[Web4lib] Re: Google Search Appliance and OPACs

[K.G. Schneider]

> The WorldCat model in general, though, is problematic for a number of
> reasons.  I mean WorldCat.org, WorldCat Local, anything and everything
> else
> that is founded upon the model of the WorldCat database.  Not all
> libraries
> are in WorldCat.  Small, international, rural, poor, and "anti-WorldCat"
> libraries are not represented there.  Until getting the data in there is
> free and easy, or there is guaranteed grant funding for libraries to have
> their items listed in this "global" catalog, and until WorldCat offers
> better support for non-English materials and reaches out to libraries
> around
> the world, I don't see any model founded on WorldCat's database working
> for
> our users -- whatever we want to argue about how our users access that
> data.
> The input is more important than the output, folks.

In terms of functional models, if we were to design a data architecture
model for libraries right now, would we build something like what we have
now-where our data is stuffed in a billion proprietary models-or would we
focus on large, networked catalogs?

I understand what WorldCat can or can't do (though ranking in WorldCat Local
has improved). Some of the maintenance problems are subtle but problematic.
It is possible to batch-load into Worldcat, but deletions are still a
peasant practice, one by one. In the case of WorldCat Local, access to
digital resources or databases not licensed by OCLC is still a problem, and
there's one other problem that for some systems will be a show-stopper:
there are such things as three-letter and four-letter OCLC codes... but
there ain't no 5-letter code, and that problem becomes evident for users who
are trying to answer one of the most fundamental questions a real-world user
has: does this library hold that book? Also, considering that OCLC made a
fine acquisition of Eric Hellman some time ago, I'm still waiting for WC
Local to have smooth integration of e-resources. 

However, and I know this is a problematic comment, I disagree that the gold
standard for measuring WorldCat is that the network appliance has to be
perfected and that every single library must participate. The network
appliance must fundamentally *work,* allowing us to get away from the
double-record model, and most libraries must be able to participate. 

The real gold standard would be that most users most of the time can
find/discover/explore/participate. WorldCat for all kinds of reasons ain't
there yet. But the question becomes is WorldCat the most viable tool for
making this happen-not just technically but organizationally. Someone
commented that my statement about creating another "ALA" could apply to
OCLC: by the time you built another library organization it would end up
looking an awful like ALA. Do we change what we have, or build something
new? This is a serious question, and it may be too early for a definitive
answer. 

Regardless of the model, there will always be some libraries that have
difficulty participating. Whatever "free" product was developed would
require a cost-recovery mechanism to support it-and possibly even make
things less difficult for smaller libraries, much as many consortia
essentially underwrite the participation of small libraries for the good of
the network. It might be a less-than-visible or one-step-removed model -
just as many small libraries pay consortium fees to participate in a local
silo catalog - but somewhere someone would have to pay. 

There are some great ideas floating around LibraryLand, and some of them
point to sharp philosophical differences about architecture for library
data; some of these models could coexist with WorldCat and some stand in
opposition to WorldCat's architectural model (and understand I believe that
to be healthy). If you believe there is great value to the user and the
library in moving most maintenance to the network, and agree that an
international catalog functioning in the "cloud" is our future, then
WorldCat has a lot of potential (but is not the only possible answer). 

Sorry this is all over the map-I do a lot of thinking about this and just
want to point out some of the issues that take place around WC.

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at freerangelibrarian.com