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At 3:01 PM -0400 5/9/07, Jonathan Rochkind wrote: >> But our field is not a healthy field if all research is being done by >> OCLC and other vendors. We need research from other places, we need >> research that produces public domain results, not proprietary trade >> secrets. On May 9, 2007, at 3:27 PM, Eric Hellman wrote: > OCLC member libraries contribute resources to do exactly what you > suggest, and to do it in a way that is sustainable for the long term. > Worldcat is created and maintained by libraries and by librarians. (quoting reversed) The thing that really bugs me here (enough that I fantasize about alternatives) is that OCLC member libraries: * Pay a (significant) membership fee * Pay library staff to update catalog records * Don't own the data in the catalog This is sustainable for only as long a term as libraries find this to be a good investment -- in other words, until someone comes along with a more compelling product at a better price (Talis... Librarything... I'm watching you). If nothing else, the "Open" in OpenWorldcat seems a tad disingenuous :/ Seriously, though -- we could implement a good frbrization algorithm in an open-source project (and, honestly, I can imagine myself paying for a truly exemplar frbrization service) but the closed nature of the data makes doing Interesting Things rather hard. -Nate