Librarian as fair witness : a comparison of Heinlein's futuristic occupation and today's evolving information professional

Abstract

There has been a continuing discussion in library literature on the library as place and on the image of librarians in popular media, but there is little information on the librarian as person. The discussion on librarianship as a profession tends to focus on technology and not so much the people, other than the people skills needed in reference or teaching skills needed for instruction. The worth of the individual librarian tends to get lost in the shuffle. Before we disappear into the machine, it is useful to look at other future scenarios and similar occupations, either reality based or fiction. In this particular case, it is interesting to compare librarians to those in an occupation created by a renowned science fiction author.