Abstract/Summary

This paper argues for the importance of retaining a map library presence on UK university campuses at a time when many are under threat of closure, and access to geospatial data is increasingly moving to web-based services. It is suggested that the need for local expertise is undiminished and map curators need to redefine themselves as geoinformation specialists, preserving their paper map collections, but also meeting some of the challenges of GIS, and contributing to national developments in the construction of distributed geolibraries and the provision of metadata, especially with regard to local data sets.