OZ 2005/4

M 253 ORGANIZACIJA ZNANJA 2005, LETN. 10, ZV. 4 Izvle~ek Knjižnice predstavljajo v povprečju 7 % celokupnega informacijskega trga in so količinsko že njegov bistven del. Funkcije, ki jih opravljajo že stoletja in za katere prejemajo velika javna sredstva, so v sodobnih razmerah vprašljiva. Vendar se ne izpolnjujejo napovedi o odmiranju tiska, saj še nikoli ni bilo izdanih toliko knjig kot po uvedbi interneta, zato tudi knjižnice še nikoli niso imele toliko dela kot sedaj. Izziv predstavljajo iskalniki (npr. Google), ki pritegnejo bistveno več uporabnikov kot knjižnični katalogi. Uspešni konkurenti knjižnicam so tudi online knjigarne (npr. Amazon), ki znajo veliko bolje predstaviti informacijske vire. Knjižnice lahko ohranijo svojo pomembno vlogo, če se osredotočijo na dejavnosti, pri katerih so boljše od drugih, in opustijo dejavnosti, pri katerih so boljši drugi. V vsakem primeru pa morajo posvojiti svetovni splet kot orodje, brez katerega se ni mogoče več spuščati v tekmo za pozornost uporabnikov. Pri referenčni dejavnosti so boljši iskalniki in pri osnovni katalogizaciji je uspešnejša naveza med založniki in online knjigarnami. Knjižnice pa morajo s poveza- vo vseh katalogov odpreti svoje zaloge z milijardami knjig ter preusmeriti svoje strokovne potenciale v vsebin- sko obdelavo bogastva, ki se skriva med knjižnimi platnicami. Čim več gradiva je treba prenesti v elektronsko obliko ter z izpopolnjeno organizacijo znanja izboljšati njegovo dostopnost in uporabnost. Z združitvijo nena- domestljive tradicije hranjenja virov znanja civilizacije in spretno uporabo orodij sodobne IKT lahko knjižnice vzpostavijo informacijski sistem (Bookle), ki ji bo zagotovil nesporno prednost na informacijskem trgu. Klju~ne besede informacijski trg, knjige, knjižnice, knjigarne (Amazon), iskalniki (Google), katalogizacija, refe- renčni servis, ekonomika knjižnic Abstract Libraries account for about 7 % of the total information market, which in terms of quantity makes them a significant part of this market. The roles they have been performing for centuries and for which they have been paid tremendous amounts of money, are in this modern world put under question. Nevertheless, the predictions that had been made about the slow extinction of print were proven false. On the contrary, the evidence suggests that more books are being published now than at any time before the advent of the Inter- net, and libraries are busier than ever. Search engines (e.g. Google) are quite a challenge and they attract more users than library catalogues. Also online bookstores, which are much better at presenting their con- tent to customers, have been successfully competing with libraries. The latter, however, may keep a leading role if they focus on what they do best and stop doing things that others do better. In any case, libraries have to embrace theWorldWideWeb as a tool without which they cannot fight for customers’ attention. While search engines have proved to be more effective with reference activities, linking of publishers with online bookstores turned out to be more successful in basic cataloguing. By linking all of their catalogues, libraries have to make their collections containing billions of titles accessible, and redirect their professional resources into the task of subject cataloguing the wealth of knowledge that lies hidden between the covers. It is vital to digitise as many materials as possible, and with improved knowledge organisation make them more easily usable and more widely available. Combining irreplaceable tradition of preserving the recorded knowledge in the world with effective use of ICT tools, libraries can set up an information system (Bookle) which will give them an undisputable advantage over their competitors in the information marketplace. Keywords information market, books, libraries, bookstores (Amazon), search engines (Google), cataloguing, reference service, library economy NEKAJ MISLI O KNJIŽNICAH IN INFORMACIJSKEM TRGU Steve Coffman Knjižni~ni sistemi in servisi, ZDA Kontaktni naslov: stevec €lssi.com