Library 2.0 turns the role of academic librarians on its head. In the Library 2.0 world view, user needs, preferences, practices, comfort zones, interests and skills in their handling of information converge to drive library services. Their participation in the creation and use of these services forges the library. Ultimately, users become our peers.

What could be farther from the bedrock of academic librarian reality? We are the instructors, the trainers. We are the expert searchers, the guides to researchers, the information evaluators, the critical thinkers. We are the prescribers, the this-is-how-to-do-it-ers. We are the information owners, approvers, classifiers, use-our-materials cheerleaders. We are the Web guide creators, the selective linkers. We are the answer-all-questioners, the we-know-besters.

There is so much value in what we do, but the problem lies in the terms. Do we have the collective will to close the gap between our history and our future?