Infopeople - Archive June 1994 to June 1995: LA Times Editorial -- Super Library (fwd)

LA Times Editorial -- Super Library (fwd)

Gerald Maginnity (gmaginn@cello.gina.calstate.edu)
Sat, 15 Apr 1995 00:56:48 -0700

>Return-Path: saclaw@CLASS.ORG
>Date: Fri, 14 Apr 1995 17:42:15 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Sacramento County Law Library <saclaw@CLASS.ORG>
>To: Gerry Maginnity <gmaginn@eis.calstate.edu>
>Subject: LA Times Editorial -- Super Library (fwd)
>
>Gerry, This was posted on the law library list serv. It was posted by
>the Director of the USC law library. I take it that it is the actual
>editorial not Al's comments about an editorial. I though MVLS members
>would like to see it.
>
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> Shirley H. David Voice: 916 440-6013
> Director Fax: 916 440-5691
> Sacramento County Law Library E-mail: saclaw@class.org
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> Sacramento, CA 95814-1397
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>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 11:51:26 -0800
>From: Albert Brecht <abrecht@Law.usc.edu>
>To: Multiple recipients of list <law-lib@ucdavis.edu>
>Subject: LA Times Editorial -- Super Library
>
>
>LA Times Editorial March 30, 1995
>
>Democrats and Republicans alike are optimistic about the electronic
>storage and exchange of information. The Democrats talk about the
>"information superhighway." One Republican leader mused publicly about
>actually giving away laptop computers.
>
>The new technology excites virtually everyone who gets close to it.
>Unfortunately, increased access to information for some could be matched
>in this new Information Age by decreased access for others. Not everyone
>can afford a computer, and, time being money, many who can buy the
>hardware cannot buy the time needed to master the software.
>
>Where, in this technological era, is the public servant who can function
>the way the reference librarian once functioned? In an American public
>library system unique in the world, perhaps the single most striking
>feature has been the availability of information consultants, the
>librarians themselves, paid for by the state and serving the public.
>Knowledge is power, and American democracy, trusting the people, has
>been willing to provide them with that power. Still, as technology for
>the storage and exchange of information evolves, where is the public
>consultant who, like the kindly and knowledgeable consultant at the
>reference desk of old, can direct the questioner to the "shelf" where
>the answer awaits?
>
>The answer is obvious. That public consultant is the librarian.
>Librarians are Internet veterans. They had e-mail addresses before the
>public at large had yet heard of such a thing. Though their network has
>received less publicity than many commercial on-line services, the
>librarians, in effect, got there first.
>
>Early expertise explains why, in Maryland, libraries have been able to
>team up and provide an e-mail address to every patron who wants one,
>using in-library computers purchased for the purpose under a special
>pilot project. The libraries are not just providing the hardware. They
>are also, crucially, providing the expertise necessary to turn Internet
>"newbies" into cyberspace explorers.
>
>All this takes money, of course, and Maryland's wonderful experiment has
>an expiration date. Nationwide, the problem is that library funding has
>been handled at the local level. Library users have shown strong
>support for libraries. However, even the sturdiest local support cannot
>fund the full transition of the traditional library system into a
>high-tech provider of information. This challenge falls, not just by
>default but in principle, to the federal government, for it involves
>integrating the libraries of the country into a single, vast library:
>super library rather than superhighway.
>
>We hope it can be done. But it depends on whether the likes of Al Gore
>and Newt Gingrich back up their brave talk with a little brave action.
>
>