the library database remotely, enabling significant savings both in time and money.

However, these savings are only possible if those up front integrate with those at the

back. Brisbane City Council Library Services has been successful because it has been

able to achieve this. If systems are not integrated, middleware or elaborate  smoke and

mirror  tricks can absorb these savings.

Skills

It follows that in this change of culture, new skills will be needed. Libraries that have

fully embraced e delivery and play a corporate role in delivering e government are dis 

tinguished by their ability not only to embrace change but also to manage it effectively.

Retraining and  re skilling  is an important part of this.

Understanding the changing role of the information professional, and the emerging

role of the knowledge worker, is necessary in the e government environment. Librarians

have a major role to play in organising information for the community; they also have

an important function in organising information for the parent institution. The key

question for library managers is whether they want these librarians to be part of their

establishment? If, as the Gartner study suggests, librarians are recognised as key strategic

staff for the management of internal information, then they are likely to be recruited from

the growing private sector workforce. The public library must retain and recruit staff

with the skills for information management for the community and the organisation. The

boundaries between these will blur as e government becomes embedded in the culture of

the organisation and the community. 

Training library staff

The most significant and important resource a library has is its staff. Most libraries

spend 70 80 percent of their budgets on staffing. If libraries are to promote 

e government, the staff must be technologically literate. A customer survey conducted

this year

27

has highlighted the expectations of the community vis a vis library staff. 

Customers expect the staff to be capable of assisting them with their IT needs. 

In the UK, the National Lottery has made significant investments in public libraries.

The People's Network will extend Internet access to all public libraries with a minimum

2Mb connection. To support users of the service, all public library staff members are

being trained to the  International Computer Driving Licence  standard. (Further

details on the International Computer Driving Licence are available from the website of

the British Computer Society: http://www.bcs.org.uk.) Other library services have 

28