Greetings,
 
     T. Robinson wondered why folks asking broad questions about
audience research results don't turn to the library for the vast
amount of information available there.
 
     First, let me put my added musings in context by making it
clear that I am a librarian.
 
     For more than a couple of years now I have been threatening to
monitor a random selection of Internet discussion groups for purposes of
classifying the information requests appearing there and analyzing how
many of those requests could be fulfilled (and how many could be
fulfilled more completely/accurately) in the library.
 
     My point?  1) Many questions asked on the Net could and probably
should be answered via a library search.  The volume of information
some folks request is stunning.  My personal favorite was the
individual who asked people to send him/her any and all information
on Joan of Arc (!!).
 
    2) While I *strongly believe* that the single best (and probably
most common) use of discussion groups is for question-asking and
answer-getting...
 
    3) I think we're getting lazy.
 
    It's *great* to see people using the Net to exchange specialized or
unpublished or personal-experience information.  It's less great to see
folks asking others to do their homework for them.
 
    Sorry...I'm a librarian.  But I agree with "T"--sometimes you gotta
wonder about some of the questions posted!
 
                        It's almost Friday!  Jan
 
                         Dr. Jan Anderson
                         Utah State University
                         (801) 797-2672
                         [log in to unmask]
 
                         "Earth is a beta site."