Karen asks :
> Where is our interest in the information? Why aren't we
> putting hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands
> of person-hours into developing new ways to get at
> content?
Could it [ one hopes :-) ] be because we obviously don't,
pragmatically speaking, know what "content" to get at, and
in what way ? And of course never shall ? Seeing as how only
the respective user in the respective [ unpredictable probably
even for herself, but certainly for us ] situation, and given the
particular motivation and objective that go with that situation,
can have any pertinent sense of the what and the how of
content ?
And information ?? -- That's something ( not a thing, actually,
but a process ) even more slippery and elusive and contingent
than content.
Let's just keep our feet on the ground, I'd say, and make d***ed
sure that all the content will be there to be gotten at. And the
information ? The information will take care of itself, just as it
always has ( no librarians required ).
- Laval Hunsucker
Breukelen, Nederland
----- Original Message -----
> From: Karen Coyle <lists_at_kcoyle.net>
> To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
> Cc:
> Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 4:48 PM
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] "Is a Bookless Library Still a Library?"
>
> Quoting Eric Lease Morgan <emorgan_at_ND.EDU>:
>
>
>>
>> Libraries are not about books, but rather what is inside them. We have too
> much identified ourselves with the tools of our trade as opposed the core
> purposes. Changing this perception, both from the inside as well as the outside,
> will be a l o n g time coming.
>
> And yet ... look at the cataloging rules and you will see a culture obsessed
> with the THING itself and with very little concern about the information within
> the thing. Yes, there are subject headings (3) and one (1) classification code,
> but note that those aren't addressed in the cataloging code and aren't
> being discussed today the way that RDA is. Where is our interest in the
> information? Why aren't we putting hundreds of thousands of dollars and
> thousands of person-hours into developing new ways to get at content? (And I
> don't mean expanding keyword searches over more and more databases with
> mainly descriptive metadata.)
>
> kc
>
>>
>> --
>> Eric Lease Morgan
>> University of Notre Dame
>>
>
>
>
> --Karen Coyle
> kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net
> ph: 1-510-540-7596
> m: 1-510-435-8234
> skype: kcoylenet
>
Received on Thu Jul 14 2011 - 12:18:29 EDT