Library interfaces and tools

[Samuel Klein]

Over the winter there was a discussion about tools to coordinate metadata 
across libraries.  We have a simple version of this problem when a number 
of people using their Journals try to communicate -- they need a simple 
way to coordinate references to a piece of content (that might have 
changing annotations and tags, and might itself change).  They also need a 
simple way to search for what they want -- both directly in their visible 
network, and through the equivalent of interlibrary loans, across large 
distances (and spotty net connections). Some related questions?

What library interfaces do we want to support, and what metadata will 
matter to local creators and producers?

What will the results of searching for materials mean?  What happens when 
you search for something on your school network, and it disappears before 
you can look at a copy?

How will people tag and classify materials; and how will groups of 
curators identify collections of materials?

SJ