As library functions are slowly turning into library and information activities, also traditional library education at library schools is merging with new information contents. If the task of such schools is to educate librarians, the task of employers is to provide them with adequate training. Both are joined by occupation.
Research on wisdom has become popular primarily in the last two decades. There is no generally excepted definition as yet, but a general consensus exists that wisdom is a concept, which can be studied from various aspects, similarly to information.
The paper investigates the role and nature of qualitative research of library practice and/or possibilities to form library services, and the impact of such research on the library operation as a whole.
With the change of the social system, Hungarian libraries had to face new circumstances and, as a consequence, many of them ceased to exist. New library legislation introduced, among other novelties, “public libraries” and “library institutes”, which have an expert and coordination role, and the national interlibrary loan network, in which 56 large libraries participate.
This article represents a stimulus for debate and the resolving of key issues in several co-related fields: the divide between information philosophy and those philosophies and theories that are unjustifiably overlooked with regards to their relevance to librarianship and information science; knowledge and wisdom as categories of information science; professional responsibility for the philosophy of librarianship and information science; the connection between computer science and other sciences as a new scientific paradigm.
The paper highlights the importance of the role libraries and librarians play in contemporary information society. Since the status of librarianship is underrated, the library legislation can provide ways of improving the image of libraries. Moreover, it is crucial for the legislation to ensure public funding of libraries. Professional issues should be dealt with by library associations, which is the case in the countries with highly developed library services. In the countries, however, where library culture is at a low level, the legislation also deals with this segment.
This paper argues that the application of new teaching methods together with quality assessment of higher education institutions depend directly on the quality of teaching aids and services available to both students and teachers. For that purpose it is necessary to ensure the co-operation between teachers, pedagogues, librarians and information and telecommunication professionals.
