[WEB4LIB] Re: Joe Janes on Google

[Roy Tennant]

Joe is perfectly capable of defending himself, should he wish to do so, 
so if it looks like I'm defending him, I'm not. I'm defending myself, 
since I like that quote. I'm fond of saying that only librarians like 
to _search_ -- everyone else likes to _find_. His quote is similar, in 
that it isn't insulting to those who seek information to acknowledge 
that they don't want to be taught how to do it. The fact that they need 
to be at all is at least partly an indictment of our systems. So the 
real solution is a mix of things -- much better automated systems, good 
point-of-use instructions, and yes, perhaps even some class time here 
and there. But to bet the farm on BI is misguided. And I also find it 
disturbing that you would allow one quote with which you disagree to 
color your view of everything else a person says. If I thought that 
people were judging me completely based on one thing I've said, I might 
be scared into not saying anything at all. For those of you now 
dreaming of such a wonderful day, keep dreaming.
Roy

On Tuesday, September 24, 2002, at 11:35 AM, perkins m wrote:

> Whenever listening to anything Joe Janes says it is good to remember 
> that
> he is fond of saying that "bibliographic instruction is like teaching 
> pigs
> to sing; it doesn't work, and you just piss off the pigs".  This 
> attitude
> towards end users coupled with an overconfidence in technology can 
> lead to
> questionable conclusions.  Google's goals are the same as any search
> engine; to get as many people as possible to use it and to use those
> numbers to sell advertising and preferential ranking of search results.
> Helping people find information is simply a means to this end, not a 
> goal.
> If the profit goal is not met, Google will go away.
>
> Mike Perkins
> San Diego State University
>
> On Mon, 23 Sep 2002, Sloan, Bernie wrote:
>
>> An interesting Joe Janes "Internet Librarian" column on Google. An 
>> excerpt:
>>
>> "I would love to see us work with the Google folks. We have many 
>> similar
>> goals, getting people help in finding information they want chief 
>> among
>> them. If we can align with them to achieve those goals in mutually
>> beneficial ways, it could create a real sea change-not only in 
>> librarianship
>> but on the Web as well."
>>
>> http://www.ala.org/alonline/netlib/il1002.html
>>
>> Bernie Sloan
>> Senior Library Information Systems Consultant
>> University of Illinois Office for Planning and Budgeting
>> 338 Henry Administration Building
>> 506 S. Wright Street
>> Urbana, IL  61801
>>
>> Phone: (217) 333-4895
>> Fax:   (217) 265-0454
>> E-mail: bernies at uillinois.edu
>>
>>
>
>
>