Professional Ideals and Social Realities: Some Questions about the Education of Librarians.

The educational problems of a profession cannot be examined realistically without a concern for knowledge of the social conditions in which it exists. In librarianship the literature of education for the profession has been centered in concern for an ideal profession, and social realities have been little considered. The social realities of librarianship may be grouped into four categories: the social position of libraries, the work of librarians, the characteristics and nature of library education, and the technologies of information. The problems of education for librarianship cannot be resolved until there is a clearer understanding among library educators of the ways in which library education is affected by the social realities in which library education exists.