It is now more apparent than ever that the ILS profession has a mandate to organize, manage and provide access to information in any environment where such information needs exist. My great concern is that unless decisive steps are taken now to embrace ILS applications in non-traditional or emerging domains, a wealth of opportunities will be lost to the profession. One of the non-traditional domains of particular interest to me is that of business information systems and management. The ILS profession has enjoyed a long partnership with the business community through corporate libraries, business reference and document delivery. However, very few of the top ILS schools in the United States are presently committed to exploring business information needs, which I consider to be a gross oversight.
Ultimate methods are just valuable for a certain time.
From this insight derives the impetus to improve and adapt existing solutions or to find new ones. Every LIS school or faculty will have to break, at least partially, with its traditions, accept new values, develop own concepts and strengths. Syracuse changed its name during the mid-60s under Dean Robert Taylor. Michigan in fact was in the last round of changes. I assume that the changes were considered a valid reality when Michigan and the other top schools finally changed their names to reflect their expanded roles in the information age.