Every librarian worth his salt knows that despite the rise of web scale discovery services, Google and Google Scholar are often the go-to tools of researchers. In particular, while we prefer to direct our users to the official published version, we know that any free copy will often work in a pinch and Google Scholar in particular is the #1 tool out there to look for free copies floating on the web.

Almost 4 years ago in 2010, I posted A few heretical thoughts about library tech trends. I was sceptical about QRcodes, Mobile websites and SMS reference.

Is known item searching really a big issue in Web Scale discovery? Since I began looking at web scale discovery in 2009-2010, I've read many librarians comment on how known item search is harder in web scale discovery and it's not just the rank and file librarians.

In my last post, I mused about blue ocean strategies and how libraries should consider spending time focusing more on blue ocean strategies. I gave the example from the book of the declining Circus industry and how Cirque du Soleil changed the rules of the games.

Curious about academic librarianship in Singapore as a career? Try So you want to be a academic librarian in Singapore? Even though the Day in the life of a librarian project by by Bobbi Newman has ended, I have decided to continue this tradition to post about my day to day work every January. I've was told that my blog posts are useful as a snapshot of the type of work academic librarians do in Singapore.

Library web scale discovery systems are great. They break down the silos between books , articles and other content types. They provide the "one-search" box experience that our users claim to want. But problems exist (See my overview - 8 things we know about web scale discovery systems in 2013  and outstanding issues ). In my experience, one of the most sticky issues is the question of getting relevant results.

I like to question why. I don't believe the status quo or the way things are is always the best that is possible. I ask why. I agitate for change. I try new things.  But after over almost 7 years of working on various projects and initiating various changes,  "the way things are" have started to slowly shift to what I had a hand in deciding or at least help guide thinking in - in some areas at least.

As part of a new goal to start reading sources outside the library world for ideas, I have been reading Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant and I must say it is surprisingly insightful. For those unfamiliar with the concept, blue ocean strategy contrasts with red ocean strategy, where firms in the industry compete head-on among traditional lines.

I blogged 8 things we know about web scale discovery systems in 2013 , an attempt to summarize the current consensus after 4 years of web scale discovery service use in libraries and hundreds of research papers and presentation. (Not sure what they are?) It was a post that seemed to be pretty widely shared and read, but drew no comments, from which I conclude I didn't really say much that was controversial.

After several posts in a row about discovery services, let's have a change of pace and let me share with you some interesting ideas in the world of librarianship that I am playing with lately.

A tongue in a cheek, thought experiment or perhaps precautionary tale of the ultimate fate of library discovery services in 2035. With a sigh, Frank Murphy, head of library systems of Cambridge-Yale University made a quick gesture at his computing device and the system began to shut down the library discovery service for the last time.