1985 to 1995 : The Next Decade in

This article is based closely on a working paper commissioned by the Academic and Research Libraries Personnel Study Group of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a divi. sian of the American Library Association. Its purpose is to "explore the implications of the changes to be expected within the foreseeable future (1985-95) in the environment, mission, functions, and operations of academic libraries (from junior colleges to large research universities) on librarians and librarianship." [Letter of January 25, 1984, from Page Ackerman, chair of the study group, to the author.] The author has been asked to maintain a focus on working librarians, not chief administrators. Current views and forecasts about the future of academic librarianship cover a very wide spectrum, from the apathetic to the desperate and frenetic. Fortunately, calm and reasoned considerations can also be found; it is believed that these form a sound basis for future programs and actions by ACRL. Although we are passing through an era of very rapid technical change, the author has chosen to focus upon certain constants in scholarship and education. In planning for the future, the author counsels care and thoughtfulness coupled with reasonable dispatch and avoidance of promises of panacea.