This article profiles Rick J. Block, the recipient of the 2008 "LJ Teaching Award." Despite his "day job" and a heavy schedule of classroom teaching, Block finds time and intense energy to be the mentor, internship supervisor, and individual advisor to the students who fill every available seat in his classes at two LIS…

Discussion of the criteria of professionalism, and four ways that librarians fail to attain professional status: they are often subordinate to their patrons; the esoteric knowledge in the field is unimpressive; they lack a highly exclusive professional association; and they have a poor public image. (LS)

Academic libraries now hire an increasing number of individuals to fill professional librarian positions who do not have the master's degree in library science. Academic libraries are also creating a wide range of new professional assignments that demand diverse educational backgrounds. Additionally, responsibilities formerly carried out by…

Provides a brief history of the life of Melvil Dewey, describing his many accomplishments in several diversified areas. Fourteen references are listed. (CHC)

Briefly reviews the impact of the ideology of professionalism on librarianship and explores the affected labor-management and librarian-client relationships. (RAA)

This examination of the professional goals of librarianship, in relation to various definitions of professionalism, arrives at the conclusion that librarianship's goals could lead to a more flexible set of professional standards focusing on librarianship itself, rather than on the field's symbolic representation. (MBR)

Explores the concept of the "professional" in librarianship, the right mix of professional and support staff in libraries, librarians doing clerical work, professional credentials, and staffing changes resulting from technological advancement. (PEN)

Argues that librarians should be committed to ensure access to knowledge, adhere to encouraging users to be knowledge self-sufficient, avoid outmoded models of professionalism, and not feel threatened by other information dissemination groups. Included are 26 references. (RAA)

Advocates pursuit of service to the public rather than autonomy of practice as the proper professional goal of librarians. This article explores the tensions between professional attributes and the bureaucratic demands of the organizational environment. (Author/RAA)

Discusses what makes occupations develop into professions, what prevents this development, and the functions that differentiate professional and paraprofessional library work. The factors that have influenced the development of paraprofessionalism in library and information work are examined, and paraprofessionalism in North American and…

Suggests that, although the characteristics of librarianship are definitely those of a profession, in practice many libraries actually operate under a nonprofessional or bureaucratic organizational model. The hypothetical experiences of an entry-level librarian are considered, and an alternative vision of a professional model is offered. (EAM)

Model for looking at the position of women in librarianship and other female-intensive professions consists of three parts: needs of emerging progressive or welfare state with its ever-growing list of activities; prevailing gender system in progressive America; and adjustments required to accommodate tensions between the first two. Forty-four…

Discussion of professional status of the college librarian includes a definition of "colleges," decline of status of college library in American Library Association and Association of College and Research Libraries, crisis in higher education and implications for colleges, bias against "small" in academic librarianship,…

Argues that changes in profession of librarianship reflect general changes in knowledge and work that are due to differentiation and structuralization of the subject disciplines. Introduction of automation, provision of information services that define user in terms of abstract categories, and orientation in school librarianship are highlighted.…

Much of what passes for professionalism is self-serving elitism and not relevant to librarianship. Librarians, most of whom are women, should continue to improve service to the public and strive by pragmatic means to overcome low pay and status. (RAA)