Forging the academic library ahead

While academic degree-granting universities have been with us since the ninth century, the academic library is fairly recent. The first academic libraries only began to emerge in the late 1500's and soon established their place as a vital and unique institution in the university. Its role has largely remained unchanged over the centuries as the guarantor of the organized collection of printed and/or other content, with a staff trained to support the learning, teaching and research needs and output of the university and community, an agreed schedule in which services are available, and the physical facilities necessary to support this. With the advent of the web and new social networking tools, the community is beginning to question the role that the academic library now plays in acquiring, managing and delivering information.