[WEB4LIB] RE: E-mail in libraries

[Edward Wigg]

At 09:08 PM 10/19/98 -0700, "Floyd Ingram" <fingram at mindspring.com> wrote:
>I am with Dan Lester on this issue.  IT IS NOT narrow-mindedness...it is
>good management and the assurance that no one get deprived of their time to
>do research on a computer.  
[deletia]
>  Librarians are too d-mn liberal and try
>to be too MANY things to everybody.  It is fine for public libraries to
>provide e-mail and chat services since they have that purpose to provide
>services to the community (e-mail to those who do not have access to it
>elsewhere such as home, etc.).
--------
>Thanks, Bill!  I am glad that the proponents of e-mail and chat access on
>public PCs in the library do not work in my library.   Again, we have labs
>to serve that PURPOSE!  For those who want to communicate with researchers
>elsewhere or chat with classmates, we have places on campus for them.  As
>for the faculty and staff, they have their own PCs.
--------
>So without e-mail, they will not use the library?...that's a shame!  That
>must be an average or below student who walked his way through college doing
>very little scholarly work.  We have "D" students who have never set foot in
>a library...BUT they don't graduate.
--------
>The "Bozos" that Dan is talking about do exist in academia...and include
>some students and a few professors.  That's right!  Yes, your future
>leaders...some of these crooks have graduated to Capitol Hill where they are
>fleecing America.  We are speaking from an ACADEMIA prospective here.  I am
>not advocating the restriction of the use of e-mail, chat, etc. in public
>libraries.  Gee, why are there so many sensitive people on the Net?  I
>suppose the ACLU is in this, too.
--------

It's nice to know that YOU'RE not narrow minded. I'm so glad that all your
faculty and staff have their own computers and that your students have so
many computer labs to go to that they don't need to use the library.

It's also so refreshing to hear that your students and faculty, not to
mention all politicians (who are also all crooks), are bozos. And as for
the students who don't come to the library, who needs them? Let them fail
just like they deserve. It's just those damn liberal librarians who believe
in service to patrons, encouraging library use and making the technology
serve the users rather than the librarian's ideas about what is a
respectable research need, who cause all the problems (all members of the
ACLU and fellow travelers no doubt).

Not all policies suit all libraries, but it's this kind foaming at the
mouth that drives me towards the permissive end of the spectrum. Why do I
get the idea that there are probably lots of people out in Web4Lib-space
who are also very glad they do not work in the same library as Mr. Ingram?

Edward