On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 01:50, Rinne, Nathan (ESC)
<RinneN_at_district279.org> wrote:
> The question you need to ask is whether you would pay for the NY Times
> online. I also consume vast quantities of free online content (isn't it
> great?), much that I really do value and like. But how much of it would
> I pay for if I had to? That would cause me to think more critically -
> and have to make some tough decisions about which valuable stuff I
> really felt I needed to buy.
This argument is quite moot as you *don't* have to pay for a great
number of things. Philosophically speaking, this is just an extension
on other things that we get for free and *still* value greatly, like
freedom of speech, or, incidentally, the libraries around the world.
One could get anal and say that we pay for all these things through
taxes, which would be right, but humanity has chosen this structure to
pay for the infra-structure that supports those things we *value*.
All that has happened to the libraries is that their *values* (that
is, their archival and retrieval values) have shifted from the
physical building into the internet. I've said for years (well,
winced, really) that the true value of what librarians provide must
follow suit into the virtual space as *experts* and leaders there
rather than as curators and followers. I fear it is already much, much
too late.
Regards,
Alex
--
Project Wrangler, SOA, Information Alchemist, UX, RESTafarian, Topic Maps
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Received on Thu Sep 17 2009 - 20:28:44 EDT