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Access to electronic information in Africa: librarians to information managers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2022

Catherine Nyaki Adeya
Catherine Nyaki Adeya*
Affiliation:
Moi University, Kenya
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Extract

The dawn of the 21st century is synonymous with an explosion of information unmatched by any other era in history. Traditionally, librarians have been the gatekeepers of knowledge and culture; in a sense they are secondary providers of information, if publishers are to be regarded as primary providers. Librarians in the West have gradually moved from being simply “keepers of information” to become “managers of information”. They are increasingly dealing with user needs, not wants, and this requires knowledge of information development: where it is located and how to access it. According to Lynch (1994): ”… the concept ‘library’, difficult enough to define in the traditional sense has become almost impossible to define today”. The difference is one of degree, not an absolute, but it is enough of a difference to provide a necessary point for discussion.

Type
Articles
Information
African Research and Documentation , Volume 74 , 1997 , pp. 26 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © African Research & Documentation 1997

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References

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