Stan Shebs shebs@apple.com writes:
Thinking about it some more (instead of working, ahem), it might work better to start small - organize as regular sessions with 10-20 people, which requires nothing from the library, but still gives you synergy from the f2f discussion.
Yes, this has some value in itself.
There could be some interesting specializations with this; for instance, one person to run to the stacks and find the books with the needed factoids, another to check articles against books, and a third to type in the bibliographical details about the books used.
Strictly spoken, the third stage isn't required. You can fetch the book records from libraries as the LoC using Z39.50 software. Checkput the YAZ toolkit provided by http://www.Indexdata.dk (it already comes with some GNU/Linux distribution).
An example session goes as follows:
yaz-client Z> marccharset auto Z> open z3950.loc.gov:7090/voyager Z> find @and @attr 1=4 code @attr 1=1003 lessig Z> show
001 11950921 005 20030619102947.0 008 000323s1999 nyua b 001 0 eng d 906 $a 7 $b cbc $c copycat $d 1 $e ncip $f 20 $g y-gencatlg 925 0 $a acquire $b 2 shelf copies $x policy default 955 $a CAD uf18 03-23-00; 1 copy to CIP uf18 03-23-00 955 $a HAND CARRY to HLCD pb11 03-31-00; lh08 to subj. 04-06-00; lf14 HLCD/Rom subj. to SL 04-06-00 12:50 p.m.; lj05 04-06-00 to Dewey; aa11 04-10-00 $a ld11 2001-07-02 cp2 to BCCD 010 $a 00271772 035 $a (OCoLC)ocm42860053 040 $a GWL $c GWL $d DPL $d DLC 042 $a lccopycat 020 $a 046503912X 050 00 $a K564.C6 $b L47 1999 082 00 $a 303.48/33 $2 21 100 1 $a Lessig, Lawrence. 245 10 $a Code and other laws of cyberspace / $c Lawrence Lessig. 246 30 $a Code 260 $a New York : $b Basic Books, $c c1999. 300 $a xii, 297 p. : $b ill. ; $c 25 cm. 504 $a Includes bibliographical references (p. [241]-288) and index. 650 0 $a Information superhighway $x Law and legislation. 650 0 $a Computers $x Law and legislation. 650 0 $a Electronic commerce $x Law and legislation. 650 0 $a Freedom of information. 650 0 $a Privacy, Right of.
The more readable XML format is possible as well.
And then when copyright issues are cleared we can store the records in a database; a specialized system is idzebra also provided by IndexData: http://www.indexdata.dk/zebra/ . Please, make use of such a standardized system; don't try to invent "something better" ...
Our computerphobic friends might especially appreciate the opportunity to participate without needing to be a speed typist.
:-)