What's so different about the net?

[Carlos I McEvilly]

On Tue, 17 Oct 1995 weibel at oclc.org wrote:
> This is not a reason to throw up our hands and not try
> to organize the material... quite the opposite.

You're right -- and nobody was suggesting that you throw
up our hands, of course.


> > ... these are realities of the current Web. 
> But not necessarily the Web ofthe future, when we will have document
> repositories of record, formal naming of resources that will support
> graceful migration of records and resources themselves, and perhaps
> more robust linkage.

Perhaps -- and I presume you are feeling challenged to
implement some of these, and are trying to do so at OCLC.
Good luck!


> I like this analogy... but I apply it in the other direction.  When the
> ad hoc catalogers start running into issues of scope of a work,
> duplicate records, authority control, error correction, they might
> start feeling a little short of breath.  ...

The point is to be aware of the problem.  Then you can be
prepared for it.  If most librarians think that there is
NOT a new paradigm, yet most computer scientists or
physicists or, most significantly, publishers, think there
IS a new paradigm, guess who is going to be better prepared.

I'm sure you're right that librarians are ahead of the pack,
and even though I felt the need to nitpick with some of what
you said, your comments struck me as careful and balanced.
Thanks for the reply.

Carlos McEvilly
cim at lanl.gov