Towards 100 years of educating the information professions at UCL SLAIS

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to introduce the theme of this special issue which contains a selection of papers written by the staff of UCL SLAIS. Design/methodology/approach – The history of the School is briefly described and its philosophy of taking a broad and inclusive approach to professional education is reviewed. Findings – There is considerable benefit to professional education in an institution which incorporates all branches of information work, and retains a sense of the value of traditional skills in tandem with an exploitation of new technologies. The contributors to this issue reflect this both by the range of disciplines which they represent and by the range of topics, from the most traditional to the most modern, and demonstrate the synergy between them. Originality/value – The article provides an introduction to the special issue and promotes the value of an inclusive approach to professional education in the information disciplines.