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organizing and managing information access to the best available
information resources for the organization (Abel, 2003). The
professional managing content collections and taking care of the
information resources and services, is unambiguously the key figure in

this information age.
Who is the information professional?
The information profession seems to be constantly trying to define

a role for itself in 21st century organizations. Many experts in the world
of information have argued about the focus IPs should have, especially
within the framework of defining university’s curriculum because of a
decreasing interest in the information related studies. Much that is

written on this topic is strongly influences by the author and background
of the ‘articles’. Scientific papers and writing on this topic are mostly on
a specific role or position of the IP and a complete definition or an

overview of the information profession is lacking. Some experts say the
information profession is something that is subjected to the employment
situation, some say it is specially liable to the influences of the

Information Technology. Over the last few years, experts have been
defining the role of the IP as a gathering of competencies, whether or not
broken down in clusters. Obviously the profession is multifaceted and in

most cases asks for clarification. Findings in a research taking place a
few years ago point out that the IP would call itself experts in search and
retrieval of information, interacting with the searcher and delivering
tailor made information (Hendriks, 2003). The core competencies of the

IP is making information resources accessible and organizing it. Next to
that creating metadata, performing search and retrieval, and navigating
the searchers to the right information (Van Dijk, 2003).

This reflects the background of the profession, lying in the world
of the librarian. But the modern IP is experiencing more challenges by
the influences and the increasing expectations of their environment.
Particular circumstances have had influence on the information

profession. Three aspects meddled in the environment of the profession:
1) ICT;
2) Individuality of information searchers;

3) Acknowledgement by the organization.
1) ICT: A practical example is the a large impact on the function of
the library. ICT has made information accessible en changed the

lifecycle of information (van de Pas, 2006). By increasing digital
information becoming, libraries were finding themselves in a crush and