A recent report on the future of the library-patron relationship found that 77% of research discovery begins outside of the library, with patrons largely starting on search engines or Google Scholar. In this conversational panel discussion, librarians from the US and Europe discuss big questions about the role and value of the modern librarian in a digital age and how to meet patrons at their time of need.

Speakers include:

(Moderator and Speaker) Tony Zanders is the CEO at Skilltype, a software company offering talent management tools for libraries. He is an award-winning software entrepreneur and enterprise software executive.

Matt Hayes is the Managing Director of Lean Library and previously served in both start-ups and established research information organization such as Publons. While sharing findings from the new Librarian Futures Report, Matt will discuss new opportunities for bringing library resources directly into the patron’s workflow.

Erin Gallagher is Chair, Acquisitions & Collections Services, at the University of Florida. She is also a collection consultant for a major academic book vendor and has served in leadership roles in E-Resources and Collection Management.

Talia Richards is Marketing Director at Springshare. She has years of experience at a go-to cloud software vendor for libraries and, previously, as a librarian at Johnson & Wales University.

Matthijs van Otegem is the Library Director at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is also a member of the editorial board of Informatieprofessional, a Dutch journal on librarianship, and president of the Netherlands Library Forum.