Machine Help and Human Help in the Emerging Digital Library

Ronald J. Heckart

Abstract

As the infrastructure of the digital library takes shape, a range of trends is gradually leading to the disappearance of human help in patron interactions. Taking the place of human help are ever more sophisticated types of machine help. This paper reviews these trends, posits a future scenario of almost total reliance on machine help, and explores implications and policy options for the profession.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.59.3.250
Copyright Copyright © The Author(s)


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