Speaking from an academic library point of view: The catalog would
contain "something in between," i.e., content that the library owns,
absolutely; but also Internet resources that have been vetted by
subject specialists for their suitability at supporting a given
institution's curricula, other programs, and overall mission.
Most institutions have clientele with unique research interests,
programs with unique perspectives, supported by libraries or other
sorts of repositories of unique information and documentation which
would drive "collection development" and preservation activities
presumably in some kind of iterative process that would allow, well,
unique growth.
If there weren't some sort of selection going on that tailors access
to materials in a way that points to a particular audience, why would
libraries continue to exist at all? Rhetorical question, but to make
the point that libraries individually don't need to, shouldn't and
can't catalog the entire Internet. (hmm, now that I think about it,
I guess *all* libraries taken together could be perceived as some
sort of uber-library that theoretically could catalog the entire
Internet... the ultimate in cooperative cataloging!)
Just my $.02.
Rocki Strader
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Rocki Strader
Assistant Professor & Catalog Librarian
The Ohio State University Libraries Phone: 614-688-8091
610 Ackerman Rd., Rm. 5769 Fax: 614-292-2015
Columbus, OH 43202 Email: strader.2_at_osu.edu
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>What is in this "next generation" library catalog thing?
>
>We've discussed a lot about whether nor not this thing should be open
>source or not. We've discussed whether or not it should provide this
>interface, that interface, or the other interface. We've discussed
>how content might be marked up in MARC, some flavor of XML, or just
>stored in a database. We've discussed whether or not it should
>exploit Z39.50, SRW/U, and/or OpenSearch.
>
>But hey, what's the content in this thing? To what degree is the
>content of this thing the entire Internet? Just the things a library
>owns/licenses? Or maybe something in between? The answer to this
>question will provide a scope for the "next generation" library catalog.
>
>What characterizes the content of this "thing"? What sorts of
>collection policies might govern this things scope?
>
>--
>Eric Lease Morgan
>University Libraries of Notre Dame
>
>(574) 631-8604
Received on Thu Mar 15 2007 - 19:10:06 EDT