This page outlines the purpose and provides instructions regarding the NGC4Lib mailing list.
The purpose of the list is/was to discuss issues surrounding the idea of "'next generation' library catalogs". In retrospect, the word "catalog" was not a very good one, but it is/was the only word we had when the list started out. The word "catalog" brings along with it so many different connotations. Its meaning is too ambiguous. Since then the phrase "discovery system" has been added to the vernacular to denote the indexing of library content and its subsequent searching. Good examples of this type of software is VUFind, AquaBrowser, Primo, Blacklight, etc. In reality, all of these applications are indexers (not databases), and most them are based on an open source tool called Lucene. Add Web 2.0 features to your Lucene index of library content and apparently you have a "'next generation' library catalog". Even now these ideas are being blurred with the introduction of other initiatives such as Summon, Primo Central, OpenPHI, and some of the work I've heard about Ebsco. Other things are in the mix too including Rochester's eXtensible Catalog (XC) and the DLF's Open Library Environment (OLE). The sum of all of these things is expected to be the topic of NGC4Lib.
To subscribe to the list send an email message to listserv@listserv.nd.edu, and in the body of the message put:
subscribe ngc4lib YourName
where "YourName" is... your name.
To unsubscribe send a message to listserv@listserv.nd.edu, and in the body of the message put:
unsubscribe ngc4lib
There are bunches of ways you can manage your subscription (digest mode, vacation mode, acknowledgements, etc.), and the easiest way to manage them is through the LISTSERV Web interface. See:
http://listserv.nd.edu/archives/ngc4lib.html
Finally, there are at least a couple of mailing list archives because we know that "Lot's of copies keep stuff safe". Try:
Author: Eric Lease Morgan <emorgan@nd.edu>
Created: (circa) June 6, 2006
Updated: October 28, 2009
URL: http://dewey.library.nd.edu/mailing-lists/ngc4lib/