Internet and Reference Services: Implications for Academic Libraries

Abstract

Awareness and availability of information resources on the Internet, the electronic network of networks, have soared in recent years. In the process of considering the potential benefits and costs of using the Internet to access library catalogues, academic libraries discovered the existence of a new world of scholarly communication and remote information access. To take advantage of the valuable resources that are available, primarily through the efforts of research institutions and mostly in the United States, many university and college librarians are now addressing the issues of connecting to the Internet: learning to use the network, identifying resources, and educating and training users.