A Call for Tiered Access to Google Book Search Terminals

Peter Brantley says proposed public access (pdf) to Google Book Search library terminals is too restrictive, particularly in areas serving underprivileged populations:

This is not an economic matter; it is a social foundation. A library is a refuge; you can provide solace in that refuge, and a promise for a different and better kind of future. It is morally incumbent upon you to do so.

I propose that public terminals be accessible on a tiered basis. If a certain percentage of a public library’s served population falls beneath the poverty level or a similar metric, the number of public access terminals is commensurately increased.

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