THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC LIBRARY Author Statement of Accessibility. Yes % %

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1 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC LIBRARY Author Statemet of Accessibility Name of Cadidate Degree Departmet/School Istitutio/Uiversity Thesis Title Date of completio of requiremets for award 1. This thesis may be cosulted i the Library without the author's permissio 2. This thesis may be cited without the author's permissio providig it is suitably ackowledged. 3. This thesis may be photocopied i whole without the author's writte permissio 4. This thesis may be photocopied i proportio without the author's writte permissio Part that may be copied: Uder Yes Over I authorise the Uiversity to produce a microfilm or microfiche copy for retetio ad use i the Library accordig to rules 1-4 above (for security ad preservatio purposes maily) Yes` 6. I authorise the Library to retai a copy of this thesis i e-format for archival ad Yes preservatio purposes. 7. After a period of 5 years from the date of publicatio, the USP Library may issue the thesis Yes i whole or i part, i photostat or microfilm or e-format or other copyig medium, without first seekig the author's writte permissio. 8. I authorise the Uiversity to make this thesis available o the Iteret for access by authorised users. Yes Siged:. Date: Cotact Address To Permaet Address

2 The feasibility ad desirability of library publicatios i electroic format i the South Pacific: a study of four islad atios Jayshree Mamtora, BUb, MCUP, AAUA Thesis submitted to Charles Sturt Uiversity for the Master of Applied Sciece February 2004

3 3.5 The situatio i developig coutries Ecoomic growth ad developmet 32 priorities Socio-cultural eviromet Resources Sustaiability The situatio i the Pacific Libraries CD-ROM techology i the Pacific Telecommuicatios ifrastructure The Iteret Implicatios for traiig Traiig for librarias ad 46 iformatio professioals Traiig for users Summary 48 Chapter 4 Presetatio of results Use of library publicatios ad preferred formats Use of library publicatios i geeral Use of Pacific Iformatio Cetre 54 publicatios Format use ad prefereces Computers ad computer skills Use of computers Access to ad use of the Iteret Use of the Iteret ad electroic media Computer hardware Power supply Iterviews Summary 72 Chapter 5 Discussio Prit or electroic? Formats Advatages ad disadvatages of prit Advatages ad disadvatages of diskettes Advatages ad disadvatages of CD-ROMs Advatages ad disadvatages of the Iteret State of the techology The PAUIstudy The Uesco study Capacity of the users 89 IV

4 Figures ad tables Figure 1 Electroic library resources used i four South Pacific 58 coutries Table 3.1 A compariso of factors relatig to the productio, 21 distributio ad use of iformatio products i three media Table 3.2 Literacy rates i the Pacific 33 Table 4.1 Sample represetativeess, by coutry 51 Table 4.2 Sample represetativeess, by category of user 51 Table 4.3 Use of library publicatios, by coutry 52 Table 4.4 Use of library publicatios, by category of user 53 Table 4.5 Frequecy of use of library publicatios, by coutry 54 Table 4.6 Use of PIC publicatios, by coutry 54 Table 4.7 Use of PIC publicatios, by category of user 55 Table 4.8 Frequecy of use of PIC publicatios, by coutry 56 Table 4.9 Use of library publicatios, by format ad coutry 57 Table 4.10 Library publicatios used i electroic format, by coutry 57 Table 4.11 Extet of preferece for electroic versios of PIC 59 publicatios, by coutry Table 4.12 Extet of preferece for electroic versios of PIC 59 publicatios, by category of user Table 4.13 Reasos for watig electroic versios of PIC publicatios, 60 by coutry Table 4.14Used computer, by coutry 61 Table 4.15 Use of computers 62 Table 4.16 Curret Iteret access at work, by coutry 62 Table 4.17 Possible coectio to the Iteret i the future, by coutry 63 Table 4.18 Use of the Iteret 63 Table 4.19 Reliability of Iteret coectio, by coutry 64 Table 4.20 Speed of Iteret coectio, by coutry 65 Table User ratig of Iteret service, by coutry 65 Table 4.22 Use of electroic media, by coutry 65 Table 4.23 Frequecy of use of electroic media, by coutry 66 Table 4.24 Daily ad weekly use of electroic media, by coutry 67 Table 4.26 Computer specificatios, by coutry 68 Table 4.27 Computer storage media, by coutry 70 Table 4.28 Power fluctuatios (brow-outs), by coutry 70 Table 4.29 Power cuts (black-outs), by coutry 71 Table 4.30 Use of UPS, by coutry 71 Table 5.1 Electroic library publicatios used compared to Iteret 75 access, by coutry Table 5.2 Compariso of equipmet, budget ad skills eeded to use 85 particular library publicatios Table 5.3 Iteret service providers, by coutry 88 Table 5.4 Cost of 10 hours dial-up access, by ISP 89 Case studies 1 Cost of productio ad distributio of prit publicatios 78 2 Cost of productio ad distributio of electroic media 80 VI

5 Certificate of Authorship I hereby declare that this submissio is my ow work ad that, to the best of my kowledge ad belief, it cotais o material previously published or writte by aother perso or material which to a substatial extet has bee accepted for the award of ay other degree or diploma of a uiversity or other istitutio of higher learig, except where due ackowledgmet is made i the text. v

6 Ackowledgmets I would like to thak the followig for their assistace: Pricipal Supervisor, Professor Ross Harvey, ad Associate Supervisor, Joh Keedy, for advice ad support durig the study Charles Sturt Uiversity for the research grat that eabled me to travel to Vauatu to collect data ad carry out iterviews Margaret Austrai-Kailo (Vauatu), Jey Biihi (Vauatu), Jae Chasee (Samoa), Toy Dadalo (Solomo Islads) ad Togi Tuupopo (Samoa), for assistace with the collectio of data Peter Walto for assistace with usig SPSS 10 Peter Walto ad Jaie Scheider for providig editorial advice. VII

7 Ethics approval Ethics approval for the research was grated i July 2000, Protocol No. 00/069. IX

8 Abstract This study ivestigates opportuities ad costraits to the delivery of library publicatios i electroic format i four coutries of the South Pacific: Fiji, Samoa, Solomo Islads ad Vauatu. It reviews potetial electroic formats for delivery of curret prit-based library publicatios, the extet of computer equipmet ad use, the status of telecommuicatios icludig access to the Iteret, ad the skills level of library staff ad users i accessig ad usig computers ad the Iteret. Also take ito cosideratio are views expressed by curret users of library publicatios, especially those of the Pacific Iformatio Cetre. It was foud that it is techically feasible to deliver library publicatios electroically i the four coutries surveyed, regardless of format. However, the majority of users are best served by publishig o CD-ROMs. This also cotributes to the ecoomic feasibility of publishig electroically because, ulike Iteret-accessible publicatios, publishig o CD-ROM does ot require as much ifrastructure to be i place such as telephoe lies ad operatig budgets, ad thus is a appropriate itermediate techology that ca be adopted immediately. Ecoomically, it makes sese to adopt the CD-ROM as the medium of choice for electroic publicatios. However, because of the request by users to retai prit publicatios there is o ecoomic advatage to library publishers. Secodly, it is desirable to deliver library publicatios electroically oly if their developmet is accompaied by a user awareess campaig, ad a user traiig programme is desiged ad implemeted.

9 Chapter 1 Itroductio This study ivestigates opportuities ad costraits to the delivery of library publicatios i electroic format i four coutries of the South Pacific. Library publicatios are defied here as fidig tools prepared ad published by a library, e.g. bibliographies, idexes ad directories. The study reviews potetial electroic formats for the delivery of curret prit-based library publicatios, the extet of computer equipmet ad use, the status of telecommuicatios, icludig access to the Iteret, ad the skills level of library staff ad users i accessig ad usig computers ad the Iteret. Takig ito cosideratio views expressed by curret users of library publicatios, icludig those of the Uiversity of the South Pacific's Pacific Iformatio Cetre, the study leads to a uderstadig of what is appropriate i the light of what is techically feasible. Library services have bee trasformed with the itroductio of ew techologies i the last te years. Terms such as the paperless society, the electroic library ad, more recetly, the virtual library have become commoplace. I the South Pacific, such developmets have seemed of little cocer, the techology beig out of reach. However, i recet years, the umber of computers i the regio has icreased ad so too has access to the Iteret. It is ow time to cosider what ca be doe, ad what is most appropriate to do, i order to utilise the ew techology to improve access to ad use of iformatio services i the South Pacific, i particular, library publicatios such as bibliographies ad idexes. As the meas to publish electroically became available to librarias - especially through the developmet of the desktop computer - as well as the meas for users to access these same publicatios electroically, so too did the recogitio that the delivery of iformatio products ad services could be chaged. However, electroic publishig should oly be itroduced if it is a better alterative, if it satisfies customer eeds ad is a better product preseted i a more appropriate way (Craig 1983, p. 337). This is particularly so i the developig world, where

10 there is a opportuity to leapfrog from the oral to electroic commuicatios: 'computers ad telecommuicatios... i theory at least... provide a uprecedeted opportuity for rapidly arrowig the gap betwee the iformatio rich ad the iformatio poor' (Lacaster 1984, cited i Olde 1987, p. 298). There are dagers: i Africa, prit libraries serve a elite few as it is; electroic libraries, eve if they took off, would serve a eve smaller percetage of the populatio (Olde 1987, p. 299). This applies equally to the Pacific, where libraries, library services ad iformatio products are, i geeral, ot well developed. There have bee few ivestigatios ito the value of electroic publishig i the South Pacific, or of formats available i terms of user prefereces, or of the most appropriate solutios. There has, however, bee a suggestio from officials of the Uiversity of the South Pacific that iformatio products such as the South Pacific Research Register, published by the Pacific Iformatio Cetre, be published electroically o the Iteret (USPL 1998, p. 12). No assessmet has bee made of whether this is desirable from a users' poit of view or, ideed, whether this is techically feasible i the South Pacific. It is ot kow what iformatio professioals ad users i the regio thik of this, or what they would prefer ad their preferred delivery format. I cosiderig which format to select, it is critical to base this decisio o what is beig dissemiated ad to whom. Workig uder the auspices of the Australia Bureau of Statistics, Damcevski studied the various formats - prit, diskette, CD- ROM ad olie - available to best dissemiate iformatio (Damcevski 1991). Damcevski cocludes: beefits of olie data bases ad CD-ROM do ot traslate equally to all cliets, or are cliets prepared to accept products that are difficult or costly to use [therefore] the challege is for orgaisatios... to recogise the eed to maitai cotact with its cliet base, be dyamic ad costatly review its products ad performace i deliverig its services to its cliets (1991, p. 212).

11 Factors affectig the acceptability of products iclude timeliess, storage capacity, ease of use ad updateability. CD-ROM techology i particular has log bee cosidered as the most suitable format for developig coutries: trasportability, high storage capacity, low cost ad, for those coutries where the telecommuicatios ifrastructure is ustable ad/or expesive, a degree of reliability are amog its advatages. I a review of a CD-ROM database project fuded by the Techical Cetre for Agricultural ad Rural Cooperatio, i three coutries i the Pacific, Walto (1994, p. 39) cocluded that 'alteratives to CD- ROM, especially olie searchig, are ot viable i the Pacific' because of high telecommuicatio costs ad lack of local gateways to olie services. Mills (1994, p. 349) supported the use of CD-ROM as a medium for deliverig iformatio i the Pacific, whilst at the same time drawig attetio to obstacles such as the o-stadard ad agig rage of computer hardware, together with utraied techical support staff. Lookig specifically at bibliographic databases developed i the Pacific, Walto ad Thorpe (1997) cosidered various distributio media i additio to CD-ROM, to overcome the atural geographic barriers to iformatio dissemiatio. With the rather slow developmet of atioal ad regioal iformatio services ad resources i the South Pacific, the cocer is that the recet improved level of access to the Iteret will compel users to go beyod the regio to satisfy their iformatio eeds (Walto & Thorpe 1997, p. 32). The Pacific's eed to access the latest telecommuicatios techology has to do with atioal developmet, especially for the small atios of the South Pacific, for 'ecoomic growth ad political ad social well-beig' (Ogde 1995, p. 592). However, this ca come at a price, oe that Ogde idetified i a more recet work as the threat of beig 'subsumed by Wester-domiated "cyber-culture"' (Ogde 1998, p. 147). Logterm strategies must iclude usig this techology but optimise it i ways that are 'ecoomically advatageous ad culturally appropriate' (Ogde 1998, p. 147). I a practical sese, this might ivolve the developmet of tele/ales, a idea promoted by Latukefu (1997), where existig social ad cultural structures are

12 implated ito the applicatio of ew techologies, or rather, ew applicatios are grafted oto existig structures. Although telecommuicatios i the Pacific are recogised as beig basic to ecoomic developmet, oly half the ihabited islads of the Pacific have access to telecommuicatio services (Hamiti & Loko 1998). The use of the Iteret by libraries i the regio to dissemiate iformatio is i its ifacy. This is to do with lack, or cost, of access to the Iteret, outdated or iappropriate equipmet, lack of techical expertise to pla ad develop suitable iformatio resources, lack of professioal staff ad lack of skills i developig ad usig Iteret or other electroic resources (Mills 1994; Walto 1994). Itroductio of ew techologies brigs with it the eed for all types of traiig, of practitioers ad users. It is ot just a matter of beig able to use a computer ad a particular software applicatio, but uderstadig how to use the resources that are available or how to build a database ito a usable resource. There is a eed for a high level of 'iformatio literacy' (Elder & Miller 1998, p. 35). I the South Pacific, basic skills are lackig i may cases; there is a eed for library ad iformatio traiig, i particular, to assist librarias ad others use the ew techology successfully (Joes 1997). This study is about the feasibility ad desirability of preparig ad distributig library publicatios electroically. All possibilities are cosidered takig ito accout the uique circumstaces of the Pacific islad regio. This leads to a determiatio of what is desirable. The ext chapter, Chapter 2, describes the methodology used to collect data. A literature review was carried out i 2000 ad updated i 2003; this is preseted i Chapter 3. I Chapter 4, the data collected are preseted, ad i Chapter 5, the fidigs are discussed i relatio to the objectives. Chapter 6 cocludes this study by lookig at the relatioship betwee feasibility ad desirability i the delivery of library publicatios i electroic format i the South Pacific.

13 Chapter 2 Methodology This study cofies itself to the geographic area kow as the islad South Pacific. This is defied as all atios below the Equator i the Pacific (Ocea) classed as developig coutries. This excludes the three Frech territories - New Caledoia, Frech Polyesia, ad Wallis ad Futua - because of their wealth ad ifrastructure relative to the rest of the regio, ad Papua New Guiea, because of its size i relatio to other Pacific islad coutries. Four coutries were selected to represet the islad South Pacific: Fiji, Samoa, Solomo Islads ad Vauatu. The term library publicatios is defied to mea those fidig tools prepared ad published by a library, for example bibliographies, directories, idexes ad abstracts. The exclusio of the basic scholarly joural from cosideratio is doe to stregthe the focus of the ivestigatio o bibliographies, idexes ad the like, where the research problem origiated. 2.1 Research objectives The objectives of this study are: to determie user prefereces for delivery methods - prit or electroic - of library publicatios (e.g. bibliographies, directories, idexes) i Fiji, Samoa, Solomo Islads ad Vauatu to explore the optios for delivery of library publicatios i electroic format (e.g. diskette, CD-ROM, Iteret) i Fiji, Samoa, Solomo Islads ad Vauatu to examie the extet of computer hardware/software available to the target group, icludig access to the Iteret (service providers, cost, depedability of service) to determie user competecies i respect of usig ew techologies (e.g. computers, CD-ROM, Iteret, software applicatios).

14 Users i the regio have ot previously bee asked their opiio o the preferred format for delivery of library publicatios. It was assumed that as log as publicatios were available i prit format, it was adequate; ad ayway there was o other optio available. With users ow havig some experiece of alterative publishig formats, that is electroic formats, their opiio was sought as to what they would prefer, prit or electroic. Electroic library publicatios come i a umber of formats, for example, o diskette, as a CD-ROM ad i a variety of ways o the Iteret. The first activity to be udertake i this study is to explore these delivery optios as a delivery mechaism. Related to electroic library publicatios is the eed i particular to examie the extet of computer hardware available i the regio to members of the target group. This icludes ot just the availability of computers per se, but the capacity of those computers (for example, the availability of peripheral storage devices) ad access to the Iteret, ad its cost, reliability, etc. This examiatio will help address the feasibility issues. If it is determied that electroic publicatios are techically feasible, the user competecies must be cosidered, because of the implicatios for use of electroic publicatios - particularly, their effective use. I the evet that user competecies are lackig, the traiig activities will have to be made available alogside developmet of a electroic product. 2.2 Methodology The aim of this study is to fill the gap by collectig data i three ways: by readig relevat published literature relatig to the Pacific ad the rest of the world

15 by questioaire by iterview. Fiji, Samoa, Solomo Islads ad Vauatu were selected for the study because they are the four largest coutries i the regio, they have more developed ifrastructures tha the smaller islad atios, ad have the most developed library systems Literature review A literature review was first compiled i December Owig to the rapid pace of chage i techological developmets, attempts were made to revisit the literature durig the fial write-up i August The results are preseted i Chapter Questioaire Questioaires were selected as the most appropriate method to gather data i a regio where coutries are scattered widely ad face-to-face iterviews are ot practicable because of the high cost of airfares. Remiders were set by or by regular mail Cotet A questioaire was used to gather quatitative ad qualitative data. The questioaire comprised 32 questios preseted i four sectios: Formats for library publicatios Computers ad computer skills Computer hardware Power supply.

16 Quatitative data were gathered related to the use of library publicatios as well as publicatio formats used. Other questios were o the use of computers, assessmet of respodets' computer skills, respodets' computer hardware ad software, access to the Iteret, costs ad access limitatios, stability of power supply ad telecommuicatios ifrastructure. The questioaire icluded space for additioal commets. Qualitative data was gathered o user prefereces ad their reasos; for example, for selectig certai formats over others. These questios were asked i order to help idetify user prefereces i terms of delivery methods. The opportuity was take to gather opiios o the publicatios of the Pacific Iformatio Cetre (at the Uiversity of the South Pacific), i part because it is with these publicatios that the research questio first arose; for example, whether users see it as desirable that they are preseted i electroic format as well as, or i additio to the curret prited versios. Additioal data collected o the questioaire sought to gather attitudes towards ew techology, ad the degree to which respodets feel cofidet i usig the techology (which also idetifies traiig eeds). A copy of the questioaire is icluded as Appedix Selectio of respodets I selectig idividuals to complete the questioaire, it was bore i mid that the focus of the study was o library publicatios, thus oly idividuals usig or likely to use such publicatios were surveyed. This icluded researchers, librarias ad other iformatio persoel. Of this group, it was relatively easy to idetify librarias as beig those idividuals i the four coutries who had acquired the Uiversity of the South Pacific Diploma i Library/Iformatio Studies ad above, as they were more likely to be udertakig referece work ad therefore usig library publicatios. O the other had, outside of Fiji it was more difficult to determie the researcher category without actually beig i the coutry. Thus the author also relied o the kowledge of local librarias i 8

17 Samoa, Solomo Islads ad Vauatu to effect appropriate distributio of the questioaire Testig ad approval The survey questioaire was developed Jue March Durig this time, i November 1999, pilotig of the questioaire was carried out at the Uiversity of the South Pacific Library. Ethics Committee approval was sought from Charles Sturt Uiversity i May ad grated i July Distributio Iitial distributio of the questioaire was carried out i July Distributio of the questioaire outside of Fiji was udertake with assistace from idividuals, all librarias, who had agreed to help o my behalf. They icluded Toy Dadalo (Solomo Islads), Jey Biihi ad Margaret Austrai-Kailo (Vauatu), ad Togi Tuupopo ad Jae Chasee (Samoa). A total of 420 questioaires was distributed. At the ed of 2000, resposes from the coutries i the regio had bee few, ad the data collected from all the coutries exceptig Fiji was cosidered iadequate. Thus a decisio was made to visit coutries where possible. It was ot possible to visit Solomo Islads due to the cotiuig civil urest the coutry was facig, but visits were made to Vauatu ad Samoa. Vauatu was visited i April 2001 (with a grat from Charles Sturt Uiversity) where a cosiderable umber of questioaires were collected ad iterviews coducted. A work trip to Samoa for six weeks, May-Jue 2001, resulted i more questioaires beig completed ad iterviews carried out. Data collectio was cosidered complete by Jue 2001, although the odd retur kept comig i util September All returs have bee icluded i the data aalysis. Respose rates are oted i Chapter 4.

18 2.2.7 Factors affectig distributio ad retur of the questioaires I Fiji, the civilia coup of 19 May 2000 ad subsequet evets seriously iterrupted daily life (the erratic power supply, curfews, ad the mutiy at the army barracks i November 2000). Whilst this did ot impair the collectio of data, the cotiuig ucertaity did have a egative impact o progress of the research, which was ot resolved util For most of 2000, the Solomo Islads suffered from civil strife, promptig discussio as to whether the Solomos should be dropped from the sample. However, the situatio i the Solomos appeared to improve a little i 2001 ad my cotact there was able to pursue further data collectio o my behalf. As oted i Sectio 2.2.6, it was ot possible to visit the Solomo Islads. 2.3 Iterviews Additioal qualitative data was obtaied by carryig out i-depth iterviews where possible i three of the four coutries beig studied - Fiji, Samoa ad Vauatu. Selectio of cadidates to iterview was made at radom withi the three categories: librarias, researchers ad iformatio persoel. Withi each category iterview cadidates were selected o the basis of availability ad the willigess to be iterviewed. Those iterviewed gave freely of their time ad experiece. This served the iteded purpose of gatherig the harder-to-acquire data o attitudes. There were o serious egative factors affectig the holdig ad carryig out of iterviews, provided that protocols were observed i those coutries where protocol was a sigificat factor. For example i Samoa, prior approval by maagemet to iterview staff was required, which could take time to arrage. 10

19 A copy of the iterview form is icluded as Appedix Pacific Academic Use of the Iteret I 1997, a Australia-wide survey ito academic use of the Iteret was carried out by researchers at the Uiversity of Caberra, the aims of which were: to idetify the frequecy ad type of use of the Iteret by academics withi specified disciplies i Australia uiversities to record perceptios of these users towards the Iteret, together with other demographic data, i order to idetify barriers to the effective, or more effective use of Iteret to determie whether, as a meas of overcomig the deficiecy of distace, more use is made of the Iteret by academics i uiversities that are geographically isolated tha by academics who are i large metropolita areas. The report of the survey was published i 1998 (Applebee et al). I December 1998, oe of the Australia researchers approached the author with the suggestio that a similar study be carried out i the Pacific, specifically amog academics at the Uiversity of the South Pacific. Early i 1999, a research proposal which adopted the Australia study's aims was submitted to the Uiversity of the South Pacific's Research Committee; the proposal was approved quickly ad after pilotig the questioaire, the survey was carried out from Jue to November Out of 271 questioaires distributed, 146 or 54.0 were retured; three ivalid resposes were discouted. A brief report o the results was submitted to the Uiversity Research Committee i April 2001; a full report by the author was prepared at the same time but was ot published. However, because some of the data from the Pacific study are directly relevat to this study, ad because the research was carried out solely by this author, relevat data are preseted i Chapter 5, derived from the upublished report of the study (Mamtora 2001c). 11

20 Chapter 3 Literature review 3.1 Backgroud literature (searchig methodology, sources) This literature review is based o material relatig to: recet treds i publishig types of formats for publicatios that have evolved i recet years, ad the use ad users of ew ad old formats how this developmet affects libraries today cocers about this ew techology i the developig world the situatio specific to the area of study, the Pacific regio. Idetifyig ad acquirig material whilst based i the Pacific is at best difficult. I carryig out research for this literature review, the Iteret was a saviour, although Iteret coectio time i Fiji, where the researcher was based, was ofte slow. Iitial searches were carried out i library catalogues followed by a search o ERIC o CD-ROM. O my behalf, the Natioal Library of Australia olie service carried out detailed searches of Library ad Iformatio Sciece Abstracts, Australia Library ad Iformatio Sciece Abstracts, Library Literature, Iformatio Sciece Abstracts ad Computer Abstracts. Search termiology icluded: electroic publishig, electroic formats, prit formats, dissemiatio of iformatio, developig coutries, abstracts, idexes, bibliographies. A sigificat amout of material o electroic publishig was idetified. Of this, material comparig prit ad electroic formats for publicatios was studied as backgroud material to the topic. 3.2 Treds i publishig Discussio of issues relatig to electroic publishig i geeral also have a bearig o library publicatios, that is, the issues cover the same groud but some 12

21 factors are more pertiet tha others, such as accessibility. This sectio draws attetio to all the mai issues i electroic publishig, returig i subsequet sectios where appropriate. There are some soud reasos for cosiderig a electroic versio. I his defece of the electroic book, Barker (1992, p. 139) outlied 12 limitatios of the prited book that serve as a useful checklist whe evaluatig prit ad electroic publicatios. Prit publicatios are: difficult to reproduce expesive to dissemiate difficult to update sigle copies caot easily be shared easily damaged ad vadalised bulky to trasport embedded material is ureactive ad static caot utilise soud caot utilise aimatio or movig pictures uable to moitor reader's activity caot assess reader's uderstadig uable to adapt material dyamically Defiitio Electroic publishig, electroic jourals ad e-jourals are all terms used frequetly ad loosely i the preset day. It is useful at the outset to be clear both what is meat by electroic publishig ad what it meas i the cotext of this study. I a slightly dated but still relevat paper, Lacaster (1995) defies electroic publishig as beig more tha the use of a computer to typeset ad lay out a publicatio, ad more tha simply makig available a publicatio as a exact copy, digital though it may be, of the prited versio. Lacaster surveyed a 30-year developmet period with four evolutioary stages: iitially, the use of computers to prepare prited publicatios (the typesettig ad layout); the bega 13

22 a period whe publicatios became available i electroic format, as a mirror image of the prited versio. I this sese, the techology is beig used for distributio: 'To me CD-ROM is more a distributio medium' (Tubridge 1995, p. 118). Parallelig this developmet was the growth i olie databases of secodary publicatios where the data itself (that is, the cotets of the prited versio) could be searched dyamically. But Lacaster's fourth evolutioary stage both defies electroic publishig more precisely ad is the challege for maagers of library publicatios: [i the cotext of electroic joural] somethig 'created for the electroic medium ad available oly i this medium' (1995, p. 520). A ow revised Charles Sturt Uiversity (CSU) documet, Rule for the Presetatio of Theses (CSU 1998), provides a illustratio. It was available o the Iteret, both i html format ad as a dowloadable Microsoft Word documet. The Word documet prited ad looked fie; the html-formatted documet, o the other had, merely preseted the text as oe, cotiuous page that made scree-readig cumbersome. The html-formatted documet did ot meet the criteria of a documet 'created for the electroic medium', or did it best exploit the medium Costs A commo respose as to why electroic publishig is better tha prit publishig is the cost factor. It is accepted almost without questio that publishig electroically is cheaper. But is it? Ad cheaper for whom? I a list of advatages of electroic over prit, cost is metioed ofte (Burbules & Bruce 1995; Lacaster 1995; Va Brakel 1995). Quite early o i the history of electroic publishig, the correlatio betwee subscriptio cost ad olie access to abstracts ad idexes was oted (Sperr 1983). As olie access became possible, the umber of subscriptios to the prit versio declied, which could have bee expected. But prit versios did't die out completely. Ad this may have somethig to do with recogitio that there were techological factors that had a bearig o the true cost of olie access; this coicided with, at the time, a ew 14

23 awareess of user eeds. A attempt at cosiderig further the cost factor was made by Perritt (1991). What emerged was the eed to uderstad cost ot merely i the sese of moetary value, but also ecapsulatig worth or value. Aruachalam (2003) argues that ew techology does ot ecessarily lead to a improvemet per se, rather to a wideig of the gap betwee the iformatio rich ad the iformatio poor. The reasos Aruachalam puts forward are that the cost of subscribig to the remaiig prit-based jourals will oly become higher as the umber of subscribers declie, ad that the cost of the techology eeded to access the electroic versio will be beyod most istitutios i developig coutries. He reports that some publishers have agreed to provide free access to their olie jourals for scietists i developig coutries, but suggests this oly happes whe there are o commercial iterests at stake. So the issue of cost is heavily weighted i favour of publishers ad agaist the users, especially those i developig coutries. Oe of the argumets made for covertig Pacific Iformatio Cetre (PIC) publicatios to electroic format is cost; the advatage gaied is expected to be that it will be cheaper to produce a CD-ROM or maitai a web-based versio tha cotiuig to prit o paper. Admittedly, the preparatory work (idetificatio, cataloguig ad idexig of relevat literature) is o differet. But a CD-ROM versio will require a computer with CD drive, access to electricity, software ad the skill to maipulate both the machie ad the resource. There are costs ivolved with this too, bore by the user ad ot the publisher. The there is the optio of searchig a electroic resource i more imagiative ways tha the prit versio. There is 'value' i this too. Thus the discussio o cost is more complex tha at first it might appear Speed Alog with cost, timeliess is aother factor cited ofte as givig electroic publishig a advatage over prit (Lacaster 1995; Va Brakel 1995). Timeliess ca cocer both the productio ad delivery of electroic 15

24 publicatios. I particular, publishig jourals electroically ca ofte reduce the amout of time betwee lodgig a mauscript ad fialisig the paper Feedback ad dissemiatio Related to speed is the opportuity electroic publishig presets for buildig i a feedback mechaism to scietific or scholarly writig. Lacaster calls this process 'public peer review' (1995, p. 523). Burbules ad Bruce (1995) also ote that the editig process is improved - it is faster, more immediate - ad at the output stage, electroic publishig leads to a more rapid spread of ideas ad fidigs which is, essetially, the poit Owership Beig able to spread ideas ad fidigs more rapidly ad more cheaply has led logically to groups of people - leared societies, specialised etworks - takig over the publishig process themselves. Both Lacaster (1995) ad Va Brakel (1995) ote the icreasig disechatmet amog scholarly writers with the commercial joural publishig process. Pricipally, what they are cocered about is a loss of owership of the material (ad the ageda). I fact, highly specialised jourals that would ot have eticed commercial iterest are ow the maistay of the ew breed of electroic jourals. This puts the commuicatio process back ito the hads of the writers, ad is likely to have sigificat implicatios for publishig i geeral Legitimacy However, rapid publishig of scholarly writig i a form that is easily ameded, or amedable, brigs with it a series of cocers relatig to legitimacy. Burbules ad Bruce ote that 'there is somethig about the tagible existece of a boud paper versio of a mauscript that provides it some authority, itegrity ad fiality' (1995, p. 14). This viewpoit caot easily be dismissed, especially the idea of its tagibility, which may be exteded to ecompass CD-ROM 16

25 publicatios. O the other had, it is the peer-review ad editorial process that cotributes to some sese of authority, ot the covers. Va Brakel gives examples of jourals published solely electroically ow beig idexed i bibliographic databases, e.g. Public Access Systems Review idexed i Library ad Iformatio Sciece Abstracts (1995, p. 390). Legitimacy is derived more from editorial policies, the peer review process ad presetatio. It may well be that authors whose paper has bee composed i various (public) stages, such as o a listserv, will have to ackowledge more the cotributio of colleagues ad peers tha they do at preset The future So what of the future? Does this mea prited books ad jourals are dead, or if ot extict at least o the edagered list? The subject of edless discussios at professioal cofereces ad i the popular press, may would agree with Jackso that: Prit publishig, especially of books, will comfortably coexist with electroic publishig. So readig books ad writig paper is probably ot goig to disappear i the face of alteratives. Nor will we truly see a paperless society (1992, p. 312). Coexistece was also touted by Deekle (1993) as the ew order of the day: 'Readers are likely to access the text of ovels, reports, ad other documets i a variety of formats - icludig the prited book' (p. 17). Ideed, Watso, at the time deputy editor of the (British) Library Associatio Record wet further to suggest that 'If there is a Record i 100 years time, it will almost certaily be a dual-format publicatio' (1999, p. 37). 1 McKight says that 'While the developed atios may be pursuig various etworkig policies, the paper jourals will at least cotiue servig those coutries still lackig the basic levels of electroic iformatio techology' 1 The Record, ow kow as Update is still published i prit but excerpts ow appear olie ( 17

26 (1993, p. 9). He sees room for both the prit joural ad the electroic joural; ultimately the success of the joural will rest with the user, ad users will oly adopt the electroic joural if it has as much to offer as the paper joural. It is ot the techology that will determie the future of the electroic joural, but the ability to be able to use it as effectively as the paper joural Techological issues This usefully brigs us to the techological issues of critical cocer i electroic publishig, ad uderpiig this curret equiry. As the meas to publish electroically became available - especially through the developmet of the desktop computer - as well as the meas for users to access these same publicatios electroically, so too did the recogitio that the delivery of publicatios could be chaged. For library ad iformatio professioals, this meas ew iformatio products or ameded services. However, as early as 1983, Craig was warig that the decisio to publish electroically should ot be take just because the techology was available; electroic publishig should oly be itroduced if it is a better alterative, if it satisfies customer eeds ad is a better product preseted i a more appropriate way. 'You ca drive to Chicago i a bulldozer, but why would you wat to whe a more appropriate alterative is available?' (Craig 1983, p. 337). The eed for publicatios to i some way meet user eeds could be said to have motivated publishers. The uderstadig that products (publicatios) do ot defie a market, but that the users defie the eed for products is a relatively recet poit of view. Writig i 1983, Sperr otes that 'it was a commo complait that producers of abstracts ad idexes seemed oblivious to the wishes of the users. Withi the past year, four of the services icluded i this survey [o the impact of olie availability o prit subscriptios] coducted user studies for various reasos' (p. 418). Burbules ad Bruce remid us that it is users that defie the product, ad suggest that: 18

27 The greatest dager of ew techologies is whe their possible adoptio is regarded solely as a questio of coveiece or efficiecy, without reflectig o the uaticipated effects those techologies may have o other dimesios of our social, istitutioal, ad cultural lives (1995, p. 17). This is a timely (ad well-expressed) warig. A major advatage ad defiig attribute of a electroic medium is that hypertext likig is ot just possible, but actively ecouraged. Coupled with this is the capacity to mix media, to iclude soud ad aimatio, video ad text, ito oe seamless whole. Whe used skilfully, i a appropriate way, such as to covey a clear, cosistet message, it successfully fulfils Lacaster's (1995) criterio of a 'electroic publicatio' oted earlier. Whe Watso says that he expects the Library Associatio Record to be a 'dual-format publicatio' (1999, p. 37) he is thikig explicitly of usig each medium's defiig characteristics to best advatage. By way of example, log articles are ot foud o the web site, beig reserved for the prit versio, because it is likely aythig too log to read o the scree is prited out. But for ews ad multimedia features, the Iteret is a ideal medium Accessibility A prit publicatio is easily trasported, ca be used easily provided the user ca read, ad requires o special equipmet or eviromet (except a light whe darkess falls). Not so a electroic publicatio: whe certai publicatios are oly available digitally, lackig techological resources or skills will exclude certai audieces from access to that iformatio (whereas most physical libraries are ow ope to the public). Such equity cosideratios for access to ad participatio i the o-lie uiverse have ot received adequate attetio, i our view (Burbules & Bruce 1995, p. 13). It is ot just access to libraries, as Burbules ad Bruce poited out; lack of skills will be a sigificat barrier to access iformatio preseted electroically. Leavig aside the equipmet eeded, cosider the rage of skills eeded to log o to the Iteret, use a search egie (ad search logic), evaluate foud resources 19

28 ad extract the saliet bits from the vast array of potetial iformatio facig the user. Burbules ad Bruce are right to ote that for users this is a 'equity cosideratio' which relates to owership ad empowermet as much as it does for writers ad producers of iformatio. Naturally, this issue will be looked at agai later i this study i relatio to developig coutries, but from the purely techological viewpoit, Barker (1992, p. 143) has come up with a set of guidelies by which electroic publicatio desig may be measured. Ed-user tools ad services alog with access poits are key criteria which help iform the desirability of electroic publishig i the Pacific cotext Libraries ad librarias I all of this, the role of libraries ad librarias must ot be forgotte. As oted earlier, it was assumed that ayoe who could read could use a book. Such a assumptio caot be made with electroic publicatios. Whereas Meloche ad Bruce (1993) have reiterated the eed for librarias ad other iformatio staff to be better traied, to be able to create their ow publicatios, Tashi ad Havard- Williams suggested that there was a eed for a 'ew breed of librarias equipped with a rage of skills which will eable them to exploit ad maximise the potetial of the ew techology' (1986, p. 303), ot ecessarily cofied to a library. Oe could go further ad suggest that there is a eed for the role of libraria to chage, or be exteded, to embrace eablig ad facilitatig learig eviromets. The libraria's skill of orgaisig kowledge could also be utilised for the creatio of electroic publicatios so that they be made more accessible ad easier to use. This provides much food for thought whe cosiderig the Pacific, as will be discussed later. 3.3 Types of formats No discussio about electroic publishig ca be complete without a survey of the various media available. I this sectio the various formats available are looked at with particular referece to library publicatios, that is bibliographies ad idexes 20

29 (see Table 3.1). There is also cosideratio of the selectio of formats by publishers, ad the extet to which each format beefits a particular ed-user. Table 3.1: A compariso of factors relatig to the productio, distributio ad use of iformatio products i three media FACTOR PRINT CD-ROM ONLINE COST Productio Techical capacity for productio (skills, equipmet) Distributio Techical capacity of users (skills, equipmet) ACCESSIBILITY Access, by Iteretcoected users Access by o-itemetcoccted users Useability Searchability Update ability (speed of updatig) Currecy SKILLS required/ecessary Able to read Able to use a idex Able to formulate a equiry Able to use a computer Able to use retrieval software Able to use search egies ad browsers Able to evaluate iformatio sources Extet of traiig required Medium Medium High Low High High High Medium Low Low-Medium High High Medium N/A N/A N/A Low Low Low Medium-High Low Medium High Medium High High Medium Medium High High High High High N/A Low Medium Low High Negligible High High Negligible High High High High High High High High High High High (whe usig o-targeted resources) High Prit I the past, whe all that was available was publicatios i a prited form, the major costraits facig the publisher were havig eough fuds to publish, the log lead time betwee gatherig ad orgaisig the data, ad the completio of the publicatio, ad havig sufficiet fuds left over to distribute the publicatio. This was, ad still is, a particular problem i the Pacific where most of the library 21

30 mostly wet ito idetifyig suitable materials for iclusio ad idexig their cotet. Several authors have writte about the advatages of CD-ROM over prited bibliographies ad idexes. The medium itself is less proe to evirometal damage tha paper; for example, it is less affected by humidity, ad less likely to be attacked by isects. It is less fragile ad less affected by high humidity tha diskettes. However, there is a suggestio that a type of fugus eats away at the coatig of CDs rederig them uusable over a short space of time. Bosch (2001) reports o research i Spai which suggests that a fugus, Geotrichum cadidum, attacks the alumiium ad polycarboate layers of the CD, rederig it uusable ad destroyig ay data o the disc. This coditio was first observed i Belize, which has a climate similar to those of may tropical Pacific islads. New cases have bee observed i Germay, Guatemala, Mexico, Taiwa ad the U.S.A. Deterioratio of this kid reduces the value of CDs as archival media; however, it does ot reduce their usefuless as distributio media, providig that the discs beig used are of good quality. I terms of productio, oce the database has bee brought up to date ad a master CD made, duplicate copies are quickly ad relatively cheaply maufactured. All this ca be doe i-house thus avoidig the middle ma, the priter. Delivery, the mai drawback with prited publicatios, costs less (cosiderably lower weight) ad is faster (because of the low weight, it is ecoomic to dispatch by airmail). A pricipal advatage of the CD-ROM format over prit is the storage capacity. However, this leads to the biggest advatage of all - for users - that cosiderable amouts of data ca be searched, maipulated ad dowloaded ito user-defied forms (although this might be a drawback, from a copyright perspective). Ad because of the storage capacity, issues ca cumulate o the CD, meaig that istead of laboriously trawlig through aual idexes, just oe search will accomplish the job i a fractio of the time. 23

31 Oce purchased, a CD-ROM costs the user or subscriber o more to use, which ca distiguish it sigificatly from olie. As part of a study coducted by Hartevelt (1987), it was foud that where there is the opportuity, subscribers will switch from prit-based abstractig jourals to olie databases; this basically meat that oly developed coutries had the opportuity. 'If the developig coutries themselves are to have access to computerized databases, it is clear... that the curret olie facilities i tropical regios are ot really efficacious both i terms of techology ad ecoomics' (Hartevelt 1987, p. 165). This is a view summed up by Corish: 'The ecoomics of CD-ROM make it a more attractive medium tha olie searchig' (1991, p. 10), a view also expressed by Simmos (1989a; 1989b). However, the upfrot purchase price of CD-ROM databases ca be itimidatig, particularly with the larger, more iclusive commercial databases. For example, the 2003 aual subscriptio cost to CAB Iteratioal's TREECD database is USD 2,120. Uless usage warrats the iitial outlay, the the subscriber eeds to cosider seriously the value of owig the CD-ROM database. Nevertheless, CDpublished databases became the aswer to the prayers of may developig coutries which lacked the telecommuicatio ifrastructure ad fuds to access olie database providers, ad yet were tryig to build a iformatio capacity. There was still a delay betwee records beig created (by the publisher) ad beig available to users, but this was miimal i compariso to prit. There is also a eed for particular computer equipmet. Like ay ew techology, the advet of CD-ROMs did ot iitially make a sigificat impact i developig coutries where computers themselves were rarely foud i libraries. Also lackig were the skills ecessary to use the computer ad ecessary software, but these could be leart. For this reaso, developmet agecies saw the advatages of CD-ROM techology workig oly if available alog with equipmet ad traiig: 'The ease of acquisitio [of CD- ROMs], ofte coupled with regular updates, makes this type of techology 24

32 particularly attractive provided that fuds are available for the iitial start-up equipmet' (Corish 1991, p. 68). A similar coclusio was draw by the Techical Cetre for Agricultural ad Rural Cooperatio (CTA) whe they commeced a CD-ROM project i developig coutries a few years earlier: CTA has esured a greater likelihood of sustaiability of the projects by adoptig a itegrated approach. Not oly CD-ROM drive ad discs are supplied, but also the ecessary computer ad laser priter i order to read ad prit the data. Traiig is also give to iformatio officers... [ad] a aual allowace for maiteace of equipmet ad ecessary supplies (Dusik.d., p. 11). I terms of CD-publishig the, more product is delivered to users, but with a icremetal burde o the users (or their service agets, doors) for the right equipmet ad specific skills Olie If CD-ROM is the half-way stage towards total iformatio access, the olie access is the fial destiatio. There are o delays betwee record creatio ad its availability to users; up-to-dateess ad currecy are assured (providig the iput process is maitaied). The users access a resource that ca be much more tha simply a represetatio of the origial, prited publicatio, perhaps icludig liks to images or full-text documets. From the producer's side, there are few additioal costs ad perhaps eve some reductio with o eed to produce ad dispatch CDs. All of this comes at a price, a price that is ot always immediately apparet ad just about all of it fallig o the user: the user eeds good, stable ad affordable access to the olie resource; the user must have access to the equipmet ad better computer literacy. Without this, users will be worse off with a olie resource tha with prit or CD-ROM. As Hartevelt (1987) otes, decidig whether to go with CD-ROMs or olie is a luxury few developig coutries ca afford. 25

33 3.3.4 Web publishig However, sice the time Hartevelt was writig, times have chaged cosiderably. Web publishig is becomig commoplace ad has eve begu to make a impact i developig coutries servig the eeds particularly of users based i those coutries. For example, Africa Jourals Olie (AJOL), a relatively recet iitiative, already provided access i 2001 for 1,789 registered users to 64 titles; it received 15,000 hits a moth (Roseberg 2001). Growth i terms of the umber of titles, users ad hits is high. This idicates that publishig jourals electroically is perceived to have sigificat beefits such as reduced publishig costs, better access by local authors to a publishig medium, more local cotet orietatio ad ot isigificat kudos attached to publishig per se. Jacso (2001) discusses publishig outlets for librarias ad presets a large umber of web sites where reviews i particular may be foud. The ease with which librarias are able to do this, suggests that small-scale publishig vetures are likely to be implemeted. AJOL is a case i poit. For the Pacific, electroic publishig solutios preset themselves. However the questio still has to be aswered: could the success ejoyed by AJOL be replicated i the Pacific regio for what are essetially secodary publicatios? The costs ivolved i publishig electroically have to be take ito cosideratio. Bot, Burgemeester ad Roes (1998) attempted to assess the exact cost of publishig, i their case, a electroic joural. Whilst publishig a joural ad publishig a bibliography is ot exactly the same, it is useful to cosider the authors' assessmet which cocluded that electroic publishig is cosiderably cheaper tha prit, ad that the largest cost was determied 'by the effort put ito the process of developig ad maitaiig the electroic joural/web site' (p. 11), which meas staff time Format for whom? The importace of uderstadig the target audiece It is critical to base a decisio o which format to select by cosiderig what is beig dissemiated ad to whom. For example, Damcevski (1991) studied the 26

34 various formats available to the Australia Bureau of Statistics at the time - prit, diskette, CD-ROM ad olie - to determie which would help the Bureau best carry out dissemiatio of iformatio. At the time, prit was the mai format, published i a wide variety of titles for differet, specialised audieces. But cliets must either collect prited publicatios from the Bureau, or wait for courier service delivery - such delays ca disadvatage cliets where iformatio ca lead to competitive advatage. Floppy disks are easily made ad cheap to produce, but ca carry oly a subset of, i this case, statistical data. CD-ROMs are 'a appropriate medium for dealig with large, static databases (e.g. aually or less frequetly updated)' (p. 207). Olie is faster, more immediate. I order to improve the timeliess of data delivery ad iclusio of a wider rage of data, Damcevski recommeded two media, CD-ROM ad olie databases, but wared that: Beefits of olie data bases ad CD-ROM do ot traslate equally to all cliets, or are cliets prepared to accept products that are difficult or costly to use [therefore] the challege is for orgaisatios... to recogise the eed to maitai cotact with its cliet base, be dyamic ad costatly review its products ad performace i deliverig its services to its cliets (1991, p. 212). Factors affectig the acceptability of products iclude timeliess, storage capacity, ease of use, ad updateability. CD-ROM techology i particular has log bee cosidered as the most suitable format for developig coutries: trasportability, high storage capacity, low cost ad, for those coutries where the telecommuicatios ifrastructure is ustable ad/or expesive, a degree of reliability are amog its advatages. I a review of a CD-ROM database project fuded by the Techical Cetre for Agricultural ad Rural Cooperatio, i three coutries i the Pacific, Walto (1994, p. 39) cocluded that 'alteratives to CD- ROM, especially olie searchig, are ot viable i the Pacific' because of high telecommuicatio costs ad lack of local gateways to olie services. Mills (1994, p. 349) supported the use of CD-ROM as a medium for deliverig iformatio i the Pacific, whilst at the same time drawig attetio to obstacles such as the o-stadard ad agig rage of computer hardware together with 27

35 utraied techical support staff. Lookig specifically at bibliographic databases developed i the Pacific, Walto ad Thorpe (1997) cosidered various distributio media, i additio to CD-ROM, to overcome the atural geographic barriers to iformatio dissemiatio, but cocluded that at the time publishig o the Iteret was ot appropriate. Meloche ad Bruce (1993) took this a step further with the lie that librarias, i their role as providers of iformatio, should also lead the way i publishig iformatio usig ew techology like CD-ROMs. Other propoets of CD- ROMs, Nadeau (1994) ad Tubridge (1995), hail it as beig a medium that suits all eeds. Goig all out for electroic publishig may offer short-term solutios, but throws up a issue of particular cocer: the logevity of electroic formats, ad who is takig resposibility for archivig ad retrievig titles published o the Iteret (Bruskill 1998). Whilst the productio of bibliographic databases is beig maitaied, this is ot a sigificat cocer; should the publishig of regioal bibliographies ad idexes i the Pacific cease, it would be a sigificat cocer. 3.4 Libraries ad ew techology With ew developmets i techology, services provided by libraries have bee trasformed. The itroductio of the CD-ROM as a data storage medium, followed by the developmet of computer etworks i the 1980s, have sigificatly affected how libraries operate. Card catalogues have bee replaced by computerised versios allowig users to coduct complex searches ad obtai better results. Libraries ofte provide web access to their catalogue; ofte this same lik takes the user to electroic publicatios - jourals, books ad other electroic resources. Idexes ad abstracts are ow available as CD-ROM or Iteret databases, 'trasformig their prit couterparts by makig them easier ad faster to use' (Fecko 1997, p. 3). Users ca access etworked CD-ROM fulltext databases, electroic reserve services, citatio ad documet delivery services, the Iteret ad web pages with liks to full-text, olie documets. 28

36 Storig ad trasmittig iformatio electroically has become the stadard with these ew services. Both iformatio formats ad delivery systems have chaged rapidly i the past few years ad may of the types of resources curretly available far exceed what may librarias evisaged possible oly a few years ago. As services chage, so will the role of the libraria. I a study carried out o the impact of CD-ROM o referece/iformatio services i Ghaaia libraries, Boye cocludes that the academic libraria's role is chagig as he/she will take o the traier's role i makig users aware of CD-ROM databases ad promotig their use. I special libraries, 'The libraria... should assume a more proactive role ad fully exploit the potetial of CD-ROM to ehace the provisio of iformatio services' (Boye 1996, p. 5). As a result, the profile of libraries ad the status of librarias will be cosiderably ehaced. Lacaster had already made this forecast some 16 years earlier; he thought 'it is highly desirable that the libraria of the future should get out of the library ad work more closely with those idividuals who eed help with their iformatio problems' (Lacaster 1980, p. 46). Goig outside the library ad fidig ways to help users is ot somethig librarias ca afford to igore; aecdotal evidece suggests that where users have umet eeds, someoe else - ot a professioal libraria - will produce a solutio. It may ot be a good solutio, but it is a solutio. 'The libraria could gai substatially i importace, i status ad i recogitio', ad that 'the electroic libraria will be a valued ad, ideed, idispesable iformatio cosultat' (Lacaster 1980, p. 45). Oe of the major aspects of library ad iformatio work affected by computer techology will be i the 'productio processes ivolved i the preparatio of atioal bibliographies ad of the abstractig ad idexig publicatios coverig the scietific ad techical periodical literature' (Lych & Adamso 1976, p. 312). At the time, Lych ad Adamso saw computers replacig traditioal labour-itesive typesettig procedures, simplifyig work flows, reducig keyboardig ad proof-readig effort, ad allowig greater degrees i cotrol of 29

37 complex data-maagemet processes. They ote that from the mid-1960s, major British secodary iformatio services such as the British Natioal Bibliography ad the Commowealth Agricultural Bureaux bega to ivestigate how to covert their publicatio activities to computerised oes (Lych & Adamso 1976, p. 314). It was the productio process that was beig improved, but it did have aother outcome: there was better access to iformatio for users through improved searchig opportuities. Lacaster (1982) saw publishig developig i four phases: paper oly; dualmode, that is, paper ad machie readable form; ew electroic oly publicatios; ad coversio from paper to electroic. He further predicted that 'may types of publicatios will disappear i their paper form ad will oly be accessible electroically' (Lacaster 1982, p. 61). Iterestigly, Lacaster goes o to suggest that 'the questio, the, is o loger "Will the complete evolutio to electroic commuicatio occur?" but, rather, "Whe will it occur?" Put aother way, to what extet will prit o paper have disappeared by, say, the year 2000?' (Lacaster 1982, p. 61). Lacaster drew attetio to a Delphi study carried out by himself o the future of electroic publishig, ivolvig librarias, publishers ad techologists, i Participats of the study made some specific forecasts: Fifty per cet of existig idexig/abstractig services will be available oly i electroic form by the year 2000 Existig periodicals (i sciece ad techology, social scieces ad the humaities) will ot reach eve the 25 per cet level of coversio util after 2000 By 1990, 25 per cet of existig referece books will be available oly i electroic form. The 50 per cet level of coversio will happe after 2000 By 1995, 50 per cet of ewly issued techical reports will be available i electroic form. The 90 per cet level will be reached after 2000 (Lacaster 1982, p. 61). 30

38 Lacaster (1980) had also said, 'for ecoomic reasos aloe, the future seems to lie with electroics rather tha prit o paper' (p. 43). The predictios made by Lacaster ad his group have clearly ot bee fully realised. While may large libraries i the developed world may be subscribig to jourals oly i electroic format, publishers caot afford to produce them oly i electroic format. Very ofte a electroic versio is available automatically if a subscriptio is take out for the prit versio. Ad it appears that the cost of subscribig to abstracts ad idexes i CD-ROM format or as a Iteret database, clearly has ot bee cosiderably reduced. While the cost of producig electroic versios may have come dow, other factors come ito play which add to the costs for the user. Lacaster cotiues, 'To take a obvious example, I fid it hard to believe that there exists a vast utapped market of idividuals ad istitutios willig to subscribe to Chemical Abstracts at upwards of $4,000 a year' (Lacaster 1982, p. 43). However i the year 2000 at the Uiversity of the South Pacific Library, for example, the prit versio of Chemical Abstracts cotiued to be subscribed to as it costs less tha the electroic versio, whether it be CD-ROM format or as a olie database. Perryma (1991) sums up: 'This chage will ot come at the expese of the book or most other forms of traditioal prit media, but rather i additio to them' (p. 91). With the dawig of the electroic age, the scope of the library professio is chagig, ad librarias eed to be ready ad willig to tackle these chages rather tha to stad back ad wait for somethig to happe. 3.5 The situatio i developig coutries I the cotext of this study, the eviromet i which the feasibility ad desirability of a actio are beig measured is crucial. Whe it comes to ecoomic growth, developig coutries have major cocers that require a appreciatio of their developmet priorities. This caot be discussed outside of 31

39 the socio-cultural eviromet. Allocatio of resources, whether iteral or from exteral sources, is a further cocer which leads to questios relatig to the form i which assistace is beig provided, policies, ad the impact these have o sustaiability. 3. S. 1 Ecoomic growth ad developmet priorities It is iroic that developig coutries, more tha ay other, eed good access to iformatio, ad the ew iformatio ad commuicatio techologies available ca really help. Yet at the same time they have more immediate issues to address. I a aptly titled article ('Poor eed peicilli before Petiums') Atkiso (2000, p. 14) wars of the dager 'that govermets will be diverted from the most importat task, that of esurig people i developig coutries have clea water, basic educatio ad the drugs eeded to fight prevetable diseases'. This brigs us to a coudrum: a developig coutry's immediate priorities require fudig; fuds are the result of ecoomic growth; ecoomic growth is closely allied to the peetratio of iformatio ad commuicatio techologies; acquirig these techologies diverts fuds away from basic ifrastructural developmets. This eeds examiig i more detail. A major stumblig block for a iformatio society is illiteracy. As ca be see i Table 3.2, literacy rates are ueve i the Pacific. I Polyesia, Microesia ad Fiji, literacy is approachig 100 while i Melaesia literacy rates are very low (ADB 2002). I the rest of the developig world, literacy is very poor. For example, i 1980 less tha 40 of adults i Sub-Sahara Africa were literate (Olde 1987, p. 299). This issue was also oted by Kaamugire (1995), who poited out that may of the iteded beeficiaries of iformatio services were illiterate farmers ad illiterate or semi-literate urba dwellers. What is eeded, as Mwiyimbegu (1993) poits out, is iformatio for atioal developmet, such as health, educatio, populatio, scietific ad techical developmet. There is little doubt that these are critical areas. But there are several obstacles i the way, may of which have bee oted before: lack of 32

40 fuds, lack of reliable telecommuicatios, ustable power supplies, absece of a iformatio ifrastructure ad policies, lack of expertise, ad backwardess ad icompetece of decisio-makers, professioals ad users (Mambo 1993; Mwiyimbegu 1993). Yet it has bee show that there is a iextricable lik betwee level of developmet ad extet of a iformatio ad commuicatio ifrastructure: 'Statistical aalyses of the relatio betwee aggregate wealth ad telephoe desity... [suggest] that telephoe ifrastructure is almost syoymous with ecoomic stregth' (Jacobso 1994, p. 747). Table 3.2: Literacy rates i the Pacific Coutry Cook Islads Fiji Kiribati Marshall Islads Nauru PNG Samoa Solomo Islads Toga Tuvalu Vauatu Source: ADB Female literacy Male literacy Year est It is for these reasos that attempts have bee made over the last decade to provide the techology to developig coutries free of charge, to 'leapfrog' (Lacaster's term) developmetally. By way of example, Hartevelt (1987) preseted a project proposal that recogised that although there is a abudace of computerised iformatio relevat to developig coutries, it is difficult for them to gai access to it. Hartevelt cocluded that CD-ROM was the best ad most practical way of providig access to computerised databases i developig coutries. This proposal took ito accout that whilst coutries i Lati America ad Asia had some access to olie databases, Africa was behid i terms of ay existig iformatio ifrastructure. The eed for agricultural iformatio of farmers was as great as the costs of accessig this iformatio. I respose to this, the Techical Cetre for Agricultural ad Rural Cooperatio (CTA) embarked o 33

41 a CD-ROM project i 1989, as suggested by Hartevelt, with a view to cosolidatig iformatio services i Africa, Caribbea ad Pacific coutries. By 1994, 31 sites i 28 coutries were provided with agricultural databases o CD-ROM alog with the ecessary equipmet ad specialised traiig. A similar project was iitiated i Africa by the America Associatio for the Advacemet of Sciece (Chowdhury 1996). The aticipatio was that providig both the equipmet ad traiig would be a sigificat eough cotributio to 'kickstart' the process. This was aive. As Dusik (.d.) commets o the CTA project, much of the iformatio is processed i developed coutries. The other assumptio is that developig coutries lack iformatio; that if oly they had iformatio they could develop better. Like most assumptios, this is both true ad false: it is true that iformatio is lackig i developig coutries, but ot because there is't ay, just that it is't orgaised ad documeted; o the other had, it is true that lack of access to exteral iformatio is a severe hadicap. This latter assumptio was oe of the prime reasos CTA set up their project (Dusik 1992; Keylard 1992). But as Keylard otes, 'May librarias, however, are more attracted to producig their ow bibliographic files servig the specific eeds of their ed-user commuity' (1992, p. 9). New techology is ot always beig; it ca sometimes work agaist the best iterests of developig coutries. Jimba (1999) commets that i a world that is icreasigly global (i trade, politics ad culture), it is strage that from a historical poit of view, the more iformatio techology holds out a promise of a gilded future, the fewer are the advaces made by developig coutries. Jimba's reasoig is that 'disparities i wealth ad stadards of livig are a fuctio of available iformatio ad the techology to cotrol ad propagate it' (1999, p. 81; italics added). Thus a dager to be aware of is the possibility that elite groups oly will be served, as oly they have the techology ad ability to use it effectively, further disefrachisig the ordiary perso. Ay cost-beefit aalysis of the desirability of publicatios i electroic format is without value if the aalysis does ot also factor i the cost of traiig users ad acquirig skills to beefit from the techology. 34

42 But the lure of ew iformatio techology is tatalisig. It offers developig coutries a opportuity to jump directly from the oral to electroic commuicatios: 'Computers ad telecommuicatios offer the possibility of leapfroggig [ad]... i theory at least... provide a uprecedeted opportuity for rapidly arrowig the gap betwee the iformatio rich ad the iformatio poor' (Lacaster 1984, p. 417). Takig issue with this, Olde poits out the dagers, i Africa, prit libraries serve a elite few as it is; electroic libraries eve if they took off, would serve a eve smaller percetage of the populatio (1987, p. 299). Youg (1994) sees ew techology, particularly the Iteret, as a eablig tool, for empowerig the masses; i reality, oly those groups (elites?) with access to the techology will be able to etwork i quite the way Youg foresees - so which mass is beig empowered? However, the Iteret has bee used to strategic (positive) advatage by activist ad evirometal groups, i all coutries Socio-cultural eviromet Ofte termed socio-cultural barriers, a o-emotive way of describig this importat area is the socio-cultural eviromet. Too ofte this is a eglected area for discussio. As Clevelad otes, 'New techologies will have a profoud impact o all levels of society' (1991, p. 139). Issues to cosider are the laguage used to access the iformatio, relatioship to the equipmet ad impact of iformatio access o societal iterrelatioships (that is, if access to iformatio empowers, what does this do to those i power ad will they feel threateed). Boyle (1977, cited by Igwe 1986) commeted o the fear of techology amog Nigeria librarias, ad suggested that with the advet of ew techology (machies) i libraries came a clash betwee the sexes, with machiery the domai/prerogative of me, ad cultural coditioig alieatig wome from machies. Literacy, or the lack of, has bee metioed as a costrait already (Olde 1987; Kaamugire 1995). But there is aother side to this: 35

43 arragemets for supplyig kowledge ad facts must take ito accout social ad ecoomic realities if they are to have meaig, that to provide the material ad the assistace that would help the majority lear to read ad write is more importat tha to provide a "othig but the best is good eough" service for a tiy elite... (Olde 1987, p. 299). It is easy to uderestimate the extesive power, ecoomic ad political, wielded by elites i developig coutries. I this eviromet, the elite are able ad ofte do persoalise good, that is successful, developmet projects such that they are exploited politically ad fiacially. I the cotext of library automatio (usually a expesive project), purely techological developmet is liable to be distorted, ad fid itself i the political area (Mambo 1993). It is ot hard to see why: big project; lots of big-ticket items; big prestige. Self-advacemet ad self-iterest dog projects of this kid. The aswer is, as always, that projects must always address curret problems, ad be a solutio rather tha aother problem Resources At a purely fiacial level, Jimba (1999) remids us that hard-eared foreig exchage is used to acquire iformatio techology, ad yet more fuds from door agecies to acquire the traiig for staff to utilise it, which depletes yet further available fuds of oe kid or aother. This beig the case, the payoff has to be commesurate with what is i effect a gamble. Whe faced with this decisio it is hard ot to err o the side of cautio ad choose 'the librariaship of poverty' (Mchombu 1982, cited i Olde 1987), choosig to sped scarce resources helpig the illiterate majority lear to read ad write rather tha developig a electroic library servig just the few. Jacobso (1994, p. 748) welcomes a positive statemet from Presidet Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, as recogitio by Third World govermets of the importace of a established iformatio ifrastructure: 'We recogize that a soud telecommuicatio ifrastructure is also a basic istrumet for the social ad cultural developmet as well as for fosterig ad stregtheig atioal 36

44 uity'. Jacobso, however, cocludes that a recurrig problem i developig coutries is that of techology beig trasferred '"because they are there" to be trasplated' (1994, p. 750) regardless of eed. However, i most cases there is a policy vacuum whe it comes to iformatio techology ad its services. Lack of policies, ustable govermets, lack of techological kow-how ad low per capita icome all mitigate agaist a effective iformatio policy (Oyiloye 1999). Further, writig about the Pacific specifically, Williams says that 'very few decisio-makers ad Pacific islad leaders will lik good goverace ad accoutability to the efficiet maagemet of public sector records' (1998, p. 1). Williams goes o to make the poit that this results i the allocatio of miimal recurret fudig. Without well-thought out iformatio policy, there ca oly be a ill-cosidered iformatio strategy ad little by the way of budgetary support. There will certaily ot be eough to allow high-eough salaries to be paid to retai the more skilled ad experieced staff to maage a electroic-based iformatio facility (Mambo 1993). Ad without this calibre of staff, there is ulikely to be a well-thought out iformatio policy Sustaiability Whe it comes dow to it, doors ad developmet agecies caot exert ifluece to ay sigificat extet i what a developig coutry chooses to do or determie its priorities. I a aex to a guest lecture at the 63rd IFLA Coucil ad Geeral Coferece i 1997, Elliott appeded outcomes of a ICSU/Uesco Coferece (held i 1996) which has some bearig o developig coutries. Amog other thigs, the aex states that scietists i developig coutries 'should assume greater cotrol of the techologies ivolved' ad become ivolved as 'a parter i the developmet of methodologies, tools ad stadards... so that these ca be adapted to its eeds' (1997, p. 355). The cocer implicit i these statemets, also expressed by other writers (Chowdhury 1996; Roseberg 1999), is for sustaiability. 37

45 New iformatio ad commuicatio techology, especially the Iteret, has bee lauded as pavig the way for iformatio access beyod ayoe's dreams. It has bee suggested that developig coutries, startig late i the techological area, may yet beefit ad close the gap betwee the iformatio rich ad iformatio poor (Lacaster 1984; Oyiloye 1999). Naturally eough, this is ot as simple as it seems. Based o extesive experiece of Africa, Roseberg for oe agrees that: There is little doubt that the itroductio of CD-ROM has improved access to curret iformatio ad give libraries ad librarias a reewed sese of purpose ad credibility i their role as iformatio providers. But has it proved sustaiable, oce the doors have left? The aswer has to be a resoudig "o" (1999, p. 232). By way of example, a evaluatio carried out by CTA of the project metioed i sectio foud more tha 70 per cet of users regarded CD-ROM as beig the best method of fulfillig their requests (Broadbet, Thioue & Walto 1994). Whilst CTA iitiated the project ad paid for iitial subscriptios to databases, oly 58 per cet of the recipiet govermets were willig to esure sustaiability by cotiuig to pay for them. The respodets also felt a eed for the provisio of ogoig traiig. O the whole though, those who were surveyed were positive about the beefits of this project to their coutry, but over 11 years after the start of the project, discussio o 13 October 2001 with Mr P. Walto (Agricultural Cosultat) revealed that oe of the projects were sustaied, that is the subscriptios were ot reewed by the host istitutios. If these earlier projects were ot sustaiable, what is the way to go? Roseberg (1999) i cocurrece with other writers (Chowdhury 1996; Elliott 1997) suggest the future is likely to be a hybrid, a bit of this ad a bit of that. The solutio for developig coutries is to accept the techology but to develop ad maage the cotet themselves. Oly by doig this ca it ever have the chace of beig sustaiable. 38

46 3.6 The situatio i the Pacific The situatio is the Pacific is discussed i this sectio, with particular attetio beig paid to the state of libraries, CD-ROM techology, the telecommuicatios ifrastructure ad the Iteret. These headigs were selected to facilitate discussio of cocers ad issues as they relate to the ifrastructure ad its capacity to facilitate a electroic future Libraries I the Pacific Islads regio, libraries typically are ot well resourced, have isufficiet staff ofte iadequately traied, ad libraries do ot commad the same priority as say, sports stadia. Libraries of regioal orgaisatios, icludig uiversities, are geerally very good, comparable i terms of staff ad other resources to Australia libraries. So is it moey that is a costraiig factor? Or lack of visio? Mills (1992) predicted that the library automatio hold the key to more self-reliat Pacific libraries. Oce the professioal support is available libraries should seek to acquire software beig used by their collegues i the regio i order to esure compatibility. The smaller libraries should make careful cosideratio of whether they eed to be automated, ad if so i which particular areas. However, whilst the Uiversity of the SOuth Pacific (USP) Library has bee fully automated for may years, there have bee difficulties i recruitig a Systems Libraria because of the lack of expertise i the regio. The situatio remais uchaged eve today (2003) with a expatriate holdig the post CD-ROM techology i the PAcific As oted earlier, the advatages of CD-ROM are its trasportability, high storage capacity, low cost ad, for those coutries where telecommuicatios ifrastructure is ustable ad/or expesive, a degree of reliability. I a review of a CD-ROM database project by a Techical Cetre for Agricultural ad 39

47 Rural Cooperatio (CTA) i three coutries i the Pacific, Walto cocluded that 'alteratives to CD-ROM, especially olie searchig, are ot viable i the Pacific because of high telecommuicatio costs ad lack of local gateways to olie services' (1994, p. 39). For this reaso, Walto had less hesitatio i recommedig cotiued use of CD-ROM techology: If developmet i telecommuicatios cotiue as they have of late, ad costs fall as a cosequece, the CD-ROM may be less attractive from a ecoomic ad techical poit of view. Highspeed modems ad the Iteret are chagig the iformatio ladscape radically (1994, p. 39). Mills (1994) drew attetio to other obstacles such as the o-stadard ad agig rage of computer hardware i the Pacific, together with utraied techical support staff. While this was true, eve i that same year, 1994, Walto had reviewed the three CTA sites i the Pacific ad cocluded: 'Techology has evolved so radically i the last twelve moths that CD-ROM drives are o loger cosidered a luxury (if they were cosidered so at all)' (1994, p. 39). I other words, eve the the simple techology eeded was beig itroduced. What of users' opiios? A survey carried out at the CTA CD-ROM sites revealed that users felt comfortable usig CD-ROM techology, but were ot able to compare it with other ew techology as they had o experiece of it. Walto recommeded that whilst the Project was successful i implemetig the use of CD-ROM databases, it was more importat to have a "period of cosolidatio" tha lurch ahead i search of other ew techology for improved methods of iformatio access (1994, p. 43). O the feasibility of distributig bibliographic databases i the Pacific to overcome the atural geographic barriers to iformatio dissemiatio i the regio, Walto ad Thorpe (1997) cosidered various distributio media. They cocluded that the time to place databases o the Iteret was ot yet viable, but for those who have access to computers, diskette ad CD-ROM are two media that are recommeded for cosideratio. They proposed the view that publishig 40

48 electroic databases ca be for two reasos: first, to keep up with developmets i the rest of the world; secod, ad more importatly, for commercial purposes, to create awareess of material from the Pacific ad get paid for it. However, i order to focus o servig the regio ad providig access to material to users withi the regio, prit is still the best optio Telecommuicatios ifrastructure I sectio 3.5.1, metio was made of the relatioship betwee ecoomic growth ad telecommuicatios. Ogde ad Jussawalla (1994) explored this i more detail with particular referece to Pacific Islad coutries. They ote that telecommuicatios priorities i Pacific Islad coutries differ from those i developed coutries. Their mai cocer is with expadig a etwork i the face of geographical barriers ad atural limits o the size of the market. Ultimately, however, 'perhaps the cost of optig out of... policy ad/or structural adjustmets to facilitate telecommuicatios developmet could prove far more costly i the log ru i terms of opportuities forgoe' (Ogde ad Jussawalla 1994, p. 28). Whereas Ogde (1995) welcomes what he calls a 'game of "catchup" or "leap-frog"' (p. 592), he suggests that developig coutries i the Pacific are ever goig to be i a positio to reverse the curret tred towards icreasig disparities with developed coutries. He idetifies a lack of atioal policy ad formulatio of atioal strategies as beig the cripplig factors. These are essetially political issues. I a later paper, Ogde (1998) displays eve more pessimism about the ability of the Pacific to egage with ew telecommuicatio techologies o terms acceptable to ad appropriate for them. Although telecommuicatio techology i the Pacific is recogised as beig basic to ecoomic developmet, oly half the ihabited islads of the Pacific have access to telecommuicatio services (Hamiti & Loko 1998). Hamiti ad Loko's paper outlies telecommuicatios developmet i 15 coutries of the Pacific regio ad cocludes that although the telecommuicatios ifrastructure has bee cosolidated i recet years, 'they still have a log way to go before they reach a desired level of developmet' (Hamiti & Loko 1998, p. 14). 41

49 3.6.4 The Iteret The developmet of the Iteret i the Pacific offers a opportuity ad at the same time poses a threat. It is a opportuity because it ca provide better access to iformatio i the regio. It poses a threat because it may mea that Pacific iformatio resources are overlooked by users more eager to 'surf the et' tha use the few iformatio resources that are orgaised ad documeted. A good illustratio of this is the Pacific Iformatio Cetre (PIC) itself. PIC was established to make catalogue records available to libraries aroud the regio, to share commo resources ad to act as a catalyst for improved bibliographic cotrol by documetig what was available, thereby idicatig what was't kow about. This grew out of the Meetig o Natioal ad Regioal Bibliography i the South Pacific, held i 1978, whe the the Uiversity of the South Pacific Libraria, Harold Holdsworth, stressed the eed for bibliographic cotrol: Bibliographies produced i such a cotrolled maer are like good ivestmets, providig oe looks ot for immediate iterest but for log-term capital growth. Ayway, the returs they will make will be to serve as guides to cooperative cataloguig for local ad regioal publicatios, as guides to cataloguig forms from which idividual hadbooks might be costructed (such as to govermet corporate headigs, ad local ames both persoal ad istitutioal); ad of course as purchasig guides ad istrumets for iter-loa (Holdsworth 1979, p. 5). Holdsworth's cocers ca be attributed to the high percetage of grey literature i the regio, coservatively put at 50 (Traue 1989), although with the quatity of cosultats' reports, oe-off studies, publicatios with small prit rus ad govermet publicatios produced, this is very much a uderestimate. I this regard, library publicatios such as idexes ad bibliographies are essetial to documet these materials, especially i the South Pacific, so that they may be idetified ad used for educatio, research ad decisio-makig. Ad it remais a peculiarity of developig coutries that it is far easier to fid out about 42

50 publicatios from developed coutries tha those i their ow coutry. Cochrae (1990) presets a history of uiversal bibliographic cotrol which is iterestig i so far as it shows yet agai that as iformatio resources become available electroically - ad the vast majority are from developed coutries - developig coutries are cofroted by the reality of poor telecommuicatios, lack of skills ad budgets, ad cotet that is iappropriate or ot targetted specifically at them. I a report to Uesco, Hicks (1997) ivestigated electroic coectivity ad related eeds i four coutries of the Pacific: Fiji, Kiribati, Toga ad Samoa. Hicks evisaged the Iteret as playig a crucial role for improvig commuicatios i the regio. Of the four coutries he studied i 1996, oly two - Fiji ad Samoa - had full Iteret access. Toga had two service providers, while Kiribati had o public Iteret service, although regioal agecies i all the coutries had at least basic Iteret coectivity. Hicks cocluded that the Iteret ifrastructure should be developed for the regio as a whole by the coutries themselves, with support from agecies such as the Iteratioal Telecommuicatios Uio (ITU) ad the Uited Natios Developmet Programme (UNDP). Hicks highlighted the 'crucial importace to the whole Pacific regio of a good ifrastructure of electroic coectivity' (1997, p. 6). Equally sigificat, Hicks oted that 'there does ot appear to be the focus o broadeig the applicability of the commuicatios ad iformatio techology' (1997, p. 6). Oe recommedatio made i Hicks' report was that the Uited Natios Educatioal, Scietific ad Cultural Orgaizatio (Uesco) explore opportuities for a relatioship with the Pacific Islads Telecommuicatios Associatio (PITA/Uesco 1997, p. 24). This led to a joit meetig orgaised by Uesco, the Pacific Regioal Semiar o Iteret Itroductio ad Use (held i Suva, November 1997) to 'brig together policy makers ad techical experts to develop a uderstadig of Iteret techology ad how it could be used to best advatage i the Pacific' (PITA/Uesco 1997, p. 1). At the coclusio of the semiar, it was aticipated that attedees would have: 43

51 a good uderstadig of how the Iteret could be used by their atio to elimiate the isolatio of geography ad to eable them to obtai the iformatio ad cotacts they eeded to progress their atioal goals ad objectives (p. 3). Participats wet away with kowledge to eable them to produce a pla to upgrade their telecommuicatios ifrastructure ad to implemet Iteret coectivity. However, it is clear that although some coutries i the regio were coected to the Iteret, they were still at the plaig ad developmet stage. Although most of the papers were of a geeral ature, a presetatio by the Papua New Guiea Natioal Libraria, Daiel Paraide, emphasised the importat role the Iteret ca play i services provided by libraries. Few had the wherewithal to provide services (Mamtora, J. 1998, pers otes, 19 Nov.). However, othig has chaged faster i the last few years tha the Iteret. By early 1999, a follow-up study to Hicks oted that while most Pacific Islad coutries have access to the Iteret they are 'well behid i the deploymet of Iteret host computers (a average of 1 host per 1,000 populatio compared to a world average of 7.26 hosts)' (Zwimpfer Commuicatios 1999, p. 7). For Fiji, the opeig of the Souther Cross cable etwork i November 2000 has the potetial to ope up a alterative, high-tech future for the coutry (Yavala 2000, p. 3). Other coutries, icludig the largest, Papua New Guiea, at best have oly limited access to the Iteret because the badwidth is very small. A follow-up study by Zwimpfer Commuicatios for Uesco gives a idicatio of just how quickly the situatio chages. For example, 75 of offices or places of work i Vauatu are reported to have access to the iteret; i Fiji ad Samoa the level of access is betwee 25 ad 50; ad i the Solomos it is less tha 25 (2002, p. 13). But two coutries have come up with imagiative ways of earig reveue ad fudig the developmet of the iteret. Tuvalu's domai ame is 'tv'. Tuvalu 44

52 etered ito a USD 50 millio deal for the rights to its domai ame, ad trebled its atioal icome i the process (Islam 2000). A more recet iovatio is to be foud i the tiy Polyesia atio of Niue, populatio 1,700, which is about to become 'the first coutry i the world to have a atioal wireless iteret system' (Ficklig 2003). This was made possible by the sale of their.u domai ame. A isight ito curret realities of usig the iteret i the Pacific was gaied by a study o the academic use of the Iteret by USP teachig staff (Mamtora 2001c). The study showed how the Iteret was beig used i the regio by oe small but ifluetial sector of the commuity. Results showed that access speeds (poor) ad skills (limited ad limitig) remai areas of critical cocer. Although much has bee metioed about the issue of cotet, it is worthwhile makig oe further poit, a positive oe about Iteret techology, that it allows local cotet to be developed ito iformatio products at a reasoable cost. It also allows this developmet to take place 'i a appropriate cultural framework, which does ot eforce cultural ad social orms amog idigeous commuities' (Carr 1996, cited by Watters, Watters & Carr 1998). 3.7 Implicatios for traiig The fact is that people will iteract with the techology, either as a operator or user. The way i which they are traied limits or exteds the beefits of itroducig ew techologies. Itroductio of ay ew techology brigs with it the eed for all types of traiig, ad has to be doe so with a awareess that ot everyoe is goig to be at ease with what is beig itroduced. A example from the Pacific: 'Computers geerate strog feeligs amog Togas because of the fear of the ew techology ad their potetial adverse ifluece o the coutry' (Fiau 1990 p. 19, cited by Chadra 1991). Greater awareess ad appropriate traiig should help overcome fear. Two aspects of traiig are discussed: traiig for librarias ad iformatio professioals, ad traiig for users. 45

53 3.7.1 Traiig for librarias ad iformatio professioals I the past, there was a professio called librariaship. There were library schools that taught cataloguig (for may still the essece of beig a libraria, at least i the Pacific), referece work ad library admiistratio. Times have chaged ad librarias ow - although they are still usig a job title that does't do justice to their capacity - are called upo to be much more tha a libraria. That is, they are required to be traiers, iformatio guides ad kowledge aalysts. It is importat that maagers are traied as well as the staff who actually carry out the work 'i order to set a example to their staff (Garrod 1998, p. 241). This also improves the morale at ad iterest i the work. A paper by Woodward (1997) illustrates the problem that ew techology has eabled librarias to do more, opeed up immese vistas for their cliets ad at the same time, put a 'sell by' date o their existig set of skills. This pheomeo is as valid for developig as for developed coutries. What makes it more difficult for iformatio staff i developig coutries is that the skills that eed to be acquired are ot beig taught, ot to the extet that they ought to be. For example, i the Pacific, basic library ad iformatio maagemet skills are lackig i may cases. Joes (1997) studied the Pacific situatio ad charged istitutios providig library traiig courses with the task of makig studets aware of ew techology i libraries ad the possibilities i makig use of it. At the same time library professioals should remai iformed about developmets i techology, which will the help them make decisios i fidig ways to improve services. I the South Pacific, though, basic problems like lack of recogitio of the professio ad the iability to provide traditioal services still remai. Librarias should simultaeously work o developig these as well as keep up with chages happeig i the outside world with a view to improvig services. Joes (1997) believes it importat ot just to trai librarias, but through them the studets. She cocludes that 'with all the limitatios of libraries i the South Pacific, it is people who make the differece' (Joes 1997, p. 25). The delivery methods ad cotet of library programs i the Pacific are icreasigly reliat o ICTs. Library studets are ow expected to be computer 46

54 literate to a greater extet tha they were before. Joes, i a update of her earlier paper, commets that from her experiece may studets still lack cofidece i usig computers (2003). Uless this is resolved progress caot be made. I her cocer for sustaiable libraries, Roseberg (1994) questios whether libraries i Africa ca ever be sustaiable. The lack of traied staff is a major cocer, but 'traiig aloe does ot brig sustaiability... Skills learig happes as much o the job as i traiig istitutios - ad it is the applicatio of kowledge, ot its learig, that will solve the problems' (Roseberg 1994, p. 248) Traiig for users Whe cosiderig the traiig eeds of users, whilst havig some similarities with those of librarias ad iformatio professioals - how to use the computer or a software applicatio - there is oe area that is fudametally differet. This has to do with how a user determies what iformatio is eeded, where that iformatio may be obtaied ad, whe it is acquired, how it ca be used: i a utshell, iformatio literacy. Whe all users had to do to obtai iformatio was go to a library, they ofte received the small amout of help they eeded to use the library catalogue, fid their way aroud the library ad search through abstracts ad idexes (Elder & Miller 1998). Now that may of these tools are electroic, ad perhaps ot eve i a library, the users of today are much more likely to be solo ivestigators, ad to seek ad obtai little help from others. This poses a challege for librarias ad iformatio professioals: how ca users be helped to acquire iformatio literacy skills? There is o doubt of the eed for this type of traiig: 'A well-educated ad traied workforce will determie our ability to survive ad prosper i a society of kowledge' (Bayabos 1998, p. 7). Techologies chage, ad therefore this traiig must be provided o a cotiual basis. As Fecko poits out, 'A libraria who fails to keep pace with emergig techologies will be uable to adequately serve the basic iformatio eeds of library patros' (1997, p. 13). The effective 47

55 traiig of library staff i the ed beefits both the libraria ad the user: 'If staff are comfortable with ew tools, they will feel empowered by them, ad they will be able to help the public use them effectively' (Maso 1996, p. 72; see also Garrod 1998). 3.8 Summary From the time before the study commeced ad especially i the last few years, there has bee a sigificat tedecy towards electroic publishig at the expese of prit. Librarias see this most i relatio to electroic jourals, but the declie i published coferece proceedigs is also oticeable. But whilst prit appears to declie relative to other publicatios media, it is still visible. The opportuities available from electroic publishig have icreased, ad become easier ad cheaper to realise, ad thus are very attractive to publishers. Library publishers are o differet. Electroic media offer may advatages over prit whe presetig iformatio i ew ad excitig ways, eablig multiple poits of access, ad esurig that the iformatio is up to date. The relative beefits of the various media formats, icludig prit, suggest that there is scope for applyig itermediate techology rather tha just thikig oly of the Iteret. Each format has particular advatages ad disadvatages that are best cosidered i relatio to the situatio ad the desired outcomes. The importace of uderstadig the target audiece caot be overstated. Libraries, as early adopters of iformatio ad telecommuicatio techologies, have i may respects led the way. I developig coutries, whilst there is recogitio ad kowledge of the beefits of ew techology ad how it could be haressed to support ad ecoomic ad social developmet, there are major impedimets. Not least is the rate of illiteracy i may developig coutries, icludig those i Melaesia. Fiacial ad ifrastructural shortcomigs compoud the problem ad poit to a failure to properly address policy cocers. I the Pacific, libraries are ot well resourced ad have few, well-traied staff. The deploymet of the ew techology that electroic publishig would be 48

56 depedet upo is compromised by cocers relatig to the traiig of staff, library budgets, poor ad/or costly telecommuicatios, ad their ow geography. This study will seek to idetify the best strategy to publishig ad distributig library publicatios i the Pacific regio, takig ito cosideratio the opportuities the techology affords, but bearig i mid the problems that have bee idetified. It will cotribute to the developmet of libraries ad librariaship i the Pacific, as well as improve access to iformatio withi the regio, iformatio that is critical to the ecoomic ad social developmet ad well-beig of Pacific peoples. 49

57 Chapter 4 Presetatio of results As explaied i Chapter 2, the objectives of this study are: to determie user prefereces for delivery methods - prit or electroic - of library publicatios (e.g. bibliographies, directories, idexes). I this study, users are librarias, iformatio persoel ad researchers i Fiji, Samoa, Solomo Islads ad Vauatu to explore the optios for delivery of library publicatios i electroic format (e.g. diskette, CD-ROM, Iteret) i Fiji, Samoa, Solomo Islads ad Vauatu to examie the extet of computer hardware/software available to the target group, icludig access to the Iteret (service providers, cost, depedability of service) to determie user competecies i respect of usig ew techologies (e.g. computers, CD-ROM, Iteret, software applicatios). The data preseted i this chapter were substatially collected betwee Jue 2000 ad Jue (See Chapter 2 for a descriptio of methodology.) The questios asked particularly i relatio to computer specificatios, reflect the techological situatio of the time. Ievitably, i a fast-chagig idustry, specificatios have improved but the geeral tedecies this research has idetified are still valid. By the ed of September 2001, a total of 266 questioaires had bee retured. This represets a respose rate of While this respose rate does ot allow claims from the data to be made at a cofidece level of 90, it evertheless provides sufficiet data to covicigly address the research objectives of this study. The umber of questioaires retured, by coutry, ca be see i Table

58 Table 4.1: Sample represetativeess, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total The proportioately larger umber of returs from Samoa ad Vauatu are due largely to my visitig both coutries (ad i the case of Samoa, beig there for six weeks) ad therefore beig able to ecourage completio of the questioaires. The sigificatly lower percetage retur from the Solomo Islads was etirely due to the ogoig civil urest. Accordig to a article i the Papua New Guiea Post-Courier (12 February 2003, p. 8), from late 1998 to 2000 more tha 100 people were killed ad 20,000 made homeless; i Jue 2000 (oe moth after the Fiji coup) there was a coup which resulted i the overthrow of the govermet. Electios were held i late 2001 ad a ew govermet istalled. By this time, the ecoomy was shattered ad the coutry i turmoil. That there was a relatively sizeable respose from the Solomos despite this, was due to assistace provided by a local libraria ad my ow log-stadig cotacts. Table 4.2: Sample represetativeess, by category of user Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Libraria No-libraria Not kow A post-survey exercise was carried out to determie who amog the respodets was a libraria, ad who ot (that is, they were users). With oly 11 respodets uable to be determied, 73 (27.4) were librarias ad 182 (68.4) olibrarias. Whereas the results for Fiji, Samoa ad Vauatu are i geeral coformity, the Solomos is very differet. This is likely to be because may idividuals who might ordiarily be cosidered as users had bee made redudat or had otherwise abseted themselves from the capital as a result of the civil 51

59 urest. That my local aget was uwillig or uable to go aroud distributig questioaires is uderstadable i the circumstaces described above. I Vauatu, some of the questioaires were distributed ad collected by a aget, ad so it was ot always possible to determie the category of respodet. Presetatio ad discussio of the results i this chapter follows the orgaisatio of questios i the questioaire, that is: formats for library publicatios; computers ad computer skills (icludig the Iteret); computer hardware; ad power supply. 4.1 Use of library publicatios ad preferred formats I the first sectio of the questioaire, labelled 'A: Formats for Library Publicatios' (Appedix 1), two types of iformatio were sought: use ad frequecy of use of geeric ad specific library publicatios; ad use of prit ad electroic library formats, ad the extet of preferece for specific publicatios i electroic format. The results are preseted below Use of library publicatios i geeral Library publicatios were defied i the questioaire as '"fidig tools" prepared by a library' ad idetified specifically as bibliographies, idexes ad directories. Local ad iteratioal examples were give with each questio. The results are preseted i Table 4.3. Table 4.3: Use of library publicatios, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Bibliographies Idexes Directories Z6 52

60 The overall respose rate to the three questios o library publicatios was betwee 95.9 ad Greatest use was made of joural idexes/abstracts (74.8) ad bibliographies (73.3); oly just over half said that they used directories. Give that the overall questio was phrased 'Have you ever used..." these are perhaps disappoitig results. Of those who said they did ot use library publicatios, 14 (5.3) said it was because they were 'o use to me'; ad 25 (9.4) said that they were 'ot easily accessible'. Table 4.4: Use of library publicatios, by category of user Category Bibliographies Idexes Directories Libraria No-libraria Not kow Total Comparig the use of library publicatios by librarias ad o-librarias, it ca be see (Table 4.4) that i all three cases, librarias are more likely to use library publicatios tha are o-librarias. Whereas use of idexes by both categories is about the same, librarias are 30.1 more likely to use bibliographies ad 80.4 more likely to use directories tha o-librarias. I determiig the frequecy of use, it is clear from the results i Table 4.5 that the majority of library publicatios are used ifrequetly (betwee 50.3 ad 56.9). If those respodets who stated they do ot use library publicatios (aroud oe quarter) are factored i, the those who do so ifrequetly or ot at all escalates to 66.5 (idexes), 69.5 (bibliographies) ad 78.9 (directories). 53

61 Table 4.5: Frequecy of use of library publicatios, by coutry Bibliographies Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Daily/Weekly Mothly Ifrequetly Never Idexes Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Daily/Weekly Mothly Ifreq uetly Never Directories Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Daily/Weekly Mothly Ifreq uetly Never Use of Pacific Iformatio Cetre publicatios This study has its origis i suggestios that Pacific Iformatio Cetre publicatios be published electroically, ad cocers that this might disefrachise may existig users i the South Pacific. It is therefore appropriate that questios relatig specifically to the three major PIC titles be icluded: South Pacific Bibliography (SPB), South Pacific Periodicals Idex (SPPI) ad South Pacific Research Register (SPRR). The use of PIC publicatios is preseted i Table 4.6. Table 4.6: Use of PIC publicatios, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total SP Bibliog SP Period Id SP Res Reg

62 The South Pacific Bibliography is comparable to atioal bibliographies published by the British Library ad the Natioal Library of Australia; it provides a comprehesive bibliographic record for each item published i the South Pacific regio, ad it aims to be authoritative. It is ot surprisig that this title is the most used of the three. Though usage figures for South Pacific Periodicals Idex ad the South Pacific Research Register - a directory of researchers ad their research areas i the Pacific - are lower, the patter of usage by coutry is comparable to usage of SPB. Table 4.7: Use of PIC publicatios, by category of user Category Libraria No-libraria Not kow Total SP Bibliog SP Period Id SP Res Reg It is useful to distiguish betwee libraria ad o-libraria use of PIC publicatios. Librarias are assumed to use SPB for cataloguig materials i their ow library collectios; the o-librarias for purposes of research. The SPPI is targeted at those who eed to idetify articles of iterest for study ad research ad, as such, it is assumed that proportioately more o-librarias use the resource tha librarias. Similarly, SPRR is assumed to be of more value to users (o-librarias) tha librarias. The results i Table 4.7 suggest that these assumptios are wrog. A very large majority of all librarias have used SPB (92.6) ad SPPI (70.3); a small majority of librarias have used SPRR (57.1). By compariso, use of all three titles by o-librarias is small, betwee 25 ad The overall low usage figures for PIC publicatios, especially amog o-librarias, is perhaps idicative of uderlyig problems to do with awareess of the resources, a idividual's capacity to use them, ad appropriateess or relevace of the publicatio itself. These questios will remai irrespective of the outcome of this study. Data for frequecy of usage of PIC publicatios (Table 4.8) agai show that they are mostly used ifrequetly (58.6, 57.4 ad 52.8). However, by acceptig 55

63 that we have defied 'used frequetly' to mea used at least mothly, the of those who actually use PIC publicatios, 32.8 use SPB frequetly; 26.7 use SPPI frequetly; ad 15.6 use SPRR frequetly. Comparable figures for library publicatios i geeral (extracted from Table 4.5) show that of those who actually use library publicatios, 40.3 use bibliographies (icludig SPB) frequetly; 44.3 use idexes (icludig SPPI) frequetly; ad 36.6 use directories (icludig SPRR) frequetly. Thus the coclusio that ca be draw is that library publicatios i geeral are used ifrequetly i the Pacific, or ot at all; ad that PIC publicatios are used eve less frequetly. Table 4.8: Frequecy of use of PIC publicatios, by coutry SP Bibliog Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Daily/Weekly Mothly Ifreq uetly Never SP Id Period Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Daily/Weekly Mothly Ifrequetly Never SP Res Reg Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Daily/Weekly Mothly Ifreq uetly Never Format use ad prefereces Respodets were asked to ote (Questio 4) whether they used ay of the types of library publicatios i prit or electroic format. The results are preseted i Table

64 Table 4.9: Use of library publicatios by format ad coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Prit Electroic D As will be see later, use of electroic media reflects the status of computer ad Iteret peetratio i the respective coutries, with the Solomos beig least well represetated. A subsequet questio asked the respodets i a slightly differet way about their use of library publicatios i electroic format (Questio 7 - see questioaire attached i Appedix 1). I this questio, 'electroic format' was defied as 'diskette, CD-ROM, Iteret'. The results of this are preseted i Table Table 4.10: Library publicatios used i electroic format, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Electroic It ca be see that they are ot idetical to the results i Table 10. Quite why this should be is ot certai but might be caused by the lack of uderstadig of the term 'electroic format' i the earlier questio. This beig so, the aswers give i Table 4.10 might be more accurate. However, it ca be said with some certaity that use of electroic library publicatios at the time of survey shows a relatively low icidece of use, just about half that of prit publicatios. Of the 102 respodets who said they have used library publicatios i electroic format, 94 idividuals provided the ame of the electroic resource. Of these, 26 were ivalid as it proved ot to be a electroic library publicatio. The remaiig 68 resposes idicate that there is a cosiderable variety ad rage of electroic library resources beig used i the four coutries (see Fig. 1). ERIC (Educatio 57

65 Resources Iformatio Ceter) stads out. It is produced by the US Departmet of Educatio's Istitute of Educatio Sciece to provide access to educatio literature ad resources. The ERIC database cotais educatio-related articles, reports, teachig guides as well as library sciece material. The likelihood that this is a well-used database is because of the umbers of educators ad librarias respodig to the questioaire. Figure 1: Electroic library resources used i four South Pacific coutries Abstracts ad idexes Agricola AGRIS Aquatic Sciece & Fisheries Abs Australia Educatio Idex Austroesia Liguistics Bib British Educatio Idex CAB Abstracts CAB Health CAB TREECD Cambridge Sciece Abs Caselore Idex to Case & Articles CIRAD* Cochrae Reviews Emerald ERIC Global Books i Prit Iformatio o CI/SI Publicatios* Iformit Laguage & Laguage Behaviour Abs LEXIS Library Literature MEDLINE Oceaia Abstracts* PACBIB* Pacifica* PIMRIS POPLINE Proquest PsychLit Public Health Religio Idex Social Sciece Abs South Pacific Periodicals Idex TROPAG&RURAL USP Library Recet Additios Wilso Idex to Periodicals * Item ot idetifiable with certaity from the title give. Medium CD-ROM CD-ROM CD-ROM Not kow Iteret Not kow CD-ROM Iteret CD-ROM Iteret CD-ROM Diskette CD-ROM Iteret Iteret / CD-ROM CD-ROM CD-ROM CD-ROM Iteret Iteret CD-ROM Iteret / CD-ROM Iteret Diskette / Iteret Not kow CD-ROM CD-ROM Iteret / CD-ROM CD-ROM CD-ROM CD-ROM Iteret Iteret CD-ROM Iteret CD-ROM Number of respodets

66 Databases ADB Databases* Bird's Eye View* Catalogue of Fishes Fish of Fiji & Toga* FishBase (ICLARM) Forestry Compedium Great Barrier Reef Huma Developmet Idex Itegrated Coastal Maagemet* Pacific Islad Resources* Sea Level Rise Treds Seed Pheology* Seismology /Satellite* Te Pua Web Directory UN Databases* US Geological Survey USDA Istitute of Pacific Islads Forestry WHO Drug Iformatio World Developmet* * Item ot idetifiable with certaity from the title give Medium Iteret / CD-ROM CD-ROM CD-ROM CD-ROM CD-ROM Diskette CD-ROM CD-ROM CD-ROM Iteret Diskette Diskette CD-ROM Iteret Iteret Iteret CD-ROM Iteret CD-ROM Number of respodets There is o doubt that there is strog support - a average of 81.2 of all respodets - for electroic versios of PIC publicatios (Table 4.11). There is cosiderable uiformity of opiio i this, across all four coutries surveyed. Table 4.11: Extet of preferece for electroic versios of PIC publicatios, by coutry Coutry Fiii Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total SP Bibliog SP Period Id SP Res Reg Table 4.12: Extet of preferece for electroic versios of PIC publicatios, by category of user Category Libraria No-libraria Not kow Total SP Bibliog SP Period Id SP Res Res

67 This degree of coformity is maitaied whe respodets are segregated by category (Table 4.12). Iterestigly, there is eve a slight icrease i the percetage of o-librarias (90.4) who would like to see the SPRR i electroic form over the percetage of librarias (88.1). All of this suggests that a electroic versio of ay of these publicatios is likely to be appreciated by o-librarias to a greater extet tha the prit versio hitherto was. Table 4.13: Reasos for watig electroic versios of PIC publicatios, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Searchability Access Speed Moderity For those respodets watig to use ay of the PIC publicatios i electroic format, the largest umber of respodets said it was to do with speed of access (average 67.7) ad improved searchability (66.9) (Table 4.13). A small majority (57.5) said that it would provide better flexibility of access; ad a small miority (44.4) that it was to 'keep up with the times'. Vauatu aloe was ot attracted to this reaso with oly 19.4 respodig positively. Oly Vauatu of the four coutries raked the reasos differetly, assigig a higher priority to searchability tha speed of access; it is ot kow why this should be. A total of 18 respodets (6.8) provided other reasos; half of these were from Fiji. The majority of the resposes (12) idicated that it was to do with improved access ad timeliess, thus reaffirmig earlier resposes; improved storage (physically ad also from the poit of view of distributio) was metioed by seve respodets. Of the 23 who respoded that they did ot wish to use ay of the PIC publicatios i electroic format (8.6 of the total), the majority (12) said that it was because prit was easier to read tha scree-based iformatio; seve saw o eed; five said they did't have a computer; three metioed computer/power problems; ad oe respodet did't kow how to use a computer. 60

68 4.2 Computers ad computer skills Persoal experiece ad aecdotal evidece suggested that a sigificat costrait to developig electroic versios of existig library publicatios was users' familiarity with computers ad the Iteret, the availability of computer hardware, ad cocer about the ature ad effectiveess of power supply i the regio. These issues are discussed i more detail i this ad subsequet sectios, together with the questioaire resposes. It should be appreciated that the questios asked ad resposes made reflect the techical stadard of a particular period, that is from mid-2000 to mid Use of computers Nearly all respodets (265 out of 266) respoded to the questio o use of computers. A overwhelmig majority (98.5) have used a computer before (Table 4.14). Of the four who had ot, two said they did ot have a computer at work or at home, ad two said they had a computer at work but did ot kow how to use it. All four said that they would like some computer traiig. Table 4.14: Used computer, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Used computer The purposes for which computers are used is preseted i Table The mai use of the computer by respodets is for word processig (95.9), (86.5) ad the Iteret (84.2). Use of the computer for searchig library 'catalogues (64.7) ad other databases (57.9) is reasoable; ad the use of the computer for games (60.2) probably hoest. Other uses of the computer from the 56 idividuals who respoded iclude data processig ad spreadsheets (18 61

69 resposes), graphics (9), web, CD ad desktop publishig (9), statistical aalysis (6) ad library maagemet (5). Table 4.15: Use of computers Computers used for Word processig Iteret Searchig library databases Games Searchig other databases Mathematical computig Other uses A ccess to ad use of the Iteret For the time (mid-2000 to mid-2001), a figure of 84.2 of respodets with access to the Iteret at work is good (Table 4.16). However, it is immediately apparet that respodets from oe coutry, Solomo Islads, are distictly disadvataged. This has more to do with the civil urest, the coutry's bakruptcy ad its geeral istability tha with ay techical reasos. Of those who did ot have access to the Iteret at work ad who respoded to a supplemetary questio (Table 4.17), 32 said that they aticipated obtaiig a coectio (icludig 16 respodets i the Solomos); oly eight said that they did ot aticipate obtaiig a coectio (icludig six i the Solomos). Table 4.16: Curret Iteret access at work, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Iteret access

70 Table 4.17: Possible coectio to the Iteret i the future, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Will coect Ulikely The greatest use of the Iteret at work for the 224 respodets (84.2) already coected (Table 4.18) is for (98.2) ad web searchig (95.1); a large percetage use their access for dowloadig files (70.1) although othig is kow about what sort of files these might be. Other reasos give for usig the Iteret icluded: searchig for iformatio (6 reasos); library maagemet (cataloguig, ILL, etc.) (6); electroic discussio groups (5); teachig ad educatio (5); readig olie ewspapers (4); ad other (4). Table 4.18: Use of the Iteret Iteret at work used for Web searchig Dowloadig files Iteret chat Other Of the 213 respodets who use the Iteret for web searchig, 209 (98.1) use the web to look for iformatio; 175 (82.2) are visitig a specific web site; 114 (53.5) are searchig library catalogues; ad 18 (8.5) are doig somethig else. Eightee respodets said that they used the web to search for other reasos. This icludes listservs ad ewsgroups, searchig for iformatio ad teachig related use. Iteret behaviour of respodets will be determied to a large extet by the reliability of the Iteret coectio ad speed of access (Tables 4.19 ad 4.20). 63

71 Table 4.19: Reliability of Iteret coectio, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Always Ofte Sometimes Seldom Never Whereas a majority of the respodets o average state that their Iteret coectio is ofte reliable (47.3) or always reliable (28.0), that still leaves 24.6 with a ureliable coectio defied as ever or seldom reliable, or oly sometimes reliable (Table 4.19). There is some variatio i Iteret ureliability by coutry; Fiji ad Vauatu are both below average for ureliability (18.6 ad 19.3 respectively); Samoa is oly slightly above the average for ureliability (29.9); but the Solomos is well above the average (41.6) for reasos that were explaied above. As oted i the itroductio, techical specificatios that were commo from mid-2000 to mid-2001 have improved beyod recogitio i subsequet years. Oe third of respodets had a speed equal to or less tha 28.8 kbps ad oe third had a coectio of greater tha 28.8 kbps; the remaiig third did't kow the speed of their coectio (Table 4.20). Curret (mid to late 2002) Iteret coectio rates for idividual dial-up users i the four coutries is similar to Australia, that is 33.6 kbps. 2 Broadbad Iteret is ot available to idividuals i the four coutries. Oly istitutios such as uiversities ad regioal agecies i the Pacific are likely to have greater Iteret access speeds because they have dedicated lies ad servers. Users i the Solomos ad Vauatu are least likely to be aware of their Iteret access speeds which might idicate that their overall level of computer literacy is lower. 2 Although computers have bee equipped with 56K modems for a while, Iteret service providers do ot guaratee speeds greater tha 33.6 kbps, though they are possible if the telephoe lies are good, eve i the Pacific. 64

72 Table 4.20: Speed of Iteret coectio, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total <= > Do't kow Table 4.21: User ratig of Iteret service, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Excellet Good Satisfactory Poor Overall, the majority of 233 Iteret users rate their Iteret service 'good' or 'satisfactory' (77.3 i total); 12.4 rate it 'excellet' whereas just 10.3 rate it 'poor' (Table 4.21). Users i Vauatu are the least dissatisfied, users i the Solomos the most dissatisfied with the level of service (based o the figures for 'satisfactory' ad 'poor') Use of the Iteret ad electroic media User capacity to hadle possible electroic library publicatio formats ca be assessed by lookig at which electroic media they already use, ad frequecy of use. Three formats are assessed specifically: the Iteret; CD-ROM techology; ad floppy disk (specifically the 3.5" diskette). All three are potetial publicatio media for electroic library publicatios. Table 4.22: Use of electroic media, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Iteret CD-ROM Diskette Other

73 The results preseted i Table 4.22 (based o the total umber of all respodets) show that of the three, the simple diskette is the most commo media used, but oly just; use of the Iteret is o average almost o a par with hadlig diskettes. I Vauatu ad Fiji, usig the Iteret is more commo tha usig diskettes. Use of CD-ROMs is also high but i o coutry is it other tha third place i terms of usage. I all cases, use of electroic media is less commo i Solomo Islads tha the other three coutries, which reiforces the view that there are some costraits operatig there which might ot be techological. Other electroic media used by respodets iclude Zip disks (7), data tapes (4), ad DVD ad server storage (2 each). Table 4.23: Frequecy of use of electroic media, by coutry Iteret Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Daily Weekly Mothly Ifrequetly Never CD-ROM Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Daily Weekly Mothly Ifrequetly Never Diskette Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Daily Weekly Mothly Ifrequetly Never A majority of respodets (61.6) use the Iteret daily ad a further 17.8 access the Iteret at least weekly (Table 4.23). This is true for all coutries except for respodets from the Solomo Islads whose use is less, ad who are more likely ot to use the medium at all. Fiji respodets use the CD-ROM 66

74 medium more frequetly tha do respodets from other coutries, but just over half the respodets (53.2) use the medium o average daily, weekly or mothly; however, 36.9 oly use this format ifrequetly. As aticipated, early half (45.7) use the diskette medium daily ad a further 32.3 use it weekly or mothly; there is little variatio betwee coutries. Combiig the daily ad weekly use of the three media (approximately half of all usage), by coutry (Table 4.24) shows more clearly the variatio betwee coutries. Samoa is the most frequet user of the Iteret ad diskettes, ad the least frequet user of CD-ROM techology. The Solomos is the least frequet user of the Iteret but, after Samoa, the most frequet user of diskettes. CD- ROM as a medium is most frequetly used to store abstract databases ad other o-bibliographic databases; this might explai the lower icidece of use for this medium. However, we have already see (Table 4.15) that searchig computer databases is ot as frequet a evet as usig the computer for ad the Iteret. Thus these results are cosistet. Table 4.24: Daily ad weekly use of electroic media, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Iteret CD-ROM Diskette Computer hardware Data o the state of computers ad computer usage are reflective of the time the survey was carried out, July 2000 to Jue I order to provide some perspective, a simple survey was carried out usig advertisemets for Dell computers published i the magazie Australia Persoal Computer (APC). By idetifyig what was offered as a base desktop model i Jue of the years 2000 through to 2003 it is possible to see how the techology has progressed, ad the cost. This is preseted i Table

75 Table 4.25: Treds i computer specificatios, Moth/Year Jue 2000 Jue 2001 Jue 2002 Jue 2003 Model Dimesio L500CX Dimesio L Dimesio 4400 Dimesio 2350 RAM 32MB 64MB 128MB 256MB H/Disk 4.3 GB 20 GB 40 GB 60 GB Source; Adverts for Dell Corporatio i Australia Persoal Computer. Processor speed 500 MHz 700 MHz 2 GHz 2.4 GHz Cost (AUD) $1,599 $1,399 $1,899 $999 The results for those respodets havig a computer (Tables 4.26 ad 4.27) reflect the techical stadards of that period. Table 4.26: Computer specificatios, bycoutry Processor Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total / Petium Petium Power PC G3/G RAM Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total /8 MB MB MB MB >64MB O/S Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Wi Wi Wi Wi NT Mac OS Hard drive Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total <200MB MB MB >1GB

76 Nearly half of all computers used are up to date (with Petium 2 processor); the Solomos particularly so. Whereas the miimum stadard for memory storage is ow 256 MB, at the time of the survey, 32 MB was still stadard. That 54.6 of respodets' computers exceeded the stadard was uexpected give that these are developig coutries with limited access to the latest techology. Microsoft Widows-98 was the most commo operatig system platform (56.6); Samoa respodets would appear to be the most up to date (82.9). A hard drive of 1 GB or greater had already become the computer stadard, with 60.6 havig a hard drive with that capacity or greater. Overall, there are oly slight variatios i computer specificatios betwee coutries. I order to determie the feasibility of distributig library publicatios i electroic format, it is ecessary to determie whether the techological capacity exists to use the various electroic media. For example, while most computers have a diskette drive, up util recet years, there was o guaratee that the stadard computer came with a CD-ROM drive. Respodets were asked to state whether their computer had a floppy disk drive, CD-ROM drive (ad its speed), Zip disk drive or other type of storage drive (e.g. tape, CD recorder) (Table 4.26). A questio earlier i the questioaire asked respodets to state whether they had used a computer; 98.5 said they had (Table 4.14). With hidsight, it would have bee useful to have asked whether respodets had access to a computer at work, i order to determie the extet of computer peetratio ad also to put the results of Table 4.27 ito cotext. The percetages quoted, the, relate to the total sample. A large majority of respodets (86.8) stated that their computer had a floppy disk drive; a ot dissimilar majority (73.7) said that their computer also had a CD-ROM drive (commesurate with the the top-of-the-lie techical specificatios). Zip disk drives, just oe of several storage media available, were ot as commo as they ought to have bee (to backup data). The other valid storage media used by respodets iclude CD recorder (18), tape drive (7), server hard drive (6) ad Zip disk (3). 69

77 Table 4.27: Computer storage media, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Floppydrive CD-ROM Zip disk drive Other The coclusio that ca be draw from data o computer hardware is that there are o techological impedimets to publishig library publicatios o diskette or as a CD-ROM. 4.4 Power supply Power supply i may coutries i the Pacific is susceptible to outages or power fluctuatios. This ecessarily is of cocer for ay power-depedet library publishig solutio, whether o diskette, compact disc or the Iteret. Of the total sample, 98.1 experieced power cuts (black-outs) ad 90.2 power fluctuatios (brow-outs) at some time or aother. Table 4.28: Power fluctuatios (brow-outs), by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Daily Weekly Mothly Ifreq uetly Of the 240 respodets cofirmig they experieced power fluctuatios (browouts), 52.9 were ifrequet (Table 4.28). Vauatu ad Fiji experieced the least power fluctuatios o a daily/weekly basis. Power fluctuatios i Samoa ad Solomo Islads were most disrupted o a weekly basis. I Samoa, after damage caused by Cycloe 'Ofa i 1991, the geerator o loger meets the eeds of the populatio. I the Solomo Islads the problem is i part due to the curret civil urest. 70

78 Table 4.29: Power cuts (black-outs), by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Daily Weekly Mothly Ifrequetly Of the 261 respodets cofirmig they experieced power cuts (black-outs), 61.7 were ifrequet (Table 4.29). Daily power cuts were far fewer tha weekly or mothly power cuts, but customers i Samoa ad Solomo Islads were more likely to suffer frequet power cuts tha those i Fiji ad Vauatu. The reasos are the same as those give above. I respose to the fairly high level of power fluctuatios ad power cuts, some form of back-up power system ad/or power modulatio uits ought to be commoplace. However, the data idicate (Table 4.30) that just 45.5 of all respodets stated that their computer equipmet was safeguarded by a UPS ad 41.0 said it was't (13.5 did ot respod to this questio, which would suggest they too did ot have a UPS or did ot kow what it was). The two coutries most likely to face power fluctuatios or cuts - Samoa ad the Solomo Islads - showed diverget levels of awareess of the measures ecessary to avoid damage to equipmet: 74.1 of respodets i Samoa had a UPS; just 21.1 i the Solomos. Table 4.30: Use of UPS, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Used Did't use Other coutries i the Pacific, especially Kiribati ad Papua New Guiea, have weak or ustable power supply ifrastructure. Notwithstadig use of UPSs, computer equipmet is damaged by log-term exposure to power istability. 71

79 4.5 Iterviews For the purposes of this study, additioal qualitative data were obtaied by carryig out semi-formal iterviews where possible i three of the four coutries beig studied - Fiji, Samoa ad Vauatu. 3 A copy of the semi-formal iterview form is attached as Appedix 2. The iterviews were carried out betwee May ad December A total of 37 iterviews were coducted: 17 i Fiji, five i Samoa ad 15 i Vauatu. Of those iterviewed, 21 were librarias, ad 16 were o-librarias, icludig academics ad govermet officers. By way of a itroductio to electroic library publicatios, iterviewees were asked how familiar they were with the three mai PIC publicatios: South Pacific Bibliography, South Pacific Periodicals Idex ad South Pacific Research Register. Of those iterviewed, 21 were familiar with the publicatios, ie were ot ad seve said that they were familiar with oe or two of the titles. I terms of use, 21 used the publicatios - 13 remarked that they were easy to use, six said they were very useful ad five said they were okay to use; 10 did ot use them. Other data are preseted ad discussed i the relevat sectio i Chapter Summary Based o the 266 retured questioaires ad 37 iterviews, the fidigs ca be summarised as follows: greater use is made of bibliographies ad idexes tha directories, with librarias usig these library publicatios more tha other users overall there is oly ifrequet use made of library publicatios, with directories beig the least used PIC publicatios are used comparatively less tha other library publicatios about half of all library publicatios have bee used electroically 3 It was ot possible to cay out iterviews i the Solomo Islads due to the political problems the coutry was facig. 72

80 there is a large majority i favour of electroic versios of PIC publicatios, but oly i additio to prit the mai reasos for optig for electroic publicatios are improved searchability ad speed of access almost all respodets have used a computer before, predomiatly for wordprocessig, ad the Iteret a large majority of respodets have access to the Iteret at work, apart from those i the Solomos; a small majority of respodets use the Iteret daily, agai except for those i the Solomos the Iteret coectio is most reliable i Fiji ad Vauatu, less so i Samoa ad the Solomos; a large majority rate their Iteret service as good or satisfactory all types of electroic media are fairly well-used i the four coutries exceptig the Solomos access to computer hardware of a appropriate stadard is ot a barrier power fluctuatios ad power blackouts are frequet i Samoa ad the Solomos. The situatio preseted is that library publicatios geerally are ot well-used or well-kow. Although there is a strog desire to have library publicatios i electroic format, there is recogitio that whilst the computer equipmet is satisfactory, there are cocers about the power supply ad access to the Iteret. All of these issues will be explored more fully i the ext chapter. 73

81 Chapter 5 Discussio I Chapter 4, results from the questioaire survey, resposes from the semiformal iterviews, ad data gathered durig a study o use of the Iteret by academics i the Pacific were preseted ad discussed. I this sectio, the origial objectives of the study are discussed i the light of all the results. Objective; To determie user prefereces for delivery methods - prit or electroic of library publicatios (e.g. bibliographies, directories, idexes) 5.1 Prit or electroic? Results from the questioaire survey (Table 4.9) show that 74.4 of respodets use library publicatios i prit format ad 37.2 use library publicatios i electroic format. Whe a defiitio of electroic format was provided, the respose from the questioaire survey was that 38.3 have used library publicatios i electroic format (Table 4.10). There was variatio betwee coutries: 55.3 of all Fiji respodets have used library publicatios i electroic format; this compares to 35.8 ad 35.5 of respodets from Samoa ad Vauatu respectively; ad oly 10.5 of respodets from the Solomos. There was very little variatio betwee coutries i use of computers (Table 4.14), but by combiig the results preseted i Table 4.10 (use of library publicatios i electroic format) ad Table 4.16 (access to the Iteret) it is possible to see a likely explaatio for the low figures from the Solomos (Table 5.1). Although ot coclusive evidece, the patter is similar: access to the Iteret icreases margially the use of library publicatios i electroic format. 74

82 Table 5.1: Electroic library publicatios used compared to Iteret access, by coutry Coutry Fiji Samoa Solomos Vauatu Total Electroic publicatios Iteret access Give that this was the respose based o a survey coducted mid-2000 to mid- 2001, it is probable that a larger umber ow use library publicatios i electroic format. Whe asked specifically if they would like to access PIC publicatios i electroic format, a average of 81.2 (Table 4.11) of respodets said they would. There is always the possibility that the resposes are ot well-thought out coclusios but just a casual desire to have access to somethig to keep up with the times (eve though oly a miority said this was the case). Assumig that the resposes reflect a geuie desire to use library publicatios electroically, the the issues of primary cocer are: the most appropriate format; availability of iformatio ad commuicatio techology; ad the capacity of the users to operate or maage the techology ad make best use of the resources. Iterviewees were asked specifically whether library publicatios should be available i both prit ad electroic formats. Of the 37 people iterviewed, 31 (83.8) suggested the publicatios should be i both formats; five (13.5) favoured electroic (Iteret), despite two iterviewees expressig doubts that this was wise; ad oe (2.7) recommeded prit aloe because Iteret access was slow therefore prit was better. The mai reasos give for recommedig that the publicatios be available i both formats are: a) that the prit versio provides a form of back-up whe the electroic is uavailable, ad b) that ot everyoe has access to a computer or, more specifically, the Iteret, ad so prit versios will still be eeded. There was geerally good uderstadig of the beefits of ad drawbacks to prit ad electroic publicatios. Accordig to the iterviewees, 75

83 prit publicatios suffered from a lack of up-to-dateess, had to be mailed, which was slow, ad had to be prited, which was costly. Several iterviewees oted that electroic publicatios offered the user easier access (10), were more immediate (seve), would improve searchability (three) ad save time (two). At the same time, attetio was draw to the limitatios of techology ad that havig prit versios as well provided some sort of assurace that access will still be there eve if the power fails, the equipmet breaks dow or the Iteret is ot accessible. Three iterviewees specifically recommeded CDs for electroic publicatios, because ulike the Iteret, they would always be available. Objective: To explore the optios for delivery of library publicatios electroic format (e.g. diskette, CD-ROM, Iteret) i 5.2 Formats Results from the questioaire survey (Table 4.22) idicate that the Iteret ad the diskette are the two electroic formats most widely used (at 85.3 ad 84.6 respectively), with slightly fewer respodets usig CD-ROM (74.8). Thus all three are beig used to a similar extet. However, respodets i the Solomos reported less use of electroic media tha respodets i the other coutries. This ca be attributed to the Solomos' low GDP i compariso to that of the other three coutries, 4 compouded by the cotiuig civil urest i the coutry, ad the lack of govermet fuds for equipmet ad resources. To better appreciate the advatages ad disadvatages for delivery electroically of library publicatios, each of the differet media are cosidered, i particular to the way they might be used i the Pacific Iformatio Cetre. First though, it is 4 Data published by the Uited Natios Ecoomic ad Social Commissio for Asia ad the Pacific Suggests the fortues of all four coutries are decliig (except Samoa), but are decliig more i the Solomos. GDP per capita for Fiji i 2000 is USD 1,972 (i 1998 it was 2,075); i Samoa i 2000, USD 1,400 (i 1998, 1342); i Solomo Islads i 2000, USD 530 (i 1998, 706); ad i Vauatu i 1999, USD 1,212 (i 1998, 1,262). Source: posted 11 Jue