Cataloging the Internet

[R124C41 at aol.com]

Neff wrote:

>...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...

Yes, I don't quite understand the "cataloging people" point, either.  Maybe,
I am missing something...or just more interested in Neff's broader
question...

I agree with Neff...I don't think it's that much different...once in a while
it's helpful to look at the world in (a lot of) shades of gray instead of
just black and white.

Books go out of print.  URL's become unavailable. Etc.  Sure it happens at a
faster rate but what's the diff?  

Of course, I know there *are* differences (so, please, I want to keep to the
interesting main thread and not get into educating me about "how as a
non-librarian I just don't get it...") but mapping the similarities and
getting over the shock of the newness of the media are probably good things
to try to do...

No doubt there was a similar adjustment required when the switch was made
from stone to paper....I am sure that the ease of revision of paper compared
to stone caused problems for librarians back then!

Much has been made of the difficulties of cataloging the material present on
this new publisher's bookshelf, the net.  But to my mind, it isn't
cataloging, it's *selection* that is presented with the real challenge.

Hopefully, some day *my* library will realize the importance of >>selecting<<
(and cataloging) my home page:

                         <Begin of Commercial Message>
              http://users.aol.com/RitchieDJ/home.html
                          <End of Commercial Message>

for this brief period while I am running for the School Board and
>>de-selecting<< it, if (when?) I lose the election.  

[Going through, in a brief four or six weeks, the whole material cycle that
with books occupied libraries for many years.... information taking on
aspects similar to the life cycle of a mosquito!]

Meanwhile, *your* library in Australia or elsewhere will obviously not even
bother putting my web page on their proposed selection list (oh, sad ;) even
though they could).

If this thinking is correct, libraries and libraries should be focusing on
beefing up the selection process for web pages in the "space" nearby their
patron communities much in the same way they select for their local community
information.  Part of the effort will be to characterize what that "space" is
as well as what is meant by "nearby" since geographic distance is less valid
as metric.  (Yes, AG, there really is no longer a "there".)

--David Ritchie
--Naperville, IL USA
--R124C41 at AOL.COM