Filtering and bookstores

[Bill Manson MVLC (508) 475-7632]

I hesitate to add to the thread that will not die, but the combination of 
the ongoing filtering conversation and the 'do libraries compete with 
bookstores' discussion brings about a line of reasoning that I haven't 
seen yet.

It seems to me that a significant economic justification for a library 
(any library) is that it brings together a set of information (however 
defined) resources that is greater than any one of its members could 
accumulate through purchase.  The greater the disparity between the 
amount of information available in the library and the amount of 
information available to the individuals in the library's audience, the 
greater the economic justification for the library.  That's what has 
caused libraries to grow, to co-operate with one another, and to make use 
of resources from outside their walls.

Filtering, whatever its political justification (and I certainly 
recognize that there _is_ political justification), runs contrary to that 
economic justification.  I would find it difficult to make the argument 
that I have increased the value of the library by decreasing the amount 
of information available, and hence the information differential.

My opinions only, not the organization's.


*************************************************************
* Bill Manson				* "This would never *
* Executive Director			* have happened if  *
* Merrimack Valley Library Consortium	* Judge Landis      *
* Andover, MA 01810			* or Bud Selig were *
* Phone:(508) 475-7632			* still alive."     *
* Fax: (508) 475-8158			* Mark Heisler      *
* Email: manson at mvlc.lib.ma.us          *         *         *
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