Web vs. CB radio

[JOSEPH MAXIMILLIAN MURPHY]

>I think we should use the analogy of Ham radio as an advanced tool for CBers
>a place (platform) where rules are instituted to help communicators keep 
>the lines clear and running at full power. We need to reduce idle chat on 
>the wavefront, but retain spontaneity.

Interesting analogy. On one hand, I have to ask if we need "rules instituted"
in print formats to keep the shelves clear and easy to use. Do we have to
"reduce idle" printing? And by that, I also include desktop printing and
photocopying.

To a certain extent, we do. The concept that you have to know who the "good"
publishers are is very strong in library school. So we do have to know whose
"rules" for what we turn out meet our goals for what we collect. And for a
billion reasons, libraries define their mission and don't collect everything in
print. But at the same time, the mere fact that I'm not interested in most of
the books, almost any of the junk mail, and about half of the photocopied
Christmas letters I see doesn't mean that they shouldn't exist. They may be
idle to me, but to someone else, they're wonderful. And I would say that we are
more generally enriched by their existance than impoverished by having to sort
through them.

Which, I guess, is where we dovetail with the discussion of selection vs
access. I'm staying out of that one (except to repeat that what I've read about
the specific software being chosen in Boston is _very_ troubling, if true), 
but I think we can all agree that, in general, libraries have some duty to be
selecting particularly good material for their users and highlighting it for
their use. And if that leads them to stuff we _didn't_ select, well, so do
footnotes in journals. Heck, I just checked out a great book about the
Situationist International and punk rock, but I'm pretty sure the music library
doesn't own any Sex Pistols. (We don't even own that much about the
Situationists.) And I'd be hard pressed to argue that they should, really,
given the curriculum the library is supposed to support.

And my entry in the Internet country song contest, with any due apologies to
Tammy Wynette:

"A.O.L. - I.R.C. - D.I.V.O.R.C.E."

Yipes, it even rhymes...

-Joe Murphy            "Sometimes you just have to look reality in the face
murphyj at cua.edu         and deny it."
                           -- Garrison Keillor