High Touch, High Tech or High Noon? The Cost and Promise of Building Collaborative Networks

摘要

The explosion of information and the popularity of the Internet and commercial search engines have required librarians to look afresh at their profession. With the overwhelming amount of information now available has come new demands and expectations. The need to bring information to the remote patron has encouraged the creation of many innovative services linking new technology with traditional library services. How do librarians create services that will both meet demand and revitalize the profession? How do we take the reference desk to cyberspace? How do we satisfy patron requests at point of need? The Collaborative Digital Reference Service (CDRS) launched by the Library of Congress and partner libraries is one such response. CDRS provides professional reference service to users anytime anywhere through an international digital network of libraries. This paper recounts how CDRS began and what lies ahead for this and service, and addresses some of the challenges inherent in building new reference services.