Using Google for research and minimum wage

"Using Google for research is like “working for less than minimum wage” Apple’s Steve Jobs has compared the process of searching for and downloading free, pirated music files to “working for less than minimum wage”—just as Anderson describes it as an “it’s not worth it” moment. Jobs meant that the time spent searching for and downloading illegal music files—whose quality is more often dubious than not—ends up costing the user more than 99¢. For 99¢, the individual gets a quickly downloadable, guaranteed, high-quality music file. Libraries are often perceived as inconvenient, if they are considered options at all. Libraries will regain market position when we deliver more than Google can, for less than the Google equivalent of 99¢—when we are “worth it.”

Katherine Bossman's article "Serving the Niche" on Library Journal