On Fri, 30 Jul 2010, Chris Blackman wrote:
> It is interesting that many of *us* (if you truly think of OCLC as a
> cooperative) are also customers of III.
Disclaimer: the following is not a criticism of any of the vendors of
library products currently members of Autocat (although it might be
helpful if they would all meet together to collaborate), but of general
assumptions.
Anyone care to comment on the amenability of commercial ILS, OPAC and
bibliographic record vendors to standardization, flexibility,
interoperability, responsiveness and innovation (pun intended) relative to
profit margin and OCLCs practices?
Here we are talking about the value of OCLC, AACR and RDA cataloging
standards, ostensibly developed by librarians, but we have yet to
collaborate to attempt to develop a "non-profit" relatively standardized
but adaptable ILS (or at least OPAC) that would be best fit to the "rules"
only we fully understand and respect.
Could OCLC perhaps argue that only such an organization as itself could
develop what librarians and library patrons want and need efficiently and
that market competition is not only inappropriate but detrimental to
quality, affordability and even relevance where the unfettered operations
of "public" enterprises (e.g. armies and libraries) is involved?
IMHO, size and responsibility matter here also. Individual (presently
relatively small?) competing commercial vendors of library products chose
to take risks entering a new market ("Hey, why not commercialize
libraries?") and will also eventually try to dominate their market (*us*)
while being more concerned with profit than library activities, so why not
let OCLC do it more efficiently, practically, and directly? Consider
this: are $600 toilet seats and "pay-toll" catalogs and computers in the
offing for libraries once the small vendors are driven away by large
for-profit corporations not responsible to *us* in any way?
I guess what is apparent here is the fact that people often assume
nothing can be attempted except for financial gain (although we are taking
a look at open-source publication as a first step in the right direction,
if it can be defended), and the idea of tithing the time of a few good
librarians (or vendors) for the benefit of all runs counter to the
provincial attitudes of local budgeters and the entire sociopolitical
system (e.g. any situation where 3 or more people interact).
Cheers!
jgm
John G. Marr
Cataloger
CDS, UL
Univ. of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
jmarr_at_unm.edu
jmarr_at_flash.net
**There are only 2 kinds of thinking: "out of the box" and "outside
the box."
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Received on Fri Jul 30 2010 - 13:56:45 EDT