Hello-
I have to say, this has been a fascinating discussion. Three years ago
I wondered aloud on this list about how we would respond when the
general public finally found us and started asking reference questions
of us. At that time the discussion was limited.
It is a very sticky situation.
I firmly believe in access to information for all. This is probably why
I migrated toward academic law librarianship rather than working in
firms, and why I ended up in a public university setting. I want to
serve the public as a whole as part of my librarian mission. This
mission extends online, as well as in person.
However, the value of this list is the ability to quickly share
information and assist each other on a professional level. Lay
reference questions already are starting to clog an otherwise busy
listserv.
What I fear will develop is specialized "closed" lists that we use for
our own particular interests, and that law-lib will slowly die from lack
of interest in serving the lay question.
I value very highly the exchanges I see with regards to aquisitions
problems, ILL problems, and technical problems. If we splinter into
different closed societies, I might miss some of that valuable exchange.
What's the answer? I'm not sure. But I'm inclined to say that we learn
to tolerate the outside questions. Those that want to answer their
questions should do so directly so as not to further clog the list.
Others might want to send a direct message suggesting other library
oriented lists. Those not interested should simply hit the delete key.
At some time in the near future we may find that the level of lay
traffic is so high that we need to discuss the issue again. Currently,
it seems to me, that the traffic is still moderate enough not to justify
censorship or exclusion. I think it is imperative that we as librarians
fight to provide access to information wherever we can, not just where
it is conveniant to us.
I guess I'll get off of the soapbox now, and give others a turn. This
is an excellent list. I'd hate to see it splintered either by outsiders
or by choice.
Sincerely,
Brian-
-- Brian L. Baker Director of the Law Library & Assistant Professor of Law UDC School of Law V: 202-274-7354 F: 202-274-7311 I: bbaker@udc.edu
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 14 2007 - 20:49:43 PST