The Professional Values of the Librarian

Do there exist professional values that have defied the centuries and which librarians can draw on ? Across a rapid examination of the history of libraries and librarians, and in the light of recent inquiries, this article endeavours to offer a response. In the process of this examination, there appeared a gap which creates a problem between values linked to collections and to the social and intellectual role of libraries such as the history reveals them and the contemporary vision of the profession expressed in the inquiries analyzed here.
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