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This section
focuses on appropriate technology support for Advisory Services.
Why Technology
What Kind of Technology
Development of Technology
Why
Technology
Information
professionals make extensive use of technologies to provide services
to clients, both directly and indirectly. Technologies can help
Advisory Services to:
- Increase
the speed in delivery of services
- Increase
the scope and the scale of services
- Increase
the efficiency of the information professional's working environment
- Improve the
quality of services
- Allow effective
measuring of performance and results via good reporting mecanisms,
etc.
Whether a technology
is effective or efficient is dependent on how well information professionals
use them.
What
Kind of Technology
A wide variety
of technologies can be helpful to Advisory Services, including:
- Tracking
tools In order to effectively manage requests, Advisory Services
benefit from a dedicated tracking tool to do their work. Commercial
tracking systems are mostly designed with IT support call centers
(Help Desks) in mind, where requests tend to have simple and predictable
(repetitive) responses. However, Advisory Services are different
from the traditional concept of Help Desks. The requests they
receive are more sectoral in nature and many responses require
extensive research among many different resources.
Because
of this, it is very difficult for off-the-shelf tracking tools
to meet the Advisory Services requirements. In fact, experts
in this area recommend need-based in-house development of a
new tool over customization of an off-the-shelf tool.
Document
Link: Core requirements for
a Tracking Tool
- Search
systems and database technologies to improve access to information,
whether in electronic or print format (information retrieval function)
- Electronic
reference systems to capture and respond to reference and
research questions from customers (reference and research function)
- Procurement
and payment systems to acquire information, manage fund accounts
and track expenditures (acquisition function)
- Inventory
systems to manage use of and distribute information materials
(circulation and collection maintenance function)
- Collection
development and management systems to assemble and maintain
collections for customers to search and browse (collection development
function)
- Selective
dissemination and content syndication systems to alert individual
customers to new information (current awareness function)
- Bibliographic
description, content management systems, document management,
records management and archiving systems to support current
and long-term access to information (bibliographic control and
content management function)
To ensure that
technologies are tools built to support rather than to distract,
Advisory Services should always be an integral partner in the technology
development and integration process - throughout the full process.
The technologies need to support the work function, and the Advisory
Service staff is the best source of knowledge about the work.
Development
of Technology
There are various ways to develop technology....
Commercial
Off the Shelf
For some
functions, the commercial off the shelf (COTS) information technology
market provides reliable, standards-compliant systems. COTS
products are available where there is a sufficient and generic
demand to justify a vendor's return on investment over time.
Currently, there are COTS search systems, database technologies,
procurement systems, inventory systems, bibliographic control
systems and collection development Where COTS systems are available,
the information professional's role is to ensure that the system
is configured to suit the local environment. In other cases,
though, each organization's requirements are not sufficiently
generic to warrant a vendor investment in a COTS product.
Leveraging and Customizing Existing
Technologies
Where a
COTS solution is not available, the best approach is to leverage
and customize existing technologies. Electronic reference and
research systems are examples of where customization is an appropriate
choice. The preference should always be to adapt or customize
the technologies to support the work of information professionals.
Adapting the work of information professionals to fit an existing
technology, for the sake of using technology, can decrease the
effectiveness and efficiency of information work and prevent
expansion of scale and scope.
Electronic Reference and Research
System
An electronic
reference and research system is a combination of several technologies
already available in most organizations, including electronic
mail and messaging, directory services, database and search
technologies, and electronic publishing technologies. While
information professionals use these individual technologies
each day, a seamless integration designed to directly support
the reference function improves the efficiency of the information
professional's time by providing transparent support for the
natural reference workflow. An integrated electronic reference
system can also facilitate the capture and publishing of new
knowledge created in the reference and research function. At
its core, the reference and research function is collaborative,
knowledge sharing and creation work.
Unified Case Management (UCM)
System
The Unified
Case Management system is a good practice example of how
an electronic reference case management system was developed
to support the way information professionals work.
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