I, too, don't mourn the passing of the card catalog, in spite of my
previous posting. I appreciate the space made available by its demise.
But most of all, I am glad to see the end of illegible and faded
handwritten catalog cards. OPACs offer the user the advantage of a
single legible typeface, instead of having to readjust every time a card
is turned, being able to resize the typeface if necessary, not having to
be very tall and able to bend down to see the cards in the top and
bottom drawers, not having to take manual notes of card contents before
ordering materials from the stacks, being able sit or use a wheechair,
not having to wait for someone else to move out of the way when you both
want to use the same or next drawer, and all those poor trees sacrificed
for the card stock and cabinets!
Roger Fenton
Jacobs, Jane W wrote:
>**Views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent those of the Queens Library.**
>
>Despite being something of a Luddite and emphatically disagreeing with oft-repeated mantra that: "[any] change [or new technology] is good", I have no nostalgia for the card catalog. I once had a bright, industrious young student worker who spent an entire afternoon filing title cards in the subject section of the catalog. (I don't miss revising filing either!) People wanted "one box/file shopping" even then.
>
>However, it is worth noting that the Card catalog did have consistent "look and feel" from library to library. It provided customers with a familiar looking interface, a certain level of comfort and the illusion that they knew what they were doing when they searched it.
>
>It might be worth considering whether instead of outdoing ourselves innovatively redesigning and branding our OPACs, individually, whether we ought not to look for some common design elements that could make life easier for customers and bibliographic instruction easier for librarians.
>
>In principle integrating the OPAC with other information resources sounds good. In practice many customers still come to the library looking for resources (whether books, CDs, videos, etc.) to check out. Finding the OPAC to look for these physical objects shouldn't be a treasure hunt. We still need the "inventory control" aspect of our catalog and so do our customers.
>
>JJ
>
>**Views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent those of the Queens Library.**
>
>Jane Jacobs
>
>Asst. Coord., Catalog Division
>
>Queens Borough Public Library
>
>89-11 Merrick Blvd.
>
>Jamaica, NY 11432
>
>tel.: (718) 990-0804
>
>e-mail: Jane.W.Jacobs_at_queenslibrary.org
>
>FAX. (718) 990-8566
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Roger Fenton
>Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 10:07 AM
>To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
>Subject: Re: "Teaching"
>
>Not quite. I was pretty clued up on card catalogs from high school and
>college, and then I went on my junior year abroad to the Free University
>of Berlin in 1969-70, and discovered that their card catalogs were
>different enough from US ones to need instruction. I still quake inside
>at the words "Schlagwort" and "Stichwort"!
>Roger Fenton
>
>Laura Crossett wrote:
>
>
>
>>One thing I've heard mentioned elsewhere but not here (I think):
>>
>>Card catalogs (which I used in grade school and to some extent in high
>>school, though not much after that) had one real advantage: when you'd
>>learned to use one card catalog, you could use any card catalog
>>without additional training. They all worked the same way.
>>
>>Laura
>>
>>Laura Crossett
>>Branch Manager
>>Meeteetse Branch Library
>>PO Box 129 / 2107 Idaho
>>Meeteetse, WY 82433
>>307.868.2248
>>www.parkcountylibrary.org <http://www.parkcountylibrary.org>
>>AIM: theblackmollly
>>Y!M: lcrossett
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> *From:* Jack Hall <mailto:jhall_at_UH.EDU>
>> *To:* NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu <mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, June 14, 2006 9:14 AM
>> *Subject:* Re: [NGC4LIB] "Teaching"
>>
>>
>> Steven's question about teaching library users is an interesting
>> one. Recently our library staff viewed a video featuring Rick
>> Anderson, called "Always a River, Sometimes a Library." Rick was
>> questioning many of the traditional ways we do things. I would say
>> his point of view was from academic libraries, but the panel
>> included also people from public libraries. One of his main
>> points, as I see it, was that libraries should stop doing
>> instruction. A couple of his main reasons: we can't hope to reach
>> a significant percentage of the users; we need to concentrate on
>> making the resources we offer more transparent, so that
>> instruction is not needed. I agree with both points.
>>
>> Instruction appears to be a major part of my library's
>> functioning, both in groups and one-on-one. During a discussion of
>> the above-mentioned video, our head of instruction said, with
>> pride, that we reached 9,000 students last year through
>> instruction (some would probably be duplicates). That's a bit over
>> 25 % of our FTE students, so one might or might not say that it is
>> significant percentage. And we have users that are not students,
>> too, of course.
>>
>> Some of our public service people have a lot of criticism of the
>> catalog (we are Innopac); one says "it sucks." I'm sure we have a
>> long way to go to improve it, but I personally find that the other
>> databases we offer, the multifariousness of them, and the
>> interfaces we provide, suck as much as the catalog. Pardon the
>> made-up word (multifariousness). Examples of the latter: full text
>> or not; full text available to all users or not; need to log in or
>> not; remotely available or not; display of data; searching;
>> printing and downloading functionalities, etc.
>>
>> Jack
>>
>>
>>
>> At 09:26 AM 6/14/2006, Steven Carr wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> I also have a question:
>>>
>>> For public libraries: Do any of you have a mission/plan/interest
>>> in "teaching" the catalog or searching to customers any more? Or
>>> do you do this more in terms of finding what you want on the net?
>>>
>>> For academic libraries: Is this teaching function still part of
>>> your mission as well? What are you teaching?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> Jack Hall
>> 114L University of Houston Libraries
>> Houston, TX 77204-2000
>> telephone:(713) 743-9687
>> e-mail: jhall_at_uh.edu
>> fax: (713) 743-9748
>>
>>
>>
>
>--
>Roger Fenton
>
>Swyddog Prosiect
>Adran Gwasanaethau Casgliadau
>Is-adran Systemau
>Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
>Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BU
>Cymru
>
>http://www.llgc.org.uk/
>Ffôn: +44 (0) 1970 632800 est. 368
>e-bost: roger.fenton_at_llgc.org.uk
>
>Dydy'r uchod ddim o reidrwydd yn cynrychioli polisi'r LlGC
>
>Project Officer
>Department of Collection Services
>Systems Section
>National Library of Wales
>Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BU
>Wales
>
>http://www.llgc.org.uk/
>Tel.: +44 (0) 1970 632800 ext. 368
>Fax: +44 (0) 1970 632882
>e-mail: roger.fenton_at_llgc.org.uk
>
>The above does not necessarily represent NLW policy
>
>
--
Roger Fenton
Swyddog Prosiect
Adran Gwasanaethau Casgliadau
Is-adran Systemau
Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BU
Cymru
http://www.llgc.org.uk/
Ffôn: +44 (0) 1970 632800 est. 368
e-bost: roger.fenton_at_llgc.org.uk
Dydy'r uchod ddim o reidrwydd yn cynrychioli polisi'r LlGC
Project Officer
Department of Collection Services
Systems Section
National Library of Wales
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BU
Wales
http://www.llgc.org.uk/
Tel.: +44 (0) 1970 632800 ext. 368
Fax: +44 (0) 1970 632882
e-mail: roger.fenton_at_llgc.org.uk
The above does not necessarily represent NLW policy
Received on Thu Jun 15 2006 - 11:49:27 EDT