[Web4lib] Re: Google Search Appliance and OPACs

Fri Feb 8 14:00:51 EST 2008

Some observations on WorldCat local:

The site has static pages. The site has a PageRank of 6. That's very high,
higher than the Seattle Times. It means that Google is VERY interested in
the University of Washington's holdings and would spider very deep if it
could. Best of all, unlike 95% of OPACs, WorldCat doesn't rely on sessions,
so Google won't linking to a bunch of expired pages. (Many of the links into
the LC's catalog, for example, have expired. Well, blame the users. How
stupid does someone have to be to think linking to a library would work?)

Despite all these advantages, Google knows only 63 pages from the University
of Washington's WorldCat pages. Why? Because OCLC has added a
robots.txtdisallowing all agents from looking at pages under /search.
Since /search is
the connective tissue between everything, they've erected a big "Go Away!"
to the only thing that could put them truly on the web.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the problem with libraries on the web:
They don't want to be there.

Tim

On 2/8/08, Sutherland, Michael <msutherland at montana.edu> wrote:
>
> I attended a WorldCat Local demonstration at Indiana University during
> the fall semester 2007.  It seemed, from the presentation, that the
> search retrieves local holdings of items.  I'm not plugging WorldCat,
> however, according to the press release in 2007 -
>
> "OCLC is piloting a new service that will allow libraries to combine the
> cooperative power of OCLC member libraries worldwide with the ability to
> customize WorldCat.org as a solution for local discovery and delivery
> services."   (http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/200659.htm) I recall
> that the University of Washington is testing it as part of the pilot and
> has a link on the library home page (WorldCat BETA).
>
> This solution would appear better than making your catalog a bunch of
> static pages to be crawled by Google since your holdings are already
> connected to WorldCat.
>
> As far as using Google Search API, this is a good alternative for
> libraries that do not have the resources/time to program their own
> search engine for library pages.
>
> Michael
>
> -------------------------------------
> Michael Sutherland
> Web Services Librarian
> Montana State University Libraries
> P.O. Box 173320
> Bozeman, MT, USA 59717-3320
> Ph: (406) 994-6429
> msutherland at montana.edu
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
> [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Walker, David
> Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 9:10 AM
> To: Tim Spalding; kgs at bluehighways.com
> Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Subject: RE: [Web4lib] Re: Google Search Appliance and OPACs
>
> I'm not sure this is a particularly apt analogy, Tim.
>
> A lot of the products and services we buy come from large corporations.
> My local Dominos pizza and local Sears outlet don't have their own
> websites.  They have national, corporate websites that do, in fact,
> serve as intermediaries to the products that are available locally.
>
> I also think we should be careful here in talking about 'libraries' and
> 'library users' in very broad terms.  Academic and public library users
> often have very different behaviors and goals, and I think there are
> definitely more effective ways of reaching the former than via placement
> on Google searches.
>
>
> > Don't like the way OCLC displays your items?
> > Stuff it. Want to try something cool? Quit your
> > job because your library is no longer in control.
>
> At the Code4Lib conference later this month, I'm going to be demoing a
> system we are developing here that uses the WorldCat API, which is part
> of OCLC's new web services.  I'd be curious to see if you still hold
> this above opinion after seeing that.
>
> --Dave
>
> -------------------
> David Walker
> Library Web Services Manager
> California State University
> http://xerxes.calstate.edu
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Tim Spalding
> Sent: Fri 2/8/2008 6:32 AM
> To: kgs at bluehighways.com
> Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Re: Google Search Appliance and OPACs
>
>
>
> > Functionally, what is wrong with the WorldCat model?
>
>
> Think about it from a non-library perspective. By and large, the OCLC
> "model" isn't applied to other things we find on the web, is it? When we
> want to find out about pizzas in our town, do we type in the name of the
> pizza we want, get the Online Computer Pizza Cooperative website fifth
> in
> our results, click on it, type in our zip code and proceed to be told by
> the
> OCPC whether our pizza is to be found locally, and where?
>
>
> This "intermediated" model, where someone controls access to the dark
> web,
> does happen, but when?
>
> 1. When the data changes very frequently (Orbitz)
> 2. When a single sign-on significantly reduces complexity (Orbitz)
> 3. When privacy is an issue (Match.com)
> 4. When a computer can't possible represent every permutation of what
> you
> want to see (Google Maps)
>
>
> Now, what are the drawbacks of the OCPC/OCLC approach?
>
> 1. It isn't "normal." Most of the web doesn't work this way, so it sets
> libraries apart.
>
> 2. It requires "teaching." Users need to learn a new way of
> working-going
> through a special library website to get to information about books.
> It's
> the same pattern again. Why do libraries plan their web engagement
> around
> the idea that everything would be great if the users would learn a new
> way
> of doing something?
>
> 3. It presumes intent. What if the user isn't sure whether they want to
> get
> the book or not? Google allows you to flip around easily between
> options.
> There's no commitment. With the OCLC model, the users need to go through
> various steps before they see something interesting to them.
>
>
> 4. Single point of excellence. I know you told me to "ignore other
> issues,"
> but the cold fact is that OCLC hasn't shown much speed or sagacity in
> it's
> approach to the web. It's traffic is terrible-currently 4% of the
> nytimes.com. It's been failing libraries for years. It's structure,
> mission,
> profit model and even its *location* are misaligned with innovation. Why
> is
> this going to change?
>
> 5. Single point of service. If patrons find out about your books on some
> external service, why maintain your own system? Why maintain your own
> tech
> people? Why maintain your own identity, even?
>
>
> 6. Single point of control. Don't like the way OCLC displays your items?
> Stuff it. Want to try something cool? Quit your job because your library
> is
> no longer in control.
>
>
> Tim
>
> On 2/8/08, K.G. Schneider <kgs at bluehighways.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Type "Omnivore's Dilemma, Portland Public Library" into Google and
> you
> > get
> > > nothing useful. If Google knew of a page that had both the book AND
> my
> > > public library, they would come up on top, I'm sure of it. They
> don't
> > > because my library isn't on the web. Few libraries are.
> >
> > Functionally, what is wrong with the WorldCat model? Set aside other
> > issues
> > about OCLC. Now let's assume OCLC wielded enough clout that WorldCat
> > entries
> > appeared near the top of results for any book search. At that point
> the
> > ZIP
> > code locator (or I think also IP authentication in some cases) brings
> the
> > user to the book+library-catalog combo (type five numbers, press
> Enter).
> >
> > I'm aware that WorldCat results currently don't appear high up enough
> to
> > matter (despite some hifalutin arguments about capturing users in
> their
> > workflow, yada yada). But what if they did? Why wouldn't that be good
> > enough
> > to lead the user to the book in his or her library?
> >
> > I am inclined to think this is not a matter of relevance ranking or
> > convoluted mystery-meat algorithms as it is a matter of focus.
> >
> > Karen G. Schneider
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Web4lib mailing list
> > Web4lib at webjunction.org
> > http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Check out my library at http://www.librarything.com/profile/timspalding
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