[Web4lib] Getting catalog software vendors to make more useable software choices

[Karen Coyle]

Lars Aronsson wrote:

>A similar (dis-integrated) model for libraries could be achieved 
>if the library published their MARC records for public download, 
>so users could import them into a search system they run on their 
>own personal computer.  
>  
>
In a sense they do, although not usually the whole database in one fell 
swoop. Most systems today do allow a record set download, either in MARC 
or, more commonly, a tagged format. The big problem is that the tools 
for using bibliographic data on desktops are very poor, in my 
experience. I had to do some work with EndNote and found the user 
interface annoying and unpleasant, and the entire program just way too 
lumbering to be usable. I know that there are some folks working on open 
source bibliographic software, but I'm not sure that the user interfaces 
are any better.

I always hoped that we could use a client-server model, where a library 
system would produce the "raw" results (the retrieved set), and a client 
on the user's machine would provide both an interface, and a tools for 
manipulating the set. This could be a "best of both worlds" solution -- 
the library machine would do the heavy lifting of retrieving the needed 
records out of various millions of ones that aren't of interest, and the 
client machine would have features that were customized for that user. 
For example, retrievals could be sorted into "ones you've already seen" 
vs. "new". (Anyone who is in the midst of in-depth research runs across 
the same resources in various databases and in various searches in a 
single database.)  Users could define their favorite "buckets" (date 
based, topic based, whatever) and would see their new retrievals (and 
their stored bibliography) organized in those categories.

kc

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Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
kcoyle at kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
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