The Future of the Academic Library and the Academic Librarian--A Delphi Study.

This Delphi study examined what the role of an academic library will be and what skills an academic librarian will need in the year 2005. The study involved two rounds of questions and was conducted between December 1998 and April 1999. Responses were received from 23 experts in 10 countries. In the first round of the study, the experts were asked to answer open-type questions, and the following common issues were identified: (1) impact factors--finance policy, information technology progress, changes in higher education, cooperation/regionalization, and law regulations/public issues; (2) library activities--involvement in teaching/education, information management/access, building collections and making them accessible, managing, creating electronic libraries, cooperation/resource sharing, support for research/reference, and social activities; (3) skills of librarians--communication/training, information technology, managerial, commitment, and subject knowledge/profiling; and (4) problems with new technologies/electronic media--managing electronic information, dealing with change, legal, finance, people, and competitiveness. Based on analysis of first-round results, the second questionnaire was prepared containing 12 closed-type and one open-type question. A vision of the academic library, library activities, and librarians in the year 2005 was formulated. Appendices include: an outline of issues appearing in answers to first-round questions; the second-round questionnaire; and a list of experts surveyed. (MES)