Andrew Nagy said: "stop beating this bloddy dead horse and contribute your ideas to a collective cause."
I don't particularly like pummelling deceased equines, but I've found out that it sometimes helps move towards overcoming inertia. In this case it's contributed a little bit towards starting to get a few people to contribute their thoughts on how to move forward. It may be just a little contribution to the cause, but every bit helps.
Andrew Nagy <andrew.nagy_at_VILLANOVA.EDU> wrote:
> OK...so how do we move from talking to creating? How do we as a group
> overcome the inertia and stop talking things to death? We've been doing
> that for 18 months now (i.e., NGC4LIB is 18 months old).
>
> How do we get some innovation started? (Not a rhetorical question)
I have attempted to start some innovation - not to toot my own horn but I am much a do-er and not a talk-er as I have been on this list for the 18 months it has existed and only posted a few times.
There are some Open Source Catalogs that do exist - VuFind is the one that I have been working on - but there are others. Take one of these that you like and tweak it to incorporate your ideas. Or if you don't have the programming know-how - join the mailing list of the appropriate community and describe your suggestions in good detail as to what you see missing (no matter how small or how grand). I can't speak for the other open source catalogs - but I know I would be very much willing to hear members from this list propose ideas and suggestions on how to improve/extend/rebuild VuFind. Im sure the other communities would be just as accepting.
As much as I hate to say it - if you don't like any of the existing options - start from scratch. Build your own system or hire some programmers (we need to eat too). But I think we are all after the same goal - to make a better web-based presence for our library to allow easier and better online research for our patrons.
So I say - join an effort and help out. As others have said - stop beating this bloddy dead horse and contribute your ideas to a collective cause.
p.s. We (VuFind Team) will be at ALA and I would love to chat with others (Karen mentioned that she would like to chat) about NGCs. You can find me at Booth #318.
Andrew
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Received on Tue Jan 08 2008 - 12:27:54 EST