At the time of writing the original paper my viewpoint was a personal one, one that focussed on the status within the profession of equally qualified librarians based purely on the perceived status conferred by the type of libraries in which they worked. However, it must now be observed that the world in which public librarians operated then was…

Argues that unless issues of machine help and human help are given explicit attention by the library profession, the disappearance of human help in patron assistance without input is likely. Discusses convergent commercial- and academic-sector trends, implications for the profession, and three policy alternatives. Presents a patron self-help…

This book provides information science students and librarians the background and techniques they need to meet the challenges of the library profession today. The book begins with a discussion of the practice of librarianship and the place of libraries within the broader perspective of the information superstructure. Topics covered include the…