Ross,
Once again I understand where you're coming from. For many years I worked for an organization that provided an OPAC for a group of academic libraries that ranged from very small private colleges all the way up to ARL institutions. I know from that experience that "academic libraries" are not a monolithic group. So maybe I should clarify what I said before...
A lot of the active contributors to NGC4LIB seem (to me) to be affiliated with research institutions, and probably are (or used to be, in my case) academic librarians at research institutions. And I'm not sure there's a consenus within that group.
Bernie Sloan
--- On Wed, 3/11/09, Ross Singer <rossfsinger_at_GMAIL.COM> wrote:
From: Ross Singer <rossfsinger_at_GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Three years of NGC4LIB - reflections?
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 7:42 PM
Well, to take the argument even further, couldn't it be that it still
applies?
I don't think that we're all our own unique little snowflakes (to crib
a good quote from Jonathan Rochkind) like we tend to insist, but the
granularity /may/ be finer than:
Academic or Public or Special or K-12
Does the huge public research university that serves 30K+ really have
the same needs as a small liberal arts college?
It may, I'm not sure.
I guess the fundamental questions, that we can't seem to answer are:
1) What is a catalog?
2) Do we need it?
3) If yes, why?
Maybe if we can reconcile why we need it, we can start addressing an outcome.
-Ross.
On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 6:59 PM, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> Ross Singer said:
>
> "Isn't it possible that this may be saying that different
'kinds' of libraries have different sorts of needs? Perhaps trying to
speak as one voice is getting in the way of getting stuff done?"
>
> Yeah, I can see that point. But a lot of the active contributors to
NGC4LIB seem (to me) to be affiliated with academic institutions, and probably
are (or used to be, in my case) academic librarians. And I'm not sure
there's a consenus within that group.
>
> Bernie Sloan
> Sora Associates
> Bloomington, IN
>
> --- On Wed, 3/11/09, Ross Singer <rossfsinger_at_GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> From: Ross Singer <rossfsinger_at_GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Three years of NGC4LIB - reflections?
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 9:40 AM
>
> On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 8:58 PM, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2_at_yahoo.com>
wrote:
>> NGC4LIB listowner Eric Lease Morgan said:
>>
>> "Alas, I naively thought this list would enable us to come to
some
> sort of consensus about the way our library-related applications ought to
> function or we might be able speak with a single voice to people who
create such
> things."
>>
>> You're not alone. I naively thought the same thing. Oh well...
>
> Isn't it possible that this may be saying that different
"kinds" of libraries have different sorts of needs? Perhaps trying
to speak as
> one voice is getting in the way of getting stuff done?
>
> -Ross.
>
>
>
>
>
Received on Wed Mar 11 2009 - 19:59:06 EDT