Technology and Professional Identity of Librarians

The library profession has changed rapidly in the wake of advanced technologies. Once regarded as the gatekeepers of information found in books, today’s library professionals are shifting from a traditional center of attention to a new focus on all areas of information studies. Technology and Professional Identify of Librarians: The Making of the Cybrarian brings into focus both the positive and negative aspects that technology places on the professional identity of librarians. Highlighting the new methods involved in data management, communication, and Library Information education and research; this book is a necessary means for librarians, students, and researchers to obtain an up to date understanding of what it means to maintain relevancy in the information age.

Deborah Hicks is a doctoral candidate with the Department of Education Policy Studies at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Her research interests are focused on the construction of librarians' professional identities, the impact of technological change on the professional identities of librarians, and representations of information seeking practices in popular culture. She has been previously published in The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy and Australian Library Journal and has presented her work at the annual conferences of the Canadian Association of Information Science, the Canadian Society for the Study of Education, and Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association. Deborah graduated from York University in Toronto, Canada, with a Master's of Arts and from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with a Master's of Library and Information Studies. She has worked as a librarian at the University of Alberta.