Two thought experiments:
*Let's add SparkNotes to the catalog. After all, SparkNotes has
information about books. Therefore, since all information is good
information, let's add it to the catalog.
*If SparkNotes, let's add free-essay-mill essays into the catalog.
*If that works, let's add snippets from the Google results to the
catalog. Not the first result, but the 100th. Since all information is
good information, the 100th result should be better than nothing.
At some point, information is bad enough or far enough away from the
goals of education that while a student might conceivably use it, they
would be foolish to do so. For example, if LibraryThing for Libraries
recommendations uniformly terrible, nobody should add them to their
catalogs. This is doubly true when the bad information is juxtaposed
with good information sitting on a shelf.
Whether scannless GBS is bad enough, I leave to you. I think it is,
but there's an argument, certainly. I don't think we can argue that
there is *some* lower threshold of quality beneath which data should
be left off the OPAC. I note, for example, that most "empty" books in
GBS do not show up high on Google's searches for that book name. They
don't show up because, absent a scan, GBS books are pretty weak tea.
As for the idea that getting a book off the shelf is a non-trivial
hassle, while I admit that it can get hard if your library is split
between locations, at most colleges, getting a book from a library is
a trivial effort. And anyway, you're a student for pete's sake!
Learning is your full-time job. If gets books off shelves bums you
out, what are you doing in college?
Best,
Tim
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