what are the next steps?

What are the next steps regarding the creation of a "next generation"
catalog?

There seems to general consensus that library catalogs, per se, need
to be different from what they are now. For the most part we seem to
agree that they do not necessary serve the intended audience very
well, they do not contain the data/information to facilitate very
much learning, teaching, and research in a networked environment, and
finally, they do no operate in the expected manner.

The creation and maintenance of a catalog (or whatever thing is going
to be) is a joint effort. It requires the skills of many types of
people, none of which are necessarily more important than others.
These people include administrators who can allocate resources, all
types of librarians, computer programmers, graphic designers,
marketers, and probably some others. Some of these people can come
from inside libraries and their hosting institutions. They can come
from other non-profit centers such as granting agencies or
governments. Some of these people can come from the commercial world
too -- vendors.

I assert we, the library profession, are not powerless. To a very
large degree we are in control of our own destiny, and we manifest
this destiny through our day-to-day actions, the way we spend our
money, the way we allocate our time & energy, the way we communicate
with the people around us.

If this is true, then what can we do, as people who want to see
change for the better, to accomplish this goal? Put another way, what
will we have accomplished to this end by this time next week, next
month, and next year?

--
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame

I'm hiring a Senior Programmer Analyst.
See http://dewey.library.nd.edu/morgan/programmer/.