Re: [ARSCLIST] Interesting WSJ Article on when libraries should discard their holdings.

[Karl Miller <karl.miller@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:    All this culling at libraries is a screaming endorsement of Google's plot to digitize as many 
printed words as possible and make it all searchable. Yeah, they're going to have to make their 
money back and yeah there are copyright issues. But 100 years down the line, people might be very 
thankful that their digitizing engine was running full throttle as printed books got dumpstered.

-- Tom Fine

  I agree. Much of what is archived is that which was collected by individuals and organizations other than libraries. I have often wondered if we were left with what libraries retain...our measure of our history would be Harry Potter and no Hemingway...lots of Britney Spears and no Coltrane.
   
  Well, come to think about it, Britney probably says more about our society than Coltrane.
   
  Karl