[WEB4LIB] RE: Yahoo-OCLC toolbar

[K.G. Schneider]

> I'm not sure if this reply was intended for comment as well, but I
> wanted to make sure it was understood that I came not to bury
> Caesar but to warn you that he might be bringing back to you and
> your patrons something other than they were expecting.  Caesar is
> sneaky like that.
> 
> Actually, I find the Google/Yahoo functionality amazing.  That's
> why I'm trying to use it.
> 
> -Ross.

Amen, brother. I said to someone else off-list (where the really juicy
discussions take place anyway) that any time I am motivated enough to use a
tool it says something right there. If I downloaded every toolbar mentioned
on this list, my browsers would be all toolbar and no screen. Half the time
I delete these toolbars a day later. This time I am playing. 

Frankly, I think all of us talking about the toolbar should be given
"Yahoo-OCLC Toolbar Trailblazer" t-shirts. And gift certificates. And there
should be a reception at Midwinter with fresh shrimp and oysters on ice, and
champagne. 

My comments about desiring a ferbish display in Yahoo-see-el-see (in
considering the FRBRish world, I lean a tad more towards RedLightGreen than
OpenWorldCat) are based on something I heard when I was a library student in
1991. A wonderful cataloger spoke to our class and ranted that librarians
had applied absolutely no imagination to putting the catalog online, that we
might as well put a tiny dark hole on the bottom of the computer screen to
show where the rod would go. Oy, so true, and true TODAY. I am not saying at
ALL that the toolbar lacks imagination. It is brilliant. But it highlights
OUR collective lack of imagination, and our unwillingness to address these
problems. The more we put the online catalog in its current manifestation in
the public view, the worse it looks. I am just sorry that FRBRization is
trailing Google/Yahooization, because, as Ross points out, the cat is out of
the bag now, and also because FRBR is such a brilliant response to a pesky
issue. Jim wants us to "act." I am stamping my foot and begging for FRBR,
not to hold up anything (as if I could) but to push us faster in the
direction we need to be. 

The other points Ross and I made, and I heard about off-list, are that no
matter what we think about this, we better know it inside-out, upside-down,
because when our users find this thing, we have to be able to talk to it.
Learning, and discussing, and criticizing, ARE "acting." If my library had
books (let alone walls and so forth), I would be ensuring we explored this
big-time to see how we looked through Yahoo-see-el-see. DIG-REF just had a
discussion about technical skills and librarians, and I felt my buttons
getting pushed at what felt to me like excuses for why too many librarians
lack technical skills (and lack interest in the tech side of things). Either
we own this issue or we cede it to another profession. As long as we're
getting poetic (I love a little Shakespeare in the morning!), "hurry up
please, it's time." 

Last night I also pondered the issue of whether this was in a sense forcing
libraries to go into OCLC. We know that OCLC isn't the known world. I know
many libraries that participate partially, and do not have their holdings in
OCLC. But if the expectation is that Yahoo shows us what a library has...
well, I can see the library board meeting now. You can read this as
criticism... or you can read it as the writing on the wall. Or the board
minutes, chuckle chuckle. "The library director responded that she would
look into this..." Thoughts there? 

As for taking people off-list, there hasn't been any discussion of that,
though people can always immolate themselves if it feels good. The grave's a
fine and private place...

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at bluehighways.com