Monday, December 25, 2006
Get Over It?
When I recently renewed my ALA membership, I decided to finally bite the bullet and join LAMA, partially because I think LA&M has been one of the consistently strongest ALA-related publications. My joining pretty much coincided with LAMA's decision to cease print publication of the journal, and they just posted their first electronic-only issue.
This is a little frustrating, but OK, I understand the reasoning and can deal. I dig out my ALA login and password -- and, by the way, why can't the site remember me from day-to-day? -- to find that each article is one large pdf file, the first of which locks up my PC. Reboot, grumble, wish for a web-based or plain text alternative, try again, cruising along... and then I get to the "Editor's Keyboard" column, which talks about the move to an electronic format:
I still appreciate LA&M's content, but I'll need more than "get over it" as a reason to re-up next year.
This is a little frustrating, but OK, I understand the reasoning and can deal. I dig out my ALA login and password -- and, by the way, why can't the site remember me from day-to-day? -- to find that each article is one large pdf file, the first of which locks up my PC. Reboot, grumble, wish for a web-based or plain text alternative, try again, cruising along... and then I get to the "Editor's Keyboard" column, which talks about the move to an electronic format:
At the same time, I also realize that not all of you will regard this as a singularly propitious event. Trust me: I feel your pain. On the shelves behind me in my office, I have every print LA&M back to 1990. It does distress me to know that I’ll never add another issue to this collection. I know that many of you colleagues feel the same melancholy. Still, I beseech you at this time to turn the page (pun intended) and, how can I put it politely...?All right. I'm a fan of electronic publication. I write an electronic-only column; I publish an electronic-only newsletter. But, this gets even my hackles up. "Get over it!" seems a less-than-productive approach. We try to avoid talking to our patrons this way when we move to online catalogs or cancel print publications; we should extend the same courtesy to one another and recognize that there are better ways to get folks on board.
Get over it!
....To the naysayers, all of you have spoken to me at conferences and other venues, about the creature comforts of print publishing—of being able to read LA&M on buses, of curling up with it and a cup of cocoa (or scotch) at night, and even of taking it into the bathroom on Sunday mornings (yes, I’ve heard this said), I can only respond...have you never heard of the "print" button?
I still appreciate LA&M's content, but I'll need more than "get over it" as a reason to re-up next year.
Labels: ala, electronic, lam, lama, pdf
