Re: Authority maintenance (was Subject costs)

Centralized housing does have its problems - but it does have its uses. I
have read this particular thread with much interest and our institution
would be interested in participating in additional shared cataloguing and
authority schemes (since we already participate in AMICUS). However, I grow
uneasy when thinking about the libraries I used to work with down in South
Texas.

Many are in poor and highly rural areas that often lack consistent
high-speed internet access. Some even lack consistent dial-up access. They
received their cataloguing and authority records either from LC on CD or on
cards (yes.... cards). I just wonder where those libraries will be in this
new "wikified" or distributed cataloguing environment. For those asking
about costs - these are other costs that LC or consortial offices bear.
Sometimes they can pass them on to the libraries but often not enough to
make up for the costs of maintaining the service.

Having said that, maybe the cost of continuing to serve these poorer
libraries is simply too high now? Is that the conclusion that LC (and the
rest of us?) are reaching? The information can't live everywhere yet because
it can't reach everywhere.

Lynn

-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Jason Griffey
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 9:58 AM
To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Authority maintenance (was Subject costs)

I really think it would be short-sighted to create a system and not pay
attention to the fact that centralized housing is what got us into this mess
in the first place, with both LC and OCLC.

I maintain that any new system for this sort of information must be built on
a P2P system with all the checks that we can for data integrity
(think: BitTorrent). Many Copies Keeps Things Safe, but more importantly
many copies means you can't stop the signal.

No central authority is the future. The information can live everywhere.

Jason

Jason Griffey
Assistant Professor
Head of Library Information Technology
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue, Chattanooga, TN  37403 jason-griffey_at_utc.edu :: (423)
425-5449


This correspondence should be considered a public record and subject to
public inspection pursuant to the Tennessee Public Records Act
---
Lynn Reynish
ILS Librarian
Regina Public Library
lreynish_at_reginalibrary.ca