Hi,

On 08/27/2012 04:36 PM, Karen Coyle wrote:
> I also assumed that Ed wasn't suggesting that we literally use github as
> our platform, but I do want to remind folks how far we are from having
> "people friendly" versioning software -- at least, none that I have seen
> has felt "intuitive." The features of git are great, and people have
> built interfaces to it, but as Galen's question brings forth, the very
> *idea* of versioning doesn't exist in library data processing, even
> though having central-system based versions of MARC records (with a
> single time line) is at least conceptually simple.

What's interesting, however, is that at least a couple parts of the 
concept of distributed version control, viewed broadly, have been used 
in traditional library cataloging.

For example, RLIN had a concept of a "cluster" of MARC records for the 
same title, with each library having their own record in the cluster.  I 
don't know if RLIN kept track of previous versions of a library's record 
in a cluster as it got edited, but it means that there was the concept 
of a "spatial" distribution of record versions if not a temporal one. 
I've never used RLIN myself, but I'd be curious to know if it provided 
any tools to readily compare records in the same cluster and if there 
were any mechanisms (formal or informal) for a library to grab 
improvements from another library's record and apply it to their own.

As another example, the MARC cataloging source field has long been used, 
particularly in central utilities, to record institution-level 
attribution for changes to a MARC record.  I think that's mostly been 
used by catalogers to help decide which version of a record to start 
from when copy cataloging, but I suppose it's possible that some 
catalogers were also looking at the list of modifying agencies ("library 
A touched this record and is particularly good at subject analysis, so 
I'll grab their 650s").

Regards,

Galen
-- 
Galen Charlton
Director of Support and Implementation
Equinox Software, Inc. / The Open Source Experts
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