Old Hopes, New Possibilities: Next Generation Catalogues and the Centralization of Acess

Barton, Joshua; Mak, Lucas

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/34597 Copy

Description

Title

Old Hopes, New Possibilities: Next Generation Catalogues and the Centralization of Acess

Author(s)

• Barton, Joshua
• Mak, Lucas

Issue Date

2012

Keyword(s)

• Next-Generation Discovery and Access
• Library Catalogs

Abstract

Next-generation catalogues can be viewed as the latest manifestation of a tendency in library catalogue history to strive for centralization of access to collections—a single portal for the discovery of library resources. Due to an increasing volume of published materials and the explosion of online information resources during the Internet age, the library does not currently provide centralized access to its various information silos, nor does it provide a user-friendly search and retrieval experience for users whose expectations are shaped by Google and other major commercial Web sites. Searching across library resources is a complicated task, bearing high-attention “transaction costs” for the user, which discourage the use of library resources. Libraries need access systems that minimize complexity, easing discovery and delivery of resources for user populations. Here, the authors review past efforts of centralization of access, consider the potential of next-generation catalogues in the context of this historical tendency toward centralization of access, and describe what goals underlie that centralization.

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

ISSN

0024-2594

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/34597

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2012.0030

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2012 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Owning Collections