Access to vs. ownership of information resources * Accountability * Censorship * Demand vs. selection * Diversity * Economics * Education * Equity of access * Ethics * * Information literacy * Intellectual property rights vs. fair use * Preservation * Privacy * Research * Social responsibility * Legal aspects
Most of the topics listed below have been of perennial concern; it is not likely that solutions both satisfactory and lasting will be found. But if there were no problems, there would be no need for fresh perspectives and new talent, such as you will bring to bear on these and other issues!
Providing a copy of an article or a book from a source other than your own institution "just in time" to meet a user's need, as opposed to adding a journal or book to your collection, "just in case" someone may need it in the future.
Getting the most bang for the buck, and being able to prove it to your funding source; demonstrating the value of the information services that you provide; showing that you are adhering to applicable laws and regulations and to professional codes of conduct -- providing credible evidence is not easy.
Resisting censorship of resources that have been acquired within established acquisition guidelines and protecting intellectual freedom and First Amendment rights are seen as basic tenets of the profession (see Library Bill of Rights and ethics statements), but self-censorship and varying community standards keep this pot on boil; a recurring debate centers on filtering the Internet in order to protect children from pornography.
Should a library base its acquisitions largely on popular taste and/or voiced interests, or should it strive to build a balanced collection that takes into account unspoken needs, quality, minority and alternate viewpoints?
How to reach out to the entire potential user community, including those for whom the use of English and of libraries is foreign; how to diversify the profession to more accurately reflect changing demographics; how to identify and acquire nontraditional resources to serve diverse user needs.
Whether the economy is booming or in the doldrums, most libraries do not have adequate resources. They are experiencing escalating costs and eroding funding; increasing use of fees for service, private fund raising, outsourcing, and other problematic practices have appeared.
How to prepare adequately professionals who must cope with constantly changing technology and explosive information over load; how to maintain professional competence -- stricter certification, distance education?
How to provide this to less affluent, geographically isolated communities; connecting to the Internet and lowered telecommunication rates for libraries have cast this issue into high relief.
As technology changes, new challenges arise
"You have to go to school to be a librarian??!!" [Not a trivial issue -- the image, not to mention the female-dominated nature of the profession -- depresses salaries].
Google, Web 2.0, federated searching, etc. -- the sources of information are becoming obscured, users less able to judge reliability. How can librarians help the public to become discerning consumers of information?
This major information policy issue is a battleground with publishers, the entertainment industry, and others in the for-profit sector on the side of prohibitive legislation and librarians, educators, and others concerned about access to information on the side of maintaining at least the current copyright law fair use provisions.
Vast quantities of materials printed on acid paper are turning to dust; film, magnetic tape, and other materials are similarly prone to destruction; priorities for saving, methods, and costs are all issues. I used to suggest that you take a look at "Keeping Our Word: Preserving Information Across the Ages" - http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/ref/exhibit, a virtual exhibition that "celebrates the myriad efforts made over time to preserve information". This was a terrific online exhibit presented by the University of Iowa Libraries, but has now disappeared. Preserving digital content has become one of our most serious problems, and preserving Web sites along with their functionality is an especially complex problem
The Patriot Act has brought attention to librarians' role in protecting the privacy of library user records, and has won them the FBI's designation of "radical militants." The issue actually is part of the intellectual freedom stance of the profession, which takes the freedom of expression as including the right to privacy. See the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, http://blogs.ala.org/oif.php?cat=216
Building the knowledge base of the profession is hampered by inadequate numbers of researchers, paltry funding, and ambivalent attitudes.
Some see librarianship as a proactive profession with a mandate to assure that information resources are brought to bear on the problems of society, in the belief that information empowers people; others prefer to view the profession as dedicated to preserving recorded knowledge and making it available to those who seek it (more pull than push).
of issues facing the profession, see http://www.librarylaw.com.