Fulfilling the Social And Cultural Mission of the Information Society:

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Fulfilling the Social And Cultural Mission of the
Information Society

• A Case Study of Library Services in Ireland's
  Information Age Town
• Prof. Claire McInerney
• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA
• Department of Library and Information Science

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What kind of library would serve patrons well in
an information/knowledge society?

• Background
• The Information Society
• The Information Society for Ireland
• Ennis, the Information Age Town in Ireland
• Clare County Librarys response to the digital
  age
• Services
• Digitization of materials
• A publishing initiative
• Implications for the future

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How is the Information Society defined?

• An Information Society is
• a society in which information is a key element
  of socio-economic activity and change .

Prof. Michael Casey. (2000). Trans-European
Information Policies.
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Scholarly thought on the Information Society

• Post industrialism Bell
• Economic evolution Reich Machlup
• Technology and social and cultural change
  Sproull Kiesler Drucker Turkle Zuboff
• Networked organizations Castells Stehr
• Community Informatics Kavanaugh Gurstein

Adapted from Webster, F. (2002). Theories of the
Information Society. 2nd ed.
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Research in Ennis (2001 present)

• Framing the study theoretical background
• Research methods
• Literature review
• Website examination
• Semi-structured interviews - educators
• Structured group interviews educators, parents,
  students, business people
• Self-administered survey - teachers
• Observation in schools, town, library
• In-depth interviews with library director and key
  staff, 2001, 2003, 2004

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Ennis -- PreInformation Age Town -1997

• Low industrial development
• Low technology penetration
• Rugged terrain rudimentary infrastructure
• High quality education
• County commerce center

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Ennis location
ENNIS
Image from the University of Limerick
website http//www.graduatestudies.ul.ie/prospectu
s/main/Postgraduate/images/gen_map_ireland.jpg
Retrieved May 5, 2006
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Technology investment in Ennis

• Pre-1997, many residents did not own a phone. The
  IAT project provided 600 households with
  telephones their first.
• The Information Age Town Project (sponsored by
  Eircom, the Irish telecommunication company)
  parachuted in computers, monitors, modems, and
  provided network connections.

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Explicit goals for the Information Age Town (by
Eircom)

• 1. To saturate a town with 21st century
  communications technology and see how people came
  to terms with such technology.
• 2. To encourage the town to trial new
  technologies and applications.

From the http//www.ennis.ie Information Age
Town website
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Clare County Library is based in Ennis
http//www.clarelibrary.ie/

• The library was active in establishing a web
  presence before the Information Age Town
  designation.
• Director and staff saw the usefulness of using
  the Web to open the librarys resources to the
  community.

Clare Co. Library administrative building
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The library has used the technology to enhance
access to information preserve cultural
artifacts

• A large public access computing area is available
  and well used in the Ennis library.
• An Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) has been
  implemented (the 1st library in greater Ireland
  to do so).
• An online publishing project is making important
  archival information available and providing
  training in electronic publishing for young
  people in Ennis.

Library branch in Ennis
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Brief sketch of the library

• 16 branches
• There is a small membership fee, but is free for
  students and the unemployed.
• Free high speed Internet access is available at
  all branches with wireless available in some.

• Brousealoud and Virtual
  Magnifying Glass are available for download and
  use. These programs allow those who have hearing
  disabilities and low vision to use the librarys
  website.

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Public Access

• County wide Online Public Access Catalog
• Extensive community information and links
• Computers for multiple purposes and computer
  kiosks for email
• Postcard collection
• Historical photo collection
• Ask a Librarian
• New and Most popular books
• Most popular authors
• Books of the month
• Kidszone services, web links, and information
  for children, teachers, and parents

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Online Public Access Catalog
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Postcard Collection
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Historical Photo Collection
Wood sage Burren
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Ask a Librarian
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New and Most Popular Books
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Publishing Project

• Clare Local Studies Project (CLASP) an
  independent organization created by four library
  staff members to
• To make historical and archival materials
  available to a broad spectrum of individuals, and
• To offer young people an opportunity to learn
  about book planning, design, production, and
  publishing.

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The publishing initiative

• does what libraries are meant to do, that is,
• to bring human beings and recorded knowledge in
  as fruitful a relationship as it is humanly
  possible to be.
• Jesse Shera in Broadbent, 1998, p. 25.

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CLASP May 1995 January 2006

• Produced 14 books
• Students learned skills and became employed
• Website enhanced with primary source material

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Examples of print publications
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Examples of print publications
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Examples of Web publications
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Extensive Web publications bring the countys
history to the people
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The Clare libraries continue to advance their
mission.

• Clare County Library Service is a publicly
  funded resource to be used for information,
  learning, culture and the imagination thereby
  improving the intellectual and cultural quality
  of life of the community, and is crucial in
  achieving equality of access to the benefits of
  the information society.

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The Clare libraries continue to advance their
mission through digital technology within the
context of a rich cultural heritage.

• The cultural memory aspect of the librarys
  mission has been enhanced.
• An active learning aspect of the librarys
  education mission has been implemented.
• The library is becoming a community center online
  and in person.

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Implications for the future

• Ennis has been called the worlds largest
  community technology project because of its
  success in achieving the first goal ubiquitous
  computing across town segments.
• However, resources need to be replaced and
  upgraded this will be a continuing challenge.
• Priorities for funding agencies always change, so
  projects often must end (e.g. the CLASP
  publishing initiative). New monies need to be
  found.
• Technologies change rapidly there is a constant
  need for staff to learn and re-learn.
• Websites are like living, growing things they
  constantly need to be attended to, to be nurtured
  and to be fed information.

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References

• Bell, Daniel. (1973, 1976). The coming
  post-industrial society A venture in social
  forecasting. Harmondsworth Penguin.
• Broadbent, Marianne. (1998, May). The phenomenon
  of knowledge management What does it mean to the
  information profession? Information Outlook,
  23-36.
• Casey, Michael. (2000). Trans-European
  information policies Challenges and perspectives
  for public administration. Toru, Poland Nicholas
  Copernicus University.
• Castells, Manuel. (2001, May 9). Identity and
  change in the network society a conversation
  with Manuel Castells with Harry Kreisler.
  http//globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Castells/
  castells-con5.html Accessed 11/17/2003.
• Clare County Library System website
  http//www.clarelibrary.ie/ Accessed May 15,
  2001-2006.
• Drucker, Peter. (1969). The age of discontinuity
  Guidelines to our changing society. NY Harper
  Row.
• Drucker, Peter. (1993). Post-capitalist society.
  NY Harper Collins.
• Gurstein, Michael. (Ed. (2000). Community
  informatics Enabling communities with
  information and communications technologies.
  Hershey, PA Idea Group Publishing.
• Machlup, Fritz. (1962). The production and
  distribution of knowledge in the United States.
  Princeton NJ Princeton University Press.
• Machlup, Fritz. (1980). Knowledge Its creation,
  distribution, and economic significance. Vol. I
  Knowledge and knowledge production. Princeton,
  NJ Princeton University Press.
• Machlup, Fritz. (1984). Knowledge Its creation,
  distribution, and economic significance. Vol. II
  The economics of information and human capital.
  Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press.
• Naisbitt, John. (1984). Megatrends Ten new
  directions transforming our lives. Futura.
• Ó hAoda, Mícheál. (2000, May). Irish rural
  libraries Glimpses of the past. Library History,
  16 (8), 49-56.
• ODonnel, Sheila., McQuillan, Helen., Malina,
  Anne. (2003). E-Inclusion Expanding the
  Information Society in Ireland. Dublin Itech
  Research.
• Reich, Robert B. (1991). The work of nations
  Preparing ourselves for 21st century capitalism.
  NY Vintage.

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References (contd.)

• Sproull, L. Kiesler, S. (1992). Connections
  New ways of working in a networked organization.
  Cambridge, MA MIT Press.
• Stehr, Nico. (1994). Knowledge societies.
  Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.
• The Information Society Journal.
  http//www.indiana.edu/tisj/
• Toffler, Alvin. (1980, 1989). The third wave.
  NYBantam.
• Toffler, Alvin. (1991). Powershift Knowledge,
  wealth, and violence at the edge of the 21st
  century. NY Bantam.
• Turkle, Sherry. (1995). Life on the screen
  Identity in the age of the Internet. NY Simon
  and Schuster.
• Turkle, Sherry. (1984). The second self. NY
  Simon and Schuster.
• Turkle, Sherry. (2003, September). Technology and
  human vulnerability. Harvard Business Review,
  43-50.
• Turow, Joseph. Kavanaugh, Andrea. (Eds.). 2003.
  The wired homestead An MIT Press sourcebook on
  the Internet and the family. Cambridge, MA MIT
  Press.
• Webster, Frank. (2002). Theories of the
  information society. 2nd Ed. London Routledge.
• Zuboff, Shoshana. (1989). In the age of the smart
  machine. NY Basic Books.

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For more information, please contact

• Claire R. McInerney, Ph.D.
• School of Information, Communication and Library
  Studies
• Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
• USA
• 732-932-7500 xt. 8218
• clairemc_at_scils.rutgers.edu
• Visit the Clare County Library online
• http//www.clarelibrary.ie/