~~~Flame - read until properly toasted... -Reply

[KAREN SCHNEIDER]

John, I would say these are good questions.  For the last one, in
terms of getting documents "out the door," one issue I feel
librarians need to champion is getting them "into the right doors." 
As in, I can understand bending the rules to get it done; but if the
format limits availability, particularly to groups you are trying to
reach the hardest, then your work isn't finished anyway.  If your
format limits the document's visible reliability, then your work isn't
finished either.  But if you can speed production without
compromising access--yay team!

Also, compromise solutions are always nice.  Can we have a killer
Oracle database and also export records to funky old GILS?  Can
we do it in Adobe because we just love that font, and in HTML or
even simple text with pre tags so it's available to the lowest
common denominator? 

We're the kings and queens of accessibility and access, imho... 

k.g.schneider/opinions mine alone



>>> John Gladstone <jgladsto at nal.usda.gov> 08/02/96 08:06am
>>>

I feel this thread about shoe-horning HTML for the sake of
document  formatting (indents in this case) has followed a natural 
course from particular to general. 

We have a fundamental question to ask of ourselves as we
migrate to electronic documents. When do we decide that the use
of International
Standards are important to the documents we house. 

Should our search engines always conform to Z39.50 even if as
new, sleek, easier to install models are waved in our eyes.  Are
the SGML roots of
HTML important consideration for non-archival materials or can
we safely
"bend the code" to achieve quick and dirty solutions for getting
temporary documents out the door. 


		~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
			John Gladstone /jgladsto at nal.usda.gov
			National Agricultural Library  
			10301 Baltimore Blvd
			Beltsville, Md. 
			20705-2351			
			301/504-5462         
		~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Thu, 1 Aug 1996, Russ Jury wrote:

> I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting a little sick of
the  > nit-picking of trivial details.  This is supposed to be a place
where  > people can come for help and get problems solved.  It is
about getting  > something accomplished, rather than arguing if
something is right or  > not.  In short, if it works for what you want
it to do, WHO CARES about  > the details.  3 months from now, it
will probably be changed, updated, or  > possibly obsolete.  >  > I
know I'll be flamed for posting this, but someone has to try to get
a  > more positive attitude going here...  I just feel that there's a
little  > too much tension floating around...
>  > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Russ Jury
> Information Technology
> North Dakota State University Library
> (701) 231-7288
> jury at plains.nodak.edu
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>  >  >  >