It has become increasingly accepted that important digital data must be retained and shared in order to preserve and promote knowledge, advance research in and across all disciplines of scholarly endeavor, and maximize the return on investment of public funds. To meet this challenge, colleges and universities are adding data services to existing infrastructures by drawing on the expertise of information professionals who are already involved in the acquisition, management and preservation of da…
This wide-ranging survey takes stock of our institutions' strengths, weak- nesses, opportunities, and threats, analyzing how libraries and the very concept of librarianship have been comprehensively transformed over the past few decades. Woodward pro- vides a balanced, realistic assessment of the situation that confronts both libraries and information professionals. In an assessment that proves both provocative and stimulating, she examines the key technological and economic developments that …