The year 2010 is here and it brings a great opportunity to analyze the predictions made in 1980 in a book, Canadian libraries in 2010, by Prof. Samuel D Neill (University of Western Ontario, Canada). In my humble opinion a national study is due now.
I hope the Canadian library schools, and our professional associations will read this book again, and review specific strategies or policies envisaged in 1980, i.e., a pre-Internet era--to visualize where we really stand today.
Such a review will hopefully lead to a significant step in restating of what we do and how we do in moving forward with a clear mission and vision--towards whatever is beyond the age of Google, Web 2.0 and the semantic Web!!! This will be one way to tell the librarians of 2040 (another generation) why we do and when we do.
Extract [from the first few lines of the book: 'Canadian libraries in 2010']:
"The graduates of library schools in 1980 will be approaching retirement in 2010. Whatever is possible for libraries in those thirty years will fall largely on them to accept and implement. Those librarians now nearing retirement will not likely make any changes. They will make ajustment to new technology but not to the purpose of their institutions. Their successors to top management will make most of the changes indicated in this review between 1990 and 2000, and these will be consolidated, refined, and widely accepted in a spurt of enthusiasm between 2000 and 2010."
Canadian libraries in 2010, by Prof. S. D. Neill [(Samuel D. Neill, 1928-), Vancouver : Parabola, 1980. 144 p. ISBN: 092075810X] View: Library of Congress Catalog
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Professor Samuel D. NEILL is one of the founding faculty members of the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. His name is familiar to many for the award, '
Samuel D. Neill Scholarship for academic achievement for graduate work in library and information science.'
Content: Predictions, The Context & Evidence, The Canadian Studies, Guide to Major Topics.
Notes: "The topics chosen in the first section were taken from the Annual Review by Sheila Gibbs in the first issue of the Journal of the Canadian Library Science Society ..." p. 6.
What does a reviewer say:
This book IS far from being a forecast for the future of Canadian libraries. It only offers a few predictions very few references to Canadian publications, and even less emphasis on the Canadian scene. Its assertions about the year 2010 take the form of 12 essays of varying length and focus. The second part of the book counter balances the first Neill offers positive solutions to the problems foreseen in the first. The last part of the book conveys "the matrix of ideas and facts out of which predictions had grown." Neill lists his readings quotes, and then gives his own comments. Neill's idiosyncratic approach to the subject matter results in a text that is both exasperating and intriguing.
Recommendation—This text is more miscellany than a cogent manuscript. It is not to be
read as a whole but to be taken in parts.
Reviewer—Samuel Rothstem, Library Quarterly, Oct 1981, p. 445-46
Neill's another work (
Dilemmas in the Study of Information. Exploring the Boundaries of Information Science) is cited in 'Information Technology in Librarianship: New Critical Approaches' by Gloria J. Leckie
"Neill's foremost service to subsequent work revolving around information has been to delineate aporias (conflicts that cannot seem to be resolved) explicitly and, implicitly, to suggest a dialectic: “Information is a social construct and communication is a social event... (p. 135)"
On the same shelf, The Canadian Encyclopedia:
Saleh, Nasser. "International Librarianship: What Can We Do Here In Canada?." Feliciter 56.6 (2010): 248-250.
In this article the author relates his experiences in handling presentations which include the question on the things which can be done in Canada to foster international librarianship. He states that the concept "international librarianship" has been mistaken assumed as a way to do charity to libraries in developing countries and quotes Stephen Parker for a working definition. He also cites Peter Lor for the types of motivation that propel people into international librarianship.
de Souza, Yvonne. "The Training Of International Librarians." College & Research Libraries News 61.2 (2000): 110.
Documents experiences of an internship at Columbia College, an international liberal arts college in Vancouver, British Columbia, and presents suggestions to libraries that may be interested in hosting international library staff. Factors to consider when planning an internship program; Required trainer's background; Incorporating English language training to the internship.
“Canada, Libraries in” “, E.L. Morton, Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science 4 (1970), p. 71-157; ”
“Canada, Libraries in, 1970-1979” “, B.L. Anderson, ELECT 36 (1983), p. 94-155; A. Drolet, the Canadian Libraries 1604-1960 (1960); L.S. Garry and C. Garry, to dir., Canadian Libraries in Their Changing Environment (1977);
P. McNally, Readings in Canadian Library History (1986 and 1996)
Moore, Kelly. "Become A Librarian -- See The World!." Feliciter 56.6 (2010): 230
In this article the author discusses the concept of international librarianship. She claims that the concept is oftentimes misunderstood as being a librarian in a foreign country, and clarifies that it refers to the collaborative effort among librarians across geo-political boundaries to share cataloguing data, create frameworks for cross-border inter-library loans and advance information literacy. She also invites other librarians to join associations, such as the Canadian Library Association.
Clubb, Barbara. "Globally Speaking." Feliciter 51.5 (2005): 201-202
The article reports on the focus of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) on Canada's role in the international librarianship. Specifically, the CLA aims to focus on the areas of disaster relief and development, support for the University of Western Ontario student project, and prepare for the 2008 International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) conference in Quebec City. The author relates her observations at the 2005 IFLA conference in Oslo, Norway.
Pretty, Heather. "Opening Doors To The Future: Canadian Library Month 2010." Feliciter 56.4 (2010): 172-174.
The article discusses the Canadian Library Month in 2010. It reveals that it will look onto library's past and rediscover new ways to celebrate its role and importance within the community. Also noted is the Canadian Library Week and Month timeline which is to promote libraries as a free resource in response to a drop in the purchase of books.
Neill, S D. "Books And Reading And Singleness Of Purpose." Canadian Library Journal 42.2 (1985): 57-62.
Neill, S. D. (Samuel D.). "The Reference Process And The Philosophy Of Karl Popper." Rq 24.(1985): 309-319.
Neill, S. D. (Samuel D.), 1928-. "Why Books?." Public Library Quarterly 12.2 (1992): 19-28
Neill, S D. "The Reference Process And Certain Types Of Memory. Semantic, Episodic, And Schematic." Rq 23.4 (1984): 417-423.
Using two sets of verbal protocols, three kinds of memory used by librarians for organizing facts are described and identified as they relate to the reference process--semantic (organizes things into categories), episodic (experiences), schematic (expectations). Implications for practice, education, and further research are suggested.
Neill, S D. "The Likely Impact Of New Technology On Libraries." Canadian Library Journal 39.5 (1982): 305-307.
Neill S. Libraries in the year 2010. Libraries In The Year 2010 [serial online]. October 1981
Neill, S D. "Farradane's Relations As Perceptual Discriminations." Journal Of Documentation 31.3 (1975): 144-157
Neill, Sam. "Books And Marshall Mcluhan." Library Quarterly 41.4 (1971): 311-319.
Marshall mcluhan, who has gained a reputation as an enemy of books because he has called them obsolet while concentrating his analysis of communication media on the electric variety, is, in fact, a man of the book as much as any librarian, although librarians have tended to ignore him, considering him to have no relevance for their 'science' this is to their detriment. Not only is the format of his books of interest, as a mirror of his message, but there is also evidence that his purpose is and has been from the beginning to find the peculiar qualities of print and books which make them necessary to man. He finds these qualities not in the content but in the form; qualities which provide a sensory balance of objectivity and perspective as opposed to the field perceptivity of television. In tracing the evidence of mcluhan's concern for the future of the book, we can see him a one who has, perhaps, ak greater perception of the value of books and libraries, for civilization, than many librarians.
Neill, Samuel D. "Who Needs To Go To A Graduate Library School?." Journal Of Education For Librarianship 13.4 (1973): 212-225
Answers the question posed with: 1) those who must understand the processes and patterns of knowledge structuring, and of man's thinking, in order to organize and dispense, effectively, knowledge and the knowledge base (information and the methods of acquiring knowledge); 2) those who must prove that their libraries are efficient and effective in meeting the needs and goals of the community; 3) those who must prove that libraries must be morally and financially supported as not only valuable but essential to the community.
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A thought for libraries of tomorrow....:
"Colleges with lucrative online arms will get their nonprofit statuses revoked! All library functions will be outsourced! Campuses will be replaced by temporary versions in rented spaces that are built and disassembled at the beginning of each term! Scholarship will become more efficacious than ever before -- or will stagnate entirely!
Welcome to the future -- or, rather, to a series of many of possible “futures” posited in a new study released this month by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)..." ontinue reading: The Librarian's Crystal Ball @ Inside Higher Ed, June 23, 2010.
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