Competency Requirements for Library and Information Science Professionals

One of the paradoxes of the phenomenal growth of the information community is that librarianship, one of the oldest and most respected of information professions, is experiencing great difficulties as a profession at a time when it should be experiencing its greatest growth. There are many hypotheses as to why this is happening. One is that the environment and new technologies are changing the patterns of distribution of the work force and the ways in which information is being communicated. There are many who feel that librarians as intermediaries will cease to exist. It is my contention that these changes will increase the importance of librarians, albeit in possible new roles in addition to their existing ones. Another hypothesis is that the changing environment and new technologies are not being fully met by educational institutions. A likely reason for these needs and demands not being fully met is a lack of communication between the employers of information professionals and the institutions that educate and train them.published or submitted for publicatio