[WEB4LIB] Amazon.com Added Value Features and Functionalities for the

[George Porter]

I won't take issue with all of Gerry McKeirnan's points, but I have found
the privacy issues surrounding the purchasing circles concept on Amazon
troubling.  To advocate having an OPAC divulge:

"... a 'patrons who borrowed this book also borrowed  ....' feature"

is absolutely a bad idea.  Not only do we not tell others what an individual
currently have in use, but we certainly don't offer a papertrail of their
borrowing habits.

At a smaller school, like Caltech, the circulation numbers for specialized
titles would be the key to determining the reading habits of individual
faculty.  This would be a serious privacy issue on campus, if the results
were viewable from elsewhere, it would be an even larger issue.

Thanks, but no thanks,

George S. Porter
Sherman Fairchild Library of Engineering & Applied Science
California Institute of Technology
Mail Code 1-43, Pasadena, CA  91125
Telephone (626) 395-3409 Fax (626) 431-2681