Reliability ain't what it used to be.
Sorry : Reliability ain't what it used to seem to be.
( And I'm not sure whether we've lost much of great value in the process. )
- Laval Hunsucker
Breukelen, Nederland
----- Original Message ----
From: Weinheimer Jim <j.weinheimer_at_AUR.EDU>
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 10:53:00 PM
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] On the importance of subject browse lists
Laval Hunsucker wrote:
<snip>
It's not just a problem of pragmatics, but also one of theory.
And that makes it all the more pitiful.
It is a constant source of amazement to me that such a
gigantic amount of energy and time ( and therefore money )
has been, and still is being, invested in this whole messy
business. Also invested has been a tremendous amount of
professional honor and self-esteem. And *that*, I'd guess,
has now become the really big problem.
</snip>
My concern with this is that people want to believe that finding reliable information is an easy thing to do, which is really untrue and to say such a thing is a disservice to everyone. Perhaps it will be easy someday--I don't know, but while it is easier than ever today to find information, it may be more difficult than ever to find reliable information.
Now, what does "reliable" mean? Obviously, a positive definition is changing constantly today and loaded with controversy, but the negative defintion (i.e. unreliable information), absolutely nobody wants. This idea of "avoiding unreliable infomation" rings true with many people and they are concerned about it, but everything remains quite abstract for them. This is one area where I have seen people may listen to advice--even from a librarian.
There are many, many opportunities for us, if we take them.
James L. Weinheimer j.weinheimer_at_aur.edu
Director of Library and Information Services
The American University of Rome
Rome, Italy
Received on Thu Jun 10 2010 - 17:04:10 EDT