A mailing list has been created called NGC4Lib — Next Generation Catalogs for Libraries.
NGC4Lib is open to anybody in the world, and its purpose is to discuss things including but not limited to:
* Who are the primary intended audiences for a library’s
“card catalog”?
* Considering the changing nature of information access in an
Internet environment, how is an electronic “card catalog” of
today different from the one designed ten or fifteen years ago?
* What kind of content should these “card catalogs” contain?
* To what degree are these things “catalogs” (as in inventory
lists), and to what degree are they finding aids?
* To what degree should traditional cataloging practices be
used in such a thing, or to what degree should new and upcoming
practices such as FRBR be exploited?
* How would such a thing get created and by whom?
* What are some of the functionalities of “next generation”
catalog?
Academic…
These questions are all academic and misses the point and ignores the fundamental issues. It is like asking how the typewriter can be further improved, how the functions of a typewriter can better serve us, how new practices can be applied to typewriters…. and so on. The point is that typewriters are out-dated and very limited in its use, and its functions have been overtaken by the computer. Similarly, library “catalogs” (even the term is outdated!) is archaic, outdated and unsophisticated, and they need a big redesign and overhaul. This requires quantum leap level of thinking that is fresh, innovative, and brave! Do away with AACR2, MARC, and even Dewey! I think they have passed their use-by date… They have actually gone stale..
Re:Academic…
So what are you suggesting as replacements?