ABSTRACT
As reference librarians, we are schooled in the philosophy that information should be freely available to all. Equal access to information is an important component of a democratic society, and a value we are taught to embrace. How then do we confront the conflict presented in a centrally located, private university in an urban setting in which our own users, the University’s faculty and students, are indistinguishable from a sea of non-affiliated users, all needing “information,” but competing for our resources, both staff and materials? These conflicts may be more obvious at our particular Reference desks, but our situations are not that unique. Reference librarians everywhere are forced to make decisions daily about whom to serve and how much service to provide.
