On Thursday 1 November Hilma Gunnarsdóttir, librarian and information specialist in information services and user education at the National and University Library of Iceland, will give the talk “The library of the 21st century: the role of librarians and information specialists today” in the lecture series Tímanna safn (Collection of the Ages), held to mark the 200th anniversary of the National and University Library of Iceland.
The abstract of the talk says:
“We can have a perfect library, equipped with good collections, expensive furnishings and specially designed lighting, but it counts for little without the specialists who work there. Their role has perhaps never been more important than now, in our times, when the flow of information seems overwhelming and fake news is deliberately produced to undermine democratic societies. The talk will discuss the role of the profession in a new century, looking at the librarian’s and information specialist’s self-image, their relationship with the user, their duties to society and the political thread. It will ask whether freedom of information is sacred, how far one should go to defend it, and how we make the heart of the library beat in time with new times.”
The talk is based in part on material gathered in Ohio in the winter of 2016–2017 and will be given in the lecture hall of Þjóðarbókhlaða, the library building at Arngrímsgata 3, 12:05–12:45.
Everyone is very welcome.
The lecture series on Facebook