FLICC Meeting Announcement 2000-3
FEDLINK Fall Membership Meeting and Teleconference
Join your FEDLINK colleagues at the FEDLINK Fall Membership Meeting for a =
discussion of Steve Coffman's controversial library philosophy raised in =
his article "Building Earth's Largest Library" via a teleconference =
program at the Mary Pickford Theater in the Madison Building at the =
Library of Congress.
Before the Coffman teleconference, the meeting will highlight the =
following items:
* FEDLINK Program Updates
* FLICC Working Group Reports
Date
Thursday, October 28, 1999
Time
1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. (Registration begins at 1:00 p.m.) The FEDLINK Fall =
Membership Meeting follows the morning FEDLINK OCLC Users Group Meeting. =
See Meeting Announcement 2000-2.
Place
Mary Pickford Theater, 3rd floor, Madison Building, Library of Congress. =
Use the Main Entrance at 1st and Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, =
DC.
Metro
Capitol South (Orange and Blue Lines)
Sponsor
FEDLINK Network Operations
Registration
Free--open to all FEDLINK members, but seating is limited to 60 and =
registration is required. Call the FLICC Office to register at (202) =
707-4800.
Interpreting services (American Sign Language, Contact Signing, Oral =
and/or Tactical) will be provided if requested five (5) business days in =
advance of the event. For other ADA Accommodations, please contact the =
Library=A2s ADA Coordinator at (202) 707-9948 (TTY) or (202) 707-7544 =
(Voice).
Information
Call FEDLINK Network Operations (202) 707-4848; TTY (202) 707-4995.
Earth=A2s Largest Library=AFa Fantasy or Reality?
INCOLSA is sponsoring a teleconference on the possibilities of creating =
the Earth=A2s Largest Library featuring Steve Coffman, Director of FYI =
Government Information Services for the County of Los Angeles Public =
Library. Also the author of the article *Building Earth=A2s Largest =
Library*for Searcher magazine, Coffman will discuss his controversial =
library philosophy.
Hear in detail Coffman=A2s plan to create and build the single largest =
library in the world. It would potentially contain over 43 million books, =
videos, maps, manuscripts, microfilms, and other formats dealing with =
every known subject and area of interest. Coffman suggests that, like =
Amazon.com which transformed a traditional, low-use special order service =
into the *Earth=A2s Largest Bookstore,* the Earth=A2s Largest Library =
could be created using the Amazon.com model. The Earth=A2s Largest Library =
would consist of a single catalog with a single bibliographic record for =
each title, and one circulation system for the entire library.
Coffman will elaborate on a number of alternatives to OCLC which could be =
the foundation for the world=A2s largest library. OCLC found the Coffman =
article very stimulating, but complex, saying that *it decided to pass as =
to making any comment.* Coffman suggests that since Amazon.com started =
with Bowker=A2s Books in Print, a forward looking *Earth=A2s Largest =
Library* could start with the Library of Congress MARC listings or some =
major union catalogs. The trick, according to Coffman, is to start the =
process of creating such a library.
Coffman suggests that the single biggest problem in implementing the =
Earth=A2s Largest Library has nothing to do with the catalog, the =
circulation system, collection development, or the costs of interlibrary =
loan, but the difficulties of getting libraries to cooperate with one =
another.
As a Federal library outside the DC area, you can also become a local =
downlink site by registering with INCOLSA, the library network sponsoring =
the teleconference. Downlink sites should register with INCOLSA by October =
15, 1999. Additional downlink information is available at the INCOLSA Web =
site at http://www.incolsa.net/HTML/teleconf/coff.htm or by contacting =
INCOLSA at (317) 298- 6570.
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