On Mon, 29 Jul 2013, Peter Schlumpf wrote:
> People will do what is easiest and most effective for them and their
> information seeking needs.
Of course, but that's not the problem. The problem is that the concept is
being manipulated in every way possible to control the people searching
for information, such as by seducing them from actual information with
entertainment. In such a context, motivations become far more significant
than simplest means.
> The original post here struck me as gobbledygook for just about anybody
> who is not a cataloger.
Ignoring the manipulative nature of your arrogant, personalized diatribe,
the problem is that the following point made in the original post is being
ignored by everyone because they can't make money from it:
"And yet novel means of *access* is what is driving much of the web: ...
through increased "metadata" on you, your friends, your friends' friends,
and those with a similar "profile" as yours, and so on."
> If libraries do not serve the patron's needs
How about serving the needs of the society first and being laissez faire
about books on bomb-making and how to manipulate people last?
> If libraries do not serve the patron's needs ... then they regrettably
> deserve it.
That's the position taken by politicians controlled by the corporate
elite capable of causing them to be defunded. The issue becomes how easily
that argument can be glibly manipulated into forming rhetoric favoring
privatization of everything.
> We need systems and search tools that are designed to be simple, easy to
> use and effective for everybody.
So, would you favor profiling all library patrons in order to optimize
their searches? As I recall, we opposed turning over circulation
record to the HSA, so why aren't we outspoken about (and working to
compromise) corporate spying?
> Whatever happened to Ranganthan's principles of how libraries
> should work? Every reader his book (resource). Every book (resource) its
> reader. Save the time of the reader. a library is a living organism.
Times have changed. In R's day privatization of libraries and readers
(yes, actual people) and intrusion into readers' lives and libraries'
operations were not pervasive problems. Now, commercialization of
information repositories (e.g. Internet), distortion of information, and
manipulation of privacy for fun and profit (yes, NSA and Google are just
games) are the "living organisms" (elephants in the room) looming over out
lives.
jgm
John G. Marr
Cataloger
CDS, UL
Univ. of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
jmarr_at_unm.edu
californiastop_at_hushmail.com
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Received on Mon Jul 29 2013 - 13:16:58 EDT