Reclaiming News Libraries

News libraries—primarily at newspapers but also at some magazines—have been reeling as newsrooms in general face cuts in staff and budgets. The fallout from the Tasini case and its impact on news archives was one of two recent major blows. The Supreme Court found June 25, 2001 that the New York Times and other publishers had committed copyright infringement when they resold freelance newspaper articles, via electronic databases, without asking permission of or making additional payments to the authors. Publishers then withdrew some content.

The watershed moment, at nearly the same time, was the closing of the 30-person Time Warner Research Library. If such a stellar example of news research creativity and efficiency could be defined as expendable in a time of cost-cutting, then what chance did other operations have?

Since then, we (the authors) have taken steps to define the current state of news libraries and get news library professionals to discuss some possible futures. Last September, we developed questionnaires to assess current attitudes toward different aspects of information use and management from three newsroom players—librarian, journalist, and manager (usually an editor). We asked the news librarian respondents to give the manager's survey to their boss and the journalist's survey to five newsroom colleagues. While nearly half the librarians responded, a much smaller fraction of managers and reporters did so—already a sign that our concerns aren't primary.

Even with those return rates, the surveys revealed notably diverging viewpoints. Asked, "What is the one thing that would make information gathering easier for us," the plurality of news librarians (33 percent) chose "better communication with journalists." In those libraries of newsrooms with intranets (85 percent), one-third of the news librarians lead intranet development but the same number have little or no input. News librarians aren't being listened to enough.

Only seven percent of news librarians are actively involved in archiving the organization's web publication. One respondent commented, "There is no real oversight of all the information products being developed across the organization." It's inefficient and confused to offer two separate archiving functions, one for the traditional medium and one for the online publication.

Nearly half the librarians responded that library usage is down, even though, of course, reporters are using database and other services the library makes available on their desktops. Some 54 percent of reporters and 58 percent of librarians believe the most important role of the librarian is as information retrieval expert, but only 39 percent of managers agreed.

Still, 64 percent of the reporters rated themselves as competent or very competent in searching, even though only 14 percent of librarians rated them as such.

Reporters are not using librarians much as information retrieval experts even though they state that that is their most important role. But if this important role is diminishing, what new role must news librarians promote to ensure their continued relevance in the newsroom?

Contradicting the assumption that news library budgets are down in recent years, 52 percent of the news librarians responding said their budgets have increased overall or stayed the same. (Still, 34 percent of the news libraries operate on budgets of $100,000 or less.) However, there's one good sign that news libraries might have clout within their organization: most of them are involved in revenue-generating (and sometimes profit-raising) activities such as royalties from commercial databases, fee-based public access archives, fee-based research, and photo reprints and video licensing and sales.

However, the staff has been shrinking. Forty-eight percent of respondents say their staff has decreased in size over the past five years; 31 percent have stayed the same. Sixty-five percent of the news libraries represented in the survey have between two and ten staff members; ten percent have one, while 25 percent have 11 or more.

In November 2001, 21 news librarians responded to our call for a summit on the "Crisis in News Libraries". Was it appropriate to refer to news libraries as being "in crisis"? In detailing the issues that news libraries were facing, we concluded that the "crisis" in news libraries is in part a symptom of the larger crisis in the news industry. The litany of issues and ills currently afflicting news organizations group into major themes:

Losing Money. The revenue downturn in the industry hurts news libraries, advertising is increasingly pressuring content decisions, and in-depth journalism is costly. While the learning curve for technology in the newsroom is on the rise, training budgets are low, and there's no R&D money in the industry

Losing Readers. Younger readers are less interested in news, and proliferating media platforms have scattered the audience. Publications face increased competition for people's time and eyeballs. Diverse audiences require different news coverage and interactive opportunities.

Losing Credibility. A general backlash against the media includes criticism of newspapers for deadline-based superficiality.

The Vision Thing. Top managers lack vision, and many of them were promoted because of journalistic—not managerial—talent.

Given the list of news industry ills, we decided not to focus on a "woe is us" attitude but to brainstorm how news librarians could come to the rescue. We asked the assembled group of news librarians to offer advice to the news industry.

We began with a presentation by University of Minnesota futurist Arthur Harkins, who posited a future when software would replace most of the service function tasks (as is already happening) performed by "knowledge workers," such as news librarians. What, then, would innovative knowledge workers bring to the task? The answer: the ability to put knowledge into context and to synthesize information in ways that help knowledge workers across the organization. He challenged the news librarians to leave the information management functions to automation.

Based on Harkins's exercises, the librarians generated a list of areas they believe the news industry needs their help in addressing. They voted to accentuate five of them:

• help with information structures and archiving in convergence efforts, as news organizations merge television, newsprint, and online operations;
• provide needed information more efficiently and with less clutter so reporters can provide more in-depth, contextual news stories;
• improve journalists' skills in using research sources;
• look at news organization assets in creative ways and help create new revenue opportunities;
• identify new trends and technologies and their implications for news.

Participants also said news libraries could help create a more informed and innovative organization and assist newsrooms in serving diverse communities better.

Participants were organized into teams around each of the five areas, generating reports that outlined the situation, the strengths and weaknesses they face, the opportunities that remain, and a plan of action.

They agreed that news librarians offer several strengths, including expertise in information architecture and information evaluation, access to appropriate digital technology, control of the archive (a source of revenue), and a location on the organization chart that crosses departments.

However, they also face several weaknesses, including shrinking ranks, a perception that they aren't leaders or innovators, and a sense that those outside the library may distrust collaboration.

The teams suggested several opportunities that might be seized upon:

• the capacity to do research once, archive it in a master database, and use it for many different purposes, including to generate revenue;
• implementing a common technology platform to import, manipulate, and save all kinds of media;
• positioning library staff as the solution to information overload and burnout.

While the teams suggested some interesting plans for implementing the ideas, they ultimately felt they hadn't gotten far enough "out of the box." Most of the "summiteers" acknowledged that they did not have some of the key technical skills and organizational clout to effect change.

As a follow-up, this spring we will ask a national sample of respondents from a cross-section of newspapers to answer a brief questionnaire examining how their news organizations are addressing the following questions. All of those surveyed may not be doing all of these things, but it is important to learn whether they use the news library in doing them and, if so, how.

Information Access: How are companies providing access to the information tools their newsrooms need to find, understand, and reliably report the news?

Information Quality Assessment: How are newsrooms ensuring that the information they are using to create their news reports is accurate, credible, thorough, and appropriate?

Information Training: How are companies ensuring their newsrooms know how to use the information resources available to them intelligently?

Information Archiving: How are companies storing for use and reuse the information they create?

Information Revenue: How are news organizations leveraging their information byproducts to create new revenue streams and provide public services to their communities?

Information Alerts: How are news organizations keeping their "ears to the ground" to identify industry trends and upcoming opportunities and threats to journalism?

The survey findings will be unveiled at the June conference of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) in Los Angeles, with an outline of the results presented at a continuing education workshop sponsored by the News Division. A news industry think tank leader, Dale Peskin of New Directions for News, will put the findings into an industrywide context. Then, responding to one of the major themes to emerge from the news libraries summit, those attending the CE workshop will spend the rest of the day working with consultant Barbara Spiegelman on "how to become a change agent within your organization."

The November summit also led to our proposal to establish a Center for News Informatics (the formal study of information), to be allied with the Institute for New Media Studies at UM. Once a benefactor is found, the center will attempt to influence and improve the practices of media organizations' management, use, and dissemination of information assets.

The news industry needs a research and resource center that can inform and improve their newsroom information decisions. The center will examine current practices in the areas outlined above and provide a resource hub to serve the entire industry. Careful assessment of news industry information use will help organizations make better information choices, eventually improving the quality of their newsgathering, processing, and distribution.

News libraries and the dedicated people working in them can contribute to that goal. However, it will happen only if they define a new role and future for themselves and the organizations they serve.