Easy-to-use digital libraries enable users to access information on their own. As a result, the para- digm of information searching is shifting away from professional-mediated mode to end-user self-service mode. As part of reference work, mediated information searching and fee-based services have dramati- cally declined in recent years. Also, some of the librarians’ intermediary work has been substituted by automatic tools. For example, SDI is being carried out by resource providers automatically without hu- man mediation. No wonder some people have raised the question of “whether or not we need reference librarians in the digital library