Shrinking budgets, curtailed hours, closed branches ... libraries appear to be an endangered species. These essays take a critical look at the megatrends and factors that affect current library policy and practice regarding the process of delivering information services. They offer historical and cultural contexts, as well as practical solutions for new paradigms of reference service for all users-- (Source of description not identified).

Referencing the future / Katie Elson Anderson and Vibiana Bowman Cvetkovic -- A history of reference / Julie M. Still -- Terrorism, privacy, and porn : reference ethics in the twenty-first century / Zara Wilkinson and Vibiana Bowman Cvetkovic -- The real reference revolution : the digital library user / Susan J. Beck -- Reference service trends and forecasts for academic librarianship / Gary Golden -- The state of reference in school libraries / Lawrence V. Ghezzi and Walter Johnson -- The future of public library reference / Justin Hoenke -- The central image : the future of reference in academic arts libraries / Sara Harrington -- Whither libraries? : user-driven changes in the future of reference / John Gibson -- Future world : strategic challenges for reference in the coming decade / Stephen Abram -- LibraryNext : reference in 2052 / John Gibson.