From "Come and Get It" to "Seek and You Shall Find": Transition from a Central Resource to an Information Meta-Centre

More than 300 museums in Canada currently contribute to the ongoing development of a diverse resource of electronic heritage information. In the virtual world, the collective presence and role of the museum community can be enhanced by providing effective access and retrieval strategies that relate the different types of available information, offer the potential for integrating and extending its value and relevancy, and help reveal implicit narratives embedded in it. Beyond this, consideration must be given to the potential experiences that can be offered on-line audiences, given the variety of their perspectives and expectations. This paper will consider a number of key questions and relate them to current developments at the Canadian Heritage Information Network:

• What is an information meta-centre and what is its role?
• What are the needs and expectations of our audiences?
• What tools are needed to address the different points of view and navigational needs of the users and in what ways can an information meta-centre facilitate the retrieval of content-rich resources?

* What is needed to develop a diverse information meta-centre that serves the needs of many different audiences?