THE UK� S NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY: IMPLICATIONS FOR CAREERS

Patricia Layzell Ward, Convenor, Library Link

Introduction

�Keystone for the Information Age� was the title of a conference organised by the British Council, the British Library, and the Library and Information Commission, held in London March 17-18 2000 at which speakers from the UK and overseas presented their views. It was an unusually good conference since the papers were excellent and set the UK issues in a wider context. A number of points made by the speakers are given below, career implications are noted, and URLs point to essential reading.

Points made by the speakers

David Green, Director-General of the British Council announced that the BC is distributing the Turning the Pages software. He noted major policy documents issued by the current UK government which set the development of a NIP in the wider context of government policies - for example Tony Blair�s �Our Information Age� (1998) and the Cabinet Office�s paper on e-services (1999). The latest document �Keystone for the Information Age� (2000) focuses on the effective exploitation of information. The new Museums, Libraries and Archives Council will provide a cross-sectoral approach for the digital age, and change in Britain will be informed by best practice from overseas. Three well-chosen speakers set the scene.

Alan Howarth, Minister for the Arts spoke convincingly of the rapid rate of change and the ambitious agenda set by government for the knowledge economy and the knowledge society - the opportunities and the challenges. He placed emphasis on connectivity, content and competence, together with information access for all, the use of IT and telecoms and digital TV, and the need to overcome the digital divide. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport has much to contribute to the knowledge economy across all its arts and cultural activities. He asked for questions and comments and responded well to one about the problem of the number of current initiatives.

Kerry McNamara of The World Bank set UK initiatives in a global context and discussed the nature of multidimensional policies on regulations and policies, human capital development, institutional innovation, and public and private investment. The Bank is developing a Knowledge Matrix which is a methodology to assess the readiness of a country�s knowledge based economy. The indicators for the UK demonstrate that while it scores high on factors such as having English for its main language, cultural and intellectual vibrancy, and private sector dynamism, the one for the flexibility of people indicated a resistance to change. Amongst his cautions: don�t forget that private sector innovation is the engine of the UK economy; avoid mainframe responses to Internet age challenges; re-examine, re-think and re-invent regularly - and remember its about improving lives.

Bob Willard, Executive Director of the US National Commission on Libraries and Information Services described the US approaches to joined-up government and re-inventing government. He put the question of developing a NIP into a different context by reviewing work that had taken place since the mid-70�s recalling, amongst other milestones, the Federal Paperwork Reduction Act. The US government NIP policies were reviewed which include the sharing of information, and the concept of universal subsidies - cross-subsidies to overcome the city/rural divide. Questions of censorship and access to the Internet were discussed. The NCLIS website provides a good source of information on its work at www.nclis.gov.

Examples of good practice at four levels followed.

Luc Soete, Professor of International Economics at Maastricht University focussed on policy review at the European level, and building an information society for all. He questioned whether the apparent economic growth in Europe is real, the limits and public costs, and the new financial and commercial pressures. He saw the library and information sector as �in-between� public/private partnership, and spoke of the need to learn from national experiences together with the pressures reflected in the European policy debate. The issues concerning property rights and copyright were reviewed, raising the question of a society in which every word is paid for ...

Bendik Rugaas, National Librarian of Norway provided the Nordic perspective based on Norwegian experience. He saw Convergence 1 as building a bridge between legislation for copyright and legal deposit, with the modern paradox of "never so much, never so little". Norway has legal deposit for everything including items in digital formats - but there is so much, and it is difficult to get at. There are questions of money and problems of access protocols. Convergence 2 - the profession of basic knowledge and the convergence of media/information carriers. "Legislation of tomorrow is based on the world of yesterday". "If your head is above the water you can only see the tip of the iceberg". "He who has both feet on the ground is not moving". Norway has a Culture Net (www.kulturnett.no) which brings together information about all the country�s cultural organisations. Among the other issues highlighted were continuing education and global education, "leaving the Gutenburg galaxy for the digital universe", "fools with new tools will still be fools", legal deposit in a digital world, and public access to digital information should be as good as for traditional materials. The imperatives are democracy, human rights, the public good, and your right to know - the requirements for the good society. "The future was here while you were sleeping: when we woke up it was gone".

Robert Craig, Director of the Scottish Library Association described the way in which co-ordinated policies are emerging in Scotland following the establishment of the Scottish Parliament which has responsibility for all LIS matters in Scotland. New networks developed in the UK are being modified for use locally. The aim is to have Scottish solutions to Scottish problems in a UK context, to produce Digital Scotland employing cross-ministerial approaches. There is some unease about a UK NIP for it is seen as being complex, difficult to explain, a Holy Grail for a library agenda, will take time to implement - and there are few votes in it. It is, however, driven by the economic agenda and holds interests for Ministers. A Task Group has been drawn mainly from the private sector which will crystallise issues such as the infrastructure, interoperability, run a common network with the content becoming more important. Joined up government is spoken of, but the civil service is not convinced and Ministers are setting too tight targets. If the NIP is seen to deliver a library agenda, it will fail, as librarians are not seen as setting a national agenda - it has to be wider than libraries. The aim must be seamless access, run by one organisation to agreed standards.

Veronica Fraser, NHS Adviser described information planning in the health sector for the period 1998-2005. The strategic objectives are to provide information to the professionals - the clinicians, the patients and the public (including on-line appointments), and the managers (a national weekly email information service). The Department of Health has a number of strategy committees including one that is examining 24-hour access to patient records and clinical knowledge. The services being offered include a National Electronic Library for Health and NHS Online. The ultimate aim is to provide first class clinical care, better information, faster and more convenient access, a better patient experience and partnership working, with national access across the four countries in the UK. The policies link in with the modernising government initiatives and so it is hoped that there will be 100% of the transactions by e-service delivery by 2008 (Tony Blair�s target is 2005), but with a human touch. Considerable progress has taken place, but the challenges are the e-information issues, a culture change, a skills gap and organisational complexity. Further information is available at: www.doh.gov.uk; www.nelh.nhs.uk and www.servicefirst.gov.uk

The third session addressed the issues and barriers and it was chaired by Lynn Brindley who was warmly congratulated in her new role as Director-Designate of the British Library. Clearly a popular appointment.

Chris Batt LIC Chief Network Advisor and Lorcan Dempsey, Director, UK Office for Library Networking reviewed the technical and logistical barriers. Chris provided answers to some fundamental questions. "If we had a NIP, would it work? Yes given initial support and sustained commitment by government. Is the government committed to NIP? Yes, but it doesn�t realise it yet. How much would it cost? Less to have it than not to have it. What would it do? Read the LIC�s document. Basically it will integrate public information/knowledge systems and networks by means of seamless access for end users to relevant resources, providing a framework for the growing e-economy. The practical questions are - where are we now, where do we go from here, what are the biggest challenges? There is no structure but there are plenty of building materials - "information is the key" (Tony Blair). The relevant government policies are - ICT as a catalyst for social change; education and lifelong learning; social inclusion/access, and economic development. The network imperatives: Super Janet/DNER; the National Grid for Learning; the People�s Network/NOF Digitisation for Content Creation; the Capital Modernisation Fund for the ICT Learning centres; the National Electronic Library for health; the University for Industry, and Digital Scotland and other regional initiatives. These projects must not compete with each other for this would not give Best Value. Lessons already learned include: faster recognition by politicians than expected; "let a thousand flowers bloom" doesn�t work, follow the Gordon Brown syndrome "do it once, do it properly"; content is queen; the value of central/local government dialogue; horizontal networking, and the importance of broadband networking. In the past six months a commitment to working together has emerged. Where do we go from here? Have shared priorities/goals/vision; sustainable mechanisms for co-operation (or non-rivalry); sustainable access routes; leadership and gatekeepers; and standards for interoperability. He finished by setting out his Challengometer where the big numbers = big challenge.

- will NIP be catching	3
- sustainable	8 (bandwidth costs)
- wide citizen access	5
- e-economy	5
- leadership	4
- NIP organisation	6
- content synergy	7

- interoperability - over to Lorcan Dempsey who picked up the theme of delivering the big picture in a shared network space.

His list of issues included: interconnected users; supply < > demand chains; business to business; a new division of labour (e.g. in document delivery); rearticulation of communication and publication, and flows between machines. Automation had moved from being a stand-alone single function to connectivity. He spoke of democratic promise and a rich digital fabric, but it was "a house of cards built on a 1000 websites", " a scrapyard rather than a landscape" - the " rich digital fabric needs to be designed and built". The requirements are predictability and comprehensiveness; sustainability; preservability; security; and interoperability. "Choices taken at any stage in the digital life cycle have ramifications in other stages". He discussed the importance of preservation, authentication and access, and the costs to users and information providers. The big issues are opportunities; authenticity; preservation; description at different levels; the research engine; the need for a simple shared architecture and the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER).

Charles Oppenheim of Loughborough University reviewed the regulatory barriers and the problems of legal matters being symptomatic of a deeper problem - that of political will. The previous government had a policy of not having a policy, but left it to the marketplace. In 1996, however, a report to the House of Lords on the information superhighway forced the government to respond. In the case of the present government there is no shortage of initiatives or new legislation, but there is little co-ordination. He noted six areas of interest: legislation; regulation; infrastructure development; exploitation of information; education and cultural information. Regulation is a small part of NIP: we need international information policies today. The problems for government included: too many government departments with an interest in the subject; a lack of leadership - we are going backwards, and the debate focuses on arts and culture rather having someone at Cabinet rank to lead on the issue to create a co-ordinated approach. Chris Batt noted in discussion that there is now an interdepartmental working party.

Caroline Tullo Controller of HMSO reviewed the far-reaching changes that have taken place since it was privatised in 1996. HMSO now had a cross government focus, fair pricing for government access, and was committed to the goal of developing the UK�s knowledge economy with a focus on e-commerce and access to information. Information is the fuel of the knowledge economy and she outlined the government�s role, issues of access and reuse, and fair trading. "The government is the engine, and information is the fuel". We can do some things better - drawing in expertise from a broad range of users; extend and simplify licenses to trade in government information; and examine the jigsaw of government information (she gave the example of national curriculum materials produced by many bodies). It needs gateways to government information and interactive transactions and websites to assist access. People still want reassurance that they have the authority to use government information. This requires a culture change for the government is seen to be over protective; it needs to improve communication with users. HMSO is largely now self-funding. The more information it makes available, the greater is the demand.

Simon Barrington, Assistant Director of the Cabinet Office Central IT Unit described the e-government strategic framework for the public sector in the Information Age. A consultative paper setting out the government�s e-government strategy will be published in April 2000. Across government, Departments have Information Age Government Champions - 36 in number who co-ordinate the e-government strategy and report to the e-envoy. The e-government strategy and Information Age Champions are concerned with how services fit around customers� needs; choice in service delivery, and the better use of information. Librarians are important in this strategy for they have the relevant skills, and there is need for human contact. The services provided must be consumer focussed and of high quality - people are used to receiving higher levels of services in other sectors, and now expect it from government. He noted issues of: data security, intermediated access, the minority languages, the needs of the disabled in using ICT, and information overload. The strategic building blocks include framework policies for access to technology and portal services. Making it happen involves: e-business strategies, funding; skills; effective implementation, and the acceptance of roles and responsibilities.

Gervase Foot described the Public Record Office�s Born Digital Initiative. The PRO reports to the Lord Chancellor providing strategic advice on current records and their management in government departments, and works closely with the DCMS. The project focuses on documents created digitally, transferred, and used in a digital format. The key commitments for the Information Age government include: the implications of record keeping e.g. in the NHS; the electronic transmission of business information; evidence-based policy-making, and creation and access to documents. A key target for electronic records is for all new public records to be created and accessed electronically by 2004. New regulatory changes will include: freedom of information legislation; data protection; electronic government; authentication; reliability and accountability. Freedom of information will give rights of access to information and must be underpinned by sound records management. There are a number of initiatives in place see: www.pro.gov.uk

The prospects for the management of public records have never been better: the key elements of modernisation are in place, but it needs a change of culture within the civil service since not all records managers have been adequately trained in the past. To give some idea of the problems of electronic records management, the Clinton administration has produced 40 million e-mail messages.

Anthony Murphy, Director, Copyright Directorate of the Patent Office reviewed intellectual property rights issues reminding the conference of the work of St. Patrick, and it was good to have another historical perspective of a �modern� problem. The debate at present is centred on the problem that traditional intellectual property practices are not fit for a web-based economy. A draft EU agreement will be available by the end of the year that will lead to a copyright directive, with the UK having 18 months to enact it. He stated that we need to make sure that people are not excluded from the revolutionary technology: there has to be an Internet for the people to demonstrate the new economy and ensure that it is open to all. He spoke of enforcement - counterfeiting and piracy, and the need for consultation on criminal provisions. There is a need to build confidence through the EU, the WIPO and the WTO, but the Seattle conference indicated how fragile this could be. The key messages are: continuity, community and confidence. "It is better sometimes to be roughly right, rather than precisely wrong".

This is a long report, but the intention is to draw attention to the publication of the key document for the development of the UK�s national information policies, and what is happening at the present time - or perhaps the state of play at the time of the conference. One point was obvious. It is ironic that only a limited amount of information has been made available about government activities to the community at large - this is not well reported in the media. Yet they are of interest and important to everyone in society.

Implications for careers

• the opportunities for an increasing range of career paths to open up in the archives/information/knowledge/libraries/records etc fields
• the need for continual updating of interpersonal and technical skills
• developing effective political skills and coaching skills
• honing collaborative and team working skills to work with other players in the Information Game
• monitoring the �big picture� - keeping in touch with government initiatives and directions at all level - from international to the local community
• anticipating and adapting to change quickly
• and developing a sense of humour - in a day of many e-�s Chris introduced a beauty: e-bah gum!

The documents

Keystone for the Information Age: a National Information Policy for the UK see: www.lic.gov.uk
A major speech by the UK�s Chancellor of the Exchequer providing the UK context Britain and the Knowledge Economy at: www.hm.treasury.gov.uk/speech/cxi60200.htm
Empowering the Learning Community is a report from the Education and Libraries Task Force Group, March 2000 see: www.lic.gov.uk
The Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER), recently established by JISC, is described at: www.jisc.ac.uk/pub/index.html

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