Why the world needs Government Documents Librarians

August 22, 2012

A new article about the role of government documents librarians by Michael Steeleworthy, the Government Information Librarian at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Since the Government of Canada’s vague announcement in Spring 2012 that it will no longer publish documents in print form after 2014, many people inside and outside of our profession have asked me if I think there will still be a place for government documents librarians in academic libraries in, say, five to ten years. Their suspicion is based presumably on the idea that since the government documents print collection will atrophy, so will the Government Documents Librarian. I’m not buying it, and neither should you.

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We are venturing into new territory with government documents, people. When you don’t have a map that gives the lie of the land, you turn to a guide. And that’s your government documents librarian.