Libraries as service rather than resources
First post of the term for online class INFO 653: Digital Libraries. I wasn’t expecting much for this class, but based on the readings so far and the syllabus, it’s looking pretty exciting. Thinking about expanding on the service definition and into a discussion of service design for my term paper…
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Apologizing in advance: I feel like such a poor library student for using Wikipedia here, but in the slurry that is the internet I’m having trouble finding a similar, more authoritative definition that communicates what I’m thinking — and interestingly enough it’s a very poorly cited article. I’m sure there’s something in business literature, but “service” is such a generic term that it’s tough to search for! That’s what I get for posting right before our weekly deadline, I suppose.
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Before we define what “digital libraries” are, I believe it is essential to define first what “libraries” are — and in previous classes I’ve found this discussion often starts with what libraries are not. A common thread in defending libraries is that they’re not just repositories for books, etc. Thus, the first thing I would have I would have to say about digital libraries is that they are not just repositories for data. There is a greater level of service and deliberate organization than mere indexing and retrieval.
I would argue that at the core of libraries is service. Generally defined on WordNet, service (n) may be “work done by one person or group that benefits another” as well as “an act of help or assistance.”
In the economic sense, a service has 5 key characteristics: intangibility, perishability, inseparability, simultaneity, and variability. Libraries and librarians fulfill these characteristics in the following ways (the hairdresser example in the article makes these parallels a little more clear):
