Stay away from Gainesville, Florida…or better yet, someone find George E. and muzzle him. George writes for the Gainesville Sun and believes Central Florida should “pull the plug” on public libraries in his county. He goes through the usual blatherings “no one needs a library anymore…we’ve got the Internet!” Yes, you do, Mr E. That and a whole bunch of garbage. Here’s a little exercise for you – Let’s say you have a not-so-manly problem of ED and you want to research the problem. So, you get yourself on Google and “research” your anatomy to figure out where the “dysfunction” comes from. Or doesn’t. Sorry about that bad choice of word. Check out how many hits Google was able to return to you in whatever seconds. [Google likes to brag about that sort of thing. Not sure how useful it really is when no one looks beyond the first two pages of search results…] but, anyway. Back to the exercise. Now go to Google Scholar, that is, if you know how to find it, and conduct the same search. What’s the difference? How much porn did you get with the first search? How much do you really want to be looking at people doing it while you can’t even get it up? Can you evaluate your sources accurately? Do you take advice from just anyone (because that’s what you’re doing if you can’t tell who’s sponsoring your search results)? Do you even care? Obviously not if you can’t see my point.
I like the woman who laid it all out in her comment: what her “library” taxes cost her per year compared to her savings when borrowing (for free) books, journals, dvds, music, cds, and audio books. The real kicker is when she mentions the research help she got from a real, honest-to-goodness librarian that saved her husband’s life. Priceless.
Someone else said Florida’s culture is going down the drain (well, they called the culture “backwater” which to me sounds equally unappealing). I don’t know that much about the Sunshine State, but I do know complaints about Florida’s lack of culture is nothing new. I have a friend who’s dying for a little culture in her little corner of sunshine.
Why do I rant about this? I’m sick of trying to defend my profession. There. I said it. I have a vested interest in all libraries and not just my own. I admit, the word ‘library’ is archaic. But, in this ever-growing wealth of cyber information someone needs to stand in the mire and sort it all out. That’s what professional librarians are paid to do. I have to wonder what Ben Franklin would say if he met Mr. George at a dinner party and was told “you don’t need a library for books, just to go the Salvation Army!” Since I’m not in the mood to promote George’s editorial let me know if you want to read it for yourself. I’ll forward the link….
Stepping off the soapbox for today.
oh yeah, and have a nice day.
~*LunaSea*~ 
You write: “I admit, the word ‘library’ is archaic.” I would whole heartedly agree with you on that one. I believe that one voice can spark a revolution, or at least spark a productive conversation to encourage a change. So, my passionate library professional, what else would be more appropriate than just “library”. Go on … be the spark! I know you’ve got it in you kid!
You should have seen me at the last department head meeting! Rant Rant Rant! That’s all I did was talk about the new buzzwords for libraries. 😉
a place that gives you books for free. why would you want to take that away.
i’m a book girl through and through so the word library fine with me.
I think ‘library’ just doesn’t cover what really goes on, especially in academic settings. Things have changed so much!