INFORUM 2006 - 12. Annual Conference On Professional Information Resources

To Arrange the Window - the Creation of an Integrated Local View on Information Diversity

Author: Lothar Nunnenmacher,  Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

Fulltexts

Abstract

The way our patrons search and use information resources has already changed substantially, but the shift to new technologies is not yet completed. Currently new information is mostly coming via "the screen", at least in the STM disciplines (science, technology, medicine). The challenge for libraries nowadays is, to arrange the window towards the bulk of available information according to the needs of different users. Several measures of integration are needed to achieve this aim:

• Instead of supplying the information physically, we now have to provide quick access to different information systems, as far as possible integrated, and to enhance these systems with local enrichments (e.g. availability, local views or filters).
• Beyond journal articles and books we have to integrate other media like photos, videos, or even scientific data. Moreover, the scientific and scholarly information is going to change the media format from paper to electronics, which we should take into consideration in our efforts.
• We have to appreciate, that library services are just a small contribution to the whole environment of learning, teaching or research at university. People should be served according to their needs with all resources in an integrated way instead of splitting them up into small partitions based on organisational units.

To arrange the window means to integrate the necessary resources in a way that as much information as possible is included, but guidance and filtering tools avoid information overload. In order to direct our users to relevant information, it could be interesting to offer different views of the window for different target groups or, even more sophisticated, to make offers that can be personalised. At best, the view through the window could be changed from a beginner’s or learner’s perspective to an expert or researcher’s view. But even within a single search session the needs can evolve from overview to details.

In the presentation some approaches to arrange the window are shown with examples from German libraries and consequences of the integration measures for the whole library, including services and facilities, are highlighted.

About the author

Lothar Nunnenmacher is head librarian of the Medical Library (CCM & CVK) at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The Charité is the common medical faculty of two Berlin universities, the Freie Universität and the Humboldt-Universität. The library is based at two locations within Berlin: Charité Campus Mitte (CCM) and Charité Virchow-Klinikum (CVK). Until 2003 he served as deputy head of the same library and previously, till 2001, as subject librarian and head of a departmental library at the Technische Universität Berlin. He studied horticulture in München-Weihenstephan and worked as a scientist in agroecological entomology in Bayreuth (Ph.D. 1998).