Towards a New Paradigm in Map and Spatial Information Librarianship

Evaluating Map and Geospatial Academic Library Position Descriptions

“…According to Bidney and Piekielek, there have been three "paradigm shifts" in map librarianship. 20 The first occurred approximately in 1992, when the Association for Research Libraries (ARL) joined forces with the producer of ArcGIS software, Esri, to initiate the Geographic Information System Literacy project. 21 The purpose of this collaboration was to support librarians as they became a trusted source for dissemination of spatial data.…”

“…20 The first occurred approximately in 1992, when the Association for Research Libraries (ARL) joined forces with the producer of ArcGIS software, Esri, to initiate the Geographic Information System Literacy project. 21 The purpose of this collaboration was to support librarians as they became a trusted source for dissemination of spatial data. This marked a somewhat official beginning of GIS support in academic libraries.…”

The Provision and Sustainability of GIS Services

“…The first paradigm started in early 1990 with the introduction of availability of digital census data and the ARL GIS Literacy Project ushering in the ability for academic libraries to begin introducing GIS services; the second paradigm shift coincided with the massive digitization of library print cartographic collection starting in early 2000s. Now we are in the middle of third paradigm shift (Bidney & Piekielek, 2018). This shift, the authors argue: "...marked a transition from looking at print cartographic collections as objects to digitize and make available to the world, to looking at collections (regardless of format or ownership) as critical information resources that contribute to the multi-and inter-disciplinary research environmentsometimes even as the key to pulling together understanding from different disciplines in the sense of geographic space as an integrator of disciplinary knowledge" (2018).…”