From Both Sides Now: A Recently-Hired Librarian and a Library Veteran Respond to the Loss of a Favorite Database

The recent economic downturn has disrupted libraries no less than it has other sectors, causing cutbacks in funding which have resulted in hiring freezes and layoffs, reduced operating hours and services, and smaller acquisitions budgets for both print and electronic materials. These cutbacks have been most acutely felt by library acquisitions departments and collection development librarians, but the public services areas -- especially instruction librarians -- feel the blow too and must adapt their practices to the reductions in resources. This paper details the response of two instruction librarians -- one a veteran of some two decades’ service and the other a fairly recent hire -- to the loss of a favorite database