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Reports on the Global Librarian, an international partnership of enterprising public libraries in Canada and the United Kingdom to provide local citizens with personal online access to reference staff. Public libraries that make up the partnership; Information on the libraries; Goal of the partnership.

The article focuses on the role of U.S. librarians in the information technology era. Librarians have always been cutting edge: They were often the first within their organizations to have online search capabilities. Once again, they are on the cutting edge of exploring ways to use the new Web 2.0 networking and collaboration tools, far earlier than most of their clients. Some are rolling out really simple syndication feeds and wikis; some are considering along library users to add tags to catalog entries or to rank or rate library content; while some are reusing the information from Google Maps or Craigslist to provide a customized view of information for the library's user groups.

Comments on the way the Internet has changed the role of libraries. Views of librarian Umberto Eco on the role of libraries in the digital world; Views on the knowledge that Internet provides; Future of the libraries; Goal of libraries for the future.