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In our effort to redefine the future, it is important that we all challenge our assumptions. We should cherish our heretics, right or wrong. My $.02 is that we don't need yet another system; we need to develop and adopt standards and coerce everyone in sight to play along. Standards enable innovation. Systems deter it. Jeff > -----Original Message----- > From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of > Teresa Victoriana Sierra > Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 2:25 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] next generation opac mailing list > > I generally don't get into the discussion threads, but merely enjoy what > is being said. However, Eric...you have touched a nerve. I agree that we > need to be thinking about the way libraries will look in the future. But > to say that the library catalog is serving only the purposes of the people > who fund them and feed on their vanity, is pretty strong and misguided. > Maybe you ought to sit with a reference librarian and ask why and how the > catalog and OPAC are used. > > > > Teri Sierra, Chief > Serial and Government Publications Division > Library of Congress > 202-707-5277 > 202-707-6128 (fax) > > >>> [log in to unmask] 06/05/06 8:50 PM >>> > I would argue that our energy would be better spent thinking about > the next generation library rather than the next generation opac. > > Is it just me, or does anyone else feel that the very idea of having > a catalog as an important component of a library smacks of retrograde > thinking? To my mind, in a clean-slate NG Library architecture, the > library catalog should only exist as a facade that recognizes of the > vanity of libraries and the people who fund them. > > I can think of no technical justification for library catalogs as we > look forward. If not the next generation, then the next-next > generation of libraries. The functions that exist today in library > catalogs need to be pushed in two directions- toward the user on one > hand, and towards global registries on the other. > > the other Eric > -- > > Eric Hellman, Director OCLC Openly > Informatics Division > [log in to unmask] 2 Broad St., Suite 208 > tel 1-973-509-7800 fax 1-734-468-6216 Bloomfield, NJ 07003 > http://www.openly.com/1cate/ 1 Click Access To Everything