Internet in Libraries -Reply

[Dan Lester]

>>> Douglas Cornwell <dougc at pb.seflin.org> 02/27/97
11:23am >>>
I agree there is a cost somewhere.  However, what I am
talking about is  information being accessible free of charge
to people.  Something that  libraries have done in this country
since Benjamin Franklin's time.
-----------------------------------
No one, including electronic publishers, is suggesting that
anything change regarding libraries.  Publishers have always
charged for their works/information.  The patron doesn't have
to pay for the article from LATimes or anywhere else.  Some
libraries subsidize all or part of such charges, just as most
subsidize all or part of ILL charges to patrons.  You can
continue to get it for the patron by ILL if you wish.  You can
also subscribe to the newspaper itself and stack them up or
buy the microfilm, just as you've always done.  So yes, we
have always paid for these things, but in different ways.  

Uncover is another example.  Since they're a company that
started as a library consortium, they're particularly aware of
library issues, and on the page for each article you may wish
to order it specifically reminds you that this article may be
available in your local library.  Sure, LATimes or others could
do that, but I can't really criticize them for not doing so either.
============================= 
And from my own personal experience not only as a librarian,
but as a  library user, I can tell you that I have a 386 machine
at home with a  small hard drive and a small amount of RAM.
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I can certainly sympathize with you and many others who are
in such situations, including a couple of my own kids (who
are out and on their own).  Yes, those of us with newer and
better toys are more fortunate than many, and it should
indeed continue that libraries fill the function of providing
information to all citizens.
======================
So, why not continue to provide these services for people to
access this information and you can do a more complete job
in a library than entirely on the Internet. 
-------------------------------------
No one, including the publishers, is suggesting changing any
of that.  Your library could evaluate the need for subsidized
copies of the LATimes or any other net products or services.
As I VERY frequently remind my colleagues, that is NOT a
technology problem, it IS a management problem.  Examples
abound, which I'll gladly supply on request.  
=========================
What  about the question of credibility?  I downloaded an
article on toilet  training my child from the Internet.  It was on
a real nice site, but how  do I know the article is coming from
a credible source? 
----------------------------------------
Again, this is NOT a technology question, but a collection
development or selection question.  We WILL need to give
our patrons more training on evaluating resources.  We all
got it in library school back when, but since the public has
more sources available, they'll hopefully learn better how to
evaluate.  Of course considering the choices they make in tv
programming, I'm not overly optimistic.  Most of us debated
this in library school....do you buy (or provide access to)
what the public WANTS, or what the public NEEDS (e.g.
quality materials, not pap for the masses).  Many libraries
still go around with this on "trash" like Harlequins, steamy
romances, westerns, etc, etc, etc.  
=================================
Why upset the apple cart.  Libraries have been doing what
they are doing  very well for several centuries now.  And it
has been offered so that  both haves and have nots have
been able to share equally in the  information that is provided
to our society.
-----------------------------------------
Again, nothing new.  The problem, if any, with providing
information to the haves and have nots is that it takes money
to do this.  Libraries have always been inadequately funded
(at least according to librarians) for all that we NEED or
WANT to do.  (again, we need to be sure of the differences
between the wants and needs in our professional life, just like
we do in our personal life....I don't NEED that chocolate
donut, even if I do WANT it.....same may apply to lots of
other things in libraries)

cheers

cyclops


Dan Lester, Network Information Coordinator
Boise State University Library, Boise, Idaho, 83725 USA
voice: 208-385-1235   fax:  208-385-1394
dlester at bsu.idbsu.edu     OR    alileste at idbsu.idbsu.edu
Cyclops' Internet Toolbox:    http://cyclops.idbsu.edu
"How can one fool make another wise?"   Kansas, 1979.