The future of reference librarianship as a viable and essential part of the library depends on developing a proactive, participatory, and hands-on approach to automation. This book pulls together the most important elements of change likely to influence library information services and explains them clearly. It covers both the conceptual context and practical real-life implementations of current automation in reference services. The automation technologies include OPACs, CD-ROM, international networks, expert systems, natural language processing, and virtual reality.

In addition to helping people find information, reference librarians also perform another service: the comprehension and understanding of the operative connections between and route to information. It necessitates an unrelenting exploration and immersion within the world information matrix to maintain currency and knowledge. The author shows how reference librarians have in the past and will in the future take a leading role in adapting automation to reference services.