At least three topics

We have at least three topics running through our discussion of "the
catalog," and I think they may help us define our scope.

1) Content. The content of the catalog in terms of breadth (what the
library owns, what the library licenses, other resources of interest,
the whole banana?) and depth (metadata, reviews, full text?)

2) Interface. How humans and other systems interact with the catalog.
There's the human interface and its search boxes, but there's also the
ability for systems to reach in and make use of catalog contents as
needed -- one person called this "viral"; I tend to see it as having a
permeable membrane. Whatever your metaphor, a closed box with one
tightly controlled entry point is no longer a viable design.

3) Tools. Not only tools within the catalog ("other users also looked
at....", "more like this," topic maps), but tools to work with what
users receive from the catalog. This should go beyond re-sorting items
on the screen and even beyond organizing retrieved sets into folders.
I'd like to see tools that help users manage the data they retrieve. I'd
like to be able to categorize a retrieved set into "things I've
retrieved before" and "things that are new to me". I'd LOVE to have a
good personal bibliography tool that could potentially interact with
catalogs intelligently -- give me more like THESE.

And my mantra is CONTEXT CONTEXT CONTEXT. The user's context, the
library's context, and the greater information context.

kc

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Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
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