Cataloging the Internet

[The Big Glee Bopper]

On Tue, 17 Oct 1995, Paul Neff, Internet Librarian wrote:

> > So how should folks doing the cataloging deal with the fact that the real 
> > content of the internet is not a book or a url or an image but actually a 
> > _person_ ??? Has anyone started cataloging to people on the internet? 
> 
> I don't understand this.  The sort of Internet cataloging I'm talking about
> refers to the cataloging of files and directories as presented by gophers, 
> FTP sites, World Wide Web sites, etc... these files and directories correspond 
> well to the resources in other media that we already catalog, and I'd venture
> that they also contain most of the content most libraries would be interested 

The key misunderstanding is the idea of what _most libraries would be 
interested in_. Libraries are _service_ organizations which should reflect 
the needs of users. I don't think most folks are using the internet to 
download files and static print like things. If you look at the ads for 
AOL and Compuserve they are selling _connections_! 

> There are people
> behind every publication, no matter what format... it's just that the
> mechanisms for discovering and establishing sources of authority differ. 
> For a book, you look at the publisher, the author (or what's been written 
> about the author), reviews, etc... whereas on the Internet access to an author 
> is either more direct (as in this case) or nonexistent.  

Sure there was always soneone _behind_ a book but usually you couldn't
talk to them. With the internet you can and more importantly _do_ This is
the enormous difference between a paper-bound library and the internet.
Books deliver information but the internet seems to be used to foster
community and communication: email, chat. listserv. majordomo, usenet,
etc. Big difference and this means that the real content of the internet
is _people_ Sooo, if you want to catalog the internet you need to catalog
people who can't be cataloged as books. Real interesting challenge.

> But I don't see 
> why this situation motivates "cataloging people" any more than it would for any
> other materials format, and the broader question I must ask again is why 
> Internet materials represent a whole new paradigm for librarians.

McLuhan once said: I don't know who discovered water but it wasn't fish.

--Thom