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Originally Posted by Gantrioch
My problem with public libraries is that mostly what they carry is trash reading. I know public libraries that have a larger fiction section than the non-fiction and reference sections put together. Now, there's nothing wrong with that; in fact, I probably read more trash books than anyone else. But when you need to do some real research, especially science (i.e. chemistry), public libraries have such limited resources that you're forced to go to a local university, which, for many people, isn't so local.
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Public libraries have a very different mission statement from
academic libraries.
Public libraries serve the general public by providing materials and media desired by the communities they serve. The presence and availability of these materials in turn promotes and supports literacy within the community (another public library mission). Public libraries also serve as information portals.
Academic libraries are specialized and very narrow in their scope and focus. Their mission is to support research and to compile reference knowledge base for academic sub-communities. Here the materials are selected far more cafefully and critically. The academic library is a workplace, not just for its staff, but also for its users and patrons.
--ryan