| Description |
Academic libraries are in a tough situation, there's no question about it. We're beset on two sides, and it's almost as if the two sides had coordinated their attacks. From one side, attacking us with a gentle smile and a two-edged sword, is Google, which wasn't satisfied with being the single easiest and most effective ready-reference tool in the world. It has now become, effectively, the world's largest, most comprehensive, and easiest-to-use research library. I know, I know, it's not perfect: you can't display more than 20% of any in-copyright book (and much less than that if the book is still in print). And yes, Google is doing all this to make money, and no, giving people access to huge amounts of content doesn't do anything to ensure that they'll use it intelligently or even responsibly. |
