Future of the Libraries' catalog : an initial exploration by the Cataloging Policy Committee

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the future of the UW Libraries’ online catalog that has been sparked by a number of factors. The creation of the Digital Registry and the Information Gateway provided a new means of access to Web resources. The migration of the library catalog to Innovative’s Web product has done the same. In addition, new consortial possibilities and sets of electronic records available for purchase have expanded the range of materials that can be added to the catalog. All of these developments, on top of the explosion in the number of electronic texts, have raised the question of how the library catalog best fits into our plans for providing information to users. This paper summarizes discussion of this topic by the Cataloging Policy Committee.