Editor's Introduction: A Haven of Calm

The recession has had an enormous impact on a range of industries in the past year. For reference publishers, however, the challenge began long before the market crashed.

Browsing through the old copies of LJ's Reference Announcements supplement is one sure way to see how the more things change, the more they stay the same. In the now distant 1999, we wrote about the Internet transforming reference practices “daily if not hourly.” In 2001, we quoted a collection development librarian proclaiming at an American Library Association conference that print reference “may not be long for this world.” In 2004, librarians stepped up demand for more flexibility and value when purchasing e-products. And in last year's edition, publishers and librarians envisioned Reference 3.0 as a place that is “totally virtual” and filled with mind-boggling possibilities, thus raising the bar once again and asking more of themselves as well as those with whom they collaborate.

Such discussions ensued in 2009, with reference publishers still debating about which formats are dead and which are viable, what models are broken and what works, who's buying reference and who's not. Similarly, reference librarians have had their share of issues to grapple with, as various technologies continue to shake the core of what they do.

Reference 2010 could have increased tensions on the front lines by being filled with phrases like “budget cuts,” “slow print sales,” “the threat of free web sites,” “cancellations,” “shrinking industry,” and more. But that would have been only too familiar, and it would have done little to help us all move forward.

That kind of dialog is still necessary in LJ. It is just as important, however, for LJ to challenge readers' assumptions, as well as to celebrate the achievements of an industry in flux.

That's why we asked both a reference librarian, David Shumaker and a reference publisher, Karen Christensen , to weigh in on their own actions (and inactions) and suggest ways in which both professions can change for the better. We also take a range of e-products for a rigorous test drive in Julie Zamostny's thorough E-Reference Ratings update of the social sciences. Finally, we call your attention to hundreds of forthcoming resources—print and electronic—singling out publishers and products that are weathering the storm with clarity and vision.

The storm isn't over yet, but, in Christensen's wise words, we must all learn to “create a haven of calm within a wild world.”