As I’ve been working on some projects about marketing for libraries, I came across OCLC’s 2010 Perceptions of Libraries report, which states that the Library’s brand is, wait for it… books.
Scholarly communication reform, data management, GIS, electronic resources (ok, so, some of them are books) and people (even ones who were born way after we started doing all this new stuff) still only think books when you mention the library.
How did we get there? Or, perhaps the better question is: how have we never left?
This is most disturbing to me, because when I read stories about great new projects that are all about improving web searches for students, I naturally assume that this must be librarian-driven, or, at least involve librarians. They rarely do.
Where does this leave librarians?
Are we to end up being merely the people who sign the checks to pay for licensed electronic resources? Aren’t we better than that?