Hear!  Hear!   If I put "Here!  Here!" people might not take me seriously.
But it is also echoing the fact that we have many of the underpaid who fill
the ERs.  We do, however, need more, accessible clinics that people can go
to & be comfortable with before their problems get serious enough to need
hospitalization.

Beverly Gardner MLS ([log in to unmask])
Providence Holy Cross Medical Center
Strazzeri Medical Library
15031 Rinaldi St.  P.O. Box 9600
Mission Hills, CA 91346-9600



-----Original Message-----
From: Cathy Wolfson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2001 3:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: CHAT: A response to the Competitive Intelligence article


Bill:

> Have to disagree on this one.  A lot of people (me,
> for example) use spell-checkers in their e-mail
> clients.  However, most of the time the checker is
> not smart enough to discriminate between legitimate
> similar words (its/it's), & may well miss an actual
> error entirely if it thinks it has no reason to
> question it.  Just because "it's" appears in place of
> "its" is by no means "an intentional action."  In
> cases like this, typos should never be assumed to be
> benchmarks of smarts.
>
> If a person uses "inferred" when the actual meaning
> should be "implied," or uses "the 'hoi polloi'" in place
> of the correct "hoi polloi," then, yes, it's a case of
> the person not knowing the difference.  But in the case
> at hand the typo has no relevant bearing whatsoever
> beyond merely being a minor irritant. :)

I'm inclined to overlook typos myself.  I also don't believe that misuse
of words and phrases implies lack of intelligence nor do I infer such a
lack.  I assume the person hasn't been sufficiently educated in these
usages.

What bothers me about Jack Cooper's posting are two things:

1.  His assumption that we librarians lack some sort of training in
strategic thinking or something of the sort, which prevents us from being
competitive intelligence agencies.

2.  His assumption that the problems with our current health delivery
system and with hospitals are due to lack of a competitive edge.  On the
contrary, I submit that most of our current problems are due to the
failure to recognize that health care delivery is NOT the same thing as
business and CANNOT be run with the bottom line being the top priority.
The top priority must be the health of all concerned and promoting good
health, and where that is no longer possible, at least an improvement, or
reducing discomfort and pain.  It's fine to look for ways of doing that
more efficiently and at less cost, but that's not what is happening these
days.

--Cathy



Catherine L. Wolfson                        Health Sciences Library
Information Services Librarian              University of Arizona
[log in to unmask]                   1501 N. Campbell Ave.
Tel:  520-626-2927                          P.O. Box 245079
Fax:  520-626-2922                          Tucson, AZ  85724-5079

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