Information services in academia:: The impact of changing technology

Technical developments such as the WWW, e-journals, end-user interfaces to databases, and economic factors (budget cuts, serials crisis) have had a dramatic influence on academic libraries in the last decade. Because databases and journals are now available at the chemist's bench, libraries are no longer indispensable for scientific information supply. Specialised academic departmental libraries are particularly affected and even threatened in their existence. They have to change their orientation from traditional holdings to services focussed on actual user needs. Technological changes must not be seen as threats, but incorporated to improve business procedures and services. In the academic environment, even snore emphasis must be put on support, training and education. For such activities, a mix of traditional and new teaching approaches such as computer-based training and multimedia learning materials on the web are needed. We discuss as an example the transformation of some special libraries at the ETH Zurich to the ETH Chemistry Biology Information Centre, its present organisation, and directions for the future.