[WEB4LIB] Re: "books on the floor" metaphore

[Roy Tennant]

I'm surprised that no one has yet taken this metaphor to task. The
Internet is nothing like a library -- not even one with all the books on
the floor or one that has been vandalized. I think I hardly need to
explain what I mean to this crowd. So I'm surprised that some of us feel
like using this metaphor when it is insulting to all that libraries are.
How about "Doing research on the Web is like asking people randomly on the
street." Now *that's* more like it.
Roy

On Fri, 10 Dec 1999, Brian Smith wrote:

> >Here's one that appeared in someone's signature:
> >
> >
> >Doing research on the Web is like using a library assembled
> >piecemeal by pack rats and vandalized nightly."  -- Roger Ebert
> 
> I used that in my sig for a while.  It's from Ebert's "Critical Eye" column
> in the Sept. 1998 issue of _Yahoo! Internet Life_, p. 66.
> 
> Brian Smith
> Assistant Head of Adult Services
> Villa Park (IL) Public Library
> http://www.villapark.lib.il.us/
> bsmith at linc.lib.il.us
> .. But writing only on my own behalf
> ===========
> "If you didn't want them to think, you shouldn't have 
> given them library cards." -- _Getting Straight_ (1970)
> 
>