[13207] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: netLibrary
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Walt Crawford)
Thu Mar 23 21:16:00 2000
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 07:27:33 -0800
From: Walt Crawford <Walt_Crawford@NOTES.RLG.ORG>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
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Some old-timers may be astonished by this posting under my name (yes, it's the
same Walt Crawford), but I'd like to comment on the latest netLibrary
comment...to wit:
>OK, here's a technical issue relating to netLibrary that concerns me: the
>default checkout is 24 hours. If you are looking up some quick facts, OK.
>But, how do you deal with this when trying to read a novel? I am a pretty
>voracious reader, but 24 hours for, say, a Zola novel or Don Quixote?
>Print works better for that. I, and millions of other people, spend 6+
>hours a day looking at a computer screen. I for one would NOT want to
>stare at one in my off hours to read a book.
>Call me old-fashioned, but I have to think there's a place for print, and
>it will remain popular, way into the future.
When it comes to novels, or for that matter the kind of nonfiction that you take
in large extended doses (biographies, historical narratives, in-depth
analyses...), I will second the notion expressed here. But then, I'm not sure
that the netLibrary people would disagree. (I don't even think the checkout
period is the key issue. The roadblocks to printing out a complete book, and the
fact that most sane people don't want to read full-length books on screen, are
probably more important.)
I discuss netLibrary in "Crawford's Corner" for January 2000 (written in October
1998, but the issue of Library Hi Tech News just appeared). My comment there is:
"I see netLibrary as offering 'semi-books'--book-length items that aren't
expected to be read in full, but rather used to find a few key paragraphs on
something. There are a lot of semibooks out there, in addition to the reference
materials that are too much in demand to make sense as circulating items..."
It's another case of and, not or: netLibrary (at its best, if it works properly,
if the costs make sense) can supplement print books, but doesn't replace them on
a wholesale basis. There are still archival issues, and certainly pricing and
access issues (are netLibrary subscriptions like buying books or like McNaughton
plans?), but I don't believe the issue is "netLibrary or books." You can have
both; we will have both print books and new distribution models.
