On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 3:46 AM, Weinheimer Jim <j.weinheimer_at_aur.edu> wrote:
> I think Google Books represents the best of the "entrepreneurial spirit" the neo-conservatives are always applauding.
Just an aside, I think that would actually be neo-liberals.
<snip/>
> Libraries, as highly bureaucratized, and they are subservient to higher agencies; they could never have done what Google has done.
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> I may not like much of this, but Google's achievement is incredible and a public entity such as libraries could never have accomplished it.
This sounds so defeatist (although I don't disagree!).
Libraries historically have done some pretty incredibly large and
ambitious technology projects. Simply automating our catalogs at the
time we did is an incredible accomplishment and I look at things like
interlibrary loan as pretty mind-boggling in its complexity, scale and
scope - especially when these endeavors were being considered.
Certainly the same higher agencies must have required being sold on
these projects, yet somehow they still managed to get done!
Somewhere along the path we lost our way and our administrators seem
to have forgotten what we can do when we work together. Granted, it's
a lot easier to just say "we can't do that" and bide our time until we
retire.
-Ross.
Received on Thu Dec 23 2010 - 09:20:51 EST