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This paper deals with a few general issues concerning librarians' education and professional refresher training, and was inspired by a meditation on the deep changes that are taking place in the world of academic and research libraries. The subject has recently been addressed in a meeting held in Milan on November 22th-23th 2012 - “Stati generali dei professionisti del patrimonio culturale" (States-General of cultural workers) - promoted by MAB Italia. Also, it has become an hot topic after the recent approval of law no. 4 of January 14th 2013, Disposizioni in materia di professioni non organizzate (Rules on professions not governed by a professional order) which introduces new legal profiles for professionals not belonging to any professional order- librarians included. The paper makes a clear distinction between professional refresher training and higher education, claiming that technological and digital skills are essential for the profession, but have to be grounded on a broader and more structured cultural background that may help librarians to deal with the constant changes that all kinds of libraries are facing over and over today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]