Conclusion Closing speaker Clifford Lynch reminded the audience that what began only a few years ago as a more limited discussion of science data curation has expanded to include the reuse of data, data management skills, cyberinfrastructure planning, interinstitutional collaboration, incorporation of smaller-scale e-science activities, and discussions of values and policies. Rather than imagine that science librarians will have to become experts in each of these areas, however, Lynch contended that many individuals may become proficient at one or two of these newly valuable skills. The speakers and panelists outlined an array of perspectives and issues that could redefine the roles of science libraries and librarianship, and emphasized the potentially enormous benefits of librarians becoming more familiar and engaged with the new and evolving practices of scientists and researchers. In the near future, however, librarians’ support for e-science will most likely be defined by their “middleware” role. By forming a bridge between and among researchers, systems, and data, librarians have an opportunity to make a significant contribution to advancement in science, e-scholarship, and research in general. 1 Forum resources, including speaker biographies, presentation slides and audio of their remarks, are available on the ARL Web site, http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/fallforumproceedings/forum08proceedings.shtml. Detailed notes on the forum’s presentations and discussion are available on the author’s blog, http://elisabethjones.wordpress.com/category/escience/. 2 To encourage learning from the experiences of others, 15 libraries contributed 14 posters for display at the forum showcasing their organizations’ work in science librarianship. The forum proceedings include a document describing the contributed posters in three categories: Tools, Programs and Services, and Organizational Models, http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/ff08posters.pdf. © 2009 Elisabeth Jones This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/. To cite this article: Elisabeth Jones. “Reinventing Science Librarianship: Themes from the ARL- CNI Forum.” Research Library Issues: A Bimonthly Report from ARL, CNI, and SPARC, no. 262 (February 2009): 12–17. http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/rli/. RLI 262 17 Reinventing Science Librarianship: Themes from the ARL-CNI Forum ( C O N T I N U E D ) FEBRUARY 2009 RESEARCH LIBRARY ISSUES: A BIMONTHLY REPORT FROM ARL, CNI, AND SPARC Listen to Clifford Lynch on the expanding roles of science librarians (2:02 MP3) http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/lynchexcerpt.mp3