karen said:

> The Stanford data would be published onto the Web from Stanford's
>system and the Harvard data would be published from the Harvard
>System; the users would do searches and see displays but since they
>don't see URIs the identities of the elements would be irrelevant.

It seems to me if authority data is not to be stored in each library,
but rather the local library is to have URIs for authorities
elsewhere, those URIs must be to a national or international source.
If Stanford has a Harvard URI, what happens if Harvard withdraws all
works and instances linked to that URI, and thus removes the
authority?


Perhaps related is the fact that most of the discussion of shared data
assumes a greater level of IT staffing and abilities than is the case
for most smaller libraries. Poductville School Library may not even
have a dependable Web connection. Many libraries will need their
silos.


   __ __ J. McRee (Mac) Elrod ([log in to unmask])
  {__ | / Special Libraries Cataloguing HTTP://www.slc.bc.ca/
  ___} |__ \__________________________________________________________