I don't think that libraries have been marginalized--much less that we've somehow accomplished this feat ourselves--but rather that in the realm of research resources their collections have acquired a lot of online company. I point out to friends, for instance, that we are all US Government Depository Libraries today. The data freely available from government sources--free to citizens in their own homes or their local coffee shop--exceeds anything that even the best equipped depository library could have provided just a decade ago. Every time I visit the Census Bureau or BLS websites, I'm overwhelmed by the wealth of raw data I can download and play with. Libraries aren't marginal, but they're a smaller part of the total information picture than they have been historically.
Ed
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Truitt, Marc
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 12:47 PM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Not sure what this means
On 05/27/2010 01:13 PM, Ross Singer wrote:
> On Thu, May 27, 2010 at 3:09 PM, Johnston, Leslie <lesliej_at_loc.gov>
> wrote:
>> And you were able to find the books in Google because a library
>> provided them with catalog records to index.
>
> But does somebody that found the resource the same way Ed did know or
> care?
>
> -Ross.
>
Actually, the larger question is probably whether anyone cares at all, whether we're considering the metadata or the resource itself. In what strikes me as the ultimate irony of our self-marginalization, we've made our contribution so transparent that only a very skilled researcher would ever know that s/he was accessing library-licensed/owned/originated resources, regardless of the path taken to get there.
- mt
--
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Marc Truitt
Associate University Librarian,
Bibliographic and Information Voice : 780-492-4770
Technology Services e-mail : marc.truitt_at_ualberta.ca
University of Alberta Libraries fax : 780-492-9243
Cameron Library cell : 780-217-0356
Edmonton, AB T6G 2J8
"Pictures of matchstick men and you
Mirages of matchstick men and you
All I ever see is them and you"
-- Francis Rossi (1967)
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Received on Thu May 27 2010 - 16:19:03 EDT