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