Re: [ARSCLIST] Net music piracy 'does not harm record sales'

["Steven C. Barr" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <Mwcpc6@xxxxxxx>
> I gather that resources like OCLC and RLIN are available only to members
and
> member libraries.  Meanwhile, the public has resources like Amazon.com,
> Gemm.com, the Internet Movie Database and others.
Which are NOT equal!
> Perhaps these resources will replace libraries.  Why go to a library,
perhaps
> in a distant city, when you can buy the item, delivered to your door, use
it
> without time or use restrictions, then resell it for about what you paid
for
> it when you are through with it.
The above presumes several facts which are NOT givens!

First, you can only buy the item IF someone is selling a copy (i.e. ADBD),
and IF
you have the funds available to make the purchase. Second, you will only
WANT to
buy it if the information is vital to your research...or, in capitalist
terms, if
the amount you can gain by including the information available in the work
you
purchase will increase the value of your work by the same or a larger
amount.
Third, there is no guarantee you can receive the same amount you paid for
the
work...you may haven been the only buyer at that price (or at all!).

In fact, it is equally...if not more...likely that society will take a
typical
teenage attitude toward preserving information and the objects that contain
it,
and simply say, "We will no longer preserve any data in any form, published
or digitally collected, that dates before <selected arbitrary date>!" Of
course, it remains to be seen what the effects of that decision might be...
but nevertheless there are those who see old information as obsolete, and
only concering "old dead guys..."
Steven C. Barr