Bold Talk, Bold Action: Meeting Changing User Needs

Abstract

This keynote address emphasizes the continuing evolution of libraries from fixed physical sites to complete integration within their communities. The author reviews recent changes in users’ needs and speculates on demands that will emerge in the near future. She uses case studies of library and information services that support academic communities, including the recent emergence of research/scholars commons that reflect the recognition that faculty and graduate students require services that are distinctly different than those needed by undergraduate students. The author also discusses currently emerging research management support systems that are being developed and delivered in collaboration with other campus entities and speculate on what demands might be in the offing and how they can be met best by developing new models such as those in which librarians and other information professionals are sited within the users’ physical facilities or embedded electronically through web-based services and that require new skills and expertise.