[Web4lib] Links and public bibliography

[K.G. Schneider]

> We need to change this as a community.  I've elaborated on some of
> these ideas in a couple of blog posts that I hope deserve some
> attention and wider discussion.  Karen Schneider already commented that
> the OWC reviews are a black hole, and I suppose thats true just now.
> I hope that someday it might not be true, and whether its that forum
> or another, the notion that library materials should have a strong Web
> presence is important to our users and to us as a prefession

I had hoped to tackle this on my blog less tersely than I did in my comments
on Stu's posts (good reading, too), but it's Friday afternoon and I have
homework all weekend so methinks I'll just do a little web4libbin'. 

To expand, I've written a couple of Open Worldcat reviews, but there's no
incentive for me to do more. I can't link to them, I can't find them, I
can't share them, I don't even remember where they are, and as far as I
know, they're not readily (or even not-so-readily) discoverable, and that
goes for only my reviews but all the OW reviews. I don't know if anyone has
seen my review, added reviews to items I've reviewed, or what. They just
flutter into the maw of OW and are never seen from again. 

I sense OCLC thinks librarians will drop reviews into OW on the assurance
that someday they'll get it together to provide incentives for this service.
But I'd say to OCLC, you have it backwards. Design your review mechanism at
least in part around the needs of both the reviewers and the readers. Do a
little "game theory." Look at Amazon's review structure. There's metadata
available about the reviewers, as well. Make it interesting and fun and
sticky and information-rich all around. 

I'm totally into what Stu is talking about (I apologize for my sudden attack
of Valley Girl diction; it's been a long and fascinating week, but I ran out
of brain cells about 2 hours ago). I guess I'm just rephrasing it in
somewhat simpler terms. 

I keep saying information is increasingly a conversation. OW can play a big
role in that conversation. It really can. Will it?

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at bluehighways.com