[Web4lib] A Library to Last Forever - NY Times OpEd piece on GoogleBook Search

[K.G. Schneider]

"grizzled patron with perfunctory fedora and whip" - indeed, this is a
blog-worthy quote.

I agree with you, though it's painful to do so. The Fourth Estate moans its
own demise even as it digs its own grave. 

Karen G. Schneider

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Engwall, Keith D [mailto:kengwall at catawba.edu]
> Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 9:26 AM
> To: K.G. Schneider; 'B.G. Sloan'; web4lib at webjunction.org
> Subject: RE: [Web4lib] A Library to Last Forever - NY Times OpEd piece on
> GoogleBook Search
> 
> Sadly, it's not so much that they're too big to be fact-checked but rather
> that facts are no longer deemed relevant.  Take another example from the
> same article -- the necessity to fly to distant libraries to acquire long
> lost tomes, nearly eliciting images of a little red line moving along a
> map and a grizzled patron with perfunctory fedora and whip -- I find it
> hard to believe neither Mr. Brin nor the NY Times editorial staff are
> completely ignorant of the concept of Interlibrary Loan.
> 
> But this follows a distinct societal trend away from honest, thoughtful
> discourse in favor of marketing -- simply making an argument for the sake
> of how well it will track with the target audience or how much attention
> it will garner -- without regard for accuracy or fear of correction.
> Since, as far as public perception is concerned, there are no "reliable
> sources" anymore (and can you blame them? Even the NY Times will publish a
> glorified corporate press release and call it an Op Ed article), all
> sources become suspect and people simply fall in line behind whichever
> voice they find to be most compelling.
> 
> How's that for a cheery thought on a Monday morning?
> 
> Keith Engwall
> Head of Library Systems and Technology
> Catawba College Library
> kengwall at catawba.edu
> http://www.lib.catawba.edu
> 
> Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a dog, it is too
> dark to read.
> -- Groucho Marx
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: K.G. Schneider <kgs at bluehighways.com>
> Sent: Sat, 10/10/2009 7:21am
> To: 'B.G. Sloan' <bgsloan2 at yahoo.com> ; web4lib at webjunction.org
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] A Library to Last Forever - NY Times OpEd piece on
> GoogleBook Search
> 
> > Sergey Brin, co-founder and technology president of Google, has an
> opinion
> > piece on Google Book Search in the NY Times:
> >
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/opinion/09brin.html
> >
> > Bernie Sloan
> >
> 
> As I've pointed out in other forums (Twitter, Facebook), you can kibosh
> the
> tearjerking example of the Stanford report that is no more with a quick
> WorldCat search, which surfaces 4 copies. Since WorldCat is a subset of
> all-the-books-that-are, it's possible there are even more copies than
> that.
> I don't dispute the reality that books disappear and digitization is
> important (by... someone...), but it's a pretty amazing thing to be too
> big
> to be fact-checked.
> 
> Karen G. Schneider
> 
> 
> 
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