The change in library practice is being met with a range of viewpoints. Drastic changes are occurring and the LIS community is finding it complicated to deal with these alternative practices. However, I find it a bit extreme to refer to them as “wicked” problems within the community. These developments are there to be embraced.
A library has so much more to offer than it once did especially according to Howard and Davis. The Library system still provides the physical book whilst the user can now access eBooks along with a wide range of internet services. The Library is a high tech focus point and the LIS professionals who work within it specialise in aiding the user in the virtual world which the user is free to avail of.
The role of the library has changed dramatically. Nowadays, it rivals most industries in the valuable service that it supplies. The user now seeks satisfaction in their query to an LIS professional. It is no longer about pointing them in the right direction. Librarians are expected to go above and beyond to satisfy the users’ need, to ensure not only was their problem solved but that a similar one will not occur again. This also influences the necessity of EBP. The Librarian’s new role as a problem solver is vital to preserve the profession.
An LIS professional is a mentor to the user, constantly at hand to facilitate the users need and put them in the right direction. In turn, the profession now requires a lot more knowledge and greater study for the librarian. It is their knowledge in how to research and how to determine its authentication and usefulness that makes them now indispensable. LIS professionals have become, forcibly or not is still up for debate, teachers of information. This is, perhaps, another reason for the revolutionary term Information Literacy.
