 |
 |
On Jun 15, 2011, at 1:36 PM, Ross Singer wrote: > The fact that libraries have, so far, completely ignored this freely > available content (and let's face it, the fact that not all of it > *should* be freely available is neither here nor there - if it's the > article you need and it's found via simple Google-ing, it's game) and > have constrained the discovery/delivery process to the tiny percentage > of the universe that they own or lease is mind blowing and completely > antithetical to what libraries are supposedly about. YES!!! I can not agree with Ross any more strongly! The library profession has all but shot itself in the foot because it continues to spend so much time and energy on purchased/licensed content. Our supposed knowledge of our clientele coupled with freely available full text content could make our collections so much more useful and relevant. Instead, we continue to license our rights away, buy back the stuff we've already paid someone to create, and in the end have very little to show for it. Grrr... -- Eric Lease Morgan University of Notre Dame