[WEB4LIB] "Gutting America's Local Public Libraries"

[Andrew Mutch]

I don't think that public libraries have to "fear" the ELL and it's 43
million titles.  I think those who will benefit most from such a catalog
would be the "power users" like myself who are looking for obscure
titles that normally would take searching multiple catalogs and college
students, who would be able to access titles that normally wouldn't be
found in a public library catalog.  But, I think that the majority of
users will be overwhelmed by a "global" catalog unless it can be
initially limited to local holdings.

The point that Walt made rather persuasively is that the funding
required to create the ELL would be quite substantial and would be at
the expense of many library services.  With the exception of Bill Gates,
no one has a bottomless pot of gold and while it is great to brainstorm
future technologies - the reality is that it all comes down to money and
the allocation of that limited resource in providing library service.

Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford, MI

Jennifer Abrams wrote:

> 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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