just post the integration of OCLC record #s into the Internet Archive's Open Library (with thanks to OCLC!), I wanted to highlight a month-old post by Open Library's manager, George Oates, on what constitutes a viable, minimum bibliographic record.

http://blog.openlibrary.org/2011/04/11/minimum-viable-record/

"Having worked more closely with bibliographic data than I had ever expected to over the last couple of years, I still can’t quite believe how complicated it can be. I keep holding tight something Karen Coyle told me when I first started at Open Library, that “library metadata is diabolically rational.”

...

"At Open Library, we’re attempting to ingest catalog data from, well, everywhere. Every “dialect” of cataloging practice makes this mass consumption harder. In spite of the rational goal of standardized data entry, there is an intense diffusion of practice.

...

"[O]n the shoulders of “minimum viable product“, a way for web application developers to get working code deployed quickly and effectively, I wonder if it’s time for a “minimum viable record” in place for bibliographic systems. Enough detail for a computer to match, correlate and compare, but not so much that having to process each record stops everything in its tracks."