At the risk of looking like I'm just trying to fill a void, I have
been thinking about building communities and "next generation"
library catalogs.
More specifically, I'm wondering how groups of people interested in
this issue can *physically* get together to discuss the issues. There
have been a number of symposiums across the United States relating to
this topic. A number of virtual interest groups have formed, this
mailing list being one of them. There are a number of large-scale
investigations taking place as well as a number of smaller ones.
Technical solutions both open source and proprietary have presented
themselves.
While I do not advocate a centralized effort, I do advocate
additional communication methods. Email can only go so far.
Conference reports can only go so far. Once people get together in
the same room they can more easily share ideas, identify
similarities, make priorities, and create plans. I sincerely believe
most of the constituents outlined above have more things in common
than differences. Yes, let a thousand flowers bloom. By coupling our
networked environment with face-to-face communication we can build
more bridges and have a stronger vision of where we want to go.
Put another way, if you are working on some sort of "next generation"
library catalog thingee, then please consider reaching out to your
fellow problem solvers to garner their input. You do not have to do
this work alone.
--
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame
Received on Tue Nov 06 2007 - 15:00:16 EST