This is NOT the Future of Libraries – So what are we going to do about it?

We need to lobby our professional organizations for them to speak up against the demise of our profession

We need to find a voice within our own communities, to assert our expertise, to retain what we value most about our areas of specialization

We need to engage our faculty in each of our communities, inform them and keep them abreast of what is happening. They too are concerned but if they don’t hear about what is happening, we will not have their support.

We need to collectively support each other and the reputation of academic librarianship and its role at academic institutions – for the primary sake of preserving our institutions and academic freedom in research and teaching.

True, academic librarianship is changing, we all know that – in fact, this is old news. What is really happening is that financial priorities are determining how librarianship is being defined by those who lead. Next, financial priorities will determine the content of our collections, resources and, in turn, damage our ability to excel in research and teaching.

So, what are we going to do about this? Complain, grumble or what? If you have thoughts, ideas, contact members in our professional organizations, your supervisors, your representatives on the UTFA Librarians Committee. We want to hear from you.