God forbid something ISN'T digitized! (Score 1)

Ok, Obviously you Slashdotters get all riled up whenever you hear about someone not digitizing something or other. You try to make it into a free speech/open access/open source/idealistic/philisophical masturbation session. You embrace every aspect of a new technology so mindlessly that you don't stop to question what you are embracing. As any scientist can tell you, questioning is important to wade through the garbage and arrive at (or near) the truth. Anyone who know what the LOC does will tell you that the LOC is not about providing free access to its collection for every American. If you've ever been to the LOC, you would know that it's collection isn't even circulating. You can't check out books if you are not a government agency. What the LOC DOES do is provide a basic resource for other libraries to base their collections upon. When a library gets a new book, it checks the LOC databases to see how the book is classified, and verify that the book is original, unadulterated, and basically to make sure it is what it says it is. In not digitizing it's collection, the LOC is allowing *community* and *regional* and *school* libraries to tackle new technologies in ways that wil work for them and their patrons. If the LOC digitized it's collection it would set a standard for others to follow, for better or worse. Knowledge, reading, and learning require a certain amount of absorbtion, thought, and reflection that digitization might eliminate. Faster and more convenient does not necessarily mean better. Rene Descartes spent two days in isolation before arriving at his maxim "I think therefore I am". He didn't have, or need, speed speed speed. If he had it he may have passed right over that thought. It's not an issue of denying access to information. Walk down to your local library and find what you're looking for..It's free (unlike a $2000 computer that needs to be upgraded every few years). If they don't have what you're looking for, go to the inter-library loan department and they'll get it for you for free. Go ahead and ask about what kind of digitization projects are going on and why. Maybe you can even hlp out, since the LOC didn't do it for you.