Re: Did you ask? Are you asking? Are we asking? (was "People v. Collections")

> Being reactive is not always the most successful business model...
Trying to get ahead of the curve is one thing.  However, it's worth
remembering that we aren't (or at least most of aren't) businesses.  We
aren't bringing a product to market to maximize profit potential.  In
fact, pleasing our customers may bring us less funding, not more.  We
will ultimately be accountable to funders not customers and they are not
really the same people.  Even if being reactive is a dubious strategy,
setting oneself up as the arbiter of what people want but aren't asking
for is a really dangerous one.  It usually leads to deciding what people
"ought" to want, and one thing we can be sure of is that people will
stubbornly refuse to want what they "ought" to want! (Just ask the
publishers who've been trying to unload E-books on an unwilling public!)

The "Give the people what they want" is only valid to a certain point.
If what people want (and many of them do) is a video game/chat room, we
would have a hard time justifying our expenditure funds in providing
them with it.

There is a difference between gossip and news, objective truth and hyped
up fiction, fuzzy as certain vested interests and media outlets would
like to make it.  There are zillions of sources for gossip/chat and
hyped up fiction and surely libraries don't need to be providing it.  We
need to be the place where people can measure it against reasonably
sound facts.

JJ


**Views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent those of
the Queens Library.**

Jane Jacobs

Asst. Coord., Catalog Division

Queens Borough Public Library

89-11 Merrick Blvd.

Jamaica, NY 11432

tel.: (718) 990-0804

e-mail: Jane.W.Jacobs_at_queenslibrary.org

FAX. (718) 990-8566




The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer.-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Croft, Janet B.
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 2:05 PM
To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
Subject: Re: Did you ask? Are you asking? Are we asking? (was "People v.
Collections")

Do we have to wait for them to ask?   Maybe they don't know how to
describe what they want, or don't know that we're the people to ask.  If
we wait for them to ask, someone else might do it instead of us. Maybe
we need to think "Build it and they will come"! Being reactive is not
always the most successful business model...

Janet Brennan Croft
Head of Access Services
University of Oklahoma Libraries
Bizzell 104NW
Norman OK 73019
405-325-1918
Fax 405-325-7618
jbcroft_at_ou.edu
http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/C/Janet.B.Croft-1/
http://libraries.ou.edu/
Editor of Mythlore http://www.mythsoc.org/mythlore.html
Committee Chair, Mythcon37, http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon37.html and
http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/C/Janet.B.Croft-1/ProgressReport1.htm


-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Andrews, Mark J.
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 12:53 PM
To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
Subject: [NGC4LIB] Did you ask? Are you asking? Are we asking? (was
"People v. Collections")

"But as this is the "next generation" isn't it time to stop thinking in
terms of libraries altogether, and to think of an inclusive social
network of individuals and organizations."

If this is what your customers are asking for, yes.  Questions:

   1. Is this what your customers are, in fact, asking for?"
   2. How do you know, did you ask them?

M. Andrews