STRAIT to the future

8th Asia-Pacific Specials, Health and Law Librarians Conference

An international library service

Christine Miels
SOLA International Holdings Research Centre

Keywords: International Library Services; SOLA International Inc.; Information Technology

Abstract

SOLA Holdings Research Centre is the only professionally staffed library service in a company with 19 sites world wide. The challenges which this presents include those of managing differences in time, distance, language, culture and technology. Through the kind of advancement now being seen in the area of information technology, particularly Web technology, some of these challenges are starting to be met, with very positive outcomes. The future for this library service included involvement in the development and implementation of a company wide intranet.

Introduction

A series of experiments in the back shed of the Adelaide optometrist, Laubman and Pank, in the late 1950s led to the founding of Scientific and Optical Laboratories of Australia (SOLA) with a staff of 9 people in 1960. SOLA grew to be one of South Australia's great success stories and the company was purchased by the British company Pilkington in 1979. SOLA was then sold to a US financial management company in 1993 and it is now a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. SOLA International Holdings Limited is one of a group of companies with 19 locations world wide and approximately 7 500 staff. The nature of our business is the design and manufacture of spectacle lenses.

Research and development

The library is presently located physically and administratively within SOLA International Holdings Research Centre (SIHRC) at the Lonsdale site, south of Adelaide where four other associated companies are also located. The research results and services of this section are for the benefit and utility of the entire company and so are disseminated internationally. We have research facilities also located in the United States, and Ireland with whom we work in close cooperation. The role of the research division includes such functions as site support to the many factories world wide, technical support, information management, coordination of special functions such as the areas of Specifications and Patents, and ofcourse library and research services.

History of the library service

Prior to 1989 SOLA relied on the Pilkington head office in St Helens, England for most information services. A small number of periodicals books were purchased for the Australian research group and a secretary was responsible for managing the collection. The Australian research group grew quite rapidly at the end of the eighties and the lack of a local library service meant that many well qualified scientists lacked current access to their disciplinary literature. An Information Manager was appointed in December 1989 and a new library area was created in April 1990. The book and periodical collections started to grow and a computer based catalogue became available in the library. The Research Group moved into a purpose built building in September 1996 and a new network allowed the Inmagic based catalogue to be made available on every staff member's desk. Early development of SOLA's library service is described in detail in Price 1992.

The library today

The success that SOLA has enjoyed has been due to its success in manufacturing and marketing plastic lenses. The research focus of the organisation is well reflected in the subject scope of the collection which includes chemistry, physics, mathematics, materials research, optometry, ophthalmology, business and trade literature. Many of the research staff are qualified at PhD level, and the consequence of this is that the depth of the collection is appropriate to satisfy the research needs of such folk.

Journals and technical books constitute a large proportion of the collection which also includes patents, and numerous internal publications and research reports. Bibliographic control of internal publications is often difficult. There are agreements in place to ensure the distribution of research reports between the United States, Ireland and Australia. In practice, agreements do not always work! There is a potential danger in the unnecessary duplication of effort where research results have not been effectively disseminated. This is an ongoing challenge which information technology may in the future resolve.

A problem yet to be addressed, is that of establishing managed local collections in other sites. A major challenge will be the identification of appropriate literature in the local language. This will include the necessary trade literature and also academic and research material. Other materials will include the technical factory and production manuals, industrial data, safety and legislation and regulatory material. Most significantly, there will be a need to establish a mechanism for the ongoing management of these collections.

Current services

Database searches are conducted by library staff. Systems utilised include DIALOG and STN. Inter-library loans are obtained through universities nationally and overseas as the need arises. In times of contracting library budgets, care must be taken in the cancellation some of our more unusual scientific subscriptions. It has been the case that SOLA has been the last subscriber to certain materials nationally.

Current Awareness is a major function which the library fulfils through its Library Bulletin. The Bulletin is a select index listing of new acquisitions, and includes articles from the 200 journal titles which the library receives. The recent addition of images to this service, now enables library users to simply click on the linked image reference to receive a full text version of the article in question. This is a limited feature within the Bulletin, due to copyright restrictions. This has been of benefit to users and library staff, in the saving of time and money.

News and Views is another service which the library has produced, to maintain current awareness in the specialised area of trade advertising literature. This includes internal material produced by SOLA and advertising material produced by SOLA and its competitors relating to products. These items are identified by our library technician who compiles and publishes a monthly edition. Again the items are imaged and then produced in CD ROM format, allowing easy distribution to other locations.

The library also manages audio visual resources, and printing supplies for various machines and specialised equipment. Bookings are managed for laptop computers, cameras, and projectors. The purchasing of these supplies and the purchasing of new computers and software is also managed through the library. In this way, there is control over purchasing, ensuring that budgets are adhered to and any software purchased is compatible with the computer network and company policies. Licensing issues are also part of this function.

The impact of changing IT

Library databases have been created and maintained using Dbtext software. This library management tool has enabled the creation of databases for the library catalogue, library bulletin, and a staff database which in particular generates much interest (perhaps something to do with the images and flattering biographies). These databases are available to staff organisation wide, either through direct network access or distributed CD ROM versions. The flexibility of Dbtext software, its ability to produce HTML files and manage images, will ensure its continued importance to our library and information services. Infact the software is preferred by many of our research staff as a database tool, to some of the less friendly relational database software. It simply does things well.

CD ROM as a storage and distribution medium has also served SOLA well. In the case of one regular internal publication, an annual saving of over $8 000 was made in postage due to the change from hard copy to CD. Unquantified savings have also been made in materials, staff time, storage and circulation control.

E-mail as a groupware application is common place in organisations. Its value to an international organisation is almost impossible to quantify. The library bulletin is E-mailed internationally and in response to requests, scanned images have replaced the sending of photocopies.

Imaging technology

The introduction of imaging technology to our library databases has been of such importance to SOLA as to warrant separate mention. The reduction in library staff time in photocopying is in the order of a day a week - this is even when making an allowance for the time taken now to scan images. Users have been extremely positive in their comments and feedback suggests that further moves to introduce better ways of using information technology will be enthusiastically received.

The challenges

Time and distance
The clientele of this service are geographically disparate. The problem is one of time as well as space. Time differences between the main company locations of Ireland, Australia and the West Coast of the United States create problems in coordination. Collaboration, no matter how willing the participants may be, demands coordination and compromise. Who is on daylight saving or summer time? Telephone, e-mail and video-conferences are major resources but who's getting up early, staying up late for the video conference this time? Monday's and Friday's are always difficult as contact cannot be made unless a home phone is used. Constraints such as this can certainly take the flow out of the decision making process. Some things are accomplished much more successfully in person, however it is an around the world trip to visit California and Ireland.

Language differences
At a management level SOLA's working language is English, and senior staff around the world need fluency in English. However, many other operations use other languages on a day to day basis. These include Mandarin, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, French, French, German, Italian and Japanese. Sales staff need a range of other languages with growing markets in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Fortunately, SIHRC has a wide range of native language speakers who are able to assist with communications and translations. There a some 18 nationalities represented across 90 staff members.

Translations are a challenge at the best of times, and this is particularly the case when the subject matter involves specialist areas such as chemistry, physics, and optometry. The library purchases industry based materials in French, German and Japanese. In the case of Japanese literature, we are fortunate to have a Japanese speaker, who provides abstracts on a regular basis for our Bulletin.

Some of the difficulties encountered by non-English speaking members of staff become evident when they seek assistance from the library, particularly in the area of personal study. Becoming involved with the supported study needs of staff reaps many rewards for library staff. There is an increased awareness of the true needs and levels of ability of users, and in turn, users become more aware and appreciative of what their library can do for them. There is also an opportunity to make a significant difference to the individual through the teaching of library and even literacy skills. SOLA benefits directly by support this kind of staff development. There is a demonstrated improvement in research skills and a greater willingness to be involved. It isn't possible for our staff to support a library that they have never been taught or encouraged to use.

Cultural differences
The differences between work cultures are not always immediately apparent, however they can be significant. For example, the Japanese working culture places high value on being male and being aged in years. These characteristics draw respect, along with a strict adherence to hierarchy. One need hardly explain the prospects of a young female Australian engineer in Japan. SOLA has a number of these!

Verbal communication in another interesting area which can lead to much misunderstanding. For example, our American colleagues are enthusiastic talkers, and will hardly permit silence. Australians tend to be very comfortable talking over one another an still able to communicate effectively with everything that is said being heard. The Asian person will prefer to wait until there is a definite gap in the conversation, before speaking and certainly not interrupting. This combination of behaviours can lead to the misconception that the Asian person may not have an opinion, when they are really waiting for the chance to express it!

In Italy, our colleagues are inclined to argue passionately with much arm waving. To an Australian or an American, this aggressive discourse is seen as an terrible conflict. Infact it is simply the way communication happens in Italian culture and as visitors we need to make adjustments.

Roles and perspectives
In the United States, a title of Vice President is required to reflect the status, responsibility that a title of Manager would give in Australia. An American colleague would certainly wish to speak with someone more senior than a "Manager"!

It has been the tradition at SOLA to have a local manager at each site, and consequently managerial practices vary according to local traditions. Some parts of the organisation are very hierarchical, such as Japan and China. Others such as SOLA International Holdings Research Centre at Lonsdale have much flatter structures. SOLA encourages the secondment of staff to other sites to grow awareness of differences in work culture and operating methods.

What is a library anyway? To non-library professionals a library is what they personally need. An interesting phenomenon is the springing up of little "libraries" all around the company. Non-professionals have established a Marketing Library in the US, a Training Library in Ireland, and small special departmental collections. This lack of coordination means that materials are not shared, and there is little awareness by people outside the department of the material. Competition between parts of the company have also historically caused a "secret squirrel" mentality.

Establishing regional service points

Head Hunting
We are anticipating difficulty in the identification of appropriately qualified staff. Ireland for example has no formal library training and the company location at Wexford is remote from any technical library services and tertiary education facilities. The company may be left with the prospect of settling for people perhaps already with the company with an interest in, and an aptitude for library work. In the United States, there is a real need for a library professional to take control of information resources and establish local services where none have previously existed. An advantage of the distributed services model would include distributed responsibility. With the regions taking responsibility for the processing of their own literature, the library catalogue and Bulletin would become more comprehensive and more easily produced resources. All parties could contribute to publication via our soon to exist Intranet!!

Service enhancement through IT

Communications links
The three major research sites in Ireland, the United States and Australia will soon be linked via Point to Point Tunnelling Protocol (PPTP). This will enable secure communications via a virtual private network, over the Internet. The advantages to SOLA will include secure, cheap communication and an international vehicle to establish a corporate Intranet.

The technical and sometime political difficulties in establishing this link have included reconciling different network systems, fuzzy lines of control and communication and the "not invented here" syndrome. Perceived concerns about security, and conflict of opinion on roles and responsibilities have also been problematic. Agreement was reached in March 1999, and a trial link was established, with the obvious benefits demonstrated. The first example of our international ability to share real time data, was the Resource Allocator, a financial and resource management tool. Staff located in the United States and Lonsdale were able to view and contribute to the same database as part of the 1999/2000 budget process.

The intranet
As many companies are now realising, the corporate Intranet is the answer to many of their information management problems. The right people must be involved in the design stage of an Intranet, and in the case of SOLA this has meant the involvement of professional library staff, as well as IT staff and programmers. Although in its infancy, our Intranet project is drawing great interest particularly from our colleagues in the US.

Finding the balance between too many and not enough people involved in such a project, is inherent to any consultation process. An international team of interested parties has been formed, to consider content and priorities, establish maintenance systems and policies, evaluate software and recommend infrastructure.

The vast array of information which will be available via the Intranet will begin to diverge from services seen as traditionally library based. The role of the Information Manager has necessarily expanding beyond the library and its related services. Publishing to the Intranet will highlight the need for standards, formats, consistency in the way in which information is produced and managed. This will increasingly involve the Information Manager. Some sub-systems proposed include, Project Management, a Plant and Equipment Database, an international Who's Who, and other interactive applications likely to be based on Lotus Notes and Domino Server. This collaborative tool will enable project teams across the world to participate effectively in research and design projects.

Other interesting possibilities lie in the area of Web Translators. These tools may have application in the translation of our Intranet Web pages to such languages as Brazilian and Portuguese.

The library of tomorrow

How does a tiny library with just two people working less than full time manage to service so many users effectively? Its not always easy, but fortunately, technology is making it easier all the time. International communication via E-mail, and our own virtual private network are creating a range of new opportunities.

SOLA's library and information services of tomorrow will be based on an open system, based on Web technology. It will be contributed to by staff located around the company, and the flow of corporate information will not only be improved, but services will be provided that were not previously possible.

Information exists in volumes too great to cope with, and the challenge is in its organisation and dissemination. Technology allows us to bombard one another with E-mail, and to find thousands of references in response to an on-line query. "We are drowning in information and starving for knowledge" (Naisbitt. and Aburdene 1999). It is the information professional who has the skills to make these systems work and reduce information overload. The new term in IT speak is "push technology", meaning the automatic sending of information unique to the individual's information needs. Sound familiar? It should. In another professional's language it would be "Selective Dissemination of Information".

Intranet promises to make significant changes to the way in which SOLA does many things. As the distinction between library services and other information services become more blurred, this can only be to the advantage of our users. It simply means that all information in the corporation is coming under the control of the appropriately qualified people: library and information managers.

References

Naisbitt, J. and Aburdene, P (1999). "We are drowning in information and starved for knowledge." Australian Tuesday April 20 1999 p13 (Advertisement)
Price, R. (1992). Libraries around Australia: SOLA International Information Service" ALJ 41(4) pp271-279.

The author

Chris Miels received a Bachelor or Arts in Library Studies in 1981 and has since worked in special libraries for the National Police Research Unit and National Crime Authority. Other professional experiences include research and law enforcement roles with the National Crime Authority and Australian Securities Commission. She is currently the Information Manager for SOLA International Holdings Research Centre.