Librarianship: from collections control to tools understanding.

Purpose — To contribute to and evoke ongoing reflections on librarians' professional identity, i.e. librarianship. Inherent hereto is a questioning of the feasibility of collections and collections control as basic constituents hereof. Instead, it is argued that an inquiry into proprieties of librarians' actual and potential tools allows for establishing firmer grounds for present and future librarianship. Design/methodology/approach — In a number of analytical steps, the concept of librarianship is deconstructed. Findings — Collections and collections control are shown to equal conceptual quicksand for librarianship at a time where access to information is largely outside librarians' control. Alternatively, an understanding of actual and potential librarians' tools may potentially provide firmer conceptual basis. Practical implications — It is suggested that librarians are to reflect critically on the appropriateness of actual and potential tools applied. Originality/value — Questions whether collections and collections control constitute a feasible primary constituent for librarianship. Suggests, instead, that firmer conceptual grounds for librarianship are to be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]