Stuck in the past.(OFFICE HOURS)(Viewpoint essay)

"I LIKE BOOKS." THIS IS ONE answer to the introductory question I ask when meeting a class for the first time: "What brings you to librarianship?" The answers vary just as LIS students do, whether they're recent college graduates or those returning to school for a second career in libraries. The "books" answer begs the question, "Do you mean the content or the container?" Students starting graduate school who Want to work in libraries with stacks filled with books may be aiming for the wrong profession.

Archives and rare books collections will always need librarians to curate and preserve, but the shift within public and academic libraries of late may mean a very different set of duties not revolving entirely around the containers so many of us love.

At a recent …