100 Innovations that Have Changed Librarianship

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) was founded in 1909 in the state of New York and is now the international association representing the interests of thousands of information professionals in over eighty countries worldwide.

Offered here is its recent list of 100 Innovations that Have Changed Librarianship:

1. Personal computer (Mac, PC) that are affordable to the average person


2. Internet access


3. Electronic journals


4. Google


5. Information professionals entering the IT field


6. Ability to meet multiple learning styles through multimedia - images, podcasts, videos


7. Multiple channels for sharing/communicating


8. Social networking tools - For example: Wikis such as MediaWiki and Confluence; blogs like WordPress, Typepad, Blogger, and Blogspot; Facebook; Professional networks like LinkedIn and Plaxo; Multimedia sites like YouTube and Flickr.


9. Ease of multiple communication channels - phone, email, online


10. High-speed and remote computing - broadband, WiFi


11. Web conferencing


12. Virtual worlds such as Second Life


13. Inexpensive digital storage


14. digitization


15. OCR


16. OPACs


17. printers


18. abstracts databases


19. fulltext databases


20. self checkout machines


21. book vending machines


22. print on demand


23. wikipedia


24. CD-roms


25. modems


26. Dialog and other dial up services


27. hypertext linking


28. gopher and veronica


29. DRM


30. institutional repositories


31. electronic classroom management systems (ie. Blackboard)


32. synchronous electronic classroom software (ie. Elluminate)


33. electric date and time stampers


34. barcodes


35. RFID


36. integrated library systems


37. OCLC


38. copy cataloging


39. no limit memo field


40. scanners


41. typewriters


42. Security systems


43. Slender security strips


44. Climate control equipment, to prevent deterioration of materials


45. Copier


46. Book trucks


47. Magazine slanted shelves


48. The MARC record


49. Interlibrary Loan (ILL)


50. streaming media


51. metadata


52. classification systems (LC and Dewey)


53. word processing


54. Twitter


55. mobile libraries


56. Knowledge management


57. document management


58. barcoding


59. Dublin Core


60. Mosaic web browser


61. Tags


62. Federated searches


63. Microfilm/microfiche


64. Texas Instruments (TI) Silent 700


65. S. R. Ranganathan's 5 laws of library science (1931)


66. Michael Gorman's (1998) 5 additional suggested laws:
    1. Libraries serve humanity.
    2. Respect all forms by which knowledge is communicated.
    3. Use technology intelligently to enhance service.
    4. Protect free access to knowledge.
    5. Honor the past and create the future.


67. Open stacks


68. In-depth subject specialists as the core of special librarianship


69. Competitive intelligence gathering


70. Working the "white space"


71. Gutenberg's printing press


72. Compact shelving


73. Copyright laws


74. Document delivery services


75. Information brokers


76. KWIC - Key Word In Context


77. Computerization of cataloging. OCLC and OPACs do not begin to present the importance of not having to type duplicate copies of cards and file catalog cards. Also, the customer can do a keyword search without knowing how a subject heading or main entry (which is now a passe concept) was done. Keyword searching also means that there is less need to customize headings to local usage.


78. Digitized indexes and abstracts - instead of manually doing repeated searching through individual months or years of print volumes spans of years can be quickly searched. Also, the digitization/computerization of these indexes allows keyword searching which can retrieve pertinent items that assigned desciptors do not cover.


79. Digitization of full text of articles and now books. This allows desktop access to quality information. Also, it allows the compilation of bibliographies where reviewing the actual text of the document is necessary for determination for including a document. This is not something that could be done so easily even ten years ago.


80. Chemical information services (CAS, Beilstein, Gmelin)


81. Internet and communications protocols (TCP/IP, telnet, FTP, etc.)


82. Mash-ups


83. Introduction of the term, "Information Science" to replace or supplement "Library Science"


84. The Commons and reinvention of libraries as "community centers" instead "storehouses of knowledge"


85. Centralized reference


86. AACR / AACR2R / RDA developments


87. LC card standardization


88. Poly-Vinyl Acetate for book repair


89. Copyright legislation


90. Chemical structure and substructure searching, using line notations and connection tables. This changed the face of chemical information retrieval.


91. Carnegie Libraries across the United States, built from the donations of steel magnet and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.


92. PubMed open-access electronic version of Index Medicus


93. e-books


94. e-book readers like Amazon's Kindle


95. IP based access to provide the digitised information campus wide


96. Photocopier


97. Boolean search capability


98. Full-text searching


99. World Wide Web


100. Cell phones