A history of libraries needs to look not only at the libraries themselves but at the way they work and at the structures and systems that make library operations possible. Libraries do not exist in isolation but work for the communities they serve, and their history relates to the varied contexts in which they have operated. To achieve their ends libraries have developed a range of characteristics and skills which are the subject of this section of the volume.

It is one of the features of the modern age that the library world has become more self-conscious – in the best and worst senses of that word – as the sense of a profession developed. Like many other specialities, librarianship had to prove its worth in a world where other professions were also seeking to establish their position. It has developed a varied yet broadly coherent philosophy and a range of skills applicable to librarians from many different backgrounds. In building up a professional practice base, librarians have drawn on other disciplines, from office and business methods to the techniques of logical analysis as applied to classification and the structures of electronic information. Social and educational philosophies have illuminated librarians' thinking and affected the way libraries have operated. Ideas have been shared with others both nationally and internationally, and professional bodies have proliferated; training and education have developed from craft-based skills acquisition into a formal academic discipline with links to many other subjects.