How often do you hear of librarians who never venture out of the library to meet with users? How many librarians cling to cataloguing and classification but pay little attention to any in-depth indexing, content analysis or abstracting services? How much so called reference work is glorified signposting? Those librarians who undertake the major tasks well are invaluable. Those who hide behind the professional guise but in fact cling to process and procedures do not add value to any library or indeed the profession
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As a profession we think of information and reference services as core to our work. […] I often ask myself, why was it not librarians who set up Ask Jeeves as a company? We all know its limitations, sometimes we scoff at its simplicity. But we did nothing. Where is the get up and go?
Brindley, L. (2001). What use are Librarians in Relay, Journal of the University College and Research Group of the LA. Disponível em http://www.ucrg.org.uk/publications/relay51.pdf
Na altura directora da British Library