UK higher education libraries and the role of JISC, the Joint Information Systems Committee

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to give a working librarian's view of the role of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), and make some suggestions about how effective it is from the perspective of practice with a view to justifying its role in terms of recent policies introduced by national government in the UK.Design/methodology/approachThe author sketches some of the broader government initiatives that affect this area and combines this sketch with commentary from the arena of information practice, in order to sum up the case for and against the value of JISC.FindingsIn balance, this paper finds the evidence for the beneficial impact of JISC's work to be quite compelling, but also argues that there is a lack of awareness of how strong this case is at practitioner level. At a time when all public services are under strong financially led scrutiny, this lack of appreciation at practitioner level is of some concern.Research limitations/implicationsThis is a brief and selective account of one particular sphere of JISC's workings. In order to make the case more effectively, a broader investigation could be carried out, but with the requirement that the findings should be focussed on practical outcomes and benefits that are well understood by information professionals working in everyday library and information environments.Practical implicationsThis account tries to make clear in straightforward and practical terms what the larger specific benefits of introducing federated access into the UK university community have been.Originality/valueThis paper gives a double viewpoint on its topic, combining a high‐level view of national information management issues from the government perspective, with a practice‐led view of the same issues.