[145] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
soc.libraries.talk is online
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Larry)
Fri May 1 16:29:48 1992
Date: Fri, 1 May 1992 15:03:09 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
From: Larry <larry8%emx.utexas.edu@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
This message is being posted to PACS-L, LIBREF-L, and LIBADMIN.
Apologies for the duplication.
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There is now an unmoderated library oriented discussion group on the Usenet
system. soc.libraries.talk was created by a vote of 156 to 26 with votes
being posted from Finland, Norway, and South Africa as well as the U.S.
Usenet is an electronic conferencing system with over 1500 discussion groups
available worldwide. According to an estimate cited in the September 1991
edition of Scientific American, there are approximately 37,000 institutions
connected to the Usenet with about 1.4 million people worldwide reading at
least one newsgroup.
The messages on a Usenet group are stored on an institutions mainframe in
a way that allows them to be accessed by all users, rather than being sent
to the e-mail account of individual users as is the case with a listserv
list such as PACS-L or LIBREF-L. This allows easier access for the casual
user who may wish to read a group occasionally, or to gain information about
a specific situation. Thus, one of the first articles to be posted to
soc.libraries.talk (which, unfortunately, expired before I could save it
so I can't provide specifics) was from a Geography professor in Georgia
who wanted to know if there were any librarians doing anything interesting
Someone like this is probably not going to subscribe to a library mailing
list just to ask a single question, but will post a question to a Usenet
group because of the ease of access. Similarly, if I have a specific
question on a problem with my car, I may post it to one of the automobile
groups, but I would not subscribe to a auto-repair listserv list.
The Usenet system, then, provides an opportunity for library professionals
to interact with other professionals in academia and the corporate world
(who, along with students, make up the majority of Usenet users) and show
them what librarians have to offer.
Other implications of the Usenet for librarians (some of which apply to
listserv lists as well) are discussed in the folowing message that I
recently posted to soc.libraries.talk.
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A few thoughts (some speculative) on how librarians might make use of
Usenet:
1. As a way to access information that is either not accessible, or
very difficult to access by the usual library tools. For example,
one of the librarians at my practicum site was looking for negative
reviews or criticism of Sylvia Plath's work. Apart from Magazine
Index (which doesn't cover a lot of the relevant journals), most
DIALOG databases do not index by evaluative criteria. A request to
the rec.arts.books newsgroup turned up six responses (over a period of
a few days) that would have otherwise been very difficult to locate.
(At least I hope it would have. If someone knows a short cut to finding
this sort of material, please post it).
Usenet can also provide material that is very timely, particularly if it
involves a topic that has a strong following on the net. In response to
a request for book suggestions in cognitive science, a fifty-page,
partially annotated bibliography on the philosophy of cognitive science
was sent by e-mail. The author was still working on it, but had
circulated a few copies to interested parties.
2. In addition to retrieving information, librarians may also wish to
impart it -- especially when the topic is libraries. There was an
article in rec.arts.books recently in which the author (in response to
another article mentioning the "Your Right To Know" campaign) expressed
surprise that libraries received federal support, and suggested that such
support might not be in the public interest. Given the number of people
that have access to Usenet -- an article in the September, 1991 Scientific
American cited an estimate of 1.4 million -- it seems to me that the
profession would do well to make its presence known with regard to these
issues. A similar situation I recall involved an engineer who worked for
a high-tech company that was interested in setting up a library. He had
heard that when companies had a library the engineers stopped asking each
other for information -- leading to fewer exchanges of ideas between the
engineers and an ensuing decrease in productivity. I'm guessing that
there are more than a few SLA members who would disagree with that theory.
3. Usenet may also be used as a medium for recruiting. Occasionally,
requests for information about library and information science graduate
programs are seen on the soc.college and soc.college.grad groups.
IMHO these programs would do well to make themselves (make that ourselves)
more visible to the large number of college students that make use of the
net. Happily, this has already begun to happen. The University of
Pittsburgh's program has been promoted on the soc.college.gradinfo group.
It would be interesting to hear what the response has been like.
4. On a more speculative note, I'm curious about the possibility of
collecting Usenet threads as material for a "vertical file." For example,
last winter there was an incident in Iowa in which a graduate physics student
from china shot some of his professors and a fellow student. The discussion
of this situation in the soc.culture.china group was in many ways more
illuminating than the coverage in the mass media. I'm wondering whether
faculty in such areas as sociology, political science, and communications
might be interested in this type of material.
In a similar vein, some of the material in local newsgroups may be of use
to public libraries. Frequently discussed in these local forums are such
topics as "where can I find a good [mechanic, eye doctor, child care
provider, etc.]" On the one hand, it seems to me that these discussions
may satisfy some information needs that may be difficult to meet otherwise.
On the other hand, the possibility that problems might arise should a
local business take exception to criticism that the library was making
available to the public.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\Larry Gainor///////////////////////////////////
((((Graduate School of Library and Information Science | University of Texas))))
{{{Internet: larry8@emx.cc.utexas.edu | Bitnet lscu267@utxvm.cc.utexas.edu}}}}
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