Online Community Information: Creating a Nexus at Your Library

Citation

Allcock, M. (2002), "Online Community Information: Creating a Nexus at Your Library", The Electronic Library, Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 517-518. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2002.20.6.517.4

This book provides a timely addition to the debate about the ongoing role of libraries and librarians in their communities. With the increasing use of the Internet as a tool for both finding information and promoting information from providers, a librarian’s role in bringing these two together in a trusted environment is ever more in demand – though this is often ignored by those who believe in all things Google.

Durrance and Pettigrew have constructed a highly convincing argument for the library and librarian as information hubs: trusted resources where people trying to find knowledge about their communities, and those trying to disseminate information about their services, can come together with a common purpose – in short Community Networks.

Considerable advantages accrue to both these stakeholders. Librarians can justifiably point to the order created out of chaos when providing some structure to an Internet universe that expands exponentially. This is not a new role – librarians by definition are about providing access and creating structures via cataloguing and classification so that others can easily navigate a path less well trodden. Information seekers have gateways to information that are consistent and user friendly (socially inclusive, to use a modern term) and aimed specifically at the needs of communities requiring information from specified sources, rather than a blanket catch‐all, which pays no heed to quality. Furthermore, information providers can place their information in an environment where its visibility is vastly increased to those who need it, information that is all too often missed or last on a very long list – even using the most sophisticated Web search engines.

The goal of this book is to take a close look at how these laudable ideals have been put into action in live scenarios. The survey work done here will be invaluable to anyone interested in the arena of community or citizens’ information, and it’s a broad church indeed, including e‐Government information, voluntary sector resources, libraries, museums, archives – and even the emergency services – as Durrance and Pettigrew point out.

The broad surveys act as a background against which a number of case studies are examined in great detail – notably Multaomah County Library’s CascadeLink in Portland, Oregon, NorthStarNet of the North Suburban Library System, Illinois, and Pittsburgh Libraries’ Three Rivers FreeNet (TRFN).

Innovative use of technology, including message boards, e‐mailing queries to librarians, and geographical information systems (GIS) has meant that communities served by these pioneers now have access to information that in all likelihood is not accessible by other means. Moreover, and hearteningly, the approach of sharing the load, whether that means hosting a Web server, or providing the guidance to groups of people who make up community information networks, means that librarians are showing that measurable benefits can be achieved. This can mean providing efficient returns on funding streams or improving the quality of life to all community members, often thought of as a “soft” measure – without incurring great expense.

Though these are US in origin, the reasons for providing community information, and the lessons learned in how to create and keep a disparate group of partners moving in the same direction towards a shared outcome is globally relevant, and especially in the UK with the demands of e‐government ever more prevalent and 2005 fast approaching.

For me, as someone closely involved in providing twenty‐first century community information, this book has been a constant and valuable asset. The comprehensive URLs are a necessary resource in themselves and the case studies are both illuminating and comforting – it’s good to know others are facing and surmounting similar challenges. As Durrance and Pettigrew point out, community information provided through community networks and information communities is still in its infancy, but it is already reaping rewards. As one member of a community network points out on the benefits of inclusion “we are part of that community, not just some name off the Web with nothing surrounding or relating to us. We are embedded in the community.”

There is still a long way to go before community information networks realise their potential and become the source of choice for people who need accurate, locally pertinent information, but this book both shows it can be done and acts as a guide for those who wish to follow. I can only hope that with their next book, Durrance and Pettigrew turn their attention further afield to Community Networks in the UK and Europe.