Brian T.Sullivan of Alfred University in new york said in an article entitled "Autopsy Report of Libraries in 2050" published on 20 1 1 that academic libraries are dead. Although it began to seek medical advice very early, it brazenly denied the increasingly serious condition, making it terminally ill and then dying. The academic library died alone, and the world that once respected it as the "heart of the university" has almost forgotten it at this moment. When it is dying, you can hear it cursing Google in a low voice and muttering a library prophet named "Ranganathan". This paper expounds the crisis of the library from six aspects: the books in the collection are neglected, the unnecessary library training, the information literacy entering the university curriculum, the library and librarians entering the information technology department, the disappearance of the reference service, and the economy defeating the quality. If we don't take action now, the library will really die.

On September 20 1 1, the Library Committee of Harvard University approved the reorganization plan of 73 libraries in the university. Under the name of "Harvard University Library", 73 libraries will be divided into five groups according to their collection requirements, contents, service areas and specific activities to improve cooperation and efficiency among libraries.

The website of Oxford University Press once published a group of survey data of American librarians, which reflected the changes of this profession in the past 100 years. Judging from the number of librarians, since 1880, the number of librarians has been increasing, reaching its peak in the 20th century, exceeding 300,000. In 2009, it was 2 12742, which was equivalent to 1974, but it was nearly 654,380+ten thousand less than 1990. The development history of American librarianship makes us feel that the crisis of libraries, especially professional libraries (including research libraries) may really come. The domestic situation is also not optimistic. 20 10 people's daily and several websites reported the challenges faced by the library with the topic of "the library is in a dilemma of transformation". The article points out that social changes are changing with each passing day, information channels are diverse, digital reading and online reading are in the ascendant, the traditional functions of libraries are gradually losing their appeal, and the "foundation of life" is seriously impacted; At the same time, some libraries have problems such as single function, outdated collections, bloated staff and low efficiency, which can be described as internal troubles and foreign invasion. 20 1 1 In August, at the annual meeting of the Library Society of China Branch of the Professional Library, Zhang Xiaolin, director of the National Science Library, reported that "Subverting the General Trend of Digital Libraries" caused a storm. Director Zhang Xiaolin pointed out: "The changes in the library in the past five years have exceeded those in the previous 100 years, and the changes in the next five years will make the changes in the past five years insignificant. Disruptvie Technologies is helpful to create new value and open up new markets, and gradually or rapidly subvert the original market structure and replace the original technology. For example, the number of libraries is marginalized by Google, the periodical collections of libraries are replaced by electronic periodical databases, and the reference service is challenged by online encyclopedia and information services. " The challenges faced by libraries are all-round, and digital libraries are not safe havens. 201265438+1October 20th, at the forum of "the present and future of knowledge service", Director Zhang Xiaolin pointed out: "It's not that readers don't need libraries, but that readers no longer need traditional libraries, but new ones that are more suitable for their new needs in today's fundamentally changed information environment. If the library sticks to the tradition and cannot adapt to the transformation, it may be marginalized or even abandoned by readers. " In a word, in the face of the rapidly changing society, public libraries and university libraries may exist in the traditional way for some time, but for professional libraries, the crisis has really come.