Aware and Responsible : Papers of the Nordic-International Colloquium on Social and Cultural Awareness and Responsibility in Library, Information and Documentation Studies (SCARLID)

This is a collection of papers from a colloquium held in Finland in 2000 to explore ideas about the social and cultural foundations of library and information science. The contributors were from the Nordic countries predominantly with contributions from the UK and US also.

We all know far too well how easy it is to get caught up in the imperatives of changing expectations and practices, especially when information technology is added to the mix. At the same time, the need to reflect on more fundamental, complex and society-wide issues is as great, if not greater than ever. The essays in Aware and Responsible were first presented at the 2001 Nordic-International Colloquium on Social and Cultural Awareness and Responsibility in Library, Information and Documentation Studies (SCARLID). Each participant was asked to view the current information landscape with a long eye and the possibility of establishing "awareness" and "responsibility" as First Principles firmly in mind. The result is a state-of-the-art look at current conceptions of personal, professional, and institutional accountability, as these have developed within the amorphous field of library, information and documentation studies.