[Web4lib] Re: Google Search Appliance and OPACs
K.G. Schneider
kgs at bluehighways.com
Wed Feb 13 10:37:34 EST 2008
Well, durn, I didn't even know that trick; I only knew "find in a
library" (way too freakin' long and besides, people want to find it in
THEIR library).
It worked very well for:
Omnivore's Dilemma
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Goodnight Moon
Marion Nestle (retrieved her titles, starting with the blockbuster, What
to Eat!)
Did not work well for:
W.G. Sebald (I would have expected Rings of Saturn as a top or near-top
hit, not a book ABOUT Sebald)
Price of Salt (a book that Group Catalog also flubs)
Half-bakedly:
Mark Bittman (lol, my own post riffing on his cheese straws was hit #5
-- I have a WorldCat box on my blog)
Still, a good tip (it's how I use wikipedia, Amazon, Epicurious, etc. so
I don't know why it iddn't occur to me)
Thanks Sebastian!
Karen G. Schneider
On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:59:57 -0800 (PST), "B.G. Sloan"
<bgsloan2 at yahoo.com> said:
>
> Sebastian's suggestion worked very well for me. I appended the term
> "worldcat" to my search, and the ONLY record returned was the WorldCat
> record for the book in question!
>
> Bernie Sloan
>
> Ms Norma Jean Hewlett <hewlett at usfca.edu> wrote:
> Thanks, Sebastian!
> I tried your suggestion and searched for
> "sun also rises" worldcat
>
> Just as you said, the first three hits are for WorldCat records that
> link to the holdings at my local libraries.
>
> Also, most of the other hits on the first page were to potentially
> useful sources like Wikipedia, LibraryThing, and the IPL Literary
> Criticism Collection. Much better than a whole screen of bookstore
> item records!
>
> yes, I think you are right--WorldCat needs to put some cool videos on
> YouTube and increase their page rank. Jean
>
> Jean Hewlett
> Regional Librarian
> North Bay Campus
> University of San Francisco
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Sebastian Hammer
> Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:57 am
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Re: Google Search Appliance and OPACs
> To: Ms Norma Jean Hewlett
> Cc: Casey Bisson , web4lib at webjunction.org
>
> > Ms Norma Jean Hewlett wrote:
> > > Casey Bisson wrote:
> > >
> > >> Can you offer an example search where Google returns a screen
> > full
> > >> of results from libraries? I feel lucky if I see even one
> > result
> > >>
> > > from
> > >
> > >> a library in the top 10.
> > >>
> > >
> > > Casey, you are right! I stand corrected.
> > >
> > > The situation I described was common a few years ago, but
> > doesn't seem
> > > to apply at all now. I ran a Google basic search for Sun Also
> > Rises.
> > > In 20 screens, I found only 1 link to a library bib record--that
> > was
> > > to the WorldCat record, and it was on screen #19.
> > >
> > I wonder if users aren't getting smarter about this... they'll
> > have to,
> > I think... if I search for a movie title, it's kinda random what
> > pops
> > up... but if I search for the title and add, 'imdb' or 'tomatoes',
> > I
> > reliably get the IMDB page or the excellent Rotten Tomatoes review
> > analysis.. similarly, if I do your search for 'Sun Also Rises',
> > and add
> > 'worldcat' to the end, a good-looking page pops up, complete with
> > a
> > suggested list of libraries. Not bad.
> >
> > Maybe WorldCat just needs a cooler, more memorable name, and some
> > hot
> > YouTube videos to get it into the public mindspace.
> >
> > --Sebastian
> > > Most of the results were either individual title records from
> > > bookstores or blog posts about the movie.
> > > Jean
> > >
> > > Jean Hewlett
> > > Regional Librarian, Univ. of San Francisco
> > >
> > > All opinions are my own, and do not represent my employers.
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Casey Bisson
> > > Date: Monday, February 11, 2008 9:00 am
> > > Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Re: Google Search Appliance and OPACs
> > > To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> > >
> > >
> > >> Norma Jean:
> > >>
> > >> Can you offer an example search where Google returns a screen
> > full
> > >> of
> > >> results from libraries? I feel lucky if I see even one result
> > from
> > >> a
> > >> library in the top 10. The above sounds more argumentative than
> > I
> > >> mean, but I really am looking for examples, as they'd offer
> > >> something
> > >> to learn from.
> > >>
> > >> The bigger shame is that we keep looking to centralized
> > solutions
> > >> when
> > >> Google and the rest of the web keep telling us they want
> > >> distributed
> > >> solutions. Isn't it a shame that we've not yet opened our
> > catalogs
> > >> to
> > >> the kind of remixing that will consistently deliver next
> > >> generation
> > >> innovations, including finding library results that are
> > relevant
> > >> to
> > >> your current location in your search engine of choice?
> > >>
> > >> --Casey
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> On Feb 9, 2008, at 3:15 PM, Ms Norma Jean Hewlett wrote:
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>> [...]
> > >>> 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.
> > >>> [...]
> > >>>
> > >>
> > >>> [...]
> > >>> 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?
> > >>
> > >>> [...]
> > >>>
> > >> Casey Bisson
> > >> __________________________________________
> > >>
> > >> Information Architect
> > >> Plymouth State University
> > >> Plymouth, New Hampshire
> > >> http://MaisonBisson.com/
> > >> ph: 603-535-2256
> > >>
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >> Web4lib mailing list
> > >> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> > >> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
> > >>
> > >>
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Web4lib mailing list
> > > Web4lib at webjunction.org
> > > http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Sebastian Hammer, Index Data
> > quinn at indexdata.com www.indexdata.com
> > Ph: (603) 209-6853 Fax: (866) 383-4485
> >
> >
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