*waves back* It's great to be back. Kudos to you for helping to keep the flame alive during the lean years.

Thank you :) You make some very cogent points. I also think that it's not just about the technology but how it's used. For example, eBook readers. They could be used to disjoin novels due to our shortening attention span, but I find myself reading a good number of long 19th century novels on them.

Thank you! It's lovely to hear from you. I'd really like to visit the US again, but can't see it happening until 2014.

Hi Fran, thanks for the link to AIIP! The name of this association rings a vague bell, but it's really good to be reminded about it. Now about this: "what can a librarian do that someone with a Masters or more in an area can't?" It's a very interesting question. I've seen a trend happening in Canberra where some government departments are having a hard time filling vacant library positions with experienced librarians, and so they broaden the required qualification so that law graduates or people with a Masters can apply. Whether this is a good or idea really depends on the people who they select. But I do think, and maybe this is just my library-land bias, that somebody with a Masters may know an amazing amount about the area they specialize in, but they could really struggle with some of the left-field questions which people bring to their libraries. I think that strong generalist research skills is what good librarians bring to the table.

Thank you for both of these comments. I should emphasize that this is not necessarily a permanent change, and it’s still not definitely happening yet :) Cindy: My perspective as someone working in government libraries is that we may be protected from the outsourcing of library services in the short term, but we are not immune. After all, in the large government agency where I’m currently working, many HR and IT functions have been outsourced (resulting in poorer service - from my perspective). Because of this I look at the outsourcing developments in overseas firms with some trepidation. It’s only a matter of time before a major Australian firm tries this. I worry that it could be one of those penny-wise and pound-foolish decisions. If there is a proposal to reduce a firm’s research costs by x% - this may result in poorer research, with less local jurisdictional knowledge and changing to a purely transactional model (as opposed to developing a strong relationship with our clients so we will know that they need before they even ask us). But how can these drawbacks can quantified into dollars? Also, outsourcing is going against another trend I’ve seen lately in government where librarians get a seat at the table in major research projects. It seems more efficient to have us involved at the outset, than to bring us in at the last minute. On the other hand, I must confess I have daydreamed about providing research and current awareness services on a freelance basis. But I couldn’t imagine that working without accommodating online licensing from the 3 main legal publishers - and I can’t see them being very accommodating to sole traders or small operations. The publishers may be willing to make a deal with the larger international players - which is the face of outsourcing which is most threatening to me. I am worried that it’s in the interests of the larger players to commodify the work of librarians, marginalizing less quantifiable things such as local jurisdictional knowledge, quality, and strengthening ongoing relationships with our clients.