[WEB4LIB] Re: library marketing was RE: Google Mail

Ross Singer ross.singer at library.gatech.edu
Tue Feb 15 12:17:18 EST 2005


Gimon, Charles A wrote:

>Actually, you can link to Innovative catalog systems with an ISBN pretty
>easily, just as easily as you can to Amazon:
>
In fact, there shouldn't be an ILS out there that can't link by ISBN.  
Or ISSN.  But this is only a small part of the solution.

This cries out even more for the need for web localization.

See:  http://curtis.med.yale.edu/dchud/resolvable/
for ways that libraries are trying to make the web work for them.

However, the way I see this really working is to push for a web 
technology that is more attractive to lay services.  If, say, 
localization allowed a user to find a Torrent of "Team America" from 
IMDB (from the Torrent sites they subscribe to), then there is no reason 
that it couldn't also be used to display that "To Kill a Mockingbird" 
(or, even "Team America" - who knows what a library's collection 
development dept. might purchase) is available in your local library.

I guess my point is that we don't need wait around for our vendors and 
other technology producers to create something we can use (and react 
slowly to its introduction), we can actually go out and produce 
something that's useful to us and the rest of the web, on our own.  
There's no reason we can't invent "the next RSS".

But then there's my previous post about "priorities".

-Ross.



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