From the preface: "Libraries or as we say library services are equated with information services. Information like entertainment, is something someone else can provide us. It really is a service. If we expect to be entertained, we also like to be informed. But we cannot be knowledged. Each of us must acquire knowledge for ourself. Knowledge comes from within. It comes from the free mind foraging in the rich pastures of the whole-every where-past. The autonomous reader, amusing, entertaining and knowledging himself, is the be-all and end-all of our libraries. Libraries are now being forced to change becauase increasing numbers of users are no longer solely dependent on a static storehouse to satisfy their information needs. Nor do they rely on the information skills of a librarian to answer an enquiry or search for information. New services are consequently being demanded of libraries, and new skills are expected from the staff within them. The changes that are taking place are not evenly spread; some of the more traditional aspect of work and its organisation remain largely unaffected, at least for the present. However, the division between those who perform these traditional roles and those who are having to adjust to new ones is becoming more pronounced. In librarianship there is a widening division between those who manage lending and technical services and those who are information specialists. In many ways the value placed upon library functions has been turned on its head. What were regarded as essential aspects of the profession, such as classification, cataloguing, acquisition, and even library management are less important than they were. What is emerging and what this book is intending to show, is that there is a new role for what we must increasingly refer to as the information professional. Between the utopian promise of a fully liberated and self-sufficient users and the prospects of the library of the future, there lies the present reality. The book outlines the progress made in adapting traditional skills and practices to the new information environment. The audience of this book is therefore, broad. It can serve as a starting place for the study of library and information science and as a springboard for continued learning in a changed environment for library science students. It is also designed for practising librarians who are willing to face the new information environment. One certainty is that there is no option other than to accept that change is inevitable. It is not possible to remain as we are; it will be necessary for everyone to re-examine traditional methods and systems in the light of needs and demands of modern users. If this book helps to provide background material for the continuing discussion surrounding these issues, it will have achieved, what it set out to do. The bibliography at the end will provide detailed information on different aspects covered in this book.
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