The work of libraries and librarians in academic institutions has been evolving in ways that are leading to a radically different concept of the field. While we still have large paper-based collections, increasingly we are focused on digital materials of all sorts, leased access to resources held on servers around the world, and on the management of campus digital assets that may not even be owned by the library, such as faculty research data, classroom lecture capture videos, digital administrative records, student portfolios, and more. And while we still house library staff in physical buildings, those staff are found more and more to be operating and delivering services outside the building: via digital delivery to the desktop, email and online conferencing, social network sites, research consultations in faculty offices, instruction in the classroom, medical informatics through a smartphone, or shared duty at IT help desks. So collections are de-centered and librarians and technicians are dis-located; can we define our roles when "there is no there there?"
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