The Panel appears to be not only struggling to make sense of the current situation, but also lacks focus in seeing a path forward. In Nova Scotia, the panel proffered co-location as a means of coming to grips with dwindling budgets and the perceived need to garner greater public recognition of the importance of libraries in society. Co-location, the panellists suggested, could help convince funders of the worth of libraries. However, some libraries have already instituted that solution and have seen none of the anticipated rewards. Three of the critical determinants in understanding the situation of archives are: the expectations of a public conditioned by the simplicity and immediacy of Google and Wikipedia; the unprecedented influx of analog records at the same time as electronic records begin to descend on archives; and the obfuscation created by convergence.
