Reprints five articles originally published between 1933 and 1983 showing that the library field was ready to use technology: "People and Machines: Changing Relationships?" (S. Michael Malinconico); "Guilds or Technocracy?" (Margery C. Quigley); "The Librarian and the Machine" (Jesse H. Shera); "From the…

Considers how four historical events have influenced the world for information professionals and the view these events offer of the future: (1) invention of the Gutenberg printing press; (2) invention of the transistor; (3) success of the railroad; and (4) a statement by John Cotton Dana, first president of the Special Libraries Association. (9…

Examines the history of reference services; discusses present trends in reference services; and considers possible future model shifts that will be influenced by the continuing explosion of information technology, the need for high level skills, the need for building partnerships, and the need to clarify reference service philosophies. (Contains…

This paper is a biographical essay on Vartan Gregorian, appointed president of Carnegie Corporation in 1997. The focus of the research is on Vartan Gregorian's accomplishments as an educator, as provost of the University of Pennsylvania, as director and president of the New York Public Library, and, most recently, as the president of Brown…

Presents overviews of librarian and library support staff education from 1887 to the present. Discusses current forces in education for librarians; the balance between professional and university environments; differences between education for librarians and library technicians; persistent themes; the role of information science in library…

This bulletin is virtually a new edition of the work entitled "Special collections of American libraries," by William Coolidge Lane and Charles Knowles Bolton, published in 1892. Since the publication of that most important contribution to American library literature there have been several surveys of a local character published. While…