[Web4lib] Re: Google Search Appliance and OPACs

[Ms Norma Jean Hewlett]

Hi, Tim & Karen and everyone
I absolutely hate searching Google and getting a whole screen full of 
links to book records from other libraries, none of which are close to 
my home or of any use to me. 

I agree with Roy--gee, isn't it a shame that there is no central 
database we could all place our holdings into? Isn't it a shame that 
there is no way a patron can easily use this central database to find 
out whether their local library has this book? Oh, wow, maybe there 
is! 

And I don't work for OCLC :-)

Jean Hewlett
Regional Librarian, USF North Bay Campus

All opinions are my own, and do not represent my employer.

----- Original Message -----
From: Tim Spalding <tim at librarything.com>
Date: Friday, February 8, 2008 12:28 pm
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Re: Google Search Appliance and OPACs
To: kgs at freerangelibrarian.com
Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org, kgs at bluehighways.com

> First, let me apologize for the risk of offense. I know that 
libraries
> want to be on the web in some way.
> 
> I'll rephrase by saying I think many understand what the web is: If
> you can't link to something and you can't find it in Google, it's not
> fully part of the web.
> 
> Pace Karen, however the web changes over time, it's about
> connection—connection between stuff and between people. The first 
part
> found its expression at Google nine years ago; has yet to sink into
> the library world. Nor have libraries embraced connecting people,
> except in the most superficial ways. Not surprisingly, that can't
> always be done in isolation, but builds upon other connections.
> 
> For example, if I want to talk about a book on my blog, I link to
> LibraryThing or Amazon, never a library. I do this because the 
library
> link won't live long enough for my blog readers to visit it.
> 
> Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe in five years Google will eagerly partner with
> OCLC to give library books special treatment at the top of their
> results.
> 
> Meanwhile, it's just *not that hard* to make static pages for your
> catalog and stick them somewhere Google can see them.
> 
> I'm sorry this topic has made me hot. At this point, I'll sign
> off—I've spoken too much anyway—and go *make* the solution I'm 
talking
> about. Fortunately, I won't need to ask OCLC's permission to do it.
> 
> Tim
> 
> On 2/8/08, K.G. Schneider <kgs at freerangelibrarian.com> wrote:
> > 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.
> >
> > -----
> >
> > This is the least compelling of Tim's arguments for me. The web 
> works a lot
> > of different ways, and it will keep evolving. Right now if I 
> want to find
> > movies in Tallahassee, I go to Google and type
> >
> > Movies Tallahassee
> >
> > And by golly, I get what I want. I don't get the individual 
> theater pages, I
> > get a list of movies and locations.
> >
> > That's just to suggest that there are many ways to skin an 
> onion. What's
> > "normal" has only been "normal" for less than ten years, really, 
> and will
> > seem quaint in another decade.
> >
> > As for "we have local systems so we keep tech people employed," 
> I think by
> > now most libraries would agree that we could move most ILS 
> activities to a
> > SaaS (if the SaaS did what we wanted, of course, which is the 
> hitch) and the
> > "tech" people would continue to be gainfully employed.
> >
> > Most of the Web does NOT work like most ILS software. That's the 
> major sad
> > suckitudinal fact.
> >
> > I'm not writing an apologia for OCLC, and anyone who follows my 
> writing> knows I have plenty to say about this organization. But 
> "most of the Web
> > doesn't work this way" doesn't go that far with me. If it works, 
> and people
> > use it, then I'm satisfied. If WorldCat records were the second 
> or third
> > hit, I don't see the problem.
> >
> > Karen G. Schneider
> >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Check out my library at 
> 
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