Libraries will never have comprehensive collections in today's publishing and media landscape. While the ability of searchers to discover content via metadata continues to improve by leaps and bounds, retrieval is rapidly losing ground. Libraries are collecting less, interlibrary loan is less effective today than in the 20th century, and searchers are looking for things that have never been collected by libraries. Reference services need to address the direct-to-consumer download market emerging outside their traditional sphere of influence. Sometimes the best answer to a reference question is "you can buy it here."
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