[Sigiii-l] Plaza - Statement

[Nadia Caidi]

(student)

>
>
> The emergence of the information society has changed the role of 
> library techni-cian to that of information facilitator. Globalization 
> of this information society has created a whole new set of challenges. 
> Now the information facilitator needs to become a creator of 
> information products as well as a repackager of informa-tion products 
> to acculturate them for consumption in other countries and differ-ent 
> societies.
>
> In the past, books were the common currency used to exchange 
> information between libraries, societies, and countries. However, it 
> was the package, not the contents, which was valued most. Books were 
> (and still are) eagerly sought, col-lected, traded, catalogued, and 
> shelved. Even if the information does not conform to a given culture, 
> the physical book itself is universally accepted. It is still placed 
> on a shelf and the holdings of the library and its prestige grow.
>
> Working as an information specialist facilitating East-West 
> information exchange, I see the current situation in Central and 
> Eastern Europe as such:
> • books still constitute the dominant mode of information exchange;
> • even as the cost of printed materials escalates, electronic options 
> are ignored;
> • a lot of effort is put into reprinting older editions;
> • little effort is given to producing information resources that 
> satisfy the expectations of North American information users.
>
> Attempts were made to set up joint projects of information exchange 
> through mi-crotext imaging and scanning, but without much success. It 
> seems that even the simple promise of financial gain was not enough to 
> overcome the cultural differ-ences and habits of information exchange.
>
> In the future, in order to facilitate East-West information exchange, 
> information specialists like myself will have to expend greater effort 
> to communicate with our counterparts in Central and Eastern Europe, to 
> educate and motivate them with more than just financial incentives to 
> produce information products, and to assist them in acculturating 
> these for consumption in North America.
>
>