Blog about Libraries

First off, thanks for the invite to your blog. Hey Ned, I'm Mike.

I read thru your post about competition -- who are we competing against, etc. Lately here, we've been talking (that's what librarians do, man) about "trends" that are important to the future of libraries. All of this is in the quest to determine "what kind of librarian will we need in 5-10 years". Interesting stuff. I came out with a series of economic statements about competition and our advantages and disadvantages.

I said that the library will lead the university in a convergence of resources, repositories, teaching & learning tools, and discovery tools (federated, of course), because no other agency on campus sees the need or has the means. I think that this takes place in a competitive environment. If we recognize that the above statement is true, then we will pursue if it is in the primary business model of the library. I mean, I'm not advocating that we pursue lecturing students on bioethics...that's already covered and we would suffer a massive competitive disadvantage. But in this area of resources, organization of info, teaching & learning support and discovery...we da man!