EOTO Response #4

Who is cataloguing the Internet? Lauren Reynolds QuarterLifeConnection

Lauren asked the following questions in her EOTO: Should we catalogue the Internet? How do we do it? and What do we catalogue? Lauren explained that because millions of people are now "desktop publishers" and due to the sheer volume of information on the Web, cataloguing the entire Web might prove...well...fruitless. I had to do a little research myself to see if that was indeed the case.

Lauren quotes the Minerva web site as saying that the average life of a Web site is only 44 days. I found that figure as well, but a number of other sites, including Web Decay: The Link Rot Problem suggest that the number is closer to 77. The Internet Archive also states that number to be between 75 and 77. Yes, a big difference--but in the grand scheme of things? No...thats only a little over two months.

I had some difficulty finding quality up-to-date info on the topic. So much of the information was dated 1996-2001, which I found surprising. Here are some of the sites I thought were most credible and offered additional resources:

Cataloging Internet Resources: A Manual and Practical Guide A bit complex for a general audience but still readable; Catered more for academia.

BUBL LINK Catalogue of Internet Resources This site has links to full text reports and articles that give background and insight into the topic. Interesting to see the traditional approaches and what is on the horizon.

Another interesting article to check out is Mad Library Disease: Holes in the Stacks by Michael Lesk. Read excerpt below:

What does this mean for libraries? If the Web becomes commercial, do libraries have a role in digital information? If libraries do not have a role in digital information, then what will happen to them in the future? Perhaps students and scholars will get their information directly from publishers, bypassing libraries. If this happens, libraries might find themselves in a backwater, having perhaps the status and public visibility that archives or herbaria have today.

Is this unfathomable? One might even say absurd or it will never happen. But I remember the days when you looked up books with a card catalog, and the librarian stamped the card. A lot can change in a short time.