If reference desks are being dismantled as users turn increasingly to Google, collections downsized to make room for more user spaces, and traditional practices like acquisitions and cataloguing outsourced; and if, indeed, circulation clerks are being replaced by self-checkout/check-in machines and customers are invited to do more for and by themselves (vis-à-vis the library’s website), then what exactly are the public librarians who used to staff the reference desk, engage in acquisitions, and catalog materials now doing? Similarly, how are the clerical staff who work at the circulation desk being redeployed?
Come hear the results from a pan-Canadian survey conducted between 2013 and 2015 and updated with reflections on AI and robotics plus the responses of a new professional to all this change!
