Walls around the electronic library Available to Purchase

This paper, based on an analysis of print and electronic discussions and on experience at ‘the front lines’ in collection development and reference in an American academic health science library, questions the wisdom of permitting visions of the electronic library to drive library budgets and strategic planning. To market these visions, librarians may promise more than they can deliver, given the harsh social and economic realities predicted to intensify over the next several decades. The electrification of the delivery of traditional products and services is inadequate in itself to respond proactively to the needs for new products and services. Identification of new solutions to emerging needs would make long‐range planning efforts more effective. The effort to identify and fulfil needed new roles to librarians and libraries demands new social and organizational concepts, in addition to technical expertise. The paper concludes with a proposed agenda for action.