Academic Librarianship – A Dying Profession or An Omen…?

According to Jeff Trzeciak, he told an audience that future libraries will no longer need academic librarians, during his presentation at Penn State University, on YouTube (slide 56):

http://live.libraries.psu.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=c16bf3c92af14d76a316a5acb5faa0af

Last time, he made similar announcements, we saw turmoil at McMaster University Library and the subsequent unionizing of their academic librarians.

Jeff Trzeciak views are not shared by most academic librarians nor our professional associations (ACRL, ARL, CAUT, OLA, ALA, etc.) although, for administrators it has fiscal advantages, as we all know. Our own libraries at the University of Toronto have been hiring non-librarians to do what has traditionally been done by librarians or academic librarians who work in USW positions, this is happening right now. We think the community needs to be informed, reflect on the long-term impact of such trends for the institution, and, in the process, articulate what we mean by academic librarianship. What makes academic librarians different from technicians? Have you thought about this? If not, you should, because administrators are moving in this direction. Here are some thoughts on Jeff Trzeciak’s views from your colleagues:

Jenica Rogers http://www.attemptingelegance.com/?p=1031

New Jack Librarian http://librarian.newjackalmanac.ca/2011/04/cassandra-and-future-of-libraries.html

And others:

http://tinyurl.com/3vexugk

http://jambina.com/blog/this-is-not-the-future-of-libraries/

http://freerangelibrarian.com/2011/04/10/thoroughly-modern-karen/

http://tinyurl.com/3u28pnn

http://senseandref.blogspot.com/2011/04/shut-up-jeff.html

http://www.miskatonic.org/2011/04/12/code4lib-vs-the-fud