[Web4lib] Results from The Survey of Academic Libraries, 2008-09 Edition

[B.G. Sloan]

Dan Lester said "I've not seen a real business use an AOL address in quite a few years."

That's a little unfair...you don't have to play around with Google for too long to find small businesses (consulting, engineering, etc.) that have web sites in the aol.com domain, some using aol.com e-mail addresses. I'm sure these people think their businesses are "real".

Bernie Sloan


--- On Wed, 6/18/08, Dan Lester <dan at riverofdata.com> wrote:

> From: Dan Lester <dan at riverofdata.com>
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Results from The Survey of Academic Libraries, 2008-09 Edition
> To: "web4lib at webjunction.org" <web4lib at webjunction.org>
> Date: Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 1:08 PM
> Am I the only one who is getting REALLY tired of all of the
> solicitations for us to buy books (or PDF files) that were
> created
> from surveys they previously solicited some of us to
> respond to?
> Responses are to these totally unscientific surveys, as
> filled out by
> those few of us who bothered to do so?  Wow, 75 libraries
> of assorted
> sizes and missions, out of the thousands in the US and
> Canada, now
> there's a great and meaningful sample.  I'll bet
> that most weren't even
> filled out by those with responsibilities in the areas in
> question.
> Any one of us could fill out a survey, whether it was on a
> subject we
> were responsible for or knew anything about, or not.  Any
> professor
> teaching basic statistics on any campus would either choke
> or laugh
> out loud at this kind of nonsense. Then they massage the
> data into a
> number of tables with no way of knowing of any statistical
> or other
> significance to the results.  Then they sell it for a
> hundred bucks
> or so (often more) so that we can look at it and perhaps
> even add
> it to our collection?
> 
> I will say one thing for them, they make Haworth Press look
> mighty
> good.  Haworth Press is at least professional and
> knowledgeable enough to
> use their own domain name instead of an AOL address of all
> things.
> I've not seen a real business use an AOL address in
> quite a few years.
> 
> Finally, where do we draw the line on marketing on this
> list?
> I'm not opposed to marketing as such, but....there are
> limits, aren't
> there?  There's a "reference question" for
> someone...where does
> legitimate marketing end and spam begin, whether for Viagra
> or books
> and documents?
> 
> dan
> 
> -- 
> The road goes on forever and the party never ends. REK, Jr.
> Dan Lester, Boise, ID  
> 
> 
> 
> 
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