Challenging the “Jacks of all trades but masters of none” librarian syndrome / edited by George J. Fowler and Samantha Schmehl Hines.

Includes index.

Prelims -- “Vital assets”: libraries as partners in community development -- Inside-out library services -- Where the users are: reconsidering information provision through roving models of service -- The new “Jack of all”: the evolution of the functionality and focus of the academic librarian in new spaces and new roles -- Responding to change: reinventing librarian identities in the age of research mandates -- Academic librarian and practitioner collaborative research model: a diagrammatic metaphor -- “Other duties as assigned”: academic librarians perceptions of the impact of instructional tasks -- The role of public librarians in supporting physical activity -- Index.

Librarianship may be said to be facing an identity crisis. It may also be said that librarianship has been facing an identity crisis since it was proposed as a profession. With the advent of technology that lowers barriers to the access of information, the mission of a library has become indistinct. This volume will explore the current purpose of librarianship and libraries, how we become “Masters of our Domains”, develop expertise in various elements of the profession, and how we extend outward into our communities.

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