[Web4lib] Re: Bitten by the Portable Apps bug!

[Eric Lease Morgan]

Bill Drew wrote:

> I must admit I have been bitten by the Portable Apps bug!

Carrying around applications is one thing, but just imagine carrying  
around all of your data on device the same size. Go a bit further.  
Imagine carrying around the full text of entire libraries on such a  
device. What would the role of a library be in such an environment?

In such an environment I posit that libraries will be less about  
collections and more about services applied the collections. Borrow.  
Download. Edit. Review. Annotate. Share. Delete. Index. Search. Find  
More Like This One. Discuss. Find author and email them. Create  
citation. Write paper. Trace idea backwards. Trace idea forwards.  
Print. Email. Collaborate. Save. Archive. Translate. Show definition.  
Show synonym. Graph. Chart. Prioritize. Evaluate. Rate. Rank.  
Illustrate. Etc.

"Collections without services area useless. Services without  
collections are empty."

-- 
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame