Writing the reference vision statement

I'm starting to see the value of vision and mission statements. I'm not sure what that says about me, but it's where we've ended up in discussing the future of library reference. If you've been paying attention over the last few years, you're aware of the conversation going on in the profession in general (I'm not sure whether it's a debate yet, but it might be getting there).

The gist of it is that reference isn't dead, but the reference desk might be. There are a lot of suggestions about what should takes its place, but they tend to be long on generalities and short on specifics.

Try this as a thought experiment: if the reference desk had never existed, what might reference today look like instead?

And once you've done that, contemplate this: what might it look like in the future?

Then, take that and turn it into a vision statement.

That's what we're doing.