[WEB4LIB] Re: We need an Internet Literary Database

[Matt Wilcox]

Maybe Coffman was right.  Wasn't this a big piece of his "earth's larget
library" idea?  The "profit" motive would be for libraries to provide a
better service to their users.  And since the users obviously like how
amazon or barnes and noble give them more than just the basic catalog
record, it seems like a no-brainer to me (but then people have accused me
as being a no-brainer :) 

--matt



At 05:18 PM 3/26/00 -0800, Debra Lords wrote:
>Why does it have to wait to be a money maker?  What happened
>here?  Did libraries die out from under me while I was working on
>computers?  Did all the librarians drop off the face of the earth
>in some huge maelstrom that went unreported because no one
>cared?  
>
>A literary database of the sort you talk about is what librarians
>are supposed to do.  The central storage arena for theses -- who
>developed that?  Not profit minded entrepreneaurs.  Librarians. 
>Who has cooperatively worked on shared cataloging of major
>microform sets?  No bottom profit line here.  Librarians.  A
>friend of mine asked if the library profession is dying.  Maybe
>it is.  These are the types of things librarians used to pull
>together and do, dragging non-access out of the mud.  Did
>technology destroy the ability to do that?  I don't think so.  
>
>So the ALA cooperative efforts, research library efforts, all
>those massive projects that used to get done are still needed. 
>Technology doesn't change that. So its time for one of the
>librarians committees to start working on getting it done. 
>Create the solution to the need.  Don't wait for an entrepreneur
>to do it.  Take care of the patrons.  If you don't, who will?  If
>a method doesn't exist, why not create the method?
>
>-- 
>
>Debbie
>
>+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
>
>Debra Lords			Experience is what you
>dlords at library.utah.edu		have just right after 
>ACLIS Labs			you need it.
>585-9810
>
>
>"Paul H. Gray" wrote:
>> 
>> Welcome to the real world  -- where every major advance or undertaking in
>> recent memory has happened because someone saw a chance to make a profit.
>> The kind of undertaking you are talking about will happen only/if/when some
>> creative soul finds a way to make money from doing it.
>> SO -
>> This is a great idea -- some of of you creative/greedy souls get busy :-)
>> 
>> > On Sat, 25 Mar 2000, Hanan Cohen wrote:
>> >
>> > [...]
>> > > The web needs an Internet Literary Database, similar to the Internet
>> > > Movie Database, so we can link to books without looking like we're
>> > > trying to sell you something.
>> >
>> > The irony bere being that IMDB is run by Amazon.com.
>> >
>> > I do believe someone pointed out a site/service the other day that allowed
>> > you to link to it with an ISBN as an argument, and that site would then
>> > redirect you (based upon previously set preferences ala cookie) to
>> > any one of a number of reference sites and/or booksellers.
>> >
>> http://www.linkbaton.com/
>> 
>> Currently, the only options for LinkBaton linking to books appear to be
>> commercial, mainly online booksellers.
>> 
>> There are many possibilities if you toss Library of Congress, Z39.50,
>> local web-based catalogs, and a few others into the mix.
>> 
>> I do believe linkbaton is open source, or soon to be. Unable to find any
>> reference to it on the site.
>> 
>> -jeff
>> 
>> --
>> Jeff Godin
>> Network Specialist
>> Traverse Area District Library / Traverse Community Network
>> jeff at tcnet.org - 231/932-8546 voice


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matthew.wilcox at yale.edu                203-785-5680