Sci-Tech Libraries of the Future

What will future sci-tech libraries be like? Who will be the key players? In this insightful volume, leaders in sci-tech librarianship reflect on their years in the profession and predict how the sci-tech library will look ten years from now. Sci-Tech Libraries of the Future takes a close look at the present revolution in the communication of scientific information and how technology has transformed the process of knowledge delivery and acquisitions. It prepares libraries to react to new channels of scholarly communication that in the future may challenge the viability of the research library. Most importantly, it emphasizes how the rapid pace of change in science, communication, and computers has pushed libraries to aggressively seek to become central to the knowledge formation and transfer process--just to survive. These provocative chapters reveal how sci-tech librarians need to work with scientists and engineers to understand their changing information needs and to participate in the planning and development of new information systems.Sci-Tech Libraries of the Future examines all areas of the scientific process that will be affected by change--the way research is conducted, communicated, transferred, stored, and delivered. The changes discussed in this book encompass researchers, librarians, information managers, publishers, and users. Some of the important topics discussed include an in-depth analysis of the information needs of science and engineering and how to best develop the electronic means to meet them; leadership challenges in the future electronic, computer, or virtual library; concern over the quality of information services for scientists delivered by non-scientist librarians; a ten-year prediction for sci-tech librarians and sci-tech publishers; the science library building of the future; the impact of increasingly interdisciplinary scientific research; the effect of federal policy on sci-tech libraries; and the impact of "faxiblity" of journal articles on sci-tech libraries. This valuable book reveals how essential it is that sci-tech libraries respond to these changes and the need for science librarians to work closely with scientists, engineers, publishers, vendors, and users by collaborating to link resources with users. Sci-tech libraries must prepare now for the future. Sci-Tech Libraries of the Future aids them in planning and developing effective information systems that will provide information conveniently and cost-effectively in the future.