Electronic Brown Wrapper: Hustler via ILL

[Burt, David]

Hal Kirkwood wrote:

>Ok this was just too good to pass up....so I will charge in with sword
flailing.
>And this passage from Mr. Burt's msg....so what if only 3 academic
>libraries have it?  The last time I checked it did not matter how many
>libraries carried an item for an ILL request to be processed.  It only
>matters whether ONE of these locations actually loans the item out.

Ok, this classic error in logic is too good to pass up.  Hal and others
take a very unlikely, highly unusual hypothetical situation, prove it
could theoretically happen, then claim it is the analog of an everyday,
common occurrence.  Philosophy  majors on this list, isn't there a name
for this type of informal fallacy?

How often would/could this type of event actually happen? Once or twice
a year? never?

How often do patrons access hardcore porn from a public library
terminal?  hundreds, maybe thousands of times a day.

>So I ask the question again....are you going to decide which of these ILL
>requests you fill and which you don't?  And if you are, HOW?  Are you going
>to research each potentially improper request and only then decide if you
>should get the item or not?

Yep, I sure would.  Wouldn't lose a second of sleep over it, either.

  ***********************************************************
          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