ABSTRACT
The library and information services (LIS) into which networked information is being steadily introduced are not all the same. Their variety has arisen out of their different histories from their creation to the present day, and the key to understanding this variation lies in appreciating the different paths that their development has followed. These can best be illuminated in terms of identifiable events, pressures, and imperatives shaping groups of cognate institutions. Library and information workers, moreover, are not all the same nor have their characteristics remained static through time: steady professionalization has brought about considerable changes in knowledge, skills, status and role.
