I can't respond in depth at this time. Let it suffice to say that the
American Library Association and the Urban Libraries Council and all
librarians I know all want the public library to be the site of the
information kiosks and information superhighway access, not the post
office. If we had the financing, we'd follow the lead of the Carnegie
Library of Pittsburgh and *give* free e-mail addresses to all who wanted
them and provide internet access from public library terminals. (We're
doing the latter already, i.e. internet and web access.)
All the best,
Mitch Freedman
Westchester Library System
On 2 Dec 1995, Warren J. Sirota wrote:
> Regarding Norm's suggestion for a WATPA press release on the subject. It is a
> good idea to always issue press releases on issues directly related to WATPA's
> mission (as this is) IF WATPA wants to create general awareness of itself. (In
> marcom lingo: awareness advertising.) The trick is, we must have something
> newsworthy to say to justify calling it a press release.
>
> Regarding the article itself, the notion of universal access, a la universal
> service, is right where I live. I think the paradigm is important, given the
> political climate and mindset of the voting electorate. There is a lesson to be
> learned from the success of universal service and the Bell system: the
> government can create a set of rules for private industry to do the job that
> results in achieving the goal of universal access while creating the most
> successful company capitalism has ever seen, and in the end spawning the best
> network infrastructure in the world, the leading technology, a spate of large
> successful companies, and a growing technology sector with increasing
> competition that is good for everyone. (Grammatically I do not beleive that is
> a run on sentence, but I welcome criticism.) I am not suggesting the country go
> back to a publicly mandated monopoly for e-mail (post office paradigm--UGH!),
> but just that the concept of doing it without direct taxes and without
> government involvement in implementation is a good one. The actual model and
> regulations needs a national brainstorming session. Hmmm....
>
> warren
>
>