Submit or Resist: Google, is There a Third Way?

Abstract

This article explores the impact that Google is having on the library profession. Google is enticing users away from their local libraries with its siren song of easy use and ?good enough? results, and librarians are struggling to come to terms with the loss of users. In response, the library community has divided itself into two ?sides?: those who want librarians to ?submit? to the search capabilities of Google (the Googleizers) and those who want librarians to return to the profession’s traditional role of information gatekeeping. This paper proposes that there is a potential revolutionary third option for librarianship: the librarian as an activist for the right to communicate.