Off The Track…
I wrote a while back about the WoGroFuBiCo report from LC, and then again a few days later about Karen Calhoun’s Response to WoGroFuBiCo.
Thanks to Karen Schneider twittering about Mann’s Opus, I picked up Thomas Mann’s response to the report.
Thomas’ response is entitled "On the Record" but Off the Track: A Review of the Report of The Library of Congress Working Group on The Future of Bibliographic Control, With a Further Examination of Library of Congress Cataloguing Tendencies
Mann starts his response with a section of major points, starting with the statement that:
The Working Group’s Report is off the track in many of its major assumptions, assertions, and recommendations
That’s a pretty strong statement, and what follows in 38 pages would do even Annoyed Librarian proud.
Over on Cataloguing Futures, Christine Schwartz describes the report as a must-read, Karen Schneider comments
How could I *not* love this report?
arkham sums up my feelings better, commenting
First, I ended up skipping a large amount of it, when it became abundantly clear that the majority of the paper is a long rant (and lecture) on how important LCSH and LCSH left-anchored browse are and how they work - and don’t work in an Amazoogle environment.
And this ranting style is what I struggle with most about the points, I agree with much of the sentiment, and having spoken to several folks at LC I think the WoGroFuBiCo do too.
The WoGroFuBiCo report treats much of what Mann deems important with a light touch not because it is unimportant, but because the library world has been doing stuff well for many, many years. The things it focuses on, moving onto the web more wholly and in a more embracing way.
WoGroFuBiCo is about stepping out into the world once more, not abandoning everything we hold dear.
March 18th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
“And this ranting style is what I struggle with most about the points, *I agree with much of the sentiment*, and having spoken to several folks at LC I think the WoGroFuBiCo do too.”
Isn’t the real problem that we just don’t want to be seen as elitists (though we would be responsible elitists who realize the reality of the situation and that this is what we need to do - i.e. take a stand)? Is it because while many “movers and shakers” feel competent with the computer code (we know standards, agree on structure is sometimes crucial here), they don’t feel confident what it means to be librarians who realize the importance of creating intellectual structure so as to facilitate idea exploration? And of asserting the importance of their tools and intellectual constructs? In other words, persons simply don’t feel confident and competent in our history enough to be the “good elitists” I am talking about?
It seems to me that Mann wants to step into the world again as well, albeit more *slowly, thoughtfully, responsibly*.
I know many are convinced we must “change or die”, but perhaps if we move to fast and leave behind past treasures (and the tacit knowledge of our forebearers) we will die as well.
Maybe in the future, Mann and Bade will be seen as the prophetic voices that tried to persuade the ruling librarians that what had been accomplished really was amazing and wonderful - the fruit of so much hard work, thinking, and responsibility (despite the problems in the system) - before the great crash.
I doubt it - I think we can and will wake up before that. But the time to seriously digest the likes of Mann and argue with him is *now*.