RE: Libraries criticized for role in Google Book Search

["Rick Anderson" <rick.anderson@utah.edu>]

> When he or she uses Google and is presented with 
> advertisements, is that a good deal?

It's an excellent deal, in part because one is presented with 
advertisements much differently than is the case on many other 
commercial sites.  With Google, you only have to deal with the 
ads if you choose to; advertising links are segregated on the 
screen, and they don't command any attention that you don't 
choose to give them.  This means that, in fact, Google charges 
nothing to end users, even in terms of attention.  (Except, of 
course, for the opportunity cost of the time spent using Google. 
But that just means it "costs" something to use Google in the 
same sense that it costs something to take a nap, or to write a 
paper, or to think.)

Rick Anderson
Assoc. Dir. for Scholarly Resources & Collections
Marriott Library
University of Utah
rick.anderson@utah.edu