Reassessing Conventional Paradigms for Document Description [Version presented at the International Conference]

We are currently in a transitional state, adapting cataloguing conventions and rules to accommodate the description of newly emerging forms of digital resources. We are dealing with a moving target. Digital technologies are relatively new and continue to evolve at a rapid pace. The application of digital technologies to the production and transmission of information resources is even newer than many of the technologies themselves. There is still a great deal of experimentation and innovation in the application of the new technologies, and that is not likely to diminish any time soon. It is difficult to predict what transformations we may see in either the near term or the longer term. It is becoming increasingly apparent, nonetheless, that document production and document transmission have already undergone changes of a quite fundamental nature as the result of digital technologies. In light of those changes, a reassessment of our approach to document description is inevitable. A question remains, however, as to how far-reaching a reassessment is needed. Contents: The digital document; The digital network; Implications for document description; Identification and description; Defining document boundaries; Reflecting relationships; Resource discovery and resource management; Persistence; The global context; Interfacing with other sources of descriptive data