My Beef with the Press

Ah, the great love/hate relationship of... any organization, I'll bet... with the press. They promote us, they're necessary--and yet often they misquote, misconstrue, or as in this example, completely twist the headline to not match the story, but purely for the shock value (and therefore snagging themselves more readers).

The title of this article, which I found on the front page of Yahoo News?
"Despite demand, libraries won't add PCs."

Yes, the article goes on to explain that many public libraries don't have the facilities (either the room, the outlets, or the power grid) or the budget to support additional computers. But is that what the headline connotes to you? Doesn't it rather sound like libraries are uncaring, irrelevant institutions? Wouldn't that make you, as a potential patron, mad?

Well, it made me mad just to read it, as a librarian. I'm really steamed that this is the instant message that the Associated Press is sending out to our patrons. Thanks, AP, thanks.