> > Now to go back to the implications of this for the patron who is NOT a
> > 'local' and has no idea what some of the abbreviations (particularly
> > for locations) mean on the screen displaying the bibliographic record.
> Are we really prepared to serve the entire Google user base? This is
> something I wonder about with the Google book search. So someone in Dili
> finds a book listed in Google that is held at Stanford. OK, that's maybe
> better than not knowing that the book exists at all, but... by having
> the books listed there, what are we expecting users to do? What are we
> implying by our participation in that program? What do we intend when we
> open our catalog to users who are searching the web (implying searching
> materials that are resolvable through the search engine)?
>
> kc
I've had several thoughts about Google/Open Worldcat but have been in
post-ALA recovery mode.
The first is that while Open Worldcat items are discoverable through Google,
I wonder how many times a Worldcat item shows up on a page a user would
access (without scoping the search to worldcat)? Anecdote alert: I've never
just stumbled across a Worldcat item. We could debate this right and left,
but of course, the way to know would be through search log analysis, user
testing, and some evidence-driven analysis at the catalog/library end of
things. All you have to do to turn on the library magic is add the term
worldcat to your user search string, but that's kind of like saying all
Columbus had to do was find America (or whatever he was looking for...).
Good marketing could get that message across-but only if what users got at
the other end served them well.
Second, to segue to a response to Karen Coyle's question (LibraryLand has a
Karen Coombs, making the whole Karen thing far more complex than it used to
be), "Are we really prepared to serve the entire Google user base?" My
answer would be yes, in terms of our local users. Open Worldcat is designed
to make it easy to find local items. This is in fact how I use it (ding!
Anecdote!). Worldcat guides the user to that expectation with its prompt,
"Enter Location Information." Now, I wish it would also give me a scope for
a regional consortium, Link Plus, so that if my local library didn't have it
I could request it from a consortium that served me, but at least it is
designed to let me know that I can get the book from a local library. Would
users request books from faraway libraries? I don't know. Does OCLC?
So a database such as Open Worldcat could, in theory, bring in local users
who don't know we (meaning the local libraries) can serve them or have stuff
they need. We definitely SHOULD be prepared, eager, and even a little
desperate to serve every member of our own community. The shortest distance
between two points may be a global database.
Also in re Google Book Search, I have a conference-related quibble. I took
the test at the Google Booth in New Orleans... well, twice (nice SWAG,
although I later realized I walked around all day with a hat that in small
print on the back said "I'm feeling lucky"). One of the test questions on
Tuesday was whether Google Book Search holdings included library
information, and the correct answer was "yes." When I pressed the Google rep
with the point that THIS IS NOT ACCURATE, she admitted, well, not for
publisher-supplied content... my take is that "question" was serious spin. I
submit to you that with publishers and academic libraries participating in
GBS, most popular books are from publishers. So (ding! Anecdote) I looked up
The Prince of Tides yesterday and I can look at a page or two or buy the
book in GBS, but not find it in a library. Google has the power and the
money to buy a huge booth and indoctrinate 18,000 librarians in its spin. I
wish we had that skill.
Oh, and in WorldCat, is that label "cassette tape" new? Who let real English
slip into a library catalog?! Fortunately, they've left in unexplained
arcana such as "subject match" so we'll still retain the bibliomystery that
proves our natural superiority to the Muggles and their Googly searches...
Karen G. Schneider
kgs_at_bluehighways.com
Received on Fri Jun 30 2006 - 11:56:31 EDT