B.G. Sloan wrote:
> My apologies if I sound overly cynical, but weren't people expressing similar sentiments 5-10 years ago? Maybe they weren't specifically saying "future of bibliograhic control", but...
>
I believe it was true 5-10 years ago, and it is to our detriment that we
have not acted as if it was so. It remains true, and we are running out
of time to take action. The consequences of failure will be the future
irrelevancy of the library profession. This is dire, but personally I
truly believe it.
Yes, I think we are, as Bernie says, "standing on the platform waiting
for the train that left 5-10 years ago." It's time to stop standing on
the platform and put a train on the tracks and board it, hoping to catch
up. I truly believe that the library profession--and catalogers and
metadata experts _especially_-- _does_ have a key role to play in the
contemporary and future information environment. Only if we take it.
And to be clear, I don't actually think the "ever-increasing volume of
information available on the Internet" is our biggest challenge. My
concerns are not about volume of information, and not about trying to
'catalog the Internet', but about ensuring our 'metadata control'
techniques are suitable for the information environment in which our
metadata lives.
Jonathan
> And the first paragraph of the intro concludes: "Libraries must continue the transition to this future without delay in order to retain their relevance as information providers." Is that relevance slipping away faster than we think?
>
> I’ve participated in library-related online discussion groups for 18 years. Since day one, there’s been a recurring theme that librarians will play an important role in the information age. With the ever-increasing volume of information available on the Internet and the Web, librarians will be needed to play the gatekeeper/organizer/whatever role to help people find exactly what they need from a myriad of possible choices. After 18 years, people continue to make this assertion. I know that there have been a number of library projects that have made good inroads into organizing what’s out there. But I just get the feeling that a lot of us are standing on the platform waiting for a train that left the station 5-10 years ago.
>
> Bernie Sloan
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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>
>
--
Jonathan Rochkind
Digital Services Software Engineer
The Sheridan Libraries
Johns Hopkins University
410.516.8886
rochkind (at) jhu.edu
Received on Fri Dec 14 2007 - 13:35:39 EST