New Paradigm New Practices and New Professionalism Needed to Meet Modern World Library Challenges

Since their existence libraries have been acquiring, organizing, disseminating and preserving recorded human knowledge only. However, inventions enforced through information and communication technologies have brought drastic changes in the medium of information storage, dissemination and use. There have been a number of studies in the developed world, which investigated and reported how they created, managed, adopted and reacted to the challenges and opportunities provided by the new information and communication technologies. Now the question is what type of systems, skills and services we need to establish and convert existing libraries into hybrid 21st Centry Libraries. This paper traces the shifts occurred in the developed world libraries and identifies the extent to which academic and other libraries in the developing world have adopted or should take a paradigm shift in improving the systems and services to meet the new challenges. This is first of its kind a study from this part of the world trace what has happened in the developed world in terms of information and communication technology applications in their libraries & their user expectations, and where we stand in this global phenomenon. Evidenced recommendations based coupled with more than three and half years of field experience provide applicable solutions to be our own and in the forefront of the developed world in terms of library and information services