VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM — PART ONE

Information and Society is the topic of a new course that was taught over one semester at the Department of Library and Information Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University at the beginning of the year. The course covers the definition of the information society; historical perspectives; industrialisation of society and the concept of a post‐industrial society; scenarios for the future; forecasting social and technological change; demographics; trends in research and development for LIS; the virtual librarian; and implications for professional education and continuing development.