Future researchers

The British Library/JISC sponsored report entitled "information behaviour of the researcher of the future" (maybe not so distant future?) is a worthy read for any librarian. I have long contended that we are in a transitional time and one wonders what the tipping point will be. The report states (on page 16):

Although research libraries spend
millions of pounds providing seamless desktop access to
expensive copyrighted electronic content: journals,
books and monographs, much of this is news to their
users. Either they do not know that the library provides
this material, or they get to it, possibly via Google, and
assume it’s `free’. Libraries are increasingly between a
rock and a hard place: the publisher or search engine
gets the credit, they just pick up the tab.

There is plenty of fodder in this report for those looking at information literacy/information seeking behavior and how academic libraries can play a role. The report describes a horizontal searching - flicking from page to page - skimming off information and using library sites as jumping off points - never to return (during the search). One of the recommendations in this report is to "make simplicity [our] core mission".

We need to open up our digital content to search engines and thus become a destination not simply a pass through.