I only considered librarianship after the Internet started gaining popularity. It is impossible to have available in one small collection all the print materials that local customers might need. The wealth of online resources and giving guidance in Internet use were my ultimate motivations to start library school after 20 years of teaching kids. Although most of our local customers do not have Web access, such access is increasing.
I was in the second class at UT Austin for the new course "Understanding and Meeting User Needs." It amazed me that such a course was still evolving. I appreciated the warning about reliance on user education.
I believe in continuous improvement of what we offer. Field testing and concomitant modifications will surely be more productive than designing products simply based on anticipation of user needs and inclinations.
Regarding improved bibliographic services, I eagerly await such improvements. A few years ago I was happy to discover that WorldCat is much more effective than SAPL's OPAC at finding relevant SAPL materials.
I love the idea of library as "knowledge spa"!
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