Serving on the Centennial Commission, and particularly in planning the annual conference for SLA's centennial year, I took pleasure many times over in both looking back and looking ahead. Much like the wand chooses the wizard in the Harry Potter tales, this profession chose me, and I still marvel at how fortunate I am to have been part of the information revolution for almost 40 years.
What has changed? Gone are typewriters (even self-correcting electric models!), clipping files, reserved book collections, card catalogs, fax machines with telephone couplers, and photocopy machines that emit green lights. Gone too (and good riddance) are outdated notions about how librarians should look and speak and act.
What remains and is here to stay? Intelligence, curiosity, perseverance, objectivity, authoritativeness, responsiveness, technological savvy, organizational acumen, tact, and customer service all wrapped up in today's information professional. Supporting the dynamic, present-day information professional is our resilient, resurgent, and reinvigorated professional association--SLA at 100 and going strong.
What lies ahead? Opportunities for us as information professionals--to forge new relationships and become the connectors in our communities, to harness information technologies and create new uses for them, ultimately to extend the knowledge culture. And challenges for us as information professionals--to embrace change and remain relevant within our organizations, to strengthen our commitment to continuous learning and stay ahead of the technology wave, ultimately to take our place as leaders in a new age of information.
I see a future for our profession that encompasses concepts both broad and deep. I see breadth in the variety of roles to be played by tomorrow's information professional--creator, designer, collector, classifier, engineer, broker, negotiator, connector, manager--and depth in the extent to which those roles are essential within their organizations. I see a world economy that depends on a knowledge culture in which information professionals take leading roles and receive recognition for their singular and considerable contributions. And I see SLA continuing to sustain and support us. Just as SLA was there in the past with the foresight and fortitude to move the profession forward, and is here in the present supporting members through education, advocacy, and networking, so too will SLA be there in the future as we, the information professionals of tomorrow, overcome challenges and seize opportunities.
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