From Library Journal: Blatant Berry: The Vanishing Librarians

Our catalogers began to disappear with the takeover of that function by OCLC, the nonprofit that aspires to be a corporation in this brave new retail library world. The standardized result of the effort is bypassed by patron and librarian alike, as they turn to the more friendly Amazons, Googles, et al., for the less precise, more watered-down "metadata" that has replaced what used to be cataloging. Apparently, users don't miss the old catalog, except as a familiar artifact, which is testimony to how low this dumbing down has taken us.

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The resulting "destination" libraries resemble the cookie-cutter design of the grocery store, aimed at making sure everyone who comes in goes out with "product" (books, CDs, DVDs, or downloads). What the patron takes is of as little concern to the storekeeper librarian as it is to the supermarket manager. The success of the enterprise is measured in the number of products collected by patrons, now called "customers." It is no longer measured in the usefulness or impact of the service on the quality of life in the community served.