Emerging Trends - Evolving Global Information Infrastructure and Information Transfer - page 170

From Bibliographic Paradigm to Digital
The library in the bibliographic paradigm was a warehouse of topics and mater-
ials; Morris (2014) notes that “now libraries are being designed for people to have
experiences and activities and engagements.”
LIS education in the past taught bibliographic functions: how to collect, organ-
ize, and disseminate information. Schools of library and information science also
taught the importance of preservation. Now technology enables information users
to tag documents the way they want to. They can tag articles, books, or Web sites
for their future use. They come to understand that they don't yet have the language
to talk about it, but authority control is important. If different words are used for the
same subject in indexing, access and retrieval are hindered. It's now possible for
users to add tags to the library's catalog.
Organizing information and helping people to locate it have been and continue
to be important functions of information professionals. As technologies change, the
way that the bibliographic function is performed also changes.
From Authority to “Crowdsourcing”
Since the beginning of the profession, library and information professionals
have assumed the role of authorities for organizing and evaluating information re-
sources. Members of the profession have been instrumental in creating review
sources and reviewing various media. In this digital age, the responsibility for eval-
uating information is with readers, sometimes called “crowdsourcing.” Anyone can
create videos or topics, add to Wikipedia, make a Web site, and otherwise create
an information source. Readers or viewers of these information sources also have
the opportunity to critique the information. The library and information profession
can no longer ensure “authority” in the same way as in years past. Instead, author-
ity is shared with information consumers.
The Challenge of Remaining Relevant
A trend for all information agencies is the need to remain relevant to the people
they serve and to the people who provide them with funding. Information profes-
sionals must demonstrate added value that the librarian provides for the commu-
nity they serve. For example, the corporate librarian must make a case for the
databases, including how people are using them, tracking resources, and provid-
ing corporate intelligence.
To survive and thrive, librarians must be proactive and creative as they gauge
the needs of the organization and the community they serve and strategically reach