E-mail in libraries

[Jim Hurd]

	Communications and information are becoming increasingly
inseparable. This is not "mission creep" but the way information exchange
and dissemination has developed.  

On Wed, 28 May 1997, Burt, David wrote:

: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
:                 
: