A mid-career transition from public children's librarian to academic librarian revealed new pedagogical challenges that emerged when engaging adult learners. Initially feeling unprepared to teach credit-bearing courses, the author enrolled in a graduate program in Adult Education to gain the theoretical and practical tools needed for effective…

Presented as the keynote address at the Library Research Seminar, University of Maryland, October 7, 2010, this essay identifies and explores three agendas ever appropriate for study, the pursuits of which are especially needed now. They are as follows: to (1) explore the historical dimension of library topics, (2) revive study of the institution…

Evidence-based practice as it applies to the Library and Information (LIS) sector and in particular teacher librarians is the focus of this research investigation. The context for this research is Australian school libraries and teacher librarians. This is a research in progress and the report here will include some very early findings and lessons…

This paper explores the difference between "high standards" and a "high standard of standardness" of professional service provision in teacher-librarianship. That is to say, it explores the difference between a demonstrated deep commitment to 21st century learning ("high standards") and demonstrated compliance with a pre-determined checklist of…

Proposes that the library profession will, in the near future, divide into two tracks--the traditional librarian and the information manager. Recommendations for adapting to this change are included: (1) technological literacy; (2) career planning; (3) changes in library education; (4) accountability for information; and (5) a more positive public…

Librarianship is the management of knowledge, not the management of nature, i.e., it is controlled by ideas, not by phenomena. The man/document interface provides a key for creating the philosophy of librarianship and a clue to the intellectual nature of the library profession. Because librarianship occurs whenever ideas are reused, librarians…

Discussion of way in which books have functioned within framework of American librarianship highlights acquisition of books (libraries attempting to fill needs of everyone in geographical area, libraries devoted to filling needs of self-selected part of society, libraries devoted to collecting particular subject), and role of private collector of…

A balanced state system of education and qualification improvement of library personnel within all the republics of the USSR has been created, which consists of education of qualified librarians at university level from four to five years, with advanced study at leading libraries, and the training of medium level personnel in 12- to 18-month…

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,…

Examination of the confrontation between patrons and technology in the library focuses on two questions evident when addressing the instruction librarian's role in humanizing technology: whether the library profession can afford to humanize interaction between client and technology, and how instruction librarians can humanize the confrontation.…

Discusses professional ethics in librarianship as system of values and rules that govern way in which librarians view and practice their profession. Background, definition of terms (ethics, professional), development of codes of ethics, history of American Library Association Code of Ethics and 1981 statement, and role of education are covered.…

Examines issues arising from recent controversy associated with American Library Association's (ALA) support of MLS degree as minimum requirement for professional employment. Highlights include ALA involvement in legal cases and viewpoints of ALA groups focusing on goals, constituency and handling of conflict versus nature of librarianship and its…

Sketches a scenario describing the possible future of primary records in libraries. Describes the demands that scholars might place on librarians as the demand for access to information stored in varied formats accelerates. Provides survey results regarding the importance of primary records to humanists. (HB)

Abraham Kaplan has produced the clearest philosophical insights in all of library literature into the real nature of library education by providing an outsider's view of librarianship that (1) explains the "mess" librarians are in; (2) identifies humanism as the firm foundation of their profession; and (3) correlates librarianship with…

Librarians store, protect, and provide the knowledge our modern society needs, but it is frequently difficult to justify the services a reference librarian provides. The work load of a reference librarian varies greatly with periods of frantic activity separated by much longer inactive periods. The role is principally passive, waiting for library…