from 14 countries.

The fellows and the accomplishment of their projects were frequently depen-dent on local conditions, not all were ideal. Alicia Sabatine, from Golden, CO, who went to the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica in 1989, said of her experience:

My American-based knowledge had to be stripped of its North American orientation in order to be of value to a small Caribbean island struggling under adverse conditions to participate locally, regionally, and globally in information processing and exchange. I have learned that a balance must be struck somewhere between wanting to do as much as possible in a highly compressed time frame, and holding off on action while learning the context of the information activity. Faye Powell, from Portland, OR in 1989 found while visiting libraries in Hydera-bad and Delhi, India that many aware and highly educated librarians could not take advantage of new technologies and trends in services due to severe funding shortages. For example, the Osmania University Library catalogs in 15 different languages without the assistance of automation or shared cataloging.

Gloria Fulton, from Arcata, CA, went beyond the City Library in Belgrade. She found herself working with three other libraries on an ambitious national networking project that had been in development for several years. She found an impressive and sophisticated set-up that featured nearly 70 access points, Bolean searching capabilities, and rapid-response times: "It was a versatile system that used a shared database for cataloging and inquiry, was capable of handling multiple languages and scripts (both Cyrillic and Latin) and had local system with features associate with integrated systems in the U.S." Unfortunately, the main database, central processor, and software for the network were located in Maribor, Slovenia, and communication lines ran through Croatia to Serbia. Their work stopped.

Henry Mendelsohn, from Albany, NY, worked at the American University in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria in 1993. His task was to develop a library collection for the 1-year University. It proved quite challenging and he found it necessary to write short proposals for outside funding. Computer equipment did not always work properly, and electricity was unreliable. Simple ordering materials from the United States was difficult: "It was nearly impossible to send a fax or direct dial to the U.S. You had to book a call in advance and wait hours to be connected. It was hard to even make a local call because the phone system dated from 1929!"

In spite of the local hardships, the spheres of influence by the fellows broa-dened. Ann Montgomery Smith from Boston undertook a fellowship at the Colegio de Bibliotecologos del Peru in 1992. During her first month in Lima, Smith visited 15 libraries--ranging from on-person public libraries to the National Library--and met more than 35 librarians. "Exciting and dynamic solutions are being tried all over the country," she noted, "but other librarians don't know about them." Encouraging communication among librarians became a subtheme of Smith's fellowship, whose primary mission was to teach and train librarians and students.

John Moldovan, from San Francisco, after his stay in Bucharest, said: "I leave an institution which is considerable more integrated into the international library community than it was before my visit. The Library has much greater access to needed foreign contacts--with these contacts it can move forward."

Some of the fellows went directly to the top. Suzanne Gyeszly, from Texas, went to the National Szechenyi Library in Budapest. One of the highlights of her stay was getting to meet Hungary's president. Gyeszly escorted the Hungarian leader and talked to him about changes we needed for Hungarian libraries.

In 1993-94, 10 fellows from outside the United States came to the United States to learn about library practices, develop new areas of expertise, and esta-blish contacts. All these fellows expressed a desire to learn about automation and technology. Lucy Kinyanjui from Nairobi studied the library automation and management information at the University of Santa Barbara, California. She returns to Kenya with a realistic understanding of what it takes to automate. In her words, "when all is said and done there is no turning back, automation of information is the trend of the future. I believe the knowledge I have gained is but a step in the right direction that I must keep walking. Eventually, steps turn into miles!"

What I have relayed to you today is a small percentage of the total program in the past seven years. Each fellow is asked to submit a report at the conclusion of his or her project. In reading these over the past years, I have seen firsthand the power of the individual -- the power to change -- the power of the enduring quality of these changes. These are small steps: small steps in creating a global information infrastructure.

A quote I have used extensively in describing this transformation is from Daniel J. Boorstin (The Indivisible World: Libraries and the Myth of Cultural Exchange, Washington, DC: The Library of Congress, 1985):

In a world divided by ideology, by trade barriers, by military threats and nuclear fears, we librarians are not powerless. We are the ambassadors of an indivisible world -- of culture and books and ideas. Unfortunately, we are not plenipotentiary. But there is no country in the world where libra-rians cannot make some small progress toward removing the boundaries and lowering the barriers which separate cultures and which are sponsored by citizens or by governments. Every librarian regardless of his govern-ment's policy, has the opportunity, if he has the courage, to open the avenues of books and ideas a little wider. We must try to make the world of books more open -- so that men and women everywhere may breathe freely the uncensored open air of ideas. I think that says it best.

Q & A_________________

DISCUSSIONS

[Ching-chih Chen]

Thank you very much. Actually not only do you fit into this group very well, but also you fit in exactly in the right place. One of the most important things is the human network, as I have repeatedly stressed many times. The human network is the most powerful of all. I have to say that having sat on the Council of ALA meetings for nine years as the three-term Councilor, I have considered the International Program as always one of the most successful programs of ALA. Because ALA's budget has been so incredibly tight for international activities, Bob has been running the program with practically no staff. It is not an easy task to have such a powerful worldwide network established. We have to give a lot of credit to Bob for his endurance. So the floor is open for some comments and questions. No? Bob, your paper is so incredibly clear to everyone!

[Robert Hayes]

This is simply a personal recollection. Your comment on the fellow who went to Belgrade and saw a library network operating reminded me of having seen that development; it was a remarkable thing. The University of Maribor created it almost overnight -- an absolutely remarkable achievement. And, at the end, to see it blow up is very heartbreaking for me. But it shows what can be accom-plished with the right people using the technology very effectively. It was a magnificent exercise. It is a pity that it had to be destroyed.

[Ching-chih Chen]

I just wanted to say, Bob, that during several of my international travels, including NIT conferences, I have met several ALA/USIS Fellows in different countries. A few also participated at our conferences. What I have heard about their contributions from professionals in those countries has always been very complimentary. In fact, even a few in this group here from other countries have benefited from the contribution of ALA Library Fellows, like Latvia from the University of Vermont, and several others of which there are too many to name. Each one tried to do his or her best. So, thank you again, Bob, for your wonder-ful presentation. Now we shall move on to our next speaker, Herb Achleitner, from Emporia State University, Kansas. Herb has had extensive experience in Latin America, specifically with Paraguay. So, Herb, the floor is yours.