Librarian and Librarianship in a Digital Information Era: A Review of Challenges and a Way Forward

Nebeolise Lucy Ndidiamaka

Abstract


The Information Age is a historic period in the 21st century characterized by the rapid shift from the traditional industrial revolution through industrialization, to an economy based on information technology. The shift has moved to online/soft resources in various electronic formats through the use of ICT devices. The society has also become sophisticated with people who are exposed to various information sources for socio-economic development. As librarianship is a serious business, it quickly adopts the capacities needed to navigate the technological devices in the new information age. The idea is to offer effective and efficient information services to the users through universally accessed medium for research, lifelong learning and teaching purposes. Hence, the librarians in the new era add values and can make libraries truly useful and user friendly. This study examines the concept of digital library, digital librarian, new information age, challenges and the way forward. It was identified that a lot of capacities need to be built with new strategies of engaging library communities among other things to give visibility to librarianship in Nigeria and the needed service delivery for holistic development of the populace.


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References


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