[WEB4LIB] Re: "Gutting America's Local Public Libraries"

[Dan Lester]

At 06:57 AM 9/7/99 -0700, Andrew Mutch wrote:
>The point that Walt made rather persuasively is that the funding
>required to create the ELL would be quite substantial and would be at
>the expense of many library services.

I don't think this is necessarily the case at all.  A great many new 
services are started by a small group of interested 
individuals/libraries.  Even OCLC started from a subset of Ohio academic 
libraries.  And, of course, so did the web start with just a few interested 
parties, followed by a few interested libraries, and so forth.  Waterford 
Township Public was probably not one of the first libraries on the web, nor 
should it have been.  Others who had the time, money, staffing, and 
interest invested in the web.  Others who have begun to participate since 
that time have benefited from that.

I don't believe anyone is considering some sort of "mandatory taxation" on 
all libraries and forcing them to participate in the great catalog in the 
sky.  If a small group tries it and it works, great.  If not, oh well.  We 
were one of the early adopters of Ariel document delivery, and for a year 
or so we got almost no documents that way, and at times I wondered whether 
the investment was worth it.  Finally, over a number of years, more and 
more libraries have begun to use Ariel and now most of our documents are 
delivered that way. The same just might be true of the great catalog in the 
sky.  Or not.  But there is no reason that those of us who are dubious 
should try to convince the others not to try.

dan

--
Good, Fast, and Cheap: Which two of the three would you like?
Dan Lester, 3577 East Pecan, Boise, ID 83716 USA 208-383-0165
dan at 84.com   http://www.84.com/  http://www.postcard.org/