New PAR volume examines the State of the Profession
The latest volume of Performing Arts Resources, State of the Profession: Performing Arts Librarianship in the 21st Century, was mailed to all Theatre Library Association members last month, and is now available for sale.
Performing Arts Resources 31, State of the Profession: Performing Arts Librarianship in the 21st Century, considers the current status of performing arts librarians and archivists – as well as performing arts libraries in general. It reflects on issues of professional preparation and training, sustainability of the profession, consolidation of performing arts libraries nationwide, challenges of digitization and technological transformation, and service to our unique communities of users. In particular – it focuses on the following three framing questions:
- Is the performing arts librarian a vanishing species?
- Will the convergence of libraries, archives, and museums – not to mention digitization – advance or inhibit our profession?
- Do these new models offer dynamic synergies for collections – or is our unique identity being lost?
While in some respects threatening – the current landscape offers opportunities for unexpected collaborations, innovation of traditional professional practices – and possibly new paradigms for promoting our collections and mission to the public.
In this reconfigured constellation – do we despair, cling to our eternal verities – or proactively embrace these new challenges to create historically-rich and technological interventions for a truly 21st century crucible of performing arts documentation?
Kenneth Schlesinger
Lehman College, City University of New York