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…

The first of two articles on the current state of relations between librarianship and new technologies describes recent events that signal an apparent drift toward a traditional vision of librarianship, and away from any emphasis on information technologies. (CLB)

Discusses a paradigm for academic librarianship that requires greater sensitivity to and identification with needs of library users. Centrality of library academic community is questioned, noting insistence of librarians on independent status of library and failure of bibliographic instruction programs to make issue of critical thinking top…

Explores and critiques an information paradigm that is currently being proposed in the library literature, and looks at its potential impact on research and policy issues of major concern to librarians and library educators. (CLB)

Three major topics are discussed in this essay conveying a vision of what the university library should be like in the twenty-first century: (1) librarianship as a scholarly discipline; (2) politics and the university library; and (3) the library as an active agent in the life of a university. (EJS)

This essay on the future of reference librarianship addresses elements necessary to guarantee continued vitality of the profession. Discussion covers person-to-person contacts with library users, recreational functions of library, fees and "information stamps," organizational structure of library, information consulting, project-team…

Discusses the impact of technological advancement on academic libraries and predicts the types of changes that may occur in the role of libraries and librarians, collection development, access to information, financing, and facilities. (CLB)

Arguing that traditional models are no longer effective in the information, age in which change will be a constant, this paper advocates the use of team-management to ensure two-way communication in an academic library. The need for both creative approaches to problem-solving and managing the library organization and a new organizational structure…

Questions the future of the Master of Library Science (MLS) Degree in a field which in the past has criticized and doubted its professionalism. At a conference sponsored by the Association for Library and Information Science Education, educators and librarians discussed problems of the field and projected areas of change. (CDD)

This essay suggests that conversation, crucial for human life in society and intrinsic to nature of libraries, may be the appropriate model for providing guidance, means, and context for change in academic librarianship. The business model, missions and goals, collection development, bibliographic instruction, and organizational considerations are…

Presents eight responses from individuals reacting to Suprenant's and Perry-Holmes's article entitled "Reference Librarian of the Future" (RQ, Winter, 1985). Topics covered in the responses include the information poor, information consultants, information interpretation, library education, the human element, revitalizing reference…

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…

Discusses developments in library and information science education in Canada and the United States. Topics covered include schools' change of emphasis from "library" to "information," interdisciplinary programs, specialization, joint degrees, and continuing education. (CDD)

Focusing on the point of contrast between the library, whose primary role is the preservation of knowledge, and other dimensions of an information society where knowledge has become increasingly fragmented and exteriorized, this paper begins by defining leadership and reviewing various meanings assigned to the term "discourse." Several…

This assessment of the state of library and information science research in the United Kingdom, which was presented at a joint conference of two Canadian professional associations, focuses on functions of the British Library's Research and Development Department. The importance of research and dissemination of its findings are also discussed. (CDD)