[Web4lib] NextGen library systems blog posting

[John Wilkin]

I want to start by expressing my genuine gratitude for the feedback I got on
my previous posting.  Just for background, I used the CommentPress theme for
WordPress to author something called "Metasearch vs. Google Scholar," and
asked for feedback.  I got a bunch.  This is, for me, partly an experiment
in design of communication mechanisms.  The sorts of comments that several
of you made were tied to specific assertions or lines of reasoning in what I
wrote, and that helped me in refining the argument--I'll be able to expand
on some ideas, eliminate others, and clarify some things.  There were also
comments on the comments, which was also great to see.  I hope I can find
time to return to the basic idea of blogging and the ways that it does or
doesn't support the a structured argument and responses to that argument.
At any rate, folks were very generous in their feedback and using the
vehicle I put out there for exploring this experiment.

So, I'm back and doing it again, and promise not to do it too much more for
a while!  This time I've written something on next generation library
systems.  Maybe too ambitious, but something that I used for discussions
with the library IT managers and their chief developers here at Michigan.
We're in the midst of those discussions now, planning for future
investments.  I'm hoping I can elicit some comments on this piece as well,
both for the experiment of this mechanism for feedback targeted to various
parts of the argument, and even more significantly for the feedback itself.
The piece is online at:

     http://scholarlypublishing.org/jpwilkin/archives/7

Thanks again.

John

-- 
John Price Wilkin
Associate University Librarian for Library Information Technology and
Technical and Access Services
University Library
818 Hatcher South
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1205

Phone: 734.764.8016
Fax:    734.763.5080
Email:  jpwilkin at umich.edu