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The article focuses on the emergence of the one-stop, do-it-yourself shopping trend in the U.S. and how the trend affects libraries. According to the author, she noticed two contradictory trends in retail: self-service and individual customer service. For those who have been in the library profession since the days of the card catalog, the integrated library system appeared to be the ultimate in convenience for both the profession and their patrons. The appeal of one-stop searching is obvious, but it seems that it is not an easy goal to achieve. The profession should continue discussing and search solutions and reference services to make sure their patrons always find what they are seeking.

The article highlights articles published in various periodicals related to library science. In his article published in Computers in Libraries, Michael Sauers provides a framework for writing policies for public-access wireless networks. He provides the components of a policy set up by the Smoky Hill branch of the Arapahoe Library District in Colorado. In the March/April issue of Online, editor Marydee Ojala outlines the search capabilities of Google Book Search. In her article published in Searcher, Paula Berinstein addresses the central question that concerns information professionals: reliability.

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.