[WEB4LIB] NOTAmazon OR Google as a "corporate" role model: iTunes

[Roy Tennant]

I agree that we are presently mostly ignoring browsing, except in 
mostly not so useful ways, and ignoring the fact that the unification 
of searching and browsing can be very powerful. Thankfully, large 
library organizations such as RLG and OCLC are beginning to illustrate 
the power of this confluence of capabilities through new kinds of 
interfaces.

Specifically, I can point to <http://redlightgreen.com/> in the case of 
RLG, and emerging new services from OCLC illustrated in a blog posting 
by Lorcan Dempsey today at 
<http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/000662.html>, in part as a response 
to Eric's posting below. The screenshot in Lorcan's posting represents 
a real, functioning system that OCLC is experimenting with and has not 
yet released. In both of these systems, the user can seamlessly move 
from search to browse, using the capabilities of each when most 
appropriate.
Roy

On May 10, 2005, at 8:44 PM, Eric Hellman wrote:

> I think that libraries should consider returning to their historic
> roots that have nothing to do with "search". Forget search- a billion
> dollars says that Google and Amazon will do search way better than
> any real library on the planet, and libraries can now leverage these
> searching capabilities in very real ways.
>
> What libraries CAN do with their "rich stores" of data is to
> facilitate browsing- which is what libraries have always done well.
> Please take a look at today's very best digital library software
> package - iTunes. It's modestly priced. It manages collections using
> xml and leverages large stores of remote metadata. There's a small
> search box that you might not even notice because the collection is
> so accessible via browsing. That's worth emulating.
> -- 
>
> Eric Hellman, President                            Openly Informatics, 
> Inc.
> eric at openly.com                                    2 Broad St., 2nd 
> Floor
> tel 1-973-509-7800 fax 1-734-468-6216              Bloomfield, NJ 07003
> http://www.openly.com/1cate/      1 Click Access To Everything
>
>