CHANGES IN GEOSCIENCE INFORMATION PROVISION AND THE ROLE OF THE ACADEMIC LIBRARY OVER A DECADE: DENVER, COLORADO 1990-2000

In the past decade there have been significant changes in the provision of geoscience information. These changes have altered the relationship between academic, government and corporate libraries, which has in turn altered the relationship of geoscience information users to their libraries. In metropolitan Denver, Colorado, geoscience libraries faced rapid advances in technological applications during a time of changing economics in the minerals and hydrocarbon industries and reduced funding for information dissemination. As a result, the traditional model of the organizational onsite geoscience library providing users with their primary information needs has been increasingly superceded by the new model of electronic access and shared offsite resources. Academic libraries play a key role in this emerging model. The Colorado School of Mines library has experienced the effects of these changes in geoscience collections and resources, and has participated in the shift from supplementing outside users' organizational libraries to replacing them. The decade's changes in geoscience information provision have an impact on the extent and type of academic library services offered to the public and on the service choices available to all academic libraries.