The Future of Librarianship in Science and Technology Libraries

Librarians, especially subject specialists in academic sci-tech libraries, appear to be facing a very perilous predicament. Two of their major job responsibilities, developing subject collections and providing face-to-face reference service, are in rapid decline. Budget cuts, publisher packages for books and a transition to cost-per-use evaluations for journal subscriptions all clearly diminish the need for active collection development. Meanwhile, because of changes in information-gathering habits, users increasingly approach reference librarians as a last resort.