That everyone talks as if the only group of users are young people or young students really angers me. I would agree they are the most predominant, evaluated group of users, but why do we constantly talk as if they are the only group? Last year I attended a two-day visioning task force concerning libraries in Texas and everyone was obsessed with re-imagining libraries to cater to the needs/whims of this one group--the Google generation, the digital natives. In our closing session one gentlemen stood up, and I apologize but I can't remember his name, and stated quite bluntly that Texas has something like a 40% illiteracy rate. (And, I have to add that over the years I graded paper after paper from both Undergraduate and MASTERS students some of whom display an incredible lack of writing skills--unable to write even the most basic sentence, unable to synthesize the most fundamental concepts of information organization.)
What happened to our responsibility to reach ALL the users of our information systems and thus our collections of resources both physical and virtual? What happened to our responsibility to help them connect to information and to learn? I understand the need to create a good information system, but are we basing this on the needs of one group of users out of many? The organization of information is much much deeper and more profound than that. That is what I see RDA potentially helping us to do. How it does it still needs research and evaluation. Lastly, when did the situation become stating "why library catalogs are still a better solution to many problems of searching"? Is this an "either/or" decision or "this system is better than that system, therefore don't use that system at all, ever" situation? Library catalogs are one among many searching solutions and, yes, they do deserve to be improved. Perhaps I misunderstand what Bernard is saying. ************************************************************** Shawne D. Miksa, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Library and Information Sciences College of Information, Library Science, and Technology University of North Texas email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://courses.unt.edu/smiksa/index.htm office 940-565-3560 fax 940-565-3101 **************************************************************
