Re: [ARSCLIST] Zits cartoon strip

[Karl Miller <lyaa071@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 23 Mar 2006, vdalhart wrote:

>     I use the library regularly.  I still read books.  In fact I have books
> in almost every room in the house.  I also read a newspaper every day!  Am I
> that old fashioned?  Jack

I think about the time it takes to go to the library (and I work in a
libary), try looking something up (I believe library catalogs were
designed by librarians for librarians and after 25 years of being a
librarian I still have problems finding what I am looking for) then going
to the shelf and taking it down to the circulation desk (assuming it is on
the shelf where it should be) checking it out and returning it.

Granted, you might find something else of interest on the shelf next to
the book you were looking for...I figure my time is worth $50 an hour to me...
my employer of course, does not agree...however...I value my free time...if I
can sit at home (while listening to music), find a book at some online
dealer and purchase it in less than five minutes, I am saving money.

A friend of mine used to go the library once a week.
He would check out a stack of discs, take them home,
copy them, make color copies of the covers, catalog his copy and add
them to his collection. When he figured out he could download what he wanted
for next to nothing, or record things via the internet radio for free and
store them digitally, he realized his old way of doing things was not very
productive...the illegality of his old ways didn't seem to bother him
much.

As for the newspaper...

http://aldaily.com/

For me, libraries lost it when they forgot that their main value lies in
providing access to information that can't be found elsewhere...or for
less of an investment in time/money. True, libraries are there to provide
free access to those who can't afford any other source for information,
but, I wonder if we shouldn't have information stamps/credit like we have
food stamps/credit for those on low incomes.

Karl (who works in a libary system with over 5Million items and hasn't
checked out anything in at least three years)