RE: Napster/Docster + Libraries - OCLC/RLIN = MARCSTER?

["Frumkin, Jeremy" <frumkinj@u.library.arizona.edu>]

Scott Garrison wrote:
> 
> Good afternoon, (blue) devil (see .sig below)'s advocate here... :-)>
> 
> OCLC and RLIN provide positive leadership and dedication to 
> standards such
> as Dublin Core and tools like CORC.  Would it really be a 
> good idea to try
> to put them out of business when they provide useful 
> infrastructure for
> libraries?  Not all libraries are currently capable of managing the
> platforms that MARCster would need.  Even though they charge 
> us for what
> they provide, I'd hate to see us all descend into a 
> decentralized chaos...

I doubt a MARCster would drive OCLC and RLIN out of business - I see such a
tool, actually, allowing OCLC and RLIN (and others) to proactively look at
added value components that would benefit libraries (such as CORC and the
data mining tools it provides). In a MARCster environment, Worldcat becomes
just another library catalog (as does the University of Arizona catalog, and
LC's catalog, and every library catalog in such a system).

Is this a bad thing? I think not. We have allowed OCLC and RLIN to be
leaders in innovation for libraries, and this has been a good thing, for the
most part. But that doesn't mean that libraries themselves should sit back
and let these companies direct what is best for the library community, for
the fear of driving them out of business. I think OCLC and RLIN are very
adaptable entities that will continue to find ways to innovate and provide
forward-thinking services to libraries - if not, then perhaps they aren't
truly meeting the library communities needs (which I don't think is true; I
think, though, that sometimes we as libraries and librarians allow the
companies to dictate to us what we need, instead of us, the customers,
dictating to them our true needs).

I don't see the decentratlized chaos that you mention happening here. With
napster, anyone anywhere has files that are accessible (i.e. not quality
control nor scope of domain). In the MARCster world, as I see it, the scope
of the domain would be that only libraries are within the system (and here
perhaps is where some of the decentralized concept falls down - we would
need to have a DNS of sorts for libraries, much like OCLC's 3-letter
symbols. But this is doable). When you search worldcat now, you often get a
number of records for a particular item - it is up to the catalog who is
searching for a record to decide which is the best quality record it
retrieve. I don't see the MARCster being any different.

Anyways, those are my initial 2 cents, having thought about this for the
first time last night. Maybe if we break out in more detail how such a
system might work, we could see it's strengths and weaknesses a little
clearer.

-- Jeremy

> > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> > Jeremy Frumkin
> > Meta-data Librarian
> > University of Arizona Library
> > Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
> >
> > frumkinj@u.library.arizona.edu
> > +1 520 621-2916
> > +1 520 621-8276 (fax)
> > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> > The Open Source Digital Library System:
> > http://osdls.library.arizona.edu
> >
> >
>