Electronic Brown Wrapper: Hustler via ILL [former student

[Burt, David]

scharles wrote:

>I think the fallacy you are talking about is called "Reasoning by False
>Analogy".  I am not sure it applies here.  As an example, I have not seen
>any requests (in the public library I work at) for Von Klauswitz, or many
>for the Tao Te Ching, or Lady Chatterly's Lover, or Tropic of Cancer, The
>Tao of Pooh, or many other works I could cite.

It's irrelevant whether or not you've seen these specific requests or
not.
Requests for the titles you quoted above are everyday, common
occurrences.
Yet no one has presented any evidence whatsoever that requests for
something
clearly hard-core (and please, don't confuse hard and soft core
materials) like
"Hustler" is a common occurrence at all.  Considering the flap ILL
requests for
something like "The Joy of Gay Sex" have caused in the past in public
libraries,
I find it unlikely in the extreme that were requests for "Hustler"
common, we would
not have heard about it.

>I think the collection philosophy that justifies having physical possession
of these >works is  known as "just in case".  As a practical matter
modern ILL methodologies >have allowed us to minimize actual possession
of low circulation works.  I am of
>the opinion that it is these unusual atypical requests that are best served
>by ILL.

>And I frankly think it would be an incredible blunder to refuse an ILL
>request, and I do think the library that did so could get sued, and I do
>not think (as was suggested by someone) that one can "sign away" one's public
>library rights.  In any event even if they did, they should not be allowed
>to "sign away" mine.

Since when are we required to process every ILL request?  Most libraries
set limits on what types of ILL requests they will process.  ILL costs,
lots.  A library is not required to spend money doing things outside
it's mission and scope.  Just as a
library is not required to spend staff time and money processing an ILL
request for
hard-core pornography, it is not obligated to devote staff time and
money providing
net porn.

What case law do you cite in asserting that a library is legally
obligated to process
every ILL request?



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