Introduction

[...]there is a continuing need to examine frequently how technology in libraries is affecting human beings, how it affects the surviving work of persons now gone who contributed to the record of civilization, and how it affects persons now living who are the record's caretakers. Because of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Library trends 1999-04, Vol.47 (4), p.605
Main Authors: Kirkland, Janice J, Gorman, Michael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Civilization
Computers
Cultural heritage
Dictionaries
Digitization
Educational Administration
Electronic Equipment
Librarian Attitudes
Librarians
Libraries
Library associations
Library collections
Library Personnel
Readers advisory work
Theme
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Description
Summary:[...]there is a continuing need to examine frequently how technology in libraries is affecting human beings, how it affects the surviving work of persons now gone who contributed to the record of civilization, and how it affects persons now living who are the record's caretakers. Because of the close connection of this article to the theme of this issue, we have been allowed to use it as the lead selection "Revolution in the Library" by Gertrude Himmelfarb, for which we express our appreciation to Himmelfarb, to American Scholar, and to Library Trends Editor F. W. Lancaster. [...]to remind us again of the priceless heritage from the past which is the raison d'etre of libraries and archives, David Zeidberg offers an archival view of technology and a look at the challenges of the future. Most people go to library schools (whatever name those schools bear) to become librarians but, increasingly, their education does not equip them to do what they want to do. Because the mission of libraries is to "collect, preserve, organize and disseminate. . . the records of humankind and to provide human services based on those records" (Crawford & Gorman, 1995, p. 183), we must regard with some skepticism the lemming-like2 rush to technology-at-allcosts and avoid confusing the means to an end with the end itself.
ISSN:0024-2594
1559-0682