Public libraries are heavily affected by political and policy-making processes that shape the funding, activities, and roles of libraries in society, with the explosion of information policy decisions in the past two decades significantly increasing the responsibilities of libraries while also increasing limitations on their activities. Research…

How translational researchers use data is becoming an important support function for libraries to understand. Libraries' roles in this increasingly complex area of Web librarianship are often unclearly defined. The authors conducted two focus groups with physicians and researchers at an academic medical center, the UCLA David Geffen School of…

Current trends in librarianship in higher education have indicated an increasing tutoring role for librarians in the online environment. This article examines how the role of the e-tutor is outlined in selected online learning literature before progressing to examine the implications for librarians of fulfilling the demanding e-tutoring role by…

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)

This annotated bibliography focuses on recent literature dealing with librarianship and future technology. The first section lists 38 articles on the impact of technology on librarianship as a profession. In the second section, 32 articles on the applications of technology to academic, research, public, and special libraries of the future are…

This paper looks at some of the potential roles that librarians could adopt in the age of the Internet; e.g., resource discovery, cataloging the Internet, and user education. It outlines the effect that networked information is having on the library profession. It identifies the new roles that information professionals are performing and shows…

Discusses the future of the library profession and suggests that librarianship could become marginalized (i.e., its significance could be diminished) as a result of automation if librarians do not broaden their vision and keep pace with technology. The roles of libraries, librarians, and library automation in an infrastructure for information…

Critiques the model of information literacy as a central purpose of librarianship. Reviews the appropriateness of the "learning methodology" of the information literacy model. Outlines the challenge of relating information literacy to workplace competencies. Proposes that information literacy be refocused away from information toward learning, and…

Explores three contexts of librarians' professional work and their impact on the link between librarians and their work: social and cultural forces, other competing occupations, and competing organizations and commodities. Concludes that the central challenge to the profession lies in embracing various information technologies and the groups that…

Based on an analysis of the direction of library development and changes in librarians' social functions, this paper presents some key measures in the reform of library and information science education. The first section discusses the developing direction of the library cause under the network environment. The second section covers librarians'…

Examines the foundations of academic librarianship in terms of the ends and means of library services, recognition of the difference between them, exploration of the quality of library services, and development and refinement of descriptions of these concerns. The impact of information technologies on these areas is discussed. (17 references) (CLB)

Discussion of the profession of librarianship focuses on changes in the profession and the role of women. The deprofessionalization, or de-skilling, of cataloging through the use of automated systems is described; new labels for library and information work are examined; and the future of librarianship is considered. (28 references) (LRW)

This book sets an agenda and a direction for the immediate future of libraries and fills the gap between what readers might have learned in library school and what is experienced today. Emphasizing tested programs and practices that work, the manual calls for rethinking even the most basic library structures and icons, reinventing an instruction…

This paper focuses on ethics for librarians and library science in the age of electronic information. First outlined is the "public relations nightmare" that the Internet is creating for the administrators and the library staff. It is suggested that libraries pick a common sense approach that involves the library staff and community and…

The lead article in this section argues that the profession's current focus on technology has compromised academic librarianship's scholarly values, eroded the quality of rhetoric between librarians and patrons, and contributed to the ascendancy of information over knowledge. Renewal of the teaching function and reaffirmation of traditional values…