Changing Dimensions of Academic Librarianship from Ancient to Digital Era

Abstract

There are evidences of existence of libraries as treasure house of knowledge in ancient history, earliest reference being The Great Alexandrian Library. A continuous transition in the libraries has happened in a phased manner over the years to get into the present "Digital Era". Containers of information have changed stage by stage from parchment to papyrus to paper to digital media. Librarianship had its evolution in 19th century. Functions and responsibilities of librarians have also changed drastically. From being mere custodians of the past, librarians of today have become policy advocates. The change is more vivid in academic librarianship because of the very fact that the services revolve around scholarship. Electronic information resources and the digitization recommend academic librarians to become - an intermediary, a gate keeper and a service designer. This paper attempts to encapsulate changing dimensions of academic librarianship with respect to collection, storage media and library services. Particularly, the influence of internet and ICT in designing newer library services is discussed.