The university library of the future will be sparsely staffed, highly decentralized, and have a physical plant consisting of little more than special collections and study areas.

That's what Daniel Greenstein, vice provost for academic planning and programs at the University of California System, told a room full of university librarians Wednesday at Baruch College of City University of New York, where the higher education technology group Ithaka held a meeting to discuss "sustainable scholarship." -- from Inside Higher Education Mag

This is also from Greenstein:

Librarians who really know a subject, rather than knowing a library system or the products the library provides, will have a "copious understanding of the life cycle of publication and could help at any juncture." Though this flips the relationship librarians have traditionally had to a publisher by being involved throughout the creation of knowledge, not just in the consumption of completed publications. Greenstein feels this is "what librarians are ideally suited to do."