The past 50 years have seen significant changes in information technology;
these developments have many implications for information services. The Internet,
global access to distributed information sources, and remote users of information
services present challenges to those who would provide information services. As
resources proliferate the information professional must develop new methods for
locating and assessing them; reliance on publishers and reviews is no longer
sufficient. Similarly, information service providers can serve more diverse
clienteles, and must be aware of a greater range of information needs and styles of
information seeking. The continuing challenge is to harness the information
technologies to meet these needs.