Scholar or Librarian? How Academic Libraries' Dualistic Concept of the Bibliographer Affects Recruitment

The early 1990s are not the best of times to operate an academic library collection management unit. Financial woes abound: the escalating cost of materials (particularly serials), the continued proliferation of print sources, and the explosive development of expensive electronic media all conspire to increase the pressure on already strained acquisitions budgets. The problems are not exclusively fiscal, however. There appears to be a new and growing personnel problem: the difficulty of recruiting capable collection management staff.