I am retiring at the end of August after 24 years as University Librarian at Heriot Watt and thought that I would give some reflections on how the Library and its services have changed over that time.
When I was appointed in 1985, the University was split between Riccarton and the city centre, with two libraries, and it was not until 1992 that the move to Riccarton was completed and a single university library established. In 1989, the Riccarton Library was extended to provide more study spaces and room for books and journals in readiness for the move of the remaining departments from the city centre. The present building has lasted well as a store for print material and as a place for individual study, but the move away from print to electronic resources and the change from individual study to social and group learning has presented challenges in adapting the internal spaces. However, the recent zoning of the library into quiet and noisy floors; on Level 4 the provision of 70+ PCs and new study tables, including round tables for group work; the café and easy chairs on Level 2; the full repainting and the display at the entrance have all improved the building. These changes seem to be popular and the number of entries to the Library is now going up after remaining steady for many years.
On the resources side, 1985 was still the era of print-only and the library operated with a card catalogue, borrowing was by filling in a form and both books and journals were only available in printed format. In 1986, the Library introduced a computer-based Library Management System which provided a networked online catalogue with automated borrowing. This led to a 50% increase in borrowing in the year after installation.
In the late 1980s, the internet was then only a tool for computer scientists, but librarians were amongst the first to recognise the information potential of the internet for accessing and using information. For example, the Library was the first area of the University to establish web pages following the development of the world-wide-web and the end of text-based browsers.
In order to encourage use of the internet within the University, an Internet Resource Centre was established in the Library providing the first publicly-accessible PCs connected to the internet. In the mid-90s the Library set up EEVL – Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library – which anticipated Google and other search engines by providing guided access to high quality engineering web sites. A member of the library staff, Roddy Macleod, also began the monthly publication Internet Resources Newsletter – which is still going and provides information and reviews of new and notable web sites; news items; and news of blogs, RSS, Twitter, etc.
The network soon became all pervasive, but links to the US were very slow at only at 2Mbs and if you wanted to use any service in the States it had to be in the morning while they were still asleep. It was not until the mid-90s that email became widely adopted across the University as the standard means of communication. Technology also changed publishing but only slowly. Online databases of references were the first to appear but they were expensive to use, accessible only via dial-up lines and could only be accessed by skilled librarians who understood the structure of the database and the search language. The output of the search was printed at the remote site and then posted to the researcher.
The first full-text electronic journals began to appear gradually and now this is the standard, rather than print. The move to electronic journals meant an increase in the number of journals that the Library could make available, and the Library now provides access to over 7000 electronic journals compared to only 1000 in the print-only era. The move from print to electronic has required new skills from the library staff to manage authenticated access to these electronic journals and books. Access from the desk-top reduced the need for researchers to visit the library to check on new journal issues and now the users of the physical library are almost exclusively students.
What will the library and the university look like in the next 24 years – I will leave that to my successor but it will be a continuing process of change, something that the library does very well.
Michael Breaks
Posted by Roddy MacLeod 
Posted by Michael Breaks 
Posted by Roddy MacLeod 
