The core mission of libraries has always centered on making content and related services available to patrons. The form in which that content is delivered has changed continually. The most ancient libraries or archives organized clay tablets or cylinders written in cuneiform. Centuries ago, the transition from scrolls to codices must have been…

Explores some of the problems that will confront librarians and scholars in a paperless society. Highlights include the technological determinants of information survival, the library's institutional role, the stock of knowledge, electronic publishing and the stock of knowledge, and other issues. Seven references are cited. (EJS)

There is an electronic revolution in the library which may prove to be a revolution in the humanities and in the nature of learning and education. The humanities are an essentially human enterprise of which the record reposes in books in libraries. The central role of libraries in preserving these ideas must survive the electronic revolution.…

Discussion of society's interest in history and memory focuses on library preservation policies and practices. Topics include technology and electronic information taking precedence over printed material; changes in museums; fears about cultural change and loss; negative impacts of new technologies; public opinion about the role of libraries; and…

Considers future possibilities and needs in libraries, including fewer acquisitions due to rising costs; the demise of older materials; the influence of the nature of access on the direction of scholarly inquiry, i.e., the influence of technology; using electronic resources appropriately; and questioning established routines. (LRW)

Argues that in an age of information overload, the public library role is to promote books and reading and warns that public libraries that focus on technologies and information services will become cogs in the engine of material progress rather than fulfilling their role as sources of knowledge. (19 references) (EJS)

Suggests that if librarians and libraries are to continue to fulfill their true tasks, they need to adapt to changes resulting from new technology and overcome the professional paralysis that has made most major libraries largely unusable. Problems of size, arrangement, and catalogs are identified as contributors to unusable library. (EJS)

Children's librarians should analyze the potential of new technologies before they are formalized so that when innovations are implemented, they will have the capabilities to provide for children's departments' internal management needs and improve children's services. Microcomputers, video, and commercial, public, and cable television can be…

Challenging popular prognostications and asserting that the complex mix of technologies projects suggests no clear path to the future, this book offers an alternative model to a simplistic digital future. The book is divided into four main parts. Chapters in the first part, "Being Analog," consider the need to get over the digital…

In order to fulfill the mission of the school library media program and to ensure that the program is an integral part of the instructional program of the total school, the school library media specialist functions in three specific roles: (1) information specialist; (2) teacher; and (3) collaborative instructional partner. These roles are…

In the future of public library service, provision of books, population growth, professional staff shortages, and censorship problems won't change. Librarians will initiate change in improved services, use of new technology, and expanding financial support, but they will be unable to control change in new information formats and increasing…

Examines the academic library's information resources budget. Topics discussed include allocation methodologies; academic library budgets; economic and social issues; the library and its relationship to the university; technology and publishing; scholarly communication; user demands; alternatives, including redirecting the budget away from print…