This presentation was delivered as part of a lively lunch session at the Charleston Conference 2011. It describes a current research project exploring the concept of the library collection with particular reference to social enterprise. It examines the challenges of identifying emerging interdisciplinary subjects and building library collections to support these. It considers the impact of new types of communities (online and geographically distributed) on collection processes, as well as the significance of new formats and community-generated content. The session included questions for the audience and opportunities for discussion of some of the broader issues raised. In this version of the presentation, interview quotations have been paraphrased.

1. New subjects, new
communities, new formats
The library collection in the digital
world
Angharad Roberts
University of Sheffield

2. This session:
• An introduction to the research
• New subjects – interdisciplinarity, latent
collections
• New communities – online, networks
• New formats – web 2.0, community generated
• Final thoughts – social enterprise and libraries?

3. Are you...?
1. A library and information practitioner
2. An academic
3. A student
4. A vendor
5. Other

4. The research project
„Conceptualising the library collection for the
digital world: a case study of social enterprise‟
Collaborative British Library PhD

5. Have you heard the term “social
enterprise” before today?
1. Yes
2. No
3. Unsure

6. What is social enterprise?
• An action
• A type of organisation

7. The UK Government‟s definition...
“A social enterprise is a business with primarily
social objectives whose surpluses are principally
reinvested for that purpose in the business or in
the community, rather than being driven by the
need to maximise profit for shareholders and
owners.”
(Department of Trade and Industry, 2002: 7)

8. The UK Government‟s definition...
“A social enterprise is a business with primarily
social objectives whose surpluses are principally
reinvested for that purpose in the business or in
the community, rather than being driven by the
need to maximise profit for shareholders and
owners.”
(Department of Trade and Industry, 2002: 7)

9. Four types of social enterprise
• Mutuals
• “Trading charities”
• “Public-sector spin-offs”
• “New-start social enterprises”
From Spear et al (2009)

10. Social enterprise and library collections
• New subject, new communities, new formats
• Diverse stakeholders
• Material in all library sectors

11. The research so far...

12. Strand 1: British Library case study

13. Strand 1: Catalogue searching
• Social enterprise
• Social entrepreneurship
• Community enterprise

14. Strand 2: Searching OPACs

15. Strand 3: interviews & survey

16. New subjects...

17. Issues in interdisciplinarity
• “Insinuating ambiguities” (Bliss, 1952: 102)
• Increasing role of interdisciplinarity:
▫ Reflects real relationships between subjects
▫ Problem-centred
▫ Participation by non-researchers
▫ Encouraged by funders
▫ Facilitated by cross-disciplinary access to
information

18. Issues for libraries
• Challenging to organise
• Emergent
• Political

19. Dimensions of interdisciplinarity in SE
• Social issues
• Business issues:
▫ Management
▫ Legal issues
▫ Governance
▫ Finance
▫ Not for profit
▫ Charities
▫ Co-operatives

20. From library catalogue searches...
• Agriculture • Intellectual • Publishing
• Architecture capital • Religion
• Banking • Journalism • Research
• Confectionery • Leisure • Science
• Construction • Lifelong learning • Sculpture
• Engineering • Music • Sport
• Environment • Nursing • Sustainability
• Fair trade • Philanthropy • Tourism
• Globalisation • Property
• Health development

21. From interviews...
• Challenge for librarians to identify important
subjects
• Perception of library collections as retrospective
and reactive

22. It‟s difficult to identify emerging
interdisciplinary subjects
1. Strongly agree
2. Agree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Disagree
5. Strongly disagree

23. Latent collections
• Relevance of materials from the 1980s and
1990s to the newer field of social enterprise

24. British Library catalogue search
30
25
Number of titles
20
Social enterprise
15
Community
10 enterprise
Social entrepreneur
5
0
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Date of publication

25. What do you think is the best way
to exploit latent collections?
1. Collect together physically
2. Add new descriptions for retrieval
3. Collect together virtually
4. Improve search tools
5. Share user recommendations and tags

26. New communities...

27. Networks – from interviews...
• Importance of volunteer knowledge in
determining a social enterprise‟s priorities
• Personal networks of people working in social
enterprises as sources of information –
preferable to printed materials

28. Online communities
• Time demands of social networking
• Social networking sites as sources of research
data

29. British Library

30. Where are your user communities?
1. Mostly located in the local area
2. A mixture of those in the local area and
geographically distributed, remote users
3. Mostly geographically distributed, remote
users

31. New formats...

32. New formats... Old issues?

33. OPAC search results
• Pamphlets, old newspaper cuttings
• 148 unique items available online
• Differences between academic and public
libraries

34. Formats in social enterprise
• Blogs, social networks, mail lists, YouTube
• A greyer shade of grey?
• Data
• Social enterprises as content generators

35. Preservation
Perilous state of freely available web based grey
literature
Creative Commons image by OZinOH from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/75905404@N00/3576061204/

36. Format and the collection
• Interviewees nuanced and inclusive definitions
of collection
• Not a term associated with just one format

37. What do you think is the best approach
for libraries to take to freely available
web based materials?
1. Link from catalogue
2. Link from somewhere else (e.g. subject
guides)
3. Conduct permissions-based archiving in e.g.
repositories
4. Exclude – focus on purchased and
subscription content

38. Which of the following definitions do
you think best describes the term
“collection”?
1. A thing
2. Access
3. A process
4. Library jargon
5. A group of sub-groups

39. Final thoughts
• Libraries as social enterprises?
Allen (2001)

40. Final thoughts
• Libraries as social enterprises?
Griffiths (2010)

41. Social enterprise models should be
used to deliver library services
1. Strongly agree
2. Agree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Disagree
5. Strongly disagree

42. References
Allen, G. (2001). "Can you trust this model?". Library Association
Record, 103 (12), 754-755.
Bliss, H.E. (1952). A Bibliographic Classification. 2nd ed. New York:
H.W. Wilson.
Department of Trade and Industry (2002). Social Enterprise: A
Strategy for Success [Online]. London: Department of Trade and
Industry.
http://tna.europarchive.org/20030731072601/http://www.lowpay.gov.
uk:80/socialenterprise/documenta.pdf [Accessed 19 October 2010].
Griffiths, C. (2010). "A Private View". Public Library Journal, 25 (1), 9-
10.
Spear, R., Cornforth, C. & Aiken, M. (2009). "The governance
challenges of social enterprises: evidence from a UK empirical
study". Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 80 (2), 247-
273.

43. Thank you!
Any questions?
angharad.roberts@sheffield.ac.uk
http://digitalworldcollections.blogspot.com