Most of the posts have focused on listing resources the library owns (or
has access to) and allowing users to find these resources. Of course
these are important functions, but I don't want to loose sight of the
fact that the *current* generation of OPACs already has additional
functions. As the public's main (only?) interface to the ILS, typical
catalogs also allows users to:
* request items that they have found (paging, recalling, etc.)
* link to items that they have found
* save information about resources (either within the catalog or to
another system)
* identify items that they currently have on loan
* renew or extend loans
* find out if and how much money they owe the library
Maybe not all of these things belong in a definition of the catalog --
it would still be a catalog even if it didn't do them. But our users
have come to expect these things. Besides simply identifying resources,
our users actually want to use them.
Aaron Bales
Scott Warren wrote:
> The last few posts here have been great for thinking about what the
> catalog is. I want to add to what Thomas said below. Two of the many
> hats I wear are those of collection manager and teacher so I when I
> teach students I describe the catalog as that tool that lets people
> discover things that our library owns, has bought, pays for, etc or
> what is locally available (proof of ownership). If it is in the
> catalog, you have access to it, period. This distinguishes the
> catalog from article databases and other tools (Google Scholar being
> one) which are discovery tools only (proof of publication) and do not
> guarantee access to the documents described therein. I think this
> local ownership, which can be of either electronic or paper documents,
> is an important element that needs to be considered. The catalog has
> an economic description as well as technical ones.
>
> Scott Warren
>
>
> Thomas Dowling wrote:
>
>>On 6/7/2006 9:31 AM, Drew, Bill wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>One of the first things that needs to be done is to define what the
>>>catalog is currently...
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>In a universe of information resources, not all of which are available
>>to me, the catalog is the tool that talks to me in terms of which ones
>>are and are not available.
>>
>>Traditionally this has been in the form of a locally maintained database
>>focused on a local physical collection--especially the monographs in
>>that collection--and tightly tied into modules like acquisitions,
>>cataloging, and circulation. But none of this is integral to the task
>>of answering these questions:
>>
>> Given my search criteria, what resources are available to me?
>>
>> Given a specific resource, it it available to me or not?
>>
>>
>>Ways in which current catalogs fall short of answering those questions
>>is a matter of protracted conversation. Ironing those wrinkles out in
>>the next generation is why we're here, right? :-)
>>
>>
>>--
>>Thomas Dowling
>>tdowling_at_ohiolink.edu
>>
>>
>
>--
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Scott Warren, M.A. LIS
>Assistant Head
>Textiles Library and Engineering Services
>North Carolina State University Libraries
>Box 8301
>Raleigh, NC 27695-8301
>919-515-6602 (phone)
>919-515-3926 (fax)
>scott_warren_at_ncsu.edu
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
Received on Wed Jun 07 2006 - 11:08:01 EDT