"Metering" Database Access on the Web

[Burt, David]

<Warning: This post contains theoretical discussion which may not be
suitable for all technically minded persons.    If this offends you,
press here ----> DEL>

I recently heard a conference speaker from the telecommunications
industry say that he thought this continuing trend toward the
commercialization of resources on the web would be what eventually
resolved the filtering debate.  His reasoning was that as it becomes
common for libraries to pay for resources on the web, libraries would
return to a more traditional "selection mode", as the web begins to
resemble traditional media more and more.  Once librarians become
accustomed to "selecting" and allocating funds for  individual Internet
resources, librarians will start to realize that of course they
shouldn't be "selecting" all the garbage.

Of course, I like this prediction, but I'm certainly not smart enough
(or foolish enough) to predict what the Internet will look like in 5 or
10 years.  Still, it does seem pretty likely that much of "the really
good stuff" on web will no longer be free in a few years, and that
libraries will have to pay for it, hopefully at a discount.  The "free,
demographic  global info-sphere"  stuff in Wired magazine was a nice
fantasy while it lasted.

My hunch is that buying pre-selected chunks of the Internet will be one
model, in keeping with the growing trend of out-sourcing collection
development.  Let's face it: as the bibliographic universe becomes
ever-enormous, it is simply too expensive for libraries to individually
select everything, in print as well as on-line.  Why should libraries
spend huge amounts of staff time to re-select the same 80% "boiler
plate" materials every other comparable library is selecting, when it is
much cheaper to have a vendor do it for you?  Of course, libraries
should retain individual selection of the remaining 20% of
library-specific materials.  When in doubt, use the 80-20 rule.


  ***********************************************************
          David Burt, Information Technology Librarian 
          The Lake Oswego Public Library 
          706 Fourth Street, Lake Oswego, OR 97034
          URL:          http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/library/library.htm
          Phone:     (503) 675-2537 
          Fax:           (503) 635-4171 
          E-mail:      dburt at ci.oswego.or.us