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

[Sue Kamm]

Stephen Ball wrote:
> "Why is it that sites with ISBNs have links to Amazon or Barnes and 
> Noble and Powell's, but never to your public library?  Certainly
> there are a kickbacks, but not in every case."
> 
> Because the book stores provide a single, unique access point. If I 
> could go to one site and link an ISBN to my local library, then I 
> certainly would. The big problem with public libraries is that there
> are so many of them...and they all operate almost completely
> independently from each other. Sure it's not as bad as it once was,
> when every library had its own card catalog and data entry was
> repeated by every institution. But while that particular problem has
> been solved, libraries are still too seperate in most respects. It's
> the unification of the book store chains (indeed, store chains in
> general) that give them their marketing power. Starbucks has proven
> that even "trendy" can be condensed into a set of rules for
> nationwide distribution.

And, of course, links to book vendors (whether they be Amazon, BN,
Borders, or another) enable the seeker to BUY the book.

I think it's possible to search for library materials using ISBN, but 
that search wouldn't necessarily provide the seeker with the answer to 
the question.  For one thing, libraries may have different editions of 
the same book, which would have separate ISBNs.  In a library, searching 
by author, title, subject, or keyword would generate more results than 
searching by ISBN.

We use ISBNs to search our cataloging databases, but a cataloger must 
still check the record(s) against the work in hand.


-- 
Your friendly CyberGoddess and ALA Councilor-at-Large,
Sue Kamm
Los Angeles/Inglewood, CA
Truest of the Blue, Los Angeles Dodgers, 2000
email:  suekamm at mindspring.com
Visit my homepage:  http://suekamm.home.mindspring.com/index.htm
"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
--John Emeich Edward Dalberg-Acton, Lord Acton
Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton