Digital information is changing the role of librarians from a person who students ask for assistance in finding information in a place called a library to someone who needs to provide services and instructions. In order to reach an understanding of librarians role in the Digital era of information required, it is worthwhile examining that their role have filled in the past. The role of the librarian grew from that of a collector and preserver of information resources to a professional involved in very complex issues of organization. A librarian or information professional must be able to actively participate in the educational process rather than gathering information and disseminate it to the public and also must ensure that there is effective and efficient flow of information from the generators to users of information in the digital environment. This is a complex communication chain with libraries and information systems playing an important, even critical role. Information professional must be able to address the changing and challenging environment for libraries and information systems and services in the digital age with an emphasis on examining contemporary problems, advances and solutions.
Dr. Sohair F. Wastawy (Chief Librarian Bibliotheca Alexandrina) found that the library which exist in the past and the digitals era environment have a different between users, users expectations, collections, modes of research and communications. The formation of a working definition in the digital environment and the preceding examination of the librarian’s role both in the past and the components of their role today provide many indications of the elements that making up the overall activities of the librarian within that environment which are:
1. To provide intellectual access to information in any format
Providing intellectual access to information is a role librarians have filled for a long time. Traditionally librarians have done this via print-based resources. But now a days the available resources expanded to include graphics, video, audio formats, form of print, computer programs, or multimedia composites of each. Within the Digital environment, the choice of format is not the most crucial issues but the issue is being able to provide information resources to patrons. Librarians and patrons will no longer be restricted to a single entity where everything is stored, but rather librarians will be able to offer a range of services and collections, linked together or made accessible through electronic networks. A further issue to be considered is the ability to access earlier issues of an electronic subscription. With printed subscriptions libraries own and may continue to access those issues they purchase during the lifetime of the subscription. With electronic subscriptions, libraries pay for access to the journals rather than ownership, and at the end of a subscription a library may no longer have the right to access a title. The need to negotiate continuing access with publishers is becoming a significant responsibility for librarians.
2. To evaluate available sources of information
The objective in the evolving Digitalize environment library is to develop information systems providing access to a coherent collection of material, most of which will be in digital form as time goes on. There are numerous free resources available on the web, to say nothing of the full-text journals now available, some electronic resources will replace the printed word. In evaluating electronic sources of information is also a distinction to be made between those sources of data which have been digitized for the ease to access, and data which is of limited usefulness for example like the use of the internet in delivering documents such as journal articles to a very large copying where the value of the item is not inherent in its format but its easy delivery to the user.
3. To organize and structure information
Traditionally, librarians have organized and managed information resources through classification schemes. The retrieval of information relevant to a user's enquiry has been facilitated by standardized methods of describing resources, such as MARC. The challenges attempt to organize and structure of information in the digital environment as a nature. One significant management problem in the networked environment compared to traditional library management issues, is copying with the nature of the information space. They describe the information space as large and rapidly growing, highly distributed, of varying quality, and dynamic. The organization and structure of information within the virtual library is critical to ensure the easiest path for the library user to access and use resources. Within the developing virtual library, users are presented with information resources in traditional formats but also in formats made possible through technological developments. Increasingly, libraries are providing access to web-based resources, either those freely available or for which the library has paid a subscription.
4. To provide specialized staff to offer instruction and assistance
Information retrieval is the most obvious skill a librarian demonstrates to the public. The increasing sophistication of search engine design is creating an environment where anyone can, at varying levels of efficiency retrieve information from the internet. It has been suggested that the skills of the reference librarian are becoming superfluous. However, without professional guidance many searchers, particularly novice internet-users, do not exploit the full potential of search engines and consequently do not retrieve all the relevant information available to them. The information explosion will continues, everyone will need more help finding, sorting and filtering the available material. The Digital era environment for the information’s provides both an opportunity and a requirement for librarians to develop greater familiarity with IT-type skills. The librarians required different skills for different department’s area to make sure they know and understand the need of the patrons
From the discussion, we know that the Librarians are professionals trained in the acquisition, organization, retrieval, and dissemination of information. In essence, the practice of librarianship in the Digital information’s environment will not be very different from that in the traditional print-based library. The librarian's role will continue to include selection of suitable resources, providing access to such resources, offering instruction and assistance to patrons in interpreting resources and preserving the medium and the information.
Reference
1) IMLS (2006). The Future of Librarians in the Workforce. Retrieved on June 29, 2006 from http://libraryworkforce.org/
