The Customers of NLE: Who are they? Where are they?

The NLE is a prime source of information for professional staff of the U.S. Department of Education and its Regional Office staff. For others, it is more a "switchboard" where "customers" make contact at one point and responses come from a variety of remote locations. Its resources are classified and stored in many locations throughout the country and even other parts of the World. The major purpose of NLE is to be certain that individuals who seek information about any facet of education are satisfied with the responses they receive. The concept is very much like airline reservations offices. They are located in several regions of the country and when one calls (or contacts a computer) for reservations, the inquiry is shunted to the nearest available agent (or computer) and the booking is made directly.

Customers of the NLE should have one point of contact where questions and/or requests can be initiated. Individuals who seek information, like streams of water and electricity, seek the path of least resistance. That is why a person may ask someone in the office next door for a specific piece of information rather than go to a nearby library. Designers of the NLE should recognize the reality of this phenomenon. The starting point is one contact, be it a postal address, an 800/888 toll free telephone number, an e-mail or World Wide Web address, a FAX number or a face-to-face encounter in a place called library or information center. That point of contact becomes the switchboard as soon as a request for information is made. Information may be directly available from the initial contact point or it may be necessary to transfer the request to another source seamlessly (which means that the customer does not necessarily know where the request has been referred to or who is working on it). This is definitely not the place where a customer is told to go to another source or two where the information may be found.

This focus on one point of contact underscores the centrality of the customer before any thought of technology is introduced. Before a comprehensive information system is designed for NLE, it would be wise to review who the customers and potential customers are and what is already known about their information seeking behavior. Too many systems have been created by information technologists only to discover that the users found them irrelevant, confusing and misleading. NLE needs to know:

* Who are the customers?

* What type of information they seek?

* Where they normally go to obtain needed information?

* What frustrations they encounter when seeking information?

* How satisfied they are with the responses they receive from current sources?

* To what extent electronic access is available to users and potential users?

* What they would consider to be an ideal information source?

Answers to some of the above questions are already available (Heaviside, et.al. ,1997; USA Today Poll, 1997; McDonald, et.al., 1981). These questions must be addressed and further studies conducted to update the status of users and their information needs.

Making it Work for Customers

In the information age, it is appropriate to consider the role of technology in the implementation of NLE. Computers plus communication channels are basic to the NLE virtual library. Sixty-five percent (65%) of teachers, computer coordinators, and librarians say that students typically use the Internet in the library while supervised by a librarian. A current National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) study reports that 61% of all public elementary schools and 77% of secondary schools have Internet access (Heaviside, et. al., 1997). It is likely that this number will increase significantly in both library and home environments. However, it is not sufficient to meet the Access for All vision that "...all persons have equal access to the information necessary to their personal and professional growth." Therefore, alternative means must be put in place to meet this goal.

John D'Amicantonio (1997) outlines some of the mechanisms that can help to achieve "equal access to all."

The computer is the core of NLE's technology but it must be put into perspective. David Lankes, Associate Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology, provides a useful perspective:

The irony is that as computers have come into libraries we have realized their potential in improving human-to-human commun- ications. E-mail, Lotus notes, online chats, listservs, bulletin boards are all being used in our libraries to allow people:

* Better communication;
* Flattening the hierarchies, in essence allowing better access to expertise at all levels; and
* To easily capture organization knowledge and memories in the form of minutes and discussion archives. We see the value of using computers to improve access to knowledge and expertise. Yet we turn around and provide our patrons with online card catalogs and Internet access. Why do we understand the value of communication within our organization, and yet fear offering that very value to all our patrons? (Lankes, 1997)

Computers can help by creating filters that hold personal profiles regarding information and knowledge preferences of individuals. These filters serve as user-driven intelligence agents. This proactive stance is exemplified in each stage of Sutton's continuum beginning with traditional and moving to automated then to hybrid, and finally to digital libraries (Sutton, 1996).

Technical limitations and sometimes personal preferences may cause some individuals to seek alternate points of entry to the United States Education Information Network. Face-to-face meetings between users and information specialists has been the traditional access since libraries were founded. The person at the "reference desk" has always been an important contact for individuals seeking information. A physical setting, more like a traditional library, will exist in Washington, DC and will serve those who come directly to it. Many of these users will be employees of the Department of Education. This collection serves a relatively few people when compared with all the users from across the country who will use the USEIN .

A contemporary version of the person-to-person interaction is the telephone reference service that offers question answering quickly and permits the information specialist to pinpoint the information being sought. The telephone is a viable alternative and is a communication device more widely available than computers in schools. With 800 and 888 toll-free access, contact with an information specialist is easier and cheaper. The current 1-800 User Service should continue to be available for those who prefer to speak with an information specialist. All ERIC Clearinghouses have toll-free telephones as well.

Using telephone lines, the FAX (facsimile) machine can have an assigned toll-free number as well. An additional advantage of this medium is that it can be used at any time from a FAX machine in any location. There is a paper copy of the response for easy use by the customer and the cost is relatively low.

The U.S. Postal Service and private delivery services offer an alternative. In these days of "instant information" they usually become a last resort. Requests for specific publications and other less urgent information can use these services. They are elements of a total communication system.

These existing delivery systems, designated "traditional," will continue to be used by the NLE. At the same time, new technologies and networks will open up the availability of resources now limited to only local users. The key to success will be the extent to which the best of the traditional is blended with the new technologies that are introduced over time. These stages are identified as "automated" and later, "hybrid."

The process will take some time. A five year study on providing online access to scholarly journals indicates that the transition from conventional to digital libraries will take much longer and cost more than commonly thought. The University Licensing Program (Project TULIP) final report (Hunter, 1996) emphasizes the importance of knowing what library users want and the need to promote awareness of electronic access among the faculty. Further, faster speeds and increased storage capacity on campus networks was deemed essential before further development takes place. It appears that the "hybrid" library will lead the march to the 21st Century.

The Transition

In his book, The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age,, Sven Birkerts charts a course that could be embraced by NLE.

We have, perhaps without noticing, slipped over a crucial threshold.
We have rather abruptly replaced our time-honored and slow-to-
evolve modes of communication and interaction with new modes.
We have in significant ways surmounted the constraints imposed by
nature, in the process of altering our relation to time, space and to each
other.

For, by moving from the order of print to the electronic, we risk the
loss of the sense of obstacle as well as the feel of the particulars that
have characterized our experience over millennia. We are poised at
the brink of what may prove to be a kind of species mutation. We had
better consider carefully what this means (Birkerts, 1994, p. 31).

A careful consideration of the meaning of these new modes of communication and interaction from the perspective of the library/information community has been spelled out by Peter Young, Executive Director of the National Conference on Library and Information Science. He indicates the following trends and shifts:

From To
Fixed permanent text collections Fluid, transient multimedia resources
Acquisition of formal publications Integration: informal, formal services
Static library facilities w/fixed stack Free/flexible/virtual information spaces
Uniform sources, citations, references Customized annotation transient works
Services provided to individuals Services tailored to collaborative terms
Standard reference services Personalized consulting and analysis
Professionally provided services Integrated service provision
Locally owned permanent collections Wholistic networked systems
Centralized collections and services Distributed, decentralized global access
Hierarchical organizational structures Participative, collegial relationships
Discipline specialization Inter/multi/cross-disciplinary studies
Generic user service offerings User/use specific relevant services
Subscription-based services Pay-per-use services (Young, 1995)

Note the terms: "customize," "collaborate," "participate," and "decentralize." These concepts will become part and parcel of the NLE. No longer is "library" only a storage and delivery operation; in its virtual incarnation it will be a service that values interaction; a place where people can seek other people with mutual interests and an institution that welcomes substantive contributions to its intellectual and informational "collections." Early signs of contributions can be seen in the construction and availability of World Wide Web sites created by individuals who want to communicate with others to share ideas, information and intelligence. Now mostly in text and graphic formats, the new "publications" in the virtual library eventually will be in multiple media formats and will be accessible to all.

It is with these trends and changes in mind that the following plan is offered as a first step in planning and implementation. We begin with several important assumptions and then the challenges that face the planners.
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