Chat on public access Internet

[Miriam Bobkoff]

At 12:21 PM 2/12/97 -0800, Donald Barclay wrote:

>1. Who is to say that the use of email or the web is automatically trivial
>   while the use of a database automatically counts as serious research? 

I strongly agree.

We have our patrons sign up for 30 minute time slots on the internet
machines, and don't legislate what they may do with their time. Email is the
gateway to what amounts to an unlimited world of special interest
newsletters and contacts, by way of listservs and the contact addresses on
pages. And all day long people find exactly what they were looking for on
the Web--and we couldn't have had it all inhouse: a newsletter collection or
a zine collection or a catalog collection--the list is endless. 

A couple of weeks ago, in the space of about three half-hour segments, a
total newbie with a URL in hand found the communitarian site he was looking
for, got himself a HotMail account, and commenced a lively online life with
likeminded people. He's now a regular, and skilled enough to offer all kinds
of advice to newbies who sit down at adjacent machines. 

Miriam Bobkoff             mbobkoff at ci.santa-fe.nm.us
Santa Fe Public Library
145 Washington Avenue      
Santa Fe, NM 87501         
(505)984-6832              http://www.ci.santa-fe.nm.us/sfpl/