TECHNOLOGICAL PARADIGM AND THE LIBRARIANS´ SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF THEIR OWN PROFILE AND PRACTICES IN THE CONTEXT OF INFORMATION SOCIETY

Abstract

This article originates from a research report carried out with librarians at university information units in Porto Alegre and metropolitan region, in the Brazilian southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. It analyses how the advent of information society and the ever increasing use of information and communication technologies are bringing about many changes in education and social welfare, as well as in the workplace and people themselves. Those changes are deemed as social impacts. The article also discusses, based upon interviews with the librarians as well as their narratives, the changes in librarians´ work routines caused by the use and freqüent mediation of technology. It concludes that, regarding the librarian profession, new practices are evolving and those can be perceived as new forms of sociability, which are altering the professionals´ social representations and their ways of performing their craft.