Information dropshipping

The appearance of revolutionary information technologies must elicit equivalent responses from the library profession, if for no other reason than simply to provide services that are fast becoming desired and needed by users. Because the implications of the new technology also suggest the possible demise of libraries, it is incumbent on us to make a revolutionary response. Part of that response should be making accessible to the public the vast stores of hidden information and knowledge that lie beyond the purview of conventional publishers. Creating local online databases ‐ information dropshipping ‐ is an activity that public and academic libraries alike can implement because librarians routinely uncover little‐known caches of information and knowledge that would be of great interest to general and academic communities alike, if only they were made easily accessible. Until now, libraries have located themselves on the distribution side of information delivery, along with the wholesalers and retailers, the jobbers and bookstores. We now have a choice. We can refashion our profession and create a new domain on the production side of knowledge and information that was once reserved for publishers.