Pull the plug -- libraries aren't common carriers

[Nick Arnett]

At 03:54 PM 3/24/97 -0500, Christopher Jackson wrote:

>When you look at our mission, the value goes up as you
>provide more resources for the same cost.

That is only true if the ability to consume the resource rises as the same
rate as the supply.  Value isn't only supply, demand matters equally.  This
is exactly what is illogical about a great deal of the talk about the
Internet; it assumes that increasing the supply of information is inherently
valuable, when in reality, it is not even neutral, it is so far past the
point of diminishing returns that it is a cost.  One has to think carefully
about where the value shifts when the supply of information vastly outpaces
peoples' ability to consume it.

Nick

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