CDL: Future of Reference works?

Future of Reference works
From:  Frank Galoof <frogdr_at_lilypadlc.com>

I've been talking with academic librarians about the future of the 
Reference collection
in the digital environment.  Most are reducing the size of the 
traditional paper
reference collection and some are eliminating it.  Some of the materials 
are
discarded and other works are moved into the main stacks.  It seems almost
reflexively some are replacing and adding online encyclopedias, 
dictionaries,
etc. to fill the void they perceive in the loss of the paper collection.

I am wondering about that move.  In paper, weren't these sources largely
librarian tools a few steps from the reference desk?  Librarians took 
patrons
to the ref stacks and place the compendium, gazetteer, etc. in their 
hands.  Did
patrons, in any numbers, use the paper Ref collection on their own?

In a world of least-resistance and least-effort, are patrons making the 
effort to find a
(e.g.) Dictionary of Aerodynamics, when sufficient information (for 
their uses) is
probably available through a Google search versus. a multi click effort 
to find
a credible source via the library website or LibGuide?  Do meta-search tools
for reference get used?  In short, does buying reference sources make the
librarian feel good, but these titles are rarely used?  Is the Reference 
collection, in
paper and online, dead?

Thanks for any insights or experience.

Frank Galoof, PhD
Lily Pad Library Consulting