Charges for Scanning -Reply -Reply

[Dan Lester]

>>> " Thomas W. Perrin" <tperrin937 at worldnet.att.net>
07/30/97 07:59pm >>>
> who want to scan, then we send them to places like Kinkos
> and let private industry take over.  We try to NEVER
compete
> with the private sector.
> ===========

Which, of course, leads me to ask, whether or not [public &
academic] libraries compete with bookstores?  The answer,
of course, is that they do, and they do it very well.  I know
this, of course, as a bookseller and from having been asked a
thousand times or so, "Is this book in my library?"
----------------
I've worked in bookstores too.  I understand your point, in that
some folks just want to READ the book and don't care about
ownership.  However, vast numbers want to OWN the book,
to read it when they want without due dates, to be able to
keep it, mark it up, save it in mint condition in case it
becomes valuable, etc, etc.  And in that market the libraries
do NOT compete with stores/publishers.  Yes, the library's
existence is some competition for some bookstores, but I
think in the vast majority of cases we complement each other
rather than compete with each other.  
============
Libraries exist because the public deserves access to
information, even if it can't afford it from commercial services.
-----------------------
Again, no argument.  But, that argument only holds if we add
"public computer labs" to our mission.  I know that some
public libraries do that.  We do NOT.  I'm not saying they
shouldn't, just that I can't imagine why this university library
would do so.  There are labs for folks with university IDs, in
other words the folks who have to be here, and who in most
cases paid the tuition.  For the rest of us, it is either a part of
the job, or a small benefit that doesn't begin to make up for
the salaries state employees make.  (and, yes, I made a
conscious decision to become a state employee)
================
When libraries offered an electric typewriter to its patrons, it
was a small step to offering the modern equivalent, the word
processor.

Libraries now offer copying machines routinely.  IMHO, it's
just a small and logical step for libraries to offer scanning
services.
------------------
Both of those are true.  And it was also true in the days when
we offered manual typewriters.  But we do NOT offer word
processors, as other places on campus have that in their
mission, and it is thus not part of ours.  Yes, I know many
operate in different ways, and some academic libraries do so.
 But, that isn't the point.  The point is that these things are
incidental to our main mission, providing information in a
variety of forms and formats.  

Copiers benefit the library as much or more than they do the
patrons.  They reduce theft, mutilation, damage, etc, by a
great deal.  Although no system is perfect, the advent of
security systems and copying machines have greatly
improved the maintenance of library collections....I'm old
enough to have worked in libraries before either was available
in the vast majority of places.  Some of us even remember
how to take notes!   o-)

Since our prime patrons can scan things elsewhere on
campus, it just is not in OUR mission.  If we had full
computer labs where they could DO something with the
image after scanning it, my recommendation would be
different.  Then we'd naturally have scanners along with
printers, etc.  
==================
I suggest that there is no traditional library service that can't
and shouldn't be mirrored electronically. Those that do will
survive. Those that don't will fade away as they become
increasingly irrelevant.
-----------------
Guess it all depends on what we call "traditional" library
service.  If "traditional" means before 1960 or 1965, then
providing an image to the patron is NOT a traditional library
service.  o-)   

cheers

dan