Annals of Library Science and Documentation 1987, 34(1), 12-15

TECHNOLOGICAL GATEKEEPERS

Defines a gatekeeper as a person usually consult-ed by his colleagues for technical advice or infor-mation. Identifies such persons explaining theirworking and characteristics. Lists the criteria forselecting a gatekeeper along with his duties andresponsibilities. The library and informationspecialist too can work as or along with a gate-keeper.

Scientists, industrialists, research workers andmanagement experts go to libraries and informa-tion centres for information. They ususally seekinformation through normal or conventionalchannels of information, But in the sphere ofscientific research there are other channels ofinformation apart from these normal or conven-tional channels. These are usually approachedwhen vital information is not accessible easilyfrom library or information centre. Here theinformation is imparted by the human resourcesor the technological gatekeepers which are avery important constituent of non-conventionalchannels. Gatekeepers are well informed andhave specific and recent information in theirfields. .

TECHNOLOGICAL GATEKEEPERS

Definition

In the industries or companies some individualshold key or star positions in communication net-work, because of the frequency with whichothers turn to them for technical advice or dis-cussion. When the information gathering habitsof these individuals are analyzed it is seen thatthey link their colleagues with outside world byattending more conferences, discussions, semi-nars, etc. than their colleagues do. Thus theyhave greater exposure to the published or un-published literature of the outside world thantheir colleagues.

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Thus, a 'Gatekeeper' is a person who isusually consulted by his colleagues for informa-tion; this consultation takes place as a first stepin obtaining information despite the fact thatother avenues are also open to the enquirer.j l ]

Who are Technological Gatekeepers?

Allen [2] identified and named them ·'Gate-keepers' because they open the gate to informa-tion for others. These people make extensive.useof information' services and have well-developedoutside contacts.: Thus a gatekeeper is one whogathers knowledge by himself, enjoys readingand retains information. This retained informa-tion is passed on to his colleagues in case theyhave any problem. 'Also a gatekeeper controls astrategic point of the communication channeland can decide whether a particular piece ofinformation flowing through the channel shouldreach a particular user or not ..

How the Gatekeeper works?

The technological gatekeeper receives informa-tion from a wide variety of sources external tohis organisation and acts as an information sour-ce for his colleagues in his group. This two-stepflow is more effective in transferring informa-tion than a simple direct connection from sourceto the user. Thus 'a" person operating as a gate-keeper has to operate in two different networks- an external network of information sourcesand an internal network of domestic users towhom the required information is to be deliver-ed.'

Technological gatekeepers are different frominvisible colleges [3]. Invisible colleges are con-cerned with the flow of information among dif-ferent individuals in different institutions, in dif-ferent countries and even using different langua-ges at times. Whereas the concept of gatekeepersis by contrast concerned with the flow of infer-

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TECHNOLOGICAL GATEKEEPERS

mation inside an organisation. The technologicalgatekeepers are also likely to be members of in-visible colleges. In this way they form communi-cation links both inside and outside their organi-sation.

CHARACTERISTICS OF TECHNOLOGICALGATEKEEPERS

Following are s<;>meof the characteristics oftechnological gatekeepers:

1) They are usually members of a groupcomprising eight to fifteen people.They are active participants within agroup with considerable status and areusually esteemed for their knowledgeand expertise by other members.

2) They are usually learned personalitieswho have acquired knowledge not onlythrough training, education, researchand status but also strong contacts withoutside.

3) They have served for a substantial pe-riod within an organisation.

4) They are prolific contributors of infor-mation. Also they are active in seekinginformation both through formal chan-nels like the library as well as by infor-mal means like correspondence. Theyare adept at interpreting informationand recognizing its significance for theirown and for their colleagues work.

5) They have the ability to analyse infor-mation, absorb ideas and relay them tothe concerned researcher.

6) They are visible and of a friendly dis-position.

CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING A TECHNO-LOGICAL GATEKEEPER

In any organisation, a person to be designated asa gatekeeper should satisfy the following cri-teria:

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a) Technical expertise

He should be a technical expert in the fieldin which he is asked to give advice.

b) Personality

He should be pleasing, approachable, co-operative and receptive rather than extro-vert. He should not be very sensitive and oftransient quality.

c) Accessibility

He should serve in the organisation for long-er periods. There is no point in having a per-son who changes his job frequently. [4]

d) Status

He should not be at a very high level in theorganisation as at higher level there will befewer chances of reading and fewer oppor-tunities for contact with colleagues.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A TECHNOLOGICALGATEKEEPER

The technological gatekeeper has certain respon-sibilities and duties to perform. Some of theseare:

To provide information about any aspect ofhis technical area or guide the enquirer tothe source best able to provide the requiredinformation.

To maintain a record of the technical specia-lizations in his own area and of the person sfstaff responsible for these specializations.

To ensure that all technical informationgenerated within the technical area is com-municated to all the persons concerned inthe organisation.

To provide complete, accurate,current andup-to-date information. For this, he shouldbe an expert in his field, sit in appropriate

. committees,: attend conferences and travelaround .. , .. ~

I,).)

To receive enquiries which he answers fromhis own experience and that of his colleag-ues. For this he should be conversant withthe literature.

TECHNOLOGICAL GATEKEEPERS ANDLIBRARIES/INFORMATION CENTRES

The role of a gatekeeper leads to an informationsystem based on people and not on literature.Such people can be found in each organisationand in some cases there is a natural growth ofgatekeepers. Effective gatekeeper has to be visi-ble since a person having active role in informa-tion communication be regarded as an expertand knowledgeable by his colleagues and mana-gement. The library /information centres play animportant role here as they not only providebackup service for the gatekeeper by gathering,analyzing and organising information but alsouse him as an aid to the memory. Can informa-tion workers too act as gatekeepers? The infor-mation workers too can be gatekeepers providedthey have thorough subject knowledge and arewell-versed with all kinds of literature requiredby scientists of their institution. An information'gatekeeper' acts in a slightly different manner.

Some organisations have a system of circu-lating newly received books, journals or otherreading materials in the first instance only tonominated users who represent a group of peo-ple or who share a particular subject interest.Here an information scientist is allocated theposition of an information 'gatekeeper'. Hemight have been chosen for his subject expertiseand approachability and his responsibilities in-clude maintaining records of his colleagues' sub-ject interests and informing them about all perti-nent information he receives. The gatekeeper inthis case is the only person who keeps contactwith the library or with the newly received read-ing materials. He acts in two ways [5] - firstlyhe contacts his colleagues directly and does notmerely instruct the library to send the materialsto the particular user. In this case the copies ofmaterials of interest to users are supplied.Secondly he maintains his own records of usefuldocuments on each topic. When someone facedwith some problem approaches, he immediate-ly consults his records and supplies information.

Each library /information centre will have towork out itself how these 'gatekeepers' are to be

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fitted into information-transfer chain. 1:1 theprocess of information dissemination it can bemore effective to recognize the existence ofgatekeepers and use them, than to broadcast allinformation widely [6]. If this is done, therewill be a higher chance of information beingtransmitted, received and understood by users.The 'gatekeeper' also works by receiving queries(not reference queries) from library users whichhe answers ususally from his own experience, orby consulting his colleagues or by going throughliterature.

The technological gatekeepers can be seen ina slightly different role too. They need not beinformation scientists but they visit library fre-quently and often reveal themselves to the libra-rian in course of time. They are aware of and useall information sources. They always enquireabout the availability of recent publications andshow high level of interest in the library activit-ies often suggesting purchases. These 'gatekeep-ers' are observed helping others to find informa-tion. The librarians should not resent these peo-ple but should use them to their advantage. Themore the number of such people in the network,the better he will satisfy the users. Also in a lib-rary or an information centre, gatekeepers don'tdeprive others. of service as library /informationservices are available to all; but, gatekeepersserve a very selected group of users.

Thus a librarian or an information specialistwill be able to do his job better if he works as aor along with a 'gatekeeper' as he knows -

the form in which a user requires informa-tion

the quantity of information to be supplied

how to analyze, synthesize and provide in-formation in a readily available form.

TRAINING OF TECHNOLOGICALGATEKEEPERS

As mentioned above, the gatekeepers are usuallyself taught and have no formal training. They arepersons with some inborn capabilities whichhelp them to develop and take up this work fortheir own satisfaction. A question arises here iswhether persons can be trained, to be technologi-cal gatekeepers. If they are to be trained whatshould be the nature of training or the trainingprogrammes for them.

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The training and education to be impartedcan either form part of a person's formal train-ing or it can be on the job training. In the al-ready existing training programmes of our libra-ry and information schools, a paper or part of apaper can be devoted to this aspect. In the curri-culum a part of the paper on 'Information Sour-ces and Media' or "Reference Service" can bedevoted to the training of technological gate-keepers. Secondly, in organisations where per-sone are required to work as gatekeepers, shortterm courses of 2-4 weeks duration can be spe-cially arranged. These courses can be in theform of lectures, discussions and practicals.

Without formal education and training too, aperson can be a gatekeeper as some people as ahobby go through the current literature andshare their knowledge with others. It is some in-built quality by which they pass on informationto others.

CONCLUSION

That the role of gatekeepers "in an organisationis one of communiction channels can be seenfrom the following examples.

Prof. T J Allen of the Massachusetts Institu-te of Technology had conducted a series of in-vestigations into information needs of technolo-gists. According to Prof. Allen [7] "An averageengineer derives only 10 per cent of his informa-tion from the literature. The rest he obtainsfrom internal and external consultants. It wasfound that though outside consultants were fre-quently used, their use did not affect performan-ce so much as the use of inside consultants. Itwas clear, however, that outside information wasused" and Allen further demonstrated that itcame to a particular personnel (which he calls'gatekeeper') within the organisation who sug-gested it to his colleagues.

In other example, B Yates of PilkingtonGroup Technical Communication Centre descri-bes how a system involving technological gate-keepers operates in his organisation. Yatesclaims his organisation to be the first to try andformalize the concept of "Technological Gate-keeper' and has adopted the term 'contact' [8].To begin with a number of contacts in specifictechnical areas were selected. The organisationobtains, indexes, stores and retrieves relevantinformation on a personal basis (with particularemphasis on dissemination to the contacts), pro-

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duces bulletins and provides answers to queries.The information officers of the organisation hadto get in touch with assigned contacts (knowingtheir particular areas of work) and detail theirenquiry. The contact would in turn provide in-formation immediately or refer the enquirer toliterature or to a subject specialist as the casemay be.

From the above we see that in western coun-tries the gatekeepers have already been workingeffectively. In India, too, we see people workingas gatekeepers. It is seen that in almost all orga-nisations, one or may be more persons are al-ways seen playing the role of a gatekeeper evenif nobody recognizes them or their services. Insome cases they may be invisible. they keep onhelping others whether their services are recog-nized or not. These persons work as gatekeepersas they are interested in such work. Their hobbyis to go through current literature and acquaintothers who are interested and share their know-ledge. They feel delighted in doing this work. Itmay be some inbuilt quality or something thatcomes to them naturally whereby they pass oninformation to others. It is also possible to'grow' gatekeepers as there are people who havecontacts both with literature and subject specia-lists.

REFERENCES

1. Yates B: The Pilkington Technical CommunicationSystem: a formalization of the role of the 'techno-logical gatekeeper'! Aslib Proceedings 1970, 22(10),507.

2. Allen T J: Organisational aspects of informationflOW.Aslib Proceedings 1968, 20(11), 433-454.

3. Kemp D A: Current awareness services. London:Clive Bingley, 1979, p 61.

4. Yates: Op cit. p 508.

5. Anthony L J, ed: Handbook of speciallibrarianshipand information work. London: Aslib, 1982, p 164.

6. Ashworth W: Special librarianship. London: CliveBingley, 1979, p 73.

7. Allen: Op cit. p. 453.

8. Yates: Op cit. p. 508.

9. Yates: Op cit. p. 509.

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