Library Services in Information Society

정보사회의 도서관봉사

As information technologies are applied to the libraries in information society, the library services have been changing its feature. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore and to establish a paradigm of the library services in information society. It is hypothesized that the application of information technologies leads to the change of the library services in information society. To prove the hypothesis, the data were collected from various research results carried out in the developed countries and by observing various libraries where the information technologies are extensively applied. The findings are as follows: 1. As information technologies are applied to the library, many new library services emerge for the society. 2. As the electronic data replace the paper data, the collection of a library becomes the collection of the libraries in the world. Therefore, the accessibility to the information network is more important than to own information in the library. Librarians select various electronic data according to the library policy which distinguishes their own library collection from others. The policy also solves the various problems related to weeding and preserving library collection. And the use of CD-ROM selection tools enable library users to select their own data. Now, the censorship becomes the concems of the library users, not the library. 3. The catalogs are reorganized for the electronic data for the international use. The most important information in the catalog is the location of the data and the multi access to the data are necessary. 4. As the information technologies are applied in book selection, cataloguing, information retreival and circulation, the library users are enable to service themselves in the library. And most of the routine works related to the information service are taken over by the library staffs. Professional librarians engage in user education, information marketing and fund raising. 5. Public libraries in information society serves those who have no access to the information. They help the illiterates. patients in the hospital, prisoners, and homeless in the city. Therefore, the information technologies enhance the role of librarians in professional work in the library as well as in the information society.