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The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to make a contribution to the theoretical understanding of documents and documentary agency in society through examples from a defined institutional and professional setting; and second, to create an understanding for the role of ethical codes in the process of defining and developing modern librarianship.

This study analyses the role of documentation carrying content of professional ethics in the formulation of modern librarianship. This is done through a series of example documents of various kinds, such as founding charters, peer handbooks and ethical codes systematically analysed through the use of document theory and theory on institutional change.

The findings of this study suggest that documents pronouncing ethical self-regulation within librarianship play a primarily legitimising role in situations where new types of libraries emerge or when libraries adapt to social change. The study proposes legitimacy as a key aspect of documentality, thus supplementing the established understanding of the concept.

This study is the first to analyse the role of ethical codes in libraries using document theory. It brings new knowledge to the role of ethical self-regulation in librarianship over time and in different institutional contexts. In suggesting a developed definition of documentality, it contributes to the theoretical understanding of the role of documents and documentation in institutions and in society at large.

The purpose of this paper is to address dimensions of crisis as applied to the profession of librarianship from a public administration frame of reference. For librarians to retain professional status, the human element of librarianship must be promoted through an emphasis on their educational mission, inspired by public administration's professional code of ethics. Within this process, librarians must promote themselves as educators, embracing the concept of information literacy as their field of jurisdiction.

Reflecting an interdisciplinary approach, literature from public administration and library science is used to support these points.

A robust professional education and affiliation with professional associations reinforces the informational asymmetries of professionals through specialized instruction and knowledge sharing, which will lead to not only a strengthened profession, but also to opportunities for leadership.

To reinforce professionalism, the human element of librarianship must be promoted through an enhanced emphasis on the educational mission of librarians within the ethical framework of the profession. The place for this to occur is within schools of graduate education and professional associations.

This discussion addresses dimensions of crisis as applied to the profession of librarianship from a public administration frame of reference. The rationale for this approach is that library and information science can benefit from elements of the public administration school of thought regarding professionalism, in general, and ethical codes, in particular.

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the literature within the fields of public librarianship, social exclusion and empathy.

The cross‐disciplinary review involved the consultation of material from disciplines including library and information management, politics, social policy and social sciences, cultural studies, psychology, management and organizational theory. It was structured according to the following themes: exclusion, inclusion and social policy, social inclusion in public services and the cultural sector, the role of public libraries in social inclusion and professional empathy and the public library service. Findings –The concept of social inclusion remains at the core of public library policy and strategy, and is embedded in contemporary social theory. Conflicting views have emerged as to the perceived and actual role of the public library in combating social exclusion, with a need expressed for research to be conducted that bridges the gap between the “philosophical” interpretations of community librarianship and the more practical, “real world” studies, in order to fully understand the concept of community librarianship. A critical link is made between social inclusion and public librarianship to professional empathy.

The paper provides an edited version of the overall literature review, yet it is felt that it would be of theoretical and practical relevance and value to the professional and academic communities.

Empathy is a relatively new concept in librarianship research, and prior to the study of which this review forms a part only limited findings have been available.

Existing literature on team librarianship is surveyed and found to be sparse, fragmented and limited in scope. The argument that team librarianship offers many benefits to the organisation and to the individual is examined in the light of a research study. The supposed benefits of team librarianship are discussed and contrasted with dysfunctional aspects of team organisation in public libraries. A counter‐argument is made, supporting the role of the more traditional branch librarian. It is concluded that a major reason for introducing team librarianship was to reduce expenditure on staffing.

Public librarians throughout North America now support physical activity. One sees this function in the emergence and diffusion of new programs and services, such as librarians checking out exercise equipment, as well as in librarians actually sponsoring exercise classes. This chapter focuses on understanding this type of work. The first part looks at five different frameworks – the library as place, community-led librarianship, whole person librarianship, community health, and recreation and leisure – that each in different ways enable one to understand how supporting physical activity could become part of the work of public librarians. Focus then shifts to understanding empirically how public librarians in the US and Canada enact and understand this work. Research shows that this role has become more integral and expected in youth services than in adult services. Library staff themselves are more likely to lead movement-based programs for youth than for adults. The discussion then shifts to the implications of this trend in terms of evidence-based practice and multidisciplinary discussions on how and why to increase physical activity throughout society. The conclusion suggests additional work needed to understand this and other poorly understood functions of public librarians.

The purpose of this paper is to explore senior public librarians' views on medium‐term and long‐term plans for the provision of library services. The paper also aims to extend work in the literature of public librarianship studies, which up to recently has largely been an under‐researched area.

A total of 30 in‐depth interviews were conducted with senior public librarians in Ireland, the UK and the USA. A semi‐structured interview format was used, and the grounded theory approach was used to analyse the data.

Half of the contributors to the current study articulated that their five‐year vision would include the maintenance and development of the core services in which they were already engaged together with introducing innovative expansion of services. Of the respondents, 90 per cent expressed optimism for the survival of public library services through the middle of the twenty‐first century.

The librarians repeatedly made the case that they are very different from managers in the private sector and from other public sector managers. They believe that they are managers of institutions that are fundamentally making a difference to the lives of people. They also believe that they and their libraries are major catalysts of change in the social environments.

By locating this study in a transnational context, the study contributes in an innovative way to an under‐researched topic. The primary domain to which this study contributes is librarianship. Within the domain of librarianship, the specific focus is on senior management, addressing an acknowledged gap in that field, as the literature on librarianship has traditionally shown very little attention to management within librarianship.

It seems likely that a further substantial expansion of training facilities for librarians will be necessary. The new salary structure proposed by the National Joint Council for Local Authorities Services which ranks librarianship as a ‘second rate’ profession is likely to affect adversely recruitment to the library profession. As a long‐term policy to correct this situation it is suggested that the senior practitioners in librarianship of the future should be measured not by the ‘internal’ standards of the Library Association but by the ‘external’ standards of the universities. The author favours for future senior staff the integrated degree course on the style of that now provided by the University of Strathclyde supplemented by integrated courses in some of the existing non‐graduate schools of librarianship leading to Council for National Academic Awards degrees. The two‐year non‐graduate courses which will continue to train the bulk of staff for junior professional posts should also be ‘integrated’ courses; the Library Association should withdraw from examining, but should retain control of the Register, insisting on a much longer ‘probationary’ period between the passing of the examination and admission to the Register.

Purpose — The chapter seeks to examine the impact of neoliberal language on the library profession in the United Kingdom. Since New Labour's election in 1997 public service restructuring in the United Kingdom took on a more oblique managerialist and consumerist approach. The impact of managerialism in the public library service has focused mainly on modernising and improving services to the individual user, and is based on scenarios where public libraries have to model themselves on the private sector, and where managers have been empowered over professionals.

Design/methodology/approach — The chapter uses a mixed methods approach by combining content and discourse analysis to examine how neoliberal discourses have impacted on public librarianship through examination of government policy documents, and other works on public libraries in the era under study.

Findings — The study highlights neoliberal narratives within public library policy documents in the period, with emphasis on deprofessionalisation and consumerist attitudes related to public choice evident. The discussion reveals how narratives of elitism and decline are used to describe the public library service, which reinforces negative stereotypes of a service in distress.

Research limitations/implications — The study only relates to the period 1997–2010 with an emphasis on the United Kingdom, thus cannot be seen to be representative of all public library services.

Originality/value — The study utilises a mixed method approach to examine narratives within public library policy, and reflects on an important period in public library development, and offers a unique insight into the period.

To investigate senior library leaders' perceptions of leadership, and to critically explore whether senior librarians distinguish classic leadership from management/administrative practices, both conceptually and in their work lives.

Thirty top‐level public librarians from Ireland, Britain, and the east coast of the United States were selected for inclusion in this study. A review of the relevant literature was conducted in order to design an interview guide which was then used to conduct structured in‐depth face‐to‐face interviews.

Many responses from the senior librarians indicated an apparent ignorance of any distinction between leadership and management. Eighty per cent of respondents tended to confuse leadership with headship, management, administration, or bureaucracy, or a combination of these. The findings argue that classic leadership is a relatively scarce quality in public libraries in Britain, Ireland, and America. Many public library leaders, instead, focus on management/administration.

The findings have practical implications for librarians at the recruitment and selection stage, and later on for the career paths of middle management personnel who show aptitudes for leadership.

This study of the perceptions of senior public library leaders, across national boundaries, makes a theoretical contribution both to the limited extant literature on leadership in librarianship, and the broad corpus of organizational leadership literature. The current study is the most in‐depth study to date, drawing on thirty face‐to‐face interviews with thirty public library leaders.

The Conference season will shortly be upon us. No sooner have librarians returned from their holidays than they will be packing their bags again, either for Edinburgh, London, Hastings or Denmark. If they are Scotland‐bound, it will be the I.F.L.A. Conference that will be attracting them. Those coming to London will be concerned with the F.I.D. Conference to be held from 6 to 16 of September. This is rapidly followed by the Library Association's own conference at Hastings in the third week of September, and then some librarians will be on their way to Denmark for the Anglo‐Scandinavian meetings. Truly a gaggle of conferences all of a piece, but this happens to be an exceptional year. Not always do we have the pleasure of welcoming the I.F.L.A. and F.I.D. Conferences to this country, but we are delighted to have them and wish all delegates a happy and successful time. As for the Anglo‐Scandinavian Conference, that only takes place every four or five years, and this year it is the turn of Denmark to be the host country. We can be sure that our Danish colleagues will be excellent hosts, both during the meetings and for the library study tour that follows them.