The Changing Role of the Librarian

The Changing Role of the Librarian – A Virtual Library and a Real Archive?

By Dr Alex C. Klugkist – University Librarian, University of Groningen, the Netherlands (mailto:a.c.klugist@ub.rug.nl)

Summary

The position of the library and the librarian has not been a matter for debate for centuries. It has been more or less self-evident that the role that the library plays in society is a useful one, and its librarian an esteemed and valued person. However, in the digital information society, there is clearly no longer any consensus on the value of the library and the librarian. Doubts about whether they will be needed in the future are regularly aired.

If libraries are to survive the new developments in information and communication technology, what will they have to look like? What future will there be for their librarians? Will the traditional library functions disappear; will they be replaced by new ones? Will librarians disappear altogether, or will the situation be exactly the opposite, and will they be pivotal to future information facilities?

This paper does not deal with Utopian libraries of the next century, but with the library and the librarian of the next decade. The accent is on libraries within educational and research institutions, especially university libraries.

We shall look at the changes the library is going to be confronted with. We see the library of the future as being characterised by four key aspects. In the first place it will be a gateway to information, whatever format this information comes in and wherever it is located. Secondly, because of the increasing complexity of information networks, the library will be an expertise centre. Nevertheless, there will still be a pressing need for the library to be a physical entity, not only in the sense of being a social meeting place and place of scholarly interaction, but also as a place where students and other users are provided with modern study facilities and adequate user support. Furthermore, during the coming decades, the library will retain its importance as a collection centre of printed material.

The library of the near future can only take on an appropriate shape and will only survive if the institutions that librarians serve in meet the four criteria just outlined. The librarian will have to meet demands on his professional knowledge and skills. He must have good didactic, organisational, communicative and people skills. Generally speaking, this does not mean that the librarian will have to be very different to the way he is now. However, as will be explained, relatively new job responsibilities and job attitudes will be required. There will only be a future for librarians who are willing and able to take these into account.

The full text article is available at: Proceedings of the Second ICSU-UNESCO International Conference on Electronic Publishing in Science held in association with CODATA, IFLA and ICSTI at UNESCO House, Paris 20-23 February 2001

DOI=10.1244/02.eps2/013.1.00