How the Information Infrastructure Has Changed in the Digital Age - Evolving Global Information Infrastructure and Information Transfer - page 85

formation resources for a variety of purposes. The most valuable role of inform-
ation professionals is to help individual information users identify appropriate in-
formation resources for their purposes and to help the clients make sense of the
information they have found. It is this making sense of information that is the key
to learning, the key to the diffusion of information. This role is vital in the digital age
and is explored in more detail in Chapter 9.
This role may result in the reformation of learning organizations as we have
known them. For example, we are seeing “learning commons” established in col-
leges and universities. These are areas that may be open for study 24 hours a day,
with staff to assist students in their use of learning resources. School libraries have
long established the librarian as a partner with the classroom teacher in teaching
critical thinking and information literacy skills. In special libraries, information pro-
fessionals also provide instruction in information identification, retrieval, and use.
Resources available to learners at all levels include print topics and journals as
well as electronic versions of the same. Databases are available for searching in
the classroom, library, residences of students, and on tablet computers and cell
phones. Open access to repositories on campus has expanded the availability of
information resources and has also added to the complexity of identifying and eval-
uating these resources.
The complexity of the information environment and the rapid changes require
partnerships among learners, information professionals, and instructors. The need
for the information professional as an active partner in the teaching and learning
processes has never been greater, because diffusion of information is central in
the digital age. We explore diffusion further in Chapter 6.
Utilization
The role of professions in society is to facilitate the use of information. Indi-
viduals must be able to take information that has been disseminated and diffused
through libraries, schools, or other channels of communication and use that inform-
ation in their lives. It is the role of information professionals to help people under-
stand information and to give it meaning and perhaps assist in interpretation so
that people can use information in their personal or professional lives. In the digital
age, as noted above in the “Diffusion” section, information professionals are play-
ing a more important role in diffusion in order to enhance utilization.
The information professional must be able to diagnose the information needs
of the individual or groups of information users in order to make the connection
between the information and the possible uses of that information for the individual,
whether acting alone or as a member of a group. As professionals initiate a dia-