Technology and the information professional: will it make a difference?*

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Oppenheim, Charles

Affiliations: 80, The Warren, Billericay, Essex, U.K.

Note: [*] Paper presented to “Biblionic Man” Seminar, Institution of Electrical Engineers, November, 1980.

Abstract: The paper examines the likely impact of new technology on librarians and information scientists, and on database producers, over the next ten years. Database producers will increasingly rely on home-based abstractors who receive, create and send all their material by electronic means. The advantages of such procedures for the database producers are outlined. Increasing use of videodsics for information strorage and retrieval is envisaged. The impact of new technology on librarians and information scientists is then examined. Use of videodiscs will mean a decline in the use of online information retrieval. Use of intelligent terminals will lead to greater use of these systems by end-users. The intelligent terminals could be used to translate software languages, to refine search strategies, to store and edit output from searches and to advise users on the best databases and best search strategy to use. All these developments will be intergrated into those leading to the ‘office of the future’. The author concludes that there will be a dramatic shakeout in librarianship, but that information scientists face a great opportunity to develop their skills by grasping the opportunities afforded by the new technology. It is recommended that schools of information science teach their students typing skills. Finally, some remarks about the advisability to offering sophisticated information retrieval systems to less developed countries (LDC's) are made.

DOI: 10.3233/ISU-1981-1306

Journal: Information Services & Use, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 161-167, 1981