[WEB4LIB] Re: Do We Still Need Online Catalog Vendors?

[Debra Lords]

Mack Lundy wrote:
> 
> This is an interesting idea and I can see the MARC format being replaced
> by something less rigid and more web oriented.  The web interface is
> becoming a standard for public display.  That said, there are functions
> other than searching that are performed by library management systems.
> I wonder how Circulation, Acquisitions, and Serials control would fit
> into this dynamic web site model.
> 
> Mack
> 
> Donald Barclay wrote:
> >
> > I was looking at the Zope homepage (yyy.zope.org), and it got me to
> > wondering: With the growing emphasis on dynamic websites--and the growing
> > number of open-source tools that allow you to create dynamic websites--is
> > the library world approaching the point where libraries are going to start
> > saying goodbye to online catalog vendors (SIRSI, Innopac, VTLS, et al.) and
> > start developing web-based, home-grown catalogs?
> >
> > While I understand it takes a lot of work to create a home-grown catalog, it
> > strikes me that a home-grown catalog could allow libraries to fully
> > integrate their catalogs into their web presence. For example, if a user
> > comes to a library homepage and does a site search on "bubonic plague," the
> > results would include on only the library's links to www.bubo.com, but also
> > a list of bubonic-plague related items (book, journals, videos, archival
> > materials, etc.) held by the library. To me, this is clearly preferable to
> > having separate "Search This Site" and "Search The Online Catalog" options.
> > Other advantages of owning your own catalog range from complete control over
> > user and cataloging interfaces to the potential cost savings that could
> > result from no longer having to pay a vendor.
> >
> > I'm not necessarily advocating that everyone run out and build their own
> > online catalog, but I am curious as to what steps, if any,  libraries have
> > taken in this direction or, at least, in the direction of making the union
> > of website and catalog transparent to the end  user.
> >
> > Donald A. Barclay
> > Houston Academy of Medicine-       always the beautiful answer
> > Texas Medical Center Library           who asks the more beautiful question
> > donaldb at library.tmc.edu                                   -- e. e. cummings
> 
> --
> Mack Lundy (malund at mail.wm.edu)
> Library Systems Manager
> Swem Library
> College of William and Mary
> Williamsburg, VA 23187-8794
> Voice:  757.221.3114     Fax:  757.221.2635

Adding to what Mack says:

The database that creates the Online Catalog requires masterful
programming.  Consider that, under MARC, many non-fiction books
have 1 author, 1 title, 1 alternate title, 1 series, and 3
subject headings.  If you have a library with 100,000 non-fiction
volumes, you have 700,000 catalog access points in the portion of
the database to which users have access, but this is not the full
database. And what if you want keyword search on the full title
field, author field and contents fields?  To have the search
paradigm work fast enough that the patron is not twiddling their
thumbs is -- well -- not a trivial matter.  This picture also
ignores the fiction, serials, and non-book formats.

Another thing that has to be considered is if you want current
Circulation information available online.  Oooooooooohh!  And to
let people know something is on order, but not yet received --
received, but not yet processed.  Eeeeeeeeeeee!

This is a "where" that *I* would not want to go.  Libraries
couldn't each afford the team (yes, team) of programmers needed
to get such a thing ready and efficient.  And lets clarify a
term, they generally are not "online catalog vendors", they are
integrated system vendors.  The complexities listed above are why
they came to be in the first place, growing out of individual
library system attempts to automate various processes. Cost drove
them to a wider customer base than just "in-house". We won't soon
move away from this model.

-- 

Debbie

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Debra Lords			Experience is what you
dlords at library.utah.edu		have just right after 
ACLIS Labs			you need it.
585-9810