"Gutting America's Local Public Libraries"

[Jennifer Abrams]

I always thought that the purpose of public library
collections was to serve the information needs of its
users --- the people who are paying for it.

If, as Walt Crawford claims, that is indeed what we
are doing, then we should have little to fear from
providing our patrons access to the 43 million titles
in Earth's Largest Library, because the local
collection should already be handling most information
needs adequately.  

If, on the other hand, our local collections are not
serving the patrons information needs as well as they
might --- then we have no business denying our patrons
access to the 43 million titles in Earth's Largest
Library --- because that is our job and our purpose.

My two cents ....  

===
Jennifer Abrams
public librarian (retired)
St. George, UT
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