Academic libraries in the twenty-first century

Libraries were the center of academic institutions for decades. The library was the place where the academic community came to look for information. Academic libraries were the places where information was stored and resided for everyone to come and make use of it. As new technology became available, and as the Internet began to make its presence felt, academic libraries have had to struggle to maintain that position within their academic institutions. The fiscal environment that now permeates through higher education has also had an enormous impact on the way that academic libraries function and operate and, along with technology, has redefined the library’s workforce and how it functions as the delivery of services and programs has been – and continues to be – transformed.