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SUMMARY OF SPECIAL LIBRARIES
What is a special library?
Special libraries are libraries that
develop extensive and selective collections of materials to serve a specific
constituency with specific needs.
Special libraries usually exist as satellites of larger
institutions. They can be part of
private corporations, public libraries, or academic institutions. A few examples of the “specialties” of
special libraries are: business and industry, music, law, film, medicine,
theology, and science.
Special libraries are different from
other libraries in a number of ways.
First, as already stated, special libraries are created to serve the
information needs of a specific audience.
Usually, but not always, special libraries are used by professionals
working in the area of knowledge that the library collects materials on. Special libraries that are satellites of
public libraries are most often the exception; they usually provide information
services to a more diverse and less specialized public.
A second
way that special libraries are different from other libraries is that they are
more actively involved in what Lerner (2002) calls the “information
cycle.” The “information cycle” is the process of
collecting the most current research in a field, bringing those publications to
the attention of professionals working in the field, and collecting any research
that those professionals then do in response to the initial research
(169).
The main focus of the special
library is not on creating and managing a large, diverse collection of
materials. Rather, the focus is on
actively providing a specialized information service to the users. Special librarians often develop user
profiles, and create what is called an “alerting service.” An alerting service, as described by the
Library Association Industrial Group (1986), is when special librarians provide
users with “material or information on a particular topic or topics at regular
intervals in a format specified by the user in advance.” In an alerting service, special librarians
try to anticipate the specific information needs of individual users, and
collecting relevant information from such sources as journals, newspapers,
books, web sites, electronic databases, or the internal correspondence of a
corporation. The information also has to
prepared for user retention, meaning it has to be
presented in a format that allows the user to quickly and effectively
understand what it is (15-16).
In addition to alerting services,
special librarians provide two other information services: they conduct reference interviews and
information searches in response to user inquiries; and they can provide
adjunct services such as editing, translating, archiving, and public
relations. Adjunct services are costly
and time-consuming, however, and are usually not available to every library
user. A service is the focus of the special
library. Batten (1975) writes that “the
‘collection’ is but a means to an end...the end is service, and the special
librarian should never lose sight of this fact.”
A third difference between special
libraries and other libraries can be seen in the scope of the collection. In order to provide users with the most
current research in their professions, Lerner (2002) writes that special
libraries are not so much concerned with the collection of “materials deemed to
have both intrinsic worth and permanent reference value.” Rather than focusing on collecting reference
materials with long-term usefulness, special libraries focus instead on
collecting recent materials with most immediate worth to the constituency. For this reason, the collections of special
libraries are constantly changing.
Lerner provides a concise summary of the form and function of the modern
special library:
The true concern of the special library is the
information that its clientele will need today and tomorrow. If the special library is doing its work
effectively, its clients’ needs will change rapidly, in response to an
ever-changing environment that it has helped to create. (169)
Why did special libraries evolve?
Lerner (2002) posits that special
libraries came into existence in response to the explosive growth in knowledge
of science and technology than began in the Renaissance. “As geographical and scientific knowledge
grew, so did the number of professions devoted to their application. With them arose opportunities and occasions
for the development of specialized libraries to serve them.” Special libraries then evolved from being
simply depositories of specialized knowledge to taking a more active role in
the creation of new knowledge. Special
libraries “expanded [the] range of materials with which they dealt” and became
“concern[ed] with all stages of the information cycle, not just the finished
product--the aspect that traditionally concerned public and academic
librarians” (168-169).
Dana (1991) offers a broader
perspective of what factors contributed to the evolution of modern special
libraries since the middle of the 20th century.
In addition to the growth of technical and scientific knowledge, Dana
writes that modern special libraries were created largely in response to a
tremendous increase in the amount of materials made available in print since
the mid-1970s:
As modern production, commerce, transportation, and
finance have grown and become more complicated, they have found in print a tool
which can be well used in the effort to master the mass of facts...but so much
of it [is] in print as to make that which is printed almost impossible to
control. (57)
Another factor that Dana believes
contributed to the creation of special libraries is changes demanded in library
method by the users. Library users that
required a wealth of specialized and current information on a specific subject
were unlikely to find it in an unspecialized library, due to the high aggregate
cost of collecting and preparing such materials as periodicals, journals, and
newspapers. Special libraries also addressed the need for collecting “ephemeral
materials,” which are useful to a select audience for an indeterminable (but
usually short) period of time. Examples
of ephemeral materials that special libraries might collect are pamphlets,
advertisements, flyers, and memos. Dana
points out that “today [ in 1991] it costs a library of moderate size from
twenty to fifty cents merely to prepare and put on the shelf each one of its
collected items...and this takes no account of binding” (58-59). For this reason, public libraries often
cannot afford the time and expense of collecting ephemeral and specialized
materials.
The Special Libraries Association
(SLA) began in 1909 as a cooperative effort between the
Conclusion
Special
libraries, like any other library, are intended to provide its users with the
most pertinent and current information needed in a specific area. Although we have provided a general overview
of several different types of special libraries, our list is in no way an
exhaustive one. From examining the information we have provided, you may find
that special libraries, though each considered one, are quite varied from one
to another. Not only are their
collections specific to a particular field, but their histories, employment
opportunities, and salaries are also unique to each library. The staff in a
special library varies also. You may have from one to several librarians on
staff depending on the size of the library and the demands on the staff. If you
are looking to enter an area of special librarianship or want to learn more
about the field, each specific library has its own attributes, which
differentiates it from all of the others, however, they all come together to
form the area of special librarianship.
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