   
Reference Work Discussion Group (102)
ASKELSA
Your guide to bibliographical information about Mexican Art:
Elsa Barberena
Unam Mexico
E-mail: elsabarberena@hotmail.com
Purpose
Identify and clarify the concept of the digital library on which the digital reference service is included and propose an art digital reference for Mexico.
Definitions
A digital library comprises from the digitalization of the collections and information to the electronic text publication.
It is not only a digital collection but a unit of collection, services and human resources that participate in the complete vital cycle of creation, diffusion, use, preservation of data information and knowledge (workshop on distributed knowledge work environment, celebrated in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1997).
If we are doing research in digital libraries, we are doing it in information net systems. this is the reason why the digital reference service is part of the system.
We are now moving from the information era to the digital one. some specialists think that internet is the library of the digital era.
Others think that the library catalogs and the www indexes have as objective the finding of information, without taking in consideration the total 'caos' of the organization of information in the internet in comparison with the well organized catalogs.
Therefore it is misleading to define the Internet as the library of the digital era. The www has not been designed for the retrieval of organized information. It has been evolved in a documentary archive for the collective production of a world digital press.
This archive includes not only books and articles, but original scientific data, menus, advertisements, audio and video records, interactive and transcribe conversations. Ephimeral material together with important permanent works.
Nevertheless, the digital libraries have as objective the universal access to libraries and information services. And the digital reference service supports this access in an excellent manner.
As conclusion Faba and De Moya1 say that the digital library has to be part of the national information structure of the countries all over the world. This is one of the reason why the guide to bibliographical information about Mexican art is proposed.
Proposal
The digital library where the digital reference service is immersed is not a digital collection, but a unity of collections, services and human resources in order to retrieve information to the user.
The collection include the sources. Nowadays these sources are a mixture of print and electronic ones. Nevertheless, print is much less important than it was. Indexes and abstracts are more popular in digital form and there are used in paper only for historical retrospective searching2.
On the other hand, the www is a powerful tool for creative and distributing reference sources. An example is the book I published "las humanidades en web y en CD-ROM", 1999.
The www also called the net of the web is a powerful easy to drive vehicle for getting around on the information super-highway. It has been called an embodiment of human knowledge. It is a global interconnection of resources. The amount of information available on the web has been exploded every year3.
Chronology:
| 1970s |
online searching coexist with print. |
| 1980s |
CD-ROM and locally loaded databases were added. |
| 1990s |
end-user online searching and the worldwide web became popular
|
Today all these options together form the modern reference unit. New technologies join the older ones, new software or new editions mean a continual learning process and a constant change4.
User
Even though the web is an information source that seems custom built for the demands of the users, it has problems such as:
- the issue of providing and maintaining resources.
- shift of resources.
- not everything is available 'free' on the web.
- fragility of the electronic network.
- quality control: veracity, accuracy and objectivity of materials because it is so easy to publish a document on the web, and so easy to change a document that is already published.
- a constant need for evaluation of resources
A digital reference service is a question expressed as an e-mail request or a query to a system. Mediation between the user and the collection can be performed either through a human expert (reference librarian) or an interface (online catalog).
In Mexico the last mediation is more common.
Characteristics of a digital reference service:
- ready reference.
- pathfinders through web sites.
- access to catalogs and electronic reference sources.
- ability to conduct transactions (from specifying user's needs to delivering information from the internet)
A digital reference service allows:
- an increase in the number of resources.
- lack of geographic constraints for users.
- increased in complexity of information resources and the need for specialization.
- experts and expertise can be included5.
Human resource
As librarians we offer a world of information that began before the World Wide Web. No other profession is so tied to principles of democracy: we have a code of work principles that guarantees open, equitable access; we are thought as a lifelong learning center; we provide a range of view points for our users to be able to make informed choices.
The reference librarian acts as a bridge which has technology on one hand and the user at the other. The patron or user simple ask the question.
The librarian's role would act as a filter for the user.
Libraries
The libraries in Mexico (Colmex, Ibero, Tec, Udla), are increasingly providing electronic tools. Periodicals subscription agencies such as Swets, Ebsco offer their databases for searching purposes.
Unam databases: librunam, tesiunam, seriunam, clase are of daily use to retrieve information. Other databases: OCLC's first search, Silver-Platter are also available.
The library system at Unam reports having about 600 terminals in the reference departments providing access to 100 databases in all subjects.
As a final point I will present the web page ASKELSA: Your guide to bibliographical information about Mexican art.
Notes:
- Faba Pérez, Cristina and Félix de Moya Anegón. "Bibliotecas digitales: concepto y principales proyectos". Investigación bibliotecológica. 13(26):64-78 (January- June, 1999).
- Tenopir, Carol. "The digital reference of world of academic libraries". online 22(4):22-28 (July-August,1998).
- Healey, Paul d. "Untangling the web: the world wide web as a reference tool". rq 34(4):441-444 (summer, 1995).
- Tenopir, Carol. "The impact of digital reference on librarians and library users". online 22(6):84 (November, 1998).
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