Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2004 17:05:52 +0530
From: Ratnakar Aspari <aspari_r(a)hotmail.com>
Dear Moderator:
I have been following the the arguments in the Lis-Forum regarding the
requests for full artilce from libraries. While it is good and correct to
review policy of any forum from time to time, it is my earnest request to
the Forum not to take a hasty decision which would hamper the very
helpful nature of the Forum. While the forum should be a channel for
intellectual (?) communication, it certainly should not forget one of its
most fundamental goals - to provide a platform for librarians to serve
their clientele better through the use of technology. Finally whatever a
librian/information officer/technical information officer (call him/her
by whatever title) does, if he is not able to provide a basic material
like an article requested by an user, all the efforts being made by
organisations like NCSI to be a part of the serving community will be
lost. I certainly endorse the view that commerical organisations should
not be allowed the freedom to get this facility but a resear! cher
working in a university or institution should not be made to suffer for
this reason. As long as no finacial transaction is involved in
requesting/offering the full text to a genuine user, I do not see any
impropriety in such an action.
I am reacting to the present issue only because of my connections with
NCSI as an user (librarian) from its inception and the benefits the
scientific community is getting through it.
A. Ratnakar
Former librarian,
Raman Research Institute, Bangalore,
and Consultant (Education and Training), Informatics India Ltd.Bangalore
