I've been pondering the Top Ten Assumptions for the future of academic and research libraries released about a month ago by the ACRL Research Committee.

On reading it, my reaction was, Is that all? I was hoping for something more insightful. Some of these statements are rather bland, for example, The skill set for librarians will continue to evolve in response to the needs and expectations of the changing populations (student and faculty) that they serve. and The demand for technology related services will grow and require additional funding. It's difficult to argue with these statements. The problem is, they could have been written a decade ago.

I'm not even sure that I agree with the skill set item. It's not so much the changing population that will inspire evolving skill sets for librarians, but the changing information culture used by this population. I suppose it's a matter of emphasis.

I listened to the podcast interview of James Mullins, committee chair, and Pamela Snelson, ACRL President, and was surprised to learn that it took the committee a year to come up with this list. I was surprised because of what the committee left out after all their careful work. I'd be interested to see which assumptions were raised by committee members that didn't make the top ten.

Maybe part of the problem is that many of these statements are so general that it's difficult to understand what is implied.

Here are a few of the assumptions I wish had been addressed:

• Social scholarship will transform the scholarly enterprise and will impact the nature of library services.
• Libraries will develop strategies for preserving the artifacts of social scholarship.
• Libraries will incorporate Web 2.0 features into their networked spaces.
• The competition for students and faculty use of research materials will intensify.
• The competition for student and faculty use of library services will intensify.
• The provision of library services on external networked spaces will become commonplace.

That's six items, right off the top of my head. If I had to choose one of these to add to the ACRL list, I'd pick the first one. Most of the others could fall under its umbrella.

I'm appreciative that the Research Committee is inviting comments until April 30. I responded.