[Web4lib] mylibrary

[Eric Lease Morgan]

You may have been reading some news about Google Books and their  
"mylibrary" implementation. It is nice to see the word/phrase  
"mylibrary" become a part of the vernacular, and I just wanted to  
bring to your attention the "original" MyLibrary which now lives at  
the following URL:

   http://mylibrary.library.nd.edu/

This is now the canonical page for MyLibrary. It is complete with  
bunch's o' documentation, sample scripts, descriptive text outlining  
what MyLibrary is (and is not), mailing list administratativia, links  
to sample applications and production-level applications, etc. The  
whole thing lives on top of WordPress. Consider blogging about  
MyLibrary, good or bad.  ;-)

FYI, MyLibrary is NOT an application as much as it is digital library  
framework and toolbox. MyLibrary  is about creating *relationships*  
between the three primary entities of libraries: 1) information  
resources, 2) librarians, and 3) patrons. It does this through the  
management of an institution-defined controlled vocabulary of facets  
and terms. By classifying resources, librarians, and patrons with  
facet/term combinations MyLibrary can address things like:

   * As a librarian, my collection includes...
   * As a patron, my databases are...
   * People like me also use...
   * Other resources like this include...
   * If you use this, then you might like...
   * As a patron, my librarian is...
   * As a librarian, my patrons are...
   * Resources for my class include...

Because of they way MyLibrary is built it can support many of the  
increasingly expected features of Web 2.0. RSS syndication.  
Integration with a campus-wide portal. What's new? Comments and  
reviews. Rankings and rating. "My" pages. Recommendations. Tagging.  
Relevancy ranked searching. Various flavors of XML. OAI. It can gets  
its content from MARC records, Excel spreadsheets, or the open Web.

"Imitation is the sincerely form of flattery."

-- 
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame