An ambitious project to create an online catalogue of every book in every language ever published is under way. Public goodwill is not in doubt, but some libraries remain to be convinced.
When I think about the library "catalog" I think that it will contain more than just metadata about library materials but also the materials themeselves. Think mostly books, journal articles, encyclopedia articles, definitions, images, data sets, etc. Moreover, the library "catalog" will enable people to do things with the items in the collection. It is more than just find and get.
Karen Coyle helps the Open Library team navigate the twisty paths of the forest that is library metadata. A little while ago, we were lucky to have her present her view of its origins at the Internet Archive. I thoroughly enjoyed her presentation and I thought someone else might so I've rewritten my notes from the session as an exciting love-and-death-style account of librarianship over the years.