New information technologies have begun to help librarians transfer their routine procedures and tasks to nonprofessional staff and library users, which allows them to begin to be relieved from the boredom of glorified clerical work. Developments in information technology also allow librarians to see their work from new and different perspectives. The signs of shifting trends are evident everywhere: name changes of library schools; increasing numbers of library school graduates pursuing nontraditional areas of library service; an urgent need to establish a unified concept of information professionals whose identity will be established through education, training, and practice; and a new emphasis on defining minimum competencies of information professionals to be validated by peer review. Education and training requirements can be established by comparing the required competencies in the workplace against those being provided through education and training. As deinstitutionalized information consultants, librarians have an opportunity to market their expert knowledge and skills to people who know the difference. New roles and functions for librarians include information consultants and producers; information gatekeepers and intermediators; end-user educators; managers and leaders; data analysts in data administration centers; preservers of knowledge; and information equalizers. It appears that the role of a client-centered, deinstitutionalized librarian will increase the professional status of librarianship. The private information consultant may serve as a model by which employers and information users can measure the performance of the institutionalized librarians. (THC)