Libraries, Language, and Change: Defining the Information Present

Abstract

Changes in the information world are resulting in new concepts of resource sharing, new practices in the management of library resources, and an expanding role for libraries in the educational process. However, such concepts have not necessarily been identified, named, and defined in the language of contemporary librarianship. Although librarians and their associates in the information and educational processes need to be made aware of these subtle, but powerful, new issues, discussions cannot easily proceed until there is a shared understanding of them in the language of review and debate. This paper introduces three themes that encompass these issues: distance information, managed information, and transformational budgeting.