Staff utilization, role definition and articulation, task overlap, educational requirements, certification, and status have been difficult issues within the library profession for most of this century, and remain mostly unresolved today. Over the past 20 years, library automation and declining budgets have caused the redistribution of the library…

Based on a content analysis of professional journals, conference proceedings, ERIC documents, annuals, and dissertations in library and information science, the following current trends in the field are discussed: (1) there are important emerging roles and responsibilities for information professionals; (2) the status and image of librarians…