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There is an article about libraries and XML by Kendall Clark on RedHat
Network. From the text:

   First. Libraries are places, sites, locations in the
   physical world. A library is a place that you can visit,
   around and in and through which you can move, as a body
   moves through space.

   Second. Libraries aren't merely spaces: they are highly
   regimented, organized, controlled spaces.

   Third. Libraries aren't merely habitations: they are social
   spaces organized to aid people's navigation of another, a
   non-physical space, namely, the information space made up of
   and by all recorded human knowledge.

   http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/03/17/dijalog.html

The article is Clark's perspective on what a library is. It is also a
teaser for his next column when Clark will share an implementation of
LCC@Home (Library of Congress Classification @ Home), some sort of XML
vocabulary for organizing "dijalog" stuff.

The article is interesting because it gives us a glimpse of libraries
from the outside, a glimpse many in the profession might not want to
see, or a glimpse that some might feel is inaccurate because the person
from the outside is not a librarian.

--
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame

(574) 631-8604