The Future of Reference, Cataloging, and Scholarship in Research Libraries

Today the Chronicle of Higher Education has a story about a study done by Thomas Mann, the author of The Oxford Guide to Library Research, who describes the differences between scholarly research and quick information seeking. He uses a specific information request to look at how librarians catalog and find information, as well as how quick searching can miss important information. In the conclusion of the study (pdf) he states that "We need to make the best possible use of our principles, our experience, our tested practices, and our technologies, and not yield to the temptations to let either the technologies themselves or transient fashions constrict our vision of what needs to be done to promote scholarship of the highest possible quality".