With the advent of the new changes that humanity faces when establishing itself as a globalized society, breaking borders and geographical limits, the economic and development implications have also changed radically, and today the preponderant role that information assumes is recognized. as a new resource and economic factor, based on the approach of some authors when calling the current times as the era of information and knowledge.
The foregoing directly affects new focuses of attention for professions related to the determining aspects in the information process (Engineers, Systems Analysts, Designers, etc.), including documentary sciences, which traditionally focused on document management in Traditional supports directing their attention to the management of information units, have had to rethink their operating structure in the face of the Internet and the application of new technologies, where the information and documentation professional acquires added responsibility values in terms of their commitment to the social environment and user communities demanding information.
Starting from the idea that a change in world mentality has a direct impact on the development of new focus of attention for some professions, the Information and Documentation professional is called to be the leadership manager in terms of developing the ability to enable access. to the knowledge universally available to its entire community of users, whether organizational or public, where the elaboration of projects, study of information needs, creation of new information services, are some of the main characteristics of those who rule the roost in the management and availability of information, falling a great responsibility in their actions, since they present themselves as information facilitators, which by its very importance,It must be kept away from any malicious alteration, its veracity relying largely on the ethics of the professional in information and documentation.
On the other hand, and under the constitutional parameters and the common good, the criterion of access to information is a value, which is also closely related to the professional, because although there are closed environments or communities (Business for example), the person in charge of information management, "documentary at least."
It must have the criteria to discriminate which information can compete with the public and which with hermetic environments, so as not to fall into a fault as serious as ignoring the democratic establishment in which one lives, as well as the possibility of providing timely information, efficient, and truthful, the individuals involved in the information process must also create mechanisms that allow the user to interact with tools that will facilitate the satisfaction of their information needs, one of these tools and very renowned in the last decade is the one referring to the application of new information access technologies, which involve the professional not only being a mediator between the information sources and the end user but rather acquiring a more dynamic behavior,where it should also try to teach its user community how to manage these, so that they, with the appropriation of their profits, are able to generate their own information recovery strategies. So much so that recent evolutions of the Internet prioritize the structuring and access of information resources from the Internet.
Consequently, a particularly acute challenge is perceived for the information professionals' union to adapt to the accelerated evolution of their environment and to serve as a link towards end users with the total mastery of the new tools for access to knowledge.
Information and documentation professionals currently have a very important mission and challenge in this age of information and knowledge, which is to take advantage of the technology of the globalized world and reduce in some way the gap between the informed rich and the informed poor, allowing everyone to participate in the information society, creating a culture of individuals with the ability to work with information, for their personal and professional development.
For Teresa Márquez »The role of the librarian, transformed every day demands more skills and preparation, demands greater actions of impact and social responsibility.» »The librarian has become an information builder social agent, ceasing to be, although he was never a mere facilitator of books and encyclopedias.»
For Chacón Alvarado, the information age is a challenge for libraries and librarians. At present it is felt to speak of a virtual, digital library, a library without walls, an electronic library. This leads to a question what is the role of the librarian in this informational tangle?.
To answer the question that Chacón asks himself, some of the aspects that outline the Information and Documentation professional, or librarian, as the authors call it, could be pointed out in the following way:
Direct incidents of the Information and Documentation Professional, facing the challenge of new information technologies
Today's information and documentation professional must be an expert in manipulating and accessing information, capable of bringing it to the user who requests it, from wherever they are.
His role is no longer only that of conservative and zealous repository of knowledge as it was in the past, but has become a modern professional, in charge of the treatment and management of information, supported by technological tools to satisfy the information needs of the user community it serves.
Among its social commitments is that of discovering and diagnosing the information needs of the community it serves, creating high quality services and products, according to the current information technology market.
Information and technology units
The profession of Informants and Documentators has undergone profound changes and transformations due to the incorporation of new technologies in the different information units. The personal computer, access to databases, databases, compact discs, multimedia, software developments for document management that make it possible to store large amounts of information and finally the appearance of the Internet have modified and changed the traditional perspective of the professional.
Although in principle the idea could have been raised that the profession of the librarian, for example, would disappear with the irruption of electronic information and virtual libraries, with which the traditional activities carried out by librarians would become meaningless, and the virtual document I would put aside the printed book.At this, it can be said that digital culture and printed culture still coexist, and a radical separation between information supports is not yet in sight, implying that the new professional librarian must maintain certain traditional and incorporate the management of new technologies, as well as apply administration and document management tools to respond effectively to the requirements of today's society.
On the other hand, the library that for decades has been the natural space for thousands of users to come to consult the books necessary to satisfy their information needs, has rethought its guideline towards current trends indicating that these centers become democratizing spaces of culture, that is, where every citizen can access knowledge and even new technologies such as the computer, databases, multimedia supports and the Internet, not to mention the new concept of digital and virtual library, which generates a more complex behavior in terms of its dynamism, since it is no longer necessary to have a search for information in person in a library, but the library of the future is capable of reaching the user.
conclusion
As has been stated, the potential of using technology in training processes is determined by a change in the role of the professional and the user himself. Although there are many possibilities given that every day technology has greater potential, is cheaper and easier to access, the human factor is what will determine its success. There are still many areas of development, so research in this regard will provide the guideline for how the information professional should prepare to allow technology to be their best ally instrument and not their great competitor.
Bonilla, Louvain Garmendia. Information society and information managers. In: Electronic Journal of Information Sciences. (No. 16, July - December, 2003)
Rivas Fernandez, Jose Bernal. The management of the information the case of the archives. In: Biblos Magazine
Bibliography
Marquez, Teresa. Technologies, Democracy and Pleasure. The Role of the new electronic Mediators. In: Reason and Word, No.9 (Nov-Jan) 1997-1998
Chacón Alvarado, Lucia. Training of information professionals.
Espinosa, Jorge Luís. Libraries, democratizing instrument.
Pineda, Juan Manuel. Labor reality of the librarians of the National University of Cordoba.
Pinea, Juan Manuel. the new professional profile of the librarian for the new millennium. February 2004
Bonilla, Louvain Garmendia. Information society and information managers. In: Electronic Journal of Information Sciences. (No. 16, July - December, 2003)
Rivas Fernandez, Jose Bernal. The management of the information the case of the archives. In: Electronic journal of information sciences. (No. 16, July - December, 2003)
