Organizing Web Information

[JQ Johnson]

I worry a bit that many readers of this list may not see a paradigm
shift in the making.  For example, George Porter writes (quoted 
unfairly, and out of context):

>Fortunately, 50 million [web pages]  is not a relevant number to this 
>discussion. ... the real question of indexing and facilitating retrieval of
>stable, scholarly information may not be so daunting.

It may be that the growth of the web is contributing to an environment
where stable and scholarly are no longer inextricable.  As an example,
consider the huge success of the physics preprint archive, with its
premium on currency rather than on stability (measured either by degree
of peer review or by permanency of archival).

If, in fact, the scholarly endeavor is moving towards a greater
reliance on the ephemeral, then it is particularly important that
academic librarians be in a position to assist their customers in
finding the ephermera they want, and not be wedded to a world view in
which the only thing of importance is the archival of intellectual
outputs.  A fortiori, maybe it IS important to be able to find what you
want in one of those personal home pages or comp.infosystems.mac.system
news articles.