Standardization in variable contexts: The case of the technical virtual library

Abstract

In the course of the discussions regarding standardization in libraries, archives, subject-based databases and information provision by scientific institutes on the Internet, there is clear evidence that the traditional procedures for setting standards and establishing norms and authority files have reached their limitations. Hence, it is necessary to take a new approach geared toward consistency and interoperability for descriptive cataloguing in virtual special libraries. The approach is to accept as premise, that standardization involves a residual heterogenity. Only the interaction of intellectual and automated processes for dealing with heterogenity and standardization can result in a solution which sufficiently takes into account the technical and social conditions of this day.