The World Wide Web: A New Medium for Professional Communications

Eric H. Schnell, M.L.S.

The text of this article is published by The Haworth Press, Inc. (10 Alice Street, Binghamton, New York 13905-1580) in IRSQ: Internet Reference Services Quarterly (The Journal of Innovative Information Practice, Technologies, and Resources) Vol. 1, Issue 4 (1996), Lyn Elizabeth Martin, Editor-in-Chief.

Abstract

The World Wide Web is increasingly being used by libraries as a way to extend traditional services to patrons. The Web can also be used as a tool to facilitate communications between library professionals and to deliver presentations, organize exhibits, and develop demonstration projects. The allocation of personal Web work space on a library server provides librarians with a means to experiment with using the medium and a place to publish information of interest to the library profession. This paper explores the uses of the Web to enhance communications between library professionals and addresses some of the issues associated with such uses.

Introduction

The introduction of the Web into libraries not only has had effects upon the services they provide, but also upon the roles of librarians. At first, librarians were hunters and gatherers of Internet resources, maintaining notebooks and electronic bookmarks filled with URLs and Gopher addresses of useful reference sites. Now, librarians have become active developers and participants in Web projects. They create hypertext documents using HTML, organize and compose Web sites based on their knowledge of patrons' habits' and informational needs, and create CGI scripts, which requires knowledge or understanding of programming languages. The same skills and methods used for extending patron services can also be applied to facilitate communications within the library profession.

The intent of this paper is to provide an overview of techniques which librarians can use to apply the World Wide Web as a communication medium. The concept of establishing an electronic work space, or Webspace, is first introduced. The paper then outlines how librarians can use the Web to design and deliver live presentations and electronic exhibits. It goes on to discuss how Web communication techniques can be applied to participation in professional service activities. Finally, this paper discusses the role of the Web in publication and scholarly research in the library profession.

Webspace

Webspace is an allocation of space on a Web server where a librarian can write, store, and distribute a range of Internet-related resources, documents, and services. This work space can be used to communicate biographical information, professional activities, research interests, and publication history. For example, a librarian involved with a rare book digitizing project could use Webspace to publish working documents and Web projects in progress. A librarian developing a subject-specific Internet pathfinder can also make the resource on his or her Webspace available not only for local use, but also to anyone with Web access. Drafts of working documents can be placed in Webspace directories so they can be read and edited by other participants. Ultimately, the potential uses for personal Webspace are left to the creativity and skills of the librarian.

Webspace can also be viewed as a computerized whiteboard to facilitate collaboration on larger scale projects. This is especially true if a project involves a group of individuals who live in different geographic areas. A project's working documents and technical white papers can be placed on any of the participants' personal Webspace for the others to access. If project members are looking to obtain outside funding, Web technology provides the ability to setup prototypes and demonstration projects with minimal resources.

It is becoming commonplace for a library position announcement to include a URL in the job posting, which directs potential applicants to a Web site containing information about the library. Librarians seeking a position can also use their Webspace as a marketing tool. Broadcasting a job query URL on the Internet would not be proper professional etiquette, however, referring to a personal URL in an application letter would seem appropriate. A short biographical page containing background information, an online resume, and links to any Web documents authored by the applicant could be an advantage in the screening process. If nothing else, the inclusion of a personal URL on a vitae or cover letter can highlight the ability to write and organize a Web document.

Libraries must address administrative issues such as how to provide librarians with personal disk space, policies regarding security, and appropriate uses of computing resources. Although having a Web server on every librarian's workstation may be an unrealistic goal, it should be possible to provide direct access to disk space on a centralized Web server. The goal should be to provide librarians with complete autonomy in the development and maintenance of professional Web activities.

Presentations and Exhibits

Using the World Wide Web to create and deliver presentations, workshops, and other instructional programs brings a whole new dimension to these activities. In the past, the use of overhead transparencies has been the medium of choice for most library presentations. The personal computer and graphical presentation software added color and visual effects but often contained the same content as the transparencies. The Web allows the librarian to change the visual information used in a presentation from bullet form to that which includes direct Internet connectivity, document interactivity, and multimedia resources. As more online catalogs and database systems begin to use the Web interface, demonstrations using electronic resources and databases will be more seamless, require less software, and allow networked resources to be displayed within the Web browser window.

A presentation consisting of simple HTML and graphics files can be saved and recalled from a server, a floppy disk, or any other portable storage device. A Web presentation can be given from a non-networked workstation as long as all referenced documents are saved on a floppy disk, however, there are distinct advantages to mounting a presentation on a server. For instance, a librarian can place additional resource links into documents which, because of time or scope, could not be included in the original presentation. Individuals attending the presentation, and those who could not, can revisit the presentation afterward and follow up on the additional resources and hypertext references.

World Wide Web techniques not only can be applied to presentations, but also can also be useful for organizing online versions of traditional library exhibits. There are several advantages Web exhibits have over traditional ones. Most library exhibits have a finite lifespan and are rotated on a frequent basis. Once the exhibit's display time is completed, the only reminders that it existed are a catalog and photographs. Traditional exhibits are also accessible only by those patrons who visit the library during the time when physically available. The networked environment of the Web allows an online exhibit to be viewed by anyone, at anytime, whether or not they visit the library. A Web exhibit becomes a permanent record or electronic archive of the exhibit's intellectual and visual content.

Traditional exhibits are also limited in size and content by the available number and types of display cases. Based on these restrictions, decisions are made on which materials are to be included or excluded. Web versions of library exhibits are not bound by the same physical constraints. Since disk space is less expensive than display cases, more artifacts can appear in an electronic version of the exhibit than in a traditional display. Finally, the Web provides librarians with the tools to build complex multimedia productions which would be difficult to include in traditional exhibit space. The inclusion of still and moving images into Web exhibit documents allows the designer to include a wider variety of resources, creating a more interactive exhibit.

There are many examples of online exhibits already available. One such exhibit is called Inquire, Learn, Reflect: May 4th, 1970 25 Years of Remembrance. [1] This Web exhibit is an online representation of a physical exhibit on display at Kent State University in Ohio devoted to the shooting of four students by National Guardsmen. The physical exhibit was displayed on campus through July 14, 1995; however, the online version is intended to be on display indefinitely.

Professional Service Activities

There has been a noticeable increase in the number of Web sites being developed by professional organizations. Library organizations already maintaining Web sites include the American Library Association (ALA), [2] the American Society for Information Science (ASIS), [3] the Association of Research Libraries (ARL),[4] and the Medical Library Association (MLA).[5] In addition to the main association sites, various sections, chapters, and special interest groups of these organizations are already either developing or maintaining their own sites. Since few organizations have a full time Web development team, it is usually a librarian active in the organization that is responsible for the site.

Organizations that offer Web sites can make the most timely information available to their membership. Having an association Web site makes it possible to publish election results, minutes from meetings, post information about officers, and offer general membership information. As with librarian Webspace, the use of the site is up to the creativity of the association or the individual responsible for maintaining the site. Other organizational activities which can make use of Web technology capabilities include newsletter publication and information about upcoming conferences. Newsletters

Perhaps the most commonly used communication tool used by professional library organizations is the newsletter. Editors of association publications are beginning to use the Web as an alternative or as a supplement to the traditional printed newsletter. The ability to revise Web documents instantaneously makes the updating of information, such as for announcements of sponsored events and workshops, available up to the minute. As the cost of producing and mailing printed newsletters continues to rise, the Web newsletter will become an attractive alternative. Conferences

In December 1995, the Fourth International World-Wide Web Conference was held in Boston, Massachusetts. A conference Web site was established months before the event, publishing all aspects of the event. Since public access workstations were available at the site, changes in programming and room assignments were updated and posted to the Web site throughout the conference. Interested individuals can still visit the site to access the abstracts of papers that were presented.[6]

Increasingly, library organizations are using their Web sites to advertise and make information available about their annual conferences and chapter meetings. Information traditionally printed in preliminary programs and other conference related mailing is now becoming available electronically as part of a conference Web site. This information can range from hotel rates to background about the host city. It can also include the names of invited speakers and abstracts of their intended topic of discussion. The bottom line is that anything which has to do with a conference is appropriate for its Web site.

There are some additional advantages to creating a conference Web site. Incorporating information located at a presenter's personal Webspace can save an organizing committee time by not having to re-key the information or having to write biographical sketches. Hypertext links can also be made from the conference site to the home pages of companies providing exhibits. Exhibitors could even pay to sponsor specific conference pages. Finally, the ability to perform real-time editing and updating can permit transcripts to be converted into Web documents and published as online proceedings.

Research and Publication

Typically, it can take from six months to a year for a research paper to appear in a refereed journal. The printed publication process requires months of lead time in order to review, edit, resubmit, edit again, typeset, print, and distribute a single issue. As a result of this process, it is likely that some Web addresses contained in traditional printed media are outdated by the time the books or journals are published. The odds of any printed publication containing outdated Internet references increases every year after it is published.

There are some advantages to using the Web as a way to communicate ideas to other library professionals. Electronic bibliographies, or Webfinders, designed for local use can be made available to the world. Internet resources referenced in Web documents can be updated as the resources move, change names, or are deleted. Works in progress can be made available for colleagues to comment on content and structure. If properly maintained, a Web document can always be the most current version of a published work.

There are also some disadvantages to the Web as a medium to communicate ideas. Since copyright laws have not kept up with the technology, it may not fully protect ideas or project concepts which are published on Webspace sites. Documenting that an idea was published at one site before another is a difficult point to prove. The ability to edit and alter Web documents also means no work is complete. In this liquid environment, creating a permanent archive of Web documents will be a challenging task.

The role of the Web in scholarly research and publication is still being investigated. As a medium of publication, the Web is being used in professions such as physics as the primary method of publishing current research.[7] Debate is also underway in the biomedical sciences on the use of Web information servers for prompt delivery of research findings.[8] [9] A number of pioneers are developing electronic journals, but few use the traditional peer-reviewed process. Among currently available library and information science electronic journals, only the Public-Access Computer Systems Review (PACS Review), [10] MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship,[11] and LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal,[12] are peer-reviewed. Since scholarly activities are reviewed by university tenure committees, it would appear that the same criteria used for evaluating printed publications will still be used to determine the quality of research in electronic publications. The most important criterion is the appearance of research papers in refereed journals.[13]

Placing content and substance issues aside, a survey of existing electronic library journals available using the Web shows that hypertext and multimedia capabilities are not being fully utilized in these publications. None of the electronic library journals surveyed currently accept HTML Web documents. All of the electronic publications listed above request that manuscripts be sent in plain ASCII text format. Since ASCII eliminates the use of charts, graphs, and images, the resulting Web documents are pure text, lacking even the look and feel of traditional print publications. Future library journals need to solicit and except manuscripts which take advantage of the new multimedia publication techniques that the Web provides.

Discussion

There is little doubt that the use of the Internet has changed the manner in which librarians communicate. Library professionals in geographically-diverse locations communicate on a daily basis using electronic mail, LISTSERVS, and USENET newsgroups. World Wide Web technology not only has given libraries a new tool for developing electronic services, but also has provided librarians with another communications tool. Unlike all previous Internet communication tools, the Web allows librarians to become independent publishers of the very resources which are changing how information and knowledge is distributed. It provides librarians with an opportunity to investigate and develop new techniques for teaching, research, publication, and participation in professional service activities.

The Web has great potential as a medium to develop multimedia presentations, resources, and exhibits. However, librarians involved in such projects will require to learn new skills. Librarians with non-print skills, such as traditional media librarians, would seem to have an inside track in being responsible for developing such resources. If the library profession intends on being involved in developing multimedia Web resources then library schools need to provide students with opportunities not only learn Web document creation but traditional non-print skills as well. Even though such skills can be learned on the job, library science graduates with experience with media production and editing, graphical layout and design, and knowledge of the different media formats will be better prepared to take on such projects.

Newer Web software innovations such as CoolTalk and PowWow will also impact on future communication techniques. These programs, and future generations of multimedia software, have the potential to allow a patron to contact a live librarian from a workstation with a soundcard. The librarian could then assist the patron using an electronic whiteboard or by taking over control of the patron's Web browser to navigate them to a specific resource. The ability for libraries to provide services based on these technologies will also require a reliance on microcomputer specialists or librarians with media-based technical skills.

Finally, providing librarian Webspace is important in supporting the process of learning to use the Web as a communications tool. Perhaps more important is the need for librarians to be given work time to experiment with the tools used to create Web resources. It is all too common for librarians to be given the responsibility for managing and maintaining a Web site in addition to all their other responsibilities. If the profession wishes to develop librarians well-versed in Web technology, it is essential that libraries reallocate time and reorganize work tasks to include Web activities. The experience gained by providing librarians this opportunity not only can facilitate library Web development, but also can help to build the skills and experience needed to extend the use of the technology to all areas of librarianship, including professional communications.

Notes

(Select Note Number to Return to Text)

1. Kent State University Department of Special Collections & Archives, "Inquire, Learn, Reflect: May 4th, 1995 - 25 Years of Remembrance," [ http://www.library.kent.edu/exhibits/ 4may95/exhibit.html].
2. American Library Association [http://www.ala.org].
3. American Society for Information Science [http://www.asis.org].
4. Association for Research Libraries [http://arl.cni.org].
5. Medical Library Association [http://www.kumc.edu/MLA/]. ].
6. Fourth International World Wide Web Conference [http://www.w3.org/pub/ Conferences/WWW4/].
7. Paul H. Ginsparg, "First Steps Toward Electronic Research Communication," Computation in Physics 8 (1994):390-9.
8. Ronald E. LaPorte et al., "The Death of Biomedical Journals," BMJ 310 (27 May 1995):1387-90.
9. Jerome P. Kassirer and Marcia Angell, "The Internet and the Journal," The New England Journal of Medicine. 332:25 (22 June 1995):1709-10.
10. The Public-Access Computer Systems Review (PACS Review) [http://info.lib.uh.edu/pacsrev.html].
11. MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship [http://wings.buffalo.edu/publications/mcjrnl/].
12. LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal [http://indigo.lib.lsu.edu/epubs/libres/].
13. Blaise Cronin and Kara Overfelt, "E-Journals and Tenure," Journal of the American Society for Information Science. 46:9 (October 1995):700-3.

(Select Note Number to Return to Text)

Bibliography

Bailey, Charles W. Jr., "Network-Based Electronic Publishing of Scholarly Works:
A Selective Bibliography," The Public-Access Computer Systems Review, 6 (1995).
[http://info.lib.uh.edu/pr/v6/n1/bail6n1.html].
National Center for Supercomputing Applications, "A Beginners Guide to HTML,"
[http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html].
Schnell, Eric H., "Writing for the Web: A Primer for Librarians,"
[http://bones.med.ohio-state.edu/eric/papers/primer/webdocs.html].
The World Wide Web Organization, "HyperText Markup Language,"
[http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/MarkUp/].

Eric H. Schnell (schnell.9@osu.edu) is Instructor and Head, Automation Services, John A. Prior Health Sciences Library, The Ohio State University 376 W. 10th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210

Page URL: http://bones.med.ohio-state.edu/eric/papers/irsq/wwwcom_full.html