The Bookends Scenarios

15 december 2009

De State Library New South Wales (Australië) heeft de weerslag van een aantal workshops rondom vier toekomstscenario’s voor openbare bibliotheken gepubliceerd: The Bookends Scenarios (PDF). Die toekomstscenario’s zijn aardig om eens te bekijken. Uiteraard ontbreken ook de waarschuwingen niet. De auteur van het document stelt dat Australische bibliotheken achter zouden lopen op Europese maar als ik de argumenten voor die stelling lees denk ik dat we een beetje te hoog worden ingeschat. De constateringen gelden net zo goed voor ‘ons’:

We are 20 years behind the times. We still live in a hierarchical command and control culture when the world is demanding collaboration and networked interaction. We need to be more agile in service provision. None of this will happen until the curricula of training change.

We are so far behind parts of Europe and the US – not just in the library area but in the take-up of
social networking which has been explosive elsewhere. We are still talking about the same things we were talking about 10 years ago – there is a need for a new agenda; we are insular. Our staff is very backroom oriented, meek, mild and conservative and we are not leaders.

The silo mentality is still very strong despite the advantages of working together; we are politically very naïve and lack good management training.

Staying relevant – we need to be more dynamic; keeping up with change. How do libraries keep their place as information providers? What is our global role and relevance? It’s now or never for our professional associations (four voluntary bodies at the moment) – rationalisation needed PDQ. And certainly the Metropolitan and Country associations should merge.

Staff need to be more savvy as multiculturalism puts pressure on us and we handle the rollercoaster nature of demand.

The big issue is the lack of younger people coming into the profession and a lack of professional standards and ‘cutting edge’ technical awareness. And if we don’t get the kids in now, as users, we will not have a user group in 20 years’ time. Attracting new talent is the key.

Voor mijn gevoel is het in Europa echt niet anders. Of vergis ik me?

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