[Web4lib] google & library catalogs

[K.G. Schneider]

>  > Does anybody really think that Google/GBS would ever overtake Amazon
> as 'the place to look for books'?
> 
> I don't, but then I can remember attending a presentation back in
> '97/'98 on various search engines, and there was this new one called
> "Google", and I remember saying "That'll never take off. Stupid name."

The first time I saw a web browser (the CERN line-mode browser) I remember
rolling my eyes and thinking, "This will never take off." 

Though to my credit (one of my few moments of real prescience) the day I
installed Trumpet Winsock and Mosaic and pulled up pictures of planets on my
home computer, I knew I was seeing something hugely transformative. I wish I
knew why I knew that--I'd be a tycoon. 

I didn't posit that Google/GBS would overtake Amazon. I posited that GBS
might eclipse libraries. You can call that strange or unlikely; time will
tell. 

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at bluehighways.com