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Abstract

Increased end-user access to external information products and services boosted by the Web has created a situation, where less and less of them turn to a library for help or consultations and conduct necessary information searches themselves. The aim of this paper is to analyse the changing roles and position of information professionals in Estonia and find ways for them to meet the increasing demands of external environment and expectations of library users. Between October 2000 and January 2001 UK market research and business information company IRN Services Ltd. undertook a web-based survey called "How effective are you at finding information on the Web?" The aim of this study was to compare the experiences, approaches and methods of information professionals (IP) and end-users, when searching for business information on the Web. One of the key findings of the study was that there were no significant differences in the search approaches used by end users and IP-s. Inspired by this somewhat astonishing result we decided to carry out a similar survey in Estonia. So in June 2004 we carried out a survey among information specialists from the National Library of Estonia and several public libraries all over Estonia, and end-users in the National Library. The object of this study was use of the database of analytical bibliography - articles of newspapers, journals and sequels. Our goal was to find out who are the users of this database, how they search for information and why. This paper gives an overview of the results of the user-study. In the light of the results of these two surveys we intend to pose a number of questions crucial to the future of our profession - IP's competencies, actual level of information literacy, roles and position in a changing knowledge society. We present a SWOT analysis of the position of librarians' for this purpose. It has become clear that IP-s need to change their perceptions and ways of working to adapt to increasing demands and expectations of library users. We discuss the relations between information management, knowledge management and librarianship in this paper. In conclusion we see continuous personal professional development, i.e. becoming knowledge managers, as a possible solution for librarians and information professionals.