The Generic Librarian: Anonymity versus Accountability

Librarians must examine the extent to which librarianship's mode of practice facilitates or impedes the profession's lofty ideals. Librarianship's most common mode of practice—the anonymous professional-client encounter—erodes the profession's ability to uphold its ethical standard of providing access to information and often results in poor library success rates on the part of the user. It is time for the library profession to examine its delivery patterns based on the practice of generic librarianship and to develop accountability models.