Leveraging the Wave

Abstract

Summary Futurists envision a virtual world in which networked information supplants traditional library structures and collections. In today's reality, however, technology does not supplant, but supplements traditional means of scholarship and communication. Academic libraries currently house both the old and the new, and librarians are expected to provide links among changing formats while teaching users to utilize the tools available to them. When such a teaching mission is coupled with an increasingly technological orientation and the need for absolute fiscal responsibility, hard choices must be made. Reference librarians move from the desk to the bibliographic instruction room, and the class-room. Long-standing subscriptions to traditional indexes and tools are replaced by more accessible electronic versions, while institutional access to journal titles no longer resides solely on the library's shelves. External factors like institutional mission, departmental infrastructure, and the availability of resources can determine the ease with which the reference librarian can stay afloat in the vast sea of technological change, and may influence the direction of flow, but ultimately it is the flexibility, resourcefulness and creativity of the librarian that will determine whether the library's contribution is of lasting value, or not.