Easy-to-use digital libraries enable users to access information on their own. As a result, the paradigm
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 dramatically
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 human
mediation. No wonder some people have raised the question of “whether or not we need reference
librarians in the digital library