Sproutedink's List: Library, Info Science, & Instruction Studies & Tools

The future of special collections is distribution. It hardly needs to be said
that digitization, and the ability to share digitized materials widely, is enacting a wholesale transformation on the work of special collections librarianship. It’s easy, in the quiet of the reading room, to imagine that special collections is somewhat immune from the challenges facing other areas of the profession; but, even if that were something to be hoped for, it would be a false hope. Special collections will increasingly serve an audience that does not, and in many cases need not, cross its
threshold. Changes in our base of users will necessitate changes in our methods of assisting those users, as well as changes in the kinds of materials we acquire and prioritize for conservation and digitization