6.1 Metaphysical definitions.
Aristotle's analyses of change consisted of isolating three elements that are also applicable to librarianship: (1) the beginning of the process (involving books, librarians, or both), (2) the process itself (communication), and (3) the end of the process (impact on reader). The ambiguity in applying these stages in the library creates problems (Petocz, L., 1969).
Conceptual changes affecting philosophy of librarianship began with a psychological focus on memory, thoughts, and perceptions and epistemological concentration on knowledge processes. Among the recent changes, the focus shifted from philosophical consideration to psychological experimentation with cognition. The gestalt school concerns itself with transformation and organization of the perceptual and cognitive mechanism, focusing on content and the structure of cognitive changes (Suedfelt, P., 1971).
6.2 Epistemological nature.
EP-Co: Characteristics of change.
The pendulum swing of cultural changes has produced theories which serve as metaphors for a never-ending process. Verified at first, only to be falsified later, scientific theories and concepts obey precise laws of logic but also act in a random manner. Here chaos is a synonym for chance, a chance to understand the environment still better (I. Stewart, 1989).
Chaos is also a basic condition of the changing social world, characterized by a historical cycle: from authority, to democracy, and back to unguided free will and self-interest leading to social disintegration (Mason, E., 1975). And finally, insufficient examination of the meaning of changes on the technical level results in changes that are often merely cosmetic; (White, H. S., 1985), weakening the analysis of information gathering, its dissemination, and full applications of new technology (Holley, E. G., 1985).
The approaches to change can be: (1) radical: it makes real changes; (2) liberal: inherently ambivalent about changes; and (3) reactionary: openly supporting the status quo (McKenny, M. & E. Ericson, 1972). Utilitarian changes often mask important factors in cultural changes (Anderson, G. A., 1988).
The history of librarianship proves that the changing society will support changing roles of librarians and information scientists, reflected in changes such as: (a) the Gutenberg invention creating awareness of information, (b) the introduction of railroads in the 1830s that eliminated geographical isolation, changing the social responsibilities of librarians, followed in 1907 by John Cotton Dana's definition of special librarians in terms of their adaptability to change, or (c) the 1960s introduction of the computer increased the awareness of information needs; each awareness is based on education and information about the changes (Spaulding, F. H., 1988).
It is noted that most of the important inventions were developed in the present eight-hundredth lifetime of the human being (Toffler, A., 1980). Librarianship can survive the rapid changes by focusing on (1) efficiency of present functions, (2) support of research in information science, and (3) continuing education (Heilprin, L. B., 1979).
EP-Cx: Environment of changes.
Changes are caused by social conditions and technological development that impact on education and social institutions. In response to the changing environment Shera called for librarianship that focuses on communication of knowledge to all disciplines, while Shields wanted to reduce library activities to humanism only (Bonn, G. S. & S. Faibsoff, 1976).
The changing environment in librarianship is illustrated by a shift from process to function, from particular occurrence to knowledge, from the study of a single library to the study of librarianship (Butler, P., 1933).
Environmental trends in librarianship suggest that: (1) the information industry will become libraries' competitor, (2) the computer will encourage bypassing a library, and (3) electronic media will affect the nature of library collection (Briscoe, P. et al., 1986).
It is also suggested that the opposition of intellectuals to mass culture is based on platonic "totalitarianism" and fear of changes (Fesenmaier, S. L, 1988).
6.3 Valuational assertions.
A shift from books and reading to library technology resulted in changing value-emphasis from an individual patron to the library community, and from book values to its formats.
These changes are based on two fallacies: (1) that the human being can be transmuted into mathematical figments, and (2) that book value can be translated into statistical formulae (Haines, H. E., 1938). The radical shift in the concept of value and the lack of uniformity make it difficult to provide the patron with the model for identification and growth (Getzels, J. A., 1957).
Traditional library values changed in response to new technology and information needs resulting in (1) shifts from preservation of resources to their use, (2) the emergence of networks (the library cannot be independent), (3) replacement of humanities-related issues by management and information systems, (4) the rejection of neutrality and increased sensitivity to social and political issues of the day, (5) a change in focus from individual to mass culture and the education of minorities, and (6) the issue of how "to inform" becomes less important than the new demands for information technology (Whitteman, P., 1984.)
Discussions about value of automation in librarianship are often carried out in the realm of utopia, a nonexisting idealized state of perfection. However, automation has a significant impact on library development even before the change itself is fully implemented (Koop, J. J., 1988).
6.4 Examples of changes.
The following are some of the changes as seen by the observers of the library scene.
6.4.1 General trends.
Both nature and society constantly change their matter (mass), their energy and their organization (information) (Leupolt, M., 1981).
The concept of librarianship started changing in the 18th century when the focus shifted from (a) collections and the librarian-scholar who had encyclopedic knowledge but no training in library matters, and who acted as a keeper of the collection, to (b) the librarian-administrator, concentrating on organization and economy of operations in the library. The focus on servicing the collection led to the emergence of bibliothecal science (Kunze, H., 1973).
Historically, the focus changed from custodianship of books to bookmanship in the 1850s, to technical issues in 1870s, to a shift from description to explanation of resources to library patrons in the 1920s, and to the beginning of the search for a full-fledged philosophy of librarianship in 1950s (Egan, M., 1955).
The 19th-century preoccupation with technology (M. Dewey) was expanded by including reference, bibliography, and selection in the 1900s; cataloging, classification, subject heading, and administration in the 1920s; and special librarianship, information science, system analysis, and computer programs in the 1960s (Harlow, N., 1969a).
Overall, major trends that influenced librarianship include computer technology, management theories, and professional status (Eisenberg, M. B., 1988). Many of these changes suffer from problems not identified and alternatives not explored (Line, M. B., 1983).
Politics and philosophy of collection development changed from 1950s idealism and 1960s activism to 1980s skepticism about the government role, affecting the quality of collections and increasing the demand for preferential treatment, forcing librarians to be more involved in public relations (Fletcher, J., 1983).
The changes in library goals were prompted by the diversity of library records, the changing types of library patrons, and their use of libraries (Grasberger, F., 1952). The function of the public library gradually shifted from local, self-directed activities to bureaucratic services, focusing on efficiency but often overlooking the importance of the library environment, especially in an urban setting, to allow patrons to be alone with books (Glazer, N., 1959).
Library techniques and organization did not keep pace with the changing needs for information, resulting in inadequate services (Williams, G., 1964). The preference for societal funding of the sciences over the arts resulted in changing the focus from the inspirational to the investigative approach in research, the use of quantitative measurements, and emphasis on service objectives (Monroe, M. E., 1962).
Bibliographic control was replaced by intellectual organization of resources in order to maximize the social utility of documents (Kochen M., 1974). The library's expanding responsibility for the provision of services requiring other than locally held resources impacted on the philosophy of library cooperation (Blasingame, R. & MJ., Lynch, 1976). A shift from the warehouse-management image to that of a provider of information created a conflict between librarians and expectations of organizational proficiency among them (Drake, M. A., 1977), replacing the principle of comprehensiveness (the bigger the better) with the ideal of "completeness" (Baugham, J. C., 1977).
However, although new technology weakened reading habits, the main library goals of informal education, leisure reading, reference, and preservation remain the same (Dyckman, J. A., 1964). Yet, with the expansion of technology the traditional library will eventually disappear, since written words will cease to be primary means for storage and communication. Literacy will mean the ability to locate, retrieve, select, organize, and communicate information (Lancaster, F. W., 1982b).
A shift from the information explosion to its controllability is a dramatic reversal in bibliographic history (Koenig, M. E. D., 1982) (a) from the object-oriented to a system-oriented culture; (b) from things as sources of change to the ways things are done (Bolgiano, C., 1982), (c) from the focus on inventory and collection (catalogs, bibliographies, and classification) to the pragmatic approach, concerned with scholarly description of individual books (Batty D. & C. Bearman, 1983), and (d) from the focus on print media to the custodianship of access to recorded ideas (Oboler, E., 1983).
Because of the trend toward defining patrons in abstract terms, the focus of librarians shifted from the knowledge of books to the increased interest in media and computer-accessed data (Hall, M., 1984). The nineteenth century liberalism was substituted by information as a basic resource in economy; professional and technical proficiency and the corporate-market approach found in business transposed traditional ideals of culture and education (Lofgreen, H., 1985); exchange of things becomes the exchange of information (Marvin, C., 1987), shifting (a) from subject to activity, (b) from books to information needs, (c) from professional similarities to its differences, (d) from a social to a behavioral approach, and (e) from ideas provided by people to those suggested by systems (Stieg, M. F., 1992).
6.4.2 Specific changes.
6.4.2.1 In librarianship.
Philosophy of librarianship shifted its focus from ownership of resources to access and information (Schuman, P. G., 1987). However, this change and changing library mission must be considered in the historical context, since their meaning changes with time (Robson, A., 1976).
The focus of postmodern society shifted from the liberal notion of technological progress to one of performativity (maximum output at minimum cost); knowledge became a marketable commodity, and academic disciplines are competing for the marketability of their own domain. It is suggested that librarians should counteract the idea of knowledge as a commodity and as capital (Van der Linde, G., 1990).
The interpretation of librarianship shifted (a) from the traditional educational role to that of the information provider, reducing the role of books to that of containers (Apostle, R. & B. Raymond, 1986), (b) from the political focus on democracy or communism to the conditions of democracy and its culture (Macleish, A., 1939), (c) from collection, size, and location to subject-based, personalized information content, and (d) from data processing to heuristic, symbolic information processing (Molholt, P., 1987).
The decline of the impact of the Western philosophy of librarianship in other countries may result in rejecting the emphasis on library services to individual (Parker, J. S., 1974).
Changing the librarians' role from scholars to technicians resulted in scholars becoming teachers and librarians becoming the managers of resources. (The notion that to serve scholars librarians must be themselves scholars is like saying that a good physician must be constantly ill to be a good physician [Wilson, M., 1989]). Furthermore, the role of guarding records is changed to that of their dissemination, and the focus on individual volume is shifted to the cataloging, classification, and subject headings of the whole collection.
New technology increased productivity but also reduced the Librarians' scholarly role to that of a specialized technician. The process is reversed in special libraries, in which librarians work as a team with scholars (Foskett, D. J., 1965). All in all, the change from custodianship to more specific service to patrons became more viable (Wasserman, P., 1972).
The abandonment of the concepts of the librarian as a scholar, humanist, and generalist followed the changing notion of the discipline as a social science, preoccupied with scientific research, technology, and bureaucracy. Library managers should eliminate bureaucracy and reestablish the 19th- century vision of the librarian as a teacher and defender of democratic values (Roberts, A. F., 1985).
The emergence of pro-active librarianship focuses on information and the client-centered approach. The changing technology, social needs, and new information formats will require a change of focus from a book-oriented to a patron- oriented approach. The conflict between traditional and pro-active approaches is a struggle between status quo and future-directed ideals augmented by changing environment (Harrelson, L. E., 1974).
6.4.2.2 In libraries.
Viewed in a historical context, libraries always related to society's ideology. The modern public library departed from the 18th-century concept of the scholarly library to the preservation of resources, and to access, utility, and circulation of collections (Vleeshauwer, H. J., 1964-65).
The research into the educational function of the 19th- century American public library gradually shifted to sociological research, especially in reading (1930--40), and to a new philosophical approach (McCrimmmon, B., 1975). This changed the interpretation of education from emphasis on self-improvement to education as a prerequisite for democracy (Macleish, A., 1940.)
The public library's commitment to an individual patron was influenced by Locke's philosophy of government by consent. It changed from 17th-century church influence to educational motivation and social libraries in the 18th century, followed by the emergence of the public library in the 19th century and expanded community services in the 20th century (Cushman, J., 1962).
A shift from custodianship to education stresses service to all, determined by librarians' professional knowledge as teachers (Cartwright, M. A., 1935) with the objectives of the American public library changing from the "largest number of books for greatest number of readers at any cost" to the "best reading for greatest number at the least cost" (Sherman, C. E., 1938).
The recent shift in public libraries from book collection to provision of information will be accepted if the new approach is easy for the public to use (Ballard, T., 1988).
The shift in academic libraries from providing access, to information sources, to the provision of information itself will require librarians to be pro-active, anticipating needs in mediating between patrons and recorded resources (Holladay, J. W., 1982).
6.4.2.3 In library education.
Changing curricula in public education reflected the changing library role in society from the 19th-century textbook-centered approach, with peripheral involvement in education, to 20th- century specialization and use of computers, shifting from the self-contained library to the library system (Carnovsky, L., 1967), and from the library as a storehouse of knowledge, through library use and organization of its resources, to research of the library's basic problems (Bramley, G., 1967).
Library education shifted from cataloging processes to analytical skills in examining patrons' ways of thinking. The patron's approach may be (a) subcritical, unconscious by requiring librarian's guidance, (b) surface, characterized by impersonal thinking looking for a minimal search, and (c) deep, critical approach that determines patrons' real interest and information needs (Ford, N., 1986).
6.4.2.4 In technology.
Changing technology requires a change in librarians' role from owning and processing resources to the investigative function, focusing on new knowledge, different sources of information, review of electronic journals, and avoidance of disparity between have and have-not patrons.
New technology changes the character of information as a commodity from "not-for-profit" to "for-profit," impacting on the librarian's role of collecting, storing, and organizing information records, changing it to the role of intermediary between different information systems (Schiller, A., 1981). This transition from library to information context becomes a new base for librarians, calling for a balance between the mentality of traditional services and the entrepreneurial mode of operations (Zurkowski, P. G., 1981).
The evolution of electronic publishing went through four major changes: (1) use of paper only (indexes), (2) dual use (machine-readable form), (3) the new electronic mode (in reference), and (4) electronic publishing. Patrons who own a computer become librarians themselves, expecting quick access to information, and they are interested not in the processes of a library but in direct two-way communication (Sacks, J. R., 1986).
As the result of all these changes, some futurists anticipate the disappearance of traditional library. A few libraries will become passive archives, and librarians, as information specialists, will be free of the responsibility for a particular collection or library (Lancaster, F. W., 1982). Yet, some other writers maintain that in spite of many recent technical changes, the basic concepts in librarianship remain the same (Herner, S., 1974) and that librarians may continue to shape the future by being people-oriented, shifting from the role of gatekeepers to that of information deliverers (Penniman, W. D., 1991). In effect, the more things change, the more they remain the same.