Facing the New Millennium: Values for the Electronic Information Age

Somewhere in the dim recesses of my memory, addled by technology and travel, I remember the call asking if I would consider allowing my name to be placed in nomination for president of ACRL. Knowing that a representative from a community college had not served in this role for some thirty years, I was honored to be asked. However, it was not until sometime later, after the election, that the amount of work involved became apparent. One particular task challenged me, indeed worried me, more than the others: choosing a theme for the president’s year. The theme I chose is: “Facing the Mil lennium: Values for the Electronic Infor mation Age.” I considered several themes dealing with the demands of technology on service, with the need for library in struction in an electronic environment, with legislative advocacy, or with the changing roles of librarians. Any of these would have been adequate, but as I worked through the options, I realized that some of the traditional values of li brarianship are being challenged and, perhaps, are changing as a result of the advancing electronic age. In librarianship, I see a profession seeking reaffirmation of traditional values even as it questions them. Because of this, I wanted a theme that allowed ACRL members an oppor tunity to explore their own personal val ues in relation to those of our profession We librarians face a future in which rapid change is expected. Although some level of change may have been always a part of our professional lives, the advent of digital technology and its host of an cillary and complementary products and services, from PCs to shared electronic resources to OC-12 networks, have accel erated the changes in our profession and challenged us as never before. Challenges to our values surround us, as indicated by the debates over the appropriate use of filtering software and the seemingly cavalier abrogation of “fair-use” tenets in the licensing agreements we sign. In times of change, people and institutions seek stability. I believe that stability can come from our values: not from the way we do things but, rather, by the beliefs we hold as immutable. By understand ing, reaffirming, or changing as necessary those values most critical to us and to our profession, we can move forward into the future with confidence. They become our bedrock; they become the fixed star from which to navigate the choppy water of our future. What are these values? Without at tempting a complete catalog here, among the most important to librarianship is an altruistic sense of service. In fact, many of us come to the profession with a mis sionary zeal for service: we believe we can make a difference in people's lives and in the quality of our society. Consequently, librarianship is characterized by the ser vice orientation of its practitioners. It is an orientation marked by equal service to all, in a manner which does not seek to profit, financially or otherwise, from the relationship between librarian and pa