Three years of NGC4LIB - reflections?

Just noticed that the NGC4LIB list will celebrate its third birthday this June. It sort of surprised me that we'd been talking about "next generation catalogs" for that long. :-)

I'm curious about what others might think about what we may have accomplished on the list so far?

There are times when the volume of NGC4LIB traffic can get kinda high, and there are times when the discussion can get pretty dry/technical, and there are times when the exchanges may get a little "testy". But, still, the number of subscribers has hovered slightly above the 2,000 mark for quite a while, so I guess we're not driving people away in droves. :-)

I read just about every posting, and try to contribute to the list when I can. I feel like I've learned quite a bit from the conversations. But I still get frustrated:

1. In some ways I feel like, after three years, we are pretty much where we were in June 2006, .i.e., still talking about next generation catalogs without anything concrete to show for it. I'm reminded of a line from Tim Spalding's "Thingology" blog: "I have seen the future of libraries: It is to spend the future discussing the future of libraries." :-) (http://www.librarything.com/thingology/2007/08/future-of-libraries.php)

2. One of my pet peeves about library technology is that library systems seem to be designed BY librarians FOR librarians, with the implication that a system that works for librarians will also work for the general public. I think that implicit assumption lurks just below the surface in a lot of our discussions.

3. I'd like to see participation from a broader range of list members...to know what others think. I'd bet that almost all of the postings are contributed by less than one-half of one percent of list members.

I don't mean to sound as negative as I might. I've learned a lot from NGC4LIB, and I'm betting other subscribers have as well.

I guess I can sum up my reflections of three years of NGC4LIB with a question: Where do we go from here?

Bernie Sloan
Sora Associates
Bloomington, IN