Look, I think there's a case to be made that data format doesn't
matter. I think it's very clear it does. But whatever. But...
"And, by the way, MARC XML is just as useful as any XML schema you can
dream up to contain bib information."
Amazes me. Useful for what? MARCXML is impenetrable nonsense. Unless
you use it everyday, you're going to spend days figuring out what the
heck is going on with it, which means nobody outside of the library
world will use it. And, as if to prove I'm right, nobody outside of
the library world *does*. Have you ever tried to introduce a
non-library programmer to this stuff. I have. In my experience,
reaction varies between shocked and amused.
I agree with you that openness is a big part of the problem. And I'm
not arguing libraries embrace Amazon XML. It's one example of a
general phenomenon—antiquated, overly-engineered, specific-purpose
technologies that marginalize libraries, and threaten their future.
Tim
Received on Wed Sep 24 2008 - 15:18:26 EDT