[Sigia-l] integrated catalogues?

[Karl Fast]

> Wow, now that is a brilliant thought.  Libraries as hubs of people
> and ideas and activity rather than mausoleums of musty, yellowed
> books languishing away on endless anonymous shelves.  I like it.

That's certainly the perception of libraries: mausoleums of musty,
yellowed books and so forth.

But if you observe people in a library you will see much more than
that. Libraries are active places. They are about much more than
books. More than finding information and reading things. They are
usually key parts of the social and cultural fabric of a community.

There is lots of research exploring this. But you can check this
yourself by spending an hour or two observing people. Flex those
ethnographic muscles!

The stereotyped perception of libraries is not very accurate. It's
not completely innaccurate, but there is actually quite a bit going
on in those places.


-- 
Karl Fast
http://www.livingskies.com/