The Library Channel

[Toni Walder]

I have some very strong concerns about The Library Channel (or any
similar software product) for public libraries. Some are practical, some
philosophical.

My practical concerns include: 1) cost -- for my library with 10
PAC/Internet terminals, the cost was $6000, 2) display limitations --
you have little or no choice of screen displays or catagories of
information, 3) enormous amount of work involved -- we buy 12,000 books
a year and it keeps us very busy, I don't have the staff to select
12,000 Web sites and add them to The Library Channel, 4) limited scope
of information -- even if we DID input 12,000 Web sites it would fall
far short of answering the variety of questions the Web is capable of
answering.

My philosophical concerns relate to the practical ones: 1) The Internet
IS NOT like our old reference tools -- both in the scope of information
and the access points available to retrieve it, it far surpasses what a
smaller library like mine could have offered to customers just two or
three years ago. Why put some a stringent artificial limit on what is
available (The Library Channel mentions sites in the 15,000-45,000
range, when there are millions of sites out there)? Also, by using lists
developed by other Library Channel customers, we are once again
deferring the selection to outside entities. Perhaps most personal, in
the Library Channel demonstration I saw, the library's other resources
were denoted by one nondescript button on the screen. While the Internet
is a wonderful tool for libraries, it doesn't replace all the myriad
functions we offer and I don't want to give customer s the idea that it
does. 


-- 
Toni Walder (walderan at oplin.lib.oh.us)
Wright Memorial Public Library, 1776 Far Hills Ave, Dayton OH 45419
937-294-8572 (voice), 937-294-8578 (fax)

"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention 
in human history -- with the possible exception of handguns and 
tequila." Mitch Ratcliffe, Technology Review.