on 24 Aug 2005 Dan Lester <dan@riverofdata.com> wrote:
>
> Wednesday, August 24, 2005, 8:38:48 AM, you wrote:
>
> AH> As I was reviewing recent government statistics,
> AH> I couldn't help feel
> AH> some alarm to find that library expenditures in
> AH> higher education
> AH> are no longer included in the summary tables of
> AH> the DIGEST OF
> AH> EDUCATION STATISTICS after 1999:
>
> Well, I'm sure that was part of the international conspiracy among
> librarians to keep you from getting the data you're after.  Have you
> considered looking at current ARL stats, or other sources?  You might
> even consult a reference librarian for assistance.

	Why ever would librarians support dropping
	library finance allocations from government
	statistics??

	It appears as if libraries (and librarians)
	have actually disappeared! What a change
	since the days when Lyndon Johnson quoted
	Thomas Carlyle, "A true university ... is a
	collection of books," when signing LSCA in
	1964.

	ARL kept stats on financial allocations
	for many years but published only a few
	examples in 1993.

	Insofar as conspiracies go, however, I do
	agree with Chapter 7: Enemies of the library
	in FUTURE LIBRARIES by Crawford and Gorman
	(ALA 1995), Nicholson Baker [DOUBLE FOLD. Random
	House 2001) and others who have pointed out
	that some librarians, having attained
	leadership positions, betray the profession
	and their positions as conservators of
	knowledge in order to curry favor with
	trustees and budget managers.

	Best wishes,

Albert Henderson
Former Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY 1994-2000
Contributor HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. AN ENCYCLOPEDIA (ABC-CLIO 2002)

.
.
.
.