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THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE INFORMATION
PROFESSIONAL
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By Toni Carbo Bearman
The term information professional is preferable to the term
information manager because it connotes a broader meaning describing
professionals involved in all segments of the information transfer chain-

from generation to use. In the last two decades many changes have taken
place in the roles of information professionals.
Role as Part of the Information Transfer Chain
The first of the broad changes is that the information professional’s

job is seen as an integral part of the larger information transfer chain,
and this part increasingly interacts with other segments of that chain.
The information transfer chain is traditionally seen as going from author

to presentation at a conference, to publisher, abstracting and indexing
services, libraries, online vendors, information-on-demand companies,
and to the end user. Over the years, there has been increasing interaction

and cooperation among groups within the information community,
including sessions at other associations’ conferences, joint sessions, and
discussions between database producers and vendors, and among

database producers. Recently we have gone past this interaction to a
blurring of lines between the elements of the chain. Some database
producers are retailing their databases, instead of wholesaling them to
vendors. Some producers are developing software packages, such as the

Institute for Scientific Information’s Scimate and the Information
Access Corporation’s Search Helper which provide user-friendly
interfaces-menu-driven search systems for ultimate users, rather than

intermediaries. Information professionals who want to work for a
publisher may find they are called upon to help acquire databases,
develop new products, develop indexing systems, or perform any
number of tasks not traditionally associated with publishing. As the

segments in the information transfer chain interact, the professionals
working for those segments are called upon to perform new and
different roles.

The Need to Harness Technology and Management Tools

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Bearman T. Carbo The Changing Role of the Information Professional / Toni Carbo
Bearman. – Available at : http://cdigital.uv.mx/bitstream/123456789/6698/2/Bearman.pdf