E-mail in libraries

[Burt, David]

This is a very interesting topic, and I think it asks an important
question for public libraries:

	Is providing communications a vital part of our mission?

I won't rule this out all together, but I think it does need to be said
that this has not been a central part of our mission to date.  The only
real analog is providing meeting rooms, and I don't think you can argue
that this has been a vital part of our mission.

We are in the business of providing information, not communication.  If
we decide we want to *add communications* to our mission, fine.  But
please, let's not make this another case of "mission creep", as they say
in the military.  Let's not now assume that since we started providing
telnet access to MOOs and E-mail accounts that communications have now
become a vital part of our mission by default, without ever consciously
deciding this.


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