Understanding Librarians in an IT age

Abstract

This article represents a personal view of the changing role of the librarian in today's ‘high tech’ age and attempts to identify the type of skills required for a ‘modern’ librarian. It then attempts to identify the effect of technologies upon the library support staff and what levels of support are required to make a modern library function. This will highlight the growing need for trained and skilled staff in areas such as office software, Internet awareness and local area networking. It then attempts to explain how librarians, support staff and users are at odds with each other and identifies significant factors that require to be addressed if libraries of the future are to provide the services demanded of them. The conclusions are that as technology evolves the demands upon librarians and support staff increase exponentially. While technologies such as the WWW improve the quantity of information available, there is a requirement for greater skills in information and resource management. Crucially these resources include people.

Citation

Houghton, D.J. (1998), "Understanding Librarians in an IT age", VINE, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 49-54. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040687