During the 26th IAU General Assembly in Prague, the IAU Division V
(Commissions 27 and 42) considered the future of variable-star catalogues.
It was demonstrated that quite a number of problems should be solved in
order for our variable-star catalogues to incorporate variable stars
discovered in large photometric surveys and for future catalogues
to be compiled automatically, without necessary participation of a human
expert for each individual variable. Meanwhile, a new system of
variable-star classification should be developed. To discuss these
problems and to look for their solutions, the IAU Commission 27, on
behalf of the IAU Division V, created an informal working group, chaired
by the GCVS editor, Dr. Nikolai Samus. The membership in this working
group is open to all variable-star astronomers who wish to contribute
to better catalogues of variable stars for our community. This web page
contains the presentation demonstrated by Dr. Samus in Prague and the
draft classification system suggested by him.