| Editorial:
Book Stampers or Information Specialists?
The start of a new year is normally a time for reflection, so we're starting this new year by looking at the current and future skills mix in the profession, at the traditional skills that we have retained and how they relate to a changing world with new job titles and more ICT acronyms than any one person could possibly keep track of.
Sometimes it's possible to sit through sessions on intranet construction etc. and feel like the space age is here and you missed the shuttle. But surely, although the terminology changes fast, the core skills are ones we have always practised, just a mite re-packaged.
The other question however is, if we have the skills for this brave new world of inter-mixed new and traditional skills, does anyone else realise this? We know we're wonderful, but we still want to convince our bosses and organisations of this.
So we're also having a look at recruitment into the profession and 'Who wants to be a librarian?' The conclusions of this probably won't surprise many of us - we're the people who stamp books; shelve things; send out overdues - not a popular career choice for people interested in professionalism; careers; making a difference.
It's not just the skills mix we have to pay attention to, it's how others perceive our abilities and skills and the values they place upon those. One aspect of this is the growing prevalence of the 'de-skilling' word in recent years. Is this a uniformly bad thing, and can it allow for growth in other areas to compensate?
I'm often asked by other well-educated professionals what my degree is in. To which I reply, "I'm a librarian… just think about it for a minute… what do you think my degree is in?". Not something that many doctors, accountants or solicitors get asked very often I'd suggest. These are all nonetheless vocational degrees - the difference is in the perception and the value that is placed upon them.
Another worrying thing is the idea that a Librarian and an Information Scientist can be seen as mutually exclusive occupations, at a time when we're all trying to agree on one standard term to call the new organisation created by the CILIP/IIS merger.
So this issue is about looking at some skills trends, what drives them, what our profession has to offer and some of the problems and solutions. We'd like responses on any of the subjects
 raised, offering your viewpoints and solutions, and we'll try to print them in forthcoming issues. This year Impact is going bimonthly but with more pages per issue, so this gives you all more time to formulate responses and take part in the debate!
Isabel Hood
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