On 6/7/2006 9:31 AM, Drew, Bill wrote:
> One of the first things that needs to be done is to define what the
> catalog is currently...
In a universe of information resources, not all of which are available
to me, the catalog is the tool that talks to me in terms of which ones
are and are not available.
Traditionally this has been in the form of a locally maintained database
focused on a local physical collection--especially the monographs in
that collection--and tightly tied into modules like acquisitions,
cataloging, and circulation. But none of this is integral to the task
of answering these questions:
Given my search criteria, what resources are available to me?
Given a specific resource, it it available to me or not?
Ways in which current catalogs fall short of answering those questions
is a matter of protracted conversation. Ironing those wrinkles out in
the next generation is why we're here, right? :-)
--
Thomas Dowling
tdowling_at_ohiolink.edu
Received on Wed Jun 07 2006 - 10:22:36 EDT