Digital contents and libraries in future. Librarian in question' the digitalization of library and the "raison d'etre" of librarian(<Special feature>Digital contents and libraries in future)

Abstract

What is the role of librarian in the information-oriented society? If all of the library collections were transformed into digital or virtual ones and all of the users had access to the Internet, do we need library and librarian? Those are the questions we have often involved in the library world. In this paper, we analyzed the hidden cause of these questions, and found out that it might be a kind of fear that provoked the discussions repeatedly. But when we do nothing but try to change the role of librarian, we tend to conclude that he will be useless in the near future. So we suggest revaluating the traditional role of librarian first before seeking the new roles.