[BC] Another public station bites the dust

[Bernie Courtney]

On 6/26/06, Alan Kline <akline at netins.net> wrote:
>
> Who's going to digitize and organize the millions and millions of books
> for
> that all-encompassing digital library?  More to the point, who's going to
> pay for it, and would it really be less expensive than maintaining the
> brick-and-mortar libraries? The simple logistics of organizing such a
> massive effort are mind-numbing.


it will happen gradually, piecemeal, with a lot of the work being done by
Universities.  Many already are starting the process of digitizing and
cataloging their stacks, and then sharing the archive with other
institutions with similar programs and reciprocal agreements.  In NJ the
state built a massive dark fiber network for their electronic toll
collection system (EZ PASS) and donated a good amount of fiber to link
together universities in the state doing just the above.


How about the local history departments that are so important in many
> community libraries? What about the thousands and thousands of reels of
> microfilm--local newspapers and geneaology files, just to name a few?
> Thousands
> of microfiche?


Although I will admit I've never looked into it, one would assume it would
be even easier to scan microfiche then pages so what exactly would the
problem be?
I (and this is about the only way I made it through college) would much
rather sit up in my room at 2am with a laptop and search through an entire
library of information for what I want by keyword and see the results
immediately online.  The 'old fashioned' alternative of rummaging through a
crowded library, searching stacks, to find just the book I want, then having
to possibly thumb through the entire thing to find a particular quote I
needed, whereas a full text search online would have given me the same
result in seconds is just a waste of time.


And perhaps most importantly, how would we introduce new generations to the
> absolute joy of just spending an afternoon browsing through the stacks,
> finding
> new things that look interesting? Or finding something that isn't what you
> were
> looking for in the first place, but takes you off on a whole new
> exploration?


I think after reading the above you see how I feel about spending an
afternoon in a library :)  As far as getting off track and spending a bunch
of time researching something other then what you originally intended, isn't
that what the Internet is for-- it surely has had that effect on me many
times.



> And how is it that you or anyone else gets to decide what's suitable for
> broadcast, and what should be shunted aside to a third-world of streaming
> and podcasts?


I think 'broadcasting' as we now know it will be in the end what is shunned,
in favor of  streaming and podcasts to which current broadcasters will, and
are already are, starting to embrace.



> Note however, that there were no "wardrobe malfunctions" at issue here...



good thing, with all the new indecency rules, I think the new penalty calls
for the sacrifice of the first born child of the offending party :-)

bern