[Sigia-l] Marcia Bates on Web-era information retrieval

[karl fast]

> When she says, "it has been an article of faith in the Internet
> culture that librarians have nothing to contribute to this new
> age." I don't only blame the whatever the "Internet culture" is.
> Some of the blame must go to librarians who have done a terrible
> job marketing their unique skills.

I disagree with Bates on this (I do agree with your marketing
comment).

People didn't actively assume "librarians have nothing to
contribute." It was more passive; an implied assumption.

They assumed that only the technically elite had something to
tribute. Anyone who wasn't in that category had nothing to
contribute. 

Librarians are not technically elite (having just finished my MLIS I
can assure you of this). But neither are lawyers or english majors
or graphic desingers, all of whom are making contributions to
Internet culture in various ways.

Librarians are just a bit more pissed off about the whole thing
because they're "information professionals." (okay, they're a lot
more pissed off).



--karl