Do We Still Need Online Catalog Vendors?

[Donald Barclay]

I was looking at the Zope homepage (yyy.zope.org), and it got me to
wondering: With the growing emphasis on dynamic websites--and the growing
number of open-source tools that allow you to create dynamic websites--is
the library world approaching the point where libraries are going to start
saying goodbye to online catalog vendors (SIRSI, Innopac, VTLS, et al.) and
start developing web-based, home-grown catalogs?

While I understand it takes a lot of work to create a home-grown catalog, it
strikes me that a home-grown catalog could allow libraries to fully
integrate their catalogs into their web presence. For example, if a user
comes to a library homepage and does a site search on "bubonic plague," the
results would include on only the library's links to www.bubo.com, but also
a list of bubonic-plague related items (book, journals, videos, archival
materials, etc.) held by the library. To me, this is clearly preferable to
having separate "Search This Site" and "Search The Online Catalog" options.
Other advantages of owning your own catalog range from complete control over
user and cataloging interfaces to the potential cost savings that could
result from no longer having to pay a vendor.

I'm not necessarily advocating that everyone run out and build their own
online catalog, but I am curious as to what steps, if any,  libraries have
taken in this direction or, at least, in the direction of making the union
of website and catalog transparent to the end  user.

Donald A. Barclay
Houston Academy of Medicine-       always the beautiful answer
Texas Medical Center Library           who asks the more beautiful question
donaldb at library.tmc.edu                                   -- e. e. cummings