Why we won't be here in 20 years

[Richard R. Dupont]

.  When asked how they plan to proceed with their
> research, they answer "Oh, I'll find it on the Internet." Despite
> years of our efforts, reference books and periodical indices
> (digital or printed) do not even occur to them.

Well, as a reference librarian in a small, liberal arts college, I can only
say that I have run into a number of students so far who have come to the
library for assistance after spending a frustrating "umpteen" hours on the
Internet trying to find something.  All the hype notwithstanding, anyone
who has seriously tried to do research on the Internet, IMHO, soon
discovers that it is a vast sea of semi-organized information.  I find that
this information can be useful as a supplement to those who need data from
peer-reviewed journals more than anything else.  Of course, one must search
a bibliographic data base for that.  (Interestingly enough, students now
seem to refer to any information retrieved from a computer as the
Internet.)

IMO, we'll still be here 20 years from now although we may not be called
"librarians" and our profession may be redefined.  The reasons for this are
that, despite the revolution in technology that we have seen so far,
information, to be useful, still needs to be 1)organized and 2) retrieved. 
In almost 20 years of reference work, I have not yet found a scientist,
researcher, business person, or student, who thinks nos. 1 & 2 are cool and
would rather be doing those than his or her primary preoccupation in life. 
Organization and retrieval are what librarians love to do, do best, and get
paid for doing it.  Everyone else has neither the skills, interest, nor
time to do either.

Richard Dupont
Evangel College
Springfield, Missouri, USA