9 - Digital librarians: new roles for the Information Age

Summary

The ends of information, after all, are human ends. The logic of information must ultimately be the logic of humanity … it is people, in their communities, organizations, and institutions, who ultimately decide what it means and why it matters.

(Brown and Duguid, 2000, 18)

Digital libraries require digital librarians. Computers are certainly essential … but people are required to put it all together and make it work.

(Hastings and Tennant, 1996)

Introduction

Throughout this book the most important element in developing the digital library has been implicit: the librarian. This chapter brings librarians to the forefront and discusses the various new roles and skills now required of them and the new challenges they face. Acceleration of technological change is accompanied by reductions in funding and in the numbers of professional staff employed. Lack of recognition of the unique skills of librarians is also a crucial issue as there is an underlying assumption that librarians are no longer needed and libraries are dull and replaceable. As Brophy (2001, xv) suggests:

The public image of librarians remains poor and distinctly old-fashioned, while technologists lay claim to so-called digital libraries that will apparently replace place-based libraries with a few simple key-strokes.

There are some who view the future of libraries, and consequently of librarians, as determined by technology, and who therefore predict a diminished role for both in the digital future. This is likely to be as true as the predictions of the ‘paper-less office’ in the 1980s or ‘home working’ of the 1990s were:

But ‘all-digital, all the time’ is an article of faith. It may ultimately come to pass, but like the various apocalyptic prophesies which run wild at a time like ours, it simply isn't supported by the current facts. Ethnographic studies of actual workplaces reveal the diverse mix of materials, digital and otherwise, commonly in use and offer no suggestion that this diversity is diminishing.

(Levy, 2000)

Technological determinism has been discredited recently, as writers and thinkers acknowledge the significance of the cultural, social, political, philosophical and natural forces that will certainly shape the future. So while this chapter will discuss the technological impacts upon libraries, the authors are well aware that this is but a small part of the complete picture and all solutions offered will be partial.