That's the title of the article in the April 20, 2007 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. Well, are they or aren't they? In the article some surveys have indicated that students want the traditional reference desk while others have the opposite result. Is that such a surprise?? University campuses are different. Libraries can be different too. What works in one library will not always work in another.
The article also talks about using library clerical workers to staff the reference desk. So where are they getting all of these clerical workers? Are they hiring more staff to work the desk? I doubt it. Most likely they are pulling staff from other areas and having them work some hours on the desk. So it's not the reference desk that's dying, it's the use of librarians staffing the reference desk.
Maybe we should rename the reference desk to service desk. That would be more appropriate and correct.
