TECHNOLOGICAL-CHANGE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PRACTICE AND ROLE OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

When one considers the building blocks of scholarly communication, it is possible to see historical trends forcing them apart into relatively specialized and isolated roles. Today, the entities that are most concerned with professional support of scholarly communication are academic institutions, professional associations, scholarly publishers, and libraries. Each of these faces disconcerting change: in their markets, in their mission, in their revenue streams, in their operational strategies, and in the technology they use to facilitate their work. Simultaneously, the concept of information management is used to reinvent the role of librarians, As a result, knowledge workers in these fields face instability on practical levels, and ambiguity on philosophic levels. The opening address will attempt to describe the conditions of our dilemma and suggest ways for resolving those conflicts, as a preparation for the sessions to follow.