Re: Yet more URI/URC

Michael Carroll (BR.MJC@RLG.Stanford.EDU)
Mon, 2 May 94 11:03:18 PDT 

Message-Id: <9405021809.AA26091@mocha.bunyip.com>

Date:     Mon,  2 May 94 11:03:18 PDT

From: "Michael Carroll" <BR.MJC@RLG.Stanford.EDU>

To: uri@bunyip.com

Subject:  Re: Yet more URI/URC

REPLY TO 05/02/94 05:11 FROM HOYMAND@GATE.NET "Dirk Herr-Hoyman": Re: Yet more
URI/URC

Dirk wrote:

> I see the URC filling the niche for a fast micro-catalog. Something a bit
> more than just multiple URLs attached to a URN, but less than a library
> catalog.

I agree. In the long term conventional online library catalogs will
probably contain URNs. But at the moment we have some relatively
large databases (e.g. 60 million or so records in RLIN) which mostly
describe material not available online. The user is looking for
relevant information. If it's available via the 'net, that's a
bonus, but few people will be interested *only* in what's available
electronically.

Also, online catalogs are increasingly moving in the direction of
client/server computing (Z39.50, WAIS).

So to me the natural model for the short to medium term is that the
user has a client that searches the online catalog and retrieves the
meta-data describing the items of interest. As a second step, the
user asks, "Any of these available online?" and the smart client
uses the retrieved data to search the URC->URN "fast micro-catalog".

Michael

--
  Michael Carroll
  Research Libraries Group
  br.mjc@rlg.stanford.edu


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