These are some ideas I've been kicking around. I also have some explanations
available, but I don't know if they are necessary, so I won't share those yet.
I realize this is completely pretentious, and I humbly ask forgiveness from
the great Ranganathan, but....
The Five Laws of *Library Catalogs* for the 21st Century
1. The catalog must be relevant to the needs of its patrons.
2. The catalog must change as the needs of its patrons change.
3. As much as possible, the catalog must help its patrons understand what
information is *really* available to them, not only what is held within the
local collection.
4. If patrons do not come to the catalog, the catalog must go to the patrons.
5. The catalog must include the knowledge and information of non-librarians.
Five Laws of *Library Catalog Records* for the 21st Century
1. Catalog records must be created and maintained efficiently.
2. Catalog records must reuse relevant data input by other agencies.
3. Catalog records must work coherently (i.e. interoperate) with catalog
records created by other cataloging agencies.
4. As much as possible, catalog records must work with resources made for
non-library purposes.
5 Catalog records must be made available for use by other developers in the
world.
Jim Weinheimer
Received on Mon Oct 26 2009 - 10:56:57 EDT