The Library as Facilitator of Public Access to Information: 21St Century Approach

This article describes the nature of 21st century, the new roles libraries and librarians must play to continue to facilitate public access to information in the face of 21st century where the information and communication technology products such as the web, internet, android mobile devices and social media network have changed the way we live, think, communicate, obtain and disseminate information (world 2.0).It emphasized how these products have made the world omni presence, omni information/knowledge, omin collaboration and omini access. The paper discussed the challenges21stcentaury librarians may encounter why applying the information and communication technology products to their professions and suggested possible solutions.It also examined the rate of internet users among the top 20 countries and the penetrations of smart and android phones across the top 50 countries of the world with focus on 2017. It recommended that librarians of 21st century must acquire computer literacy skills; metadata skills, information packaging and repackaging skills to be able to be repositioned and handle the challenges and also exploit the opportunities 21st century innovations has brought