The issues That we have switched focus from the online catalogue to the web is very clear from the WILU program as the majority of the sessions are related in some way to web instruction and services. It is my sense that resources, housed in the bricks and mortar library, and that are accessible in the online catalogue have become unfashionable. If it is not on the web, it does not exist in the eyes of many of our students. In discussing the student reliance on Web resources, my husband who is a research scientist pointed out that in his field there have been several embarrassing and wasteful examples where appropriate literature searching was not done. He cites the example of a classic publication on rat reproduction in the 1922 Memoirs of the University of California where the work was later reproduced and thought to be 'original' much to the embarrassment of the later authors.
Information literacy means more than surfing the Web.
I strongly suggest that in a Web world these traditional services are key to meeting the growing expectations for 'value for tuition dollars' by our undergraduates in particular, as they face increasing tuition costs. My vision I prefer to market a vision of a truely integrated service delivery based on the online library catalogue which I suggest should reflect all resources, regardless of media, including the 'best' of the Web. Our traditional roles and services must evolve in order to deliver that integrated service. Collections development and selection of Web resources Traditionally the domain of collections librarians or subject specialists, collections development has largely revolved around the expenditure of the library acquisitions budget. Much agonizing continues to take place as precious dollars are devoted to finding the very best resources, including costly web resources, to support specific course needs.