The purpose of my presentation here today, though, is to talk about our more experimental activities, mapping MARC to XML.
In case you haven't already guessed, I should confess my bias up front. As this slide illustrates, an alternate title for my presentation might have been MARC and XML: Finding our way across the Digital Divide.
This is because I, and most of the others working on the Medlane project, do believe that XML affords us the opportunity to revisit the structure of our cataloging data. I believe that adhering to the current MARC, or Machine Record Cataloging, standard will eventually create a digital divide that will not be traversed by library patrons. If this happens, the role of the library's traditional resources will be significantly diminished.
Some might ask whether this matters since, in the future, all resources will be digital. Even if we believe this is true, or even desirable, I believe the point at which the patron decides he or she doesn't want to search two distinct information sources will come long before the majority of the library's traditional resources are converted into electronic format. We, at Lane Medical Library, are already seeing this preference for digital materials reflected in our usage statistics.