My favorite excerpt from Jim's paper:
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This is one of my major problems with Mr. Mann's arguments. His conclusion is (or seems to be): we cannot do new things because we are too busy doing old things. This reflects a basic divergence in the worldview of the universe of information: that what we are living through right now is but a small "bump in the road" and after the bump, the road will go on pretty much as it always has. Others think that what we are experiencing now represents a fundamental change in the very nature of how people find and relate to information and knowledge. For those who believe in the "bump in the road," no changes or rethinking, or at most very little, are needed. For those others who believe something deeper is happening, they must conclude that many of the old things no longer make a lot of sense today and perhaps will make even less sense in the future.
It should not be a surprise that I consider myself a member of the latter group. In addition, I think that it is highly important that non-librarians do not view the library community in terms of the "custodians of the printed materials," since first, this is not true, and second, this is a sure path to eventual oblivion.
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--- On Wed, 12/2/09, Jonathan Rochkind <rochkind_at_JHU.EDU> wrote:
> From: Jonathan Rochkind <rochkind_at_JHU.EDU>
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Open Reply to Thomas Mann
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 11:15 AM
> Well written Jim, thanks.
>
> Jonathan
>
> Weinheimer Jim wrote:
> > Apologies for cross-posting.
> >
> > To those interested, I have just made available
> another of my "open replies" to Thomas Mann's report (http://www.guild2910.org/Future%20of%20Cataloging/LCdistinctive.pdf)
> on the E-LIS database (once again) at: http://eprints.rclis.org/17331/
> > "An Open Reply to Thomas Mann's report 'What is
> Distinctive about the Library of Congress In Both its
> Collections and its Means of Access to Them ...'"
> >
> > Regards,
> > James Weinheimer j.weinheimer_at_aur.edu<mailto:j.weinheimer_at_aur.edu>
> > Director of Library and Information Services
> > The American University of Rome
> > via Pietro Roselli, 4
> > 00153 Rome, Italy
> > voice- 011 39 06 58330919 ext. 258
> > fax-011 39 06 58330992
> >
> >
>
Received on Wed Dec 02 2009 - 11:26:16 EST