The librarian's trademark skills remain the selection, organization, and retrieval of information. Reference questions have dipped in number but are more technical and time-consuming in nature. Catalogers operate in a more complex and shifting environment than ever before. With so much hardware and software to manage, a full-time position is now assigned to the task. More time is devoted to negotiating database contracts, grooming the CLIC catalog and the Web site, and working with information vendors to implement new products and services.
Resources are quick and easy to obtain with point-and click precision.
From a practical standpoint within the Library, little-used materials duplicated on the Web can be weeded to ease crowded shelves. Many of the indexes already chased from their tables will finally be weeded this spring, along with reference sources and government publications also left idling in favor of Internet alternatives. The remaining reference and index collections will then be integrated and shelved in a more visible location. Some aspects of the Internet's expanding importance raise legitimate concern. Web-based subscriptions are a significant and ongoing expense.