…To Boldly Go Where No Librarian Has Gone Before!

The Librarian of the beginning of the 21st Century is sitting on the borderline between the old and the new library world. This is a species that needs to evolve, in order to deal with the technological developments of our time. Technology is an important part in the present and future of librarianship and librarians must be able to embrace and follow it.

It is not long ago that Library schools did not have all these technology courses that they have today. Librarians today must be technologically savvy and follow new developments. Life-long learning is a must for the new librarian species. However, it is also a must for older librarians who continue in the profession. This is a change for them, one they cannot ignore. It is an inconvenience they have to endure.

Are these the only changes in librarianship? What about the users? Are they different today and in what way? Should the librarians adjust their approach in order to serve their communities better? Well, the users are different. Some are into technology and expect the librarians to be able to help them. Others hate technology and expect the librarians to be able to help them. In any case, everybody expects the librarians to be able to help them! This takes us back to what I mentioned earlier about following new developments.

The approach, now, is a bit different. The new librarian species must be able to switch between the technology lovers and the technology haters. The former users want somebody to speak their language. The latter users want somebody to take them by the hand and do everything for them. The bottom line here is that everybody and everything is changing and we need to be the drivers in the vehicle that will take us to our future. Our communities expect to find somebody to lead them into the new world. We are these leaders!

 

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