College Libraries: the Long Goodbye

By DENNIS DILLON

I was staring at the budget figures, trying to decide how much we could afford to spend on library books, when a conversation from a couple of weeks before came to mind.

I had been on the campus running trail when a familiar face appeared alongside me. It was Bob G., a professor of management. He began chatting about the university's overall financial situation and asked how the library was adjusting to recent cuts. Then he asked me whether I thought that my job would exist 10 years