Changing roles in information dissemination and education - Expectations for academic library Web-based services

The World Wide Web is changing the face of today's academic libraries, that is, the way in which we use them and how we give value to them. In this ar ticle, the author explains what the Web means to the academic library and w hy it has become worthy of consideration. Ne shows that the Web will have a great impact on the library, whether the library wants it to or not, and t hat this impact will in large part be dictated to the library by forces bot h technologically and socially based and, therefore, beyond the library's o verall control. Some consequences that the author sees of attempting to ign ore Web technology or providing inadequate resources to it are discussed as well. Finally, he presents some of his observations on how The Web is chan ging the balance between the library as provider of information and teachin g faculty as providers of education.