Investigating the impact of new technologies on special libraries

Information Outlook, Feb, 1997 by Laura N. Gasaway, Liana Sayer

Filtering Methods for Electronic Text

The 1994 research project, "Users' Choice of Filtering Methods for Electronic Text," explored and analyzed the methods that managers and engineers select to filter information from full-text electronic periodicals. The Boeing Technical Library at the Boeing Corporation, Seattle, WA, was selected for the investigation, due in large measure to the personnel using the facility and the wide range of services offered, which allowed for a complete and in-depth analysis of information seeking behavior. The study focused on factors affecting selection of a filtering mechanism and the relationship between the methods individuals use, and their information seeking behavior, their profession, and the types of tasks they perform.

Raya Fidel, Ph.D., and Michael Crandell served as the primary investigators for the study which commenced in October 1994. Fidel is associate professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Washington, Seattle. Crandell is external systems requirements librarian, Boeing Technical Library, Boeing Corporation, Seattle, WA.

Electronic Publishing

Electronic publishing could well be the most significant factor affecting special libraries and their clientele over the next 5-10 years. The 1995 Goldspiel Grant recipients address this important trend in "The Impact of Electronic Publishing on Special Libraries in the Future." The primary goal of the study is to synthesize existing and newly gathered data in order to analyze how electronic publishing is likely to affect special libraries, as well as publishers and users, over the next decade. The report analyzes how economics and new technologies are changing the ways in which journal articles, the most important source of external information for clientele, are obtained and used.

Carol Tenopir, Ph.D., and Donald W. King are currently conducting the research. Tenopir is professor, School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. King, of King Research, Knoxville, TN, has over 35 years experience in the field of library and information science research. Tenopir and King hope to test the hypothesis that electronic publishing can be a win-win-win situation for readers, libraries, and publishers.

Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems

The 1996 Goldspiel Grant recipients are examining the applicability of artificial intelligence/expert systems technologies to current and future special library operations. "Potential Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Expert System Technologies in the Special Library of the Future" aims to quell the fears that AI/ES technologies will allow computers to take over many of the activities now performed by professional librarians. It will do this by producing a realistic guide to what AI/ES technologies are likely to contribute to special libraries in the foreseeable future. The research is crucial because most applications of these technologies in libraries have not been objectively evaluated.

The principal investigators, F.W. Lancaster, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, and Linda C. Smith, professor, Library and Information Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, are both recognized experts in the field of AI/ES. Their appraisal of AI/ES systems will be based on a review of successes/failures in the application of these technologies in the library profession and in other environments. A guide of this kind is urgently needed to ensure that librarians pursue projects that have some feasibility/practicability and avoid investment in projects that have little prospect for success.

Recipients of the 1995 and 1996 Goldspiel Grants will present their most current research findings at the SLA 88th Annual Conference in Seattle, WA.

Laura N. Gasaway and Liana Sayer. Sayer is director, research at the Special Libraries Association, Washington, DC Gasaway is SLA's research committee chair. For more information on "Findings: Research and Your Bottom Line," or to contribute to the column, please contact Gasaway via the Internet at: laura_gasaway@unc.edu, or Sayer at 1-202-234-4700, ext. 615; fax: 1-202-265-9317; fax 1-202-265-9317; Internet: liana@sla.org.