> -----Original Message-----
> From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
> [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Bernd T. Wunsch
> Sent: May 31, 2007 1:39 PM
> To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
> Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] A Next Generation Tool for Libraries.
>
> Mark writes:
> >"There's no effective way to initiate a search without typing
> >something in. It doesn't need to be that way, though. And when we
> >think of the OPAC as a discovery tool for research, I think browsing
> >is more effective. "
>
> The basic notion that I had in mind was more the idea of an
"alternative
> technological" approach to our opac's. Microsoft Surface might just be
one
> of many ways in which it can be done. But as pointed out earlier the
> caveats of the MS product might heavily outweigh the benefits.
>
> What I really think is interesting though is to let the actual books
cross
> over into your OPAC. If you would actually be able to initiate search
and
> browsing simply by putting a book on a table. You could even take it
> further and let people put a few books on the table, and create an
> "instant bookshelf" and have the system provide "LibraryThing Style"
> recommendations.
>
> My initial point wasn't that "MS Surface" is the way to go, but rather
> that our next Generation OPAC should be about much more, than just
> competing about who gets to create the Best Library 2.0 Web OPAC.
>
> We took the first great leap when we went from physical Catalog Cards
and
> introduced Computers and OPAC's in to our libraries. Why is it then,
that
> we've become obsessed with improving this tool (the opac), instead of
> looking beyond and keep trying to find better tools for our patrons to
> find books.
>
> I think our next generation tools, will be the tools that bridge the
> physical library with the "Electronic knowledge universe" which we are
> currently so obsessed with building. Or to put it in buzzwords: "We
need
> start creating Catalog Mashup's that interact with the Physics-API of
our
> current Library Building Implementation."
>
> - Bernd.
I don't know about Surface as a viable technology, but it's an
interesting visual starting point to imagine what can be done with a
next gen catalogue.
The idea of placing an existing book on a smart surface screen as
opposed to typing into a search box in a window as a starting point for
a search is a great idea.
But what spills out of that book onto the "surface"? I think this is
where we have to come full circle back to the business of providing good
metadata using good data models such as FRBR-based records.
We need to have the author spill out, not just as a keyword-based search
using the spelling found on the book, but the author entity with all the
variant spellings and cross-references.
We need to have the subjects (or tags) spill out, pulled from a catalog,
so that we can follow subject trails, perhaps using a "breadcrumbs"
interface where we can see hierarchies and related terms.
We need to have a FRBR approach. If I put down a Spanish edition of the
latest Harry Potter book, then the catalog should know the difference
between a work, an expression, and a manifestation.
I recently listened to a presentation by Lynne Howarth from the
University of Toronto (she had been on the FRBR Review Group). A
question from the audience could be summed up this way: is RDA backwards
looking only or does it encompass future needs of the catalog? I think
the answer she gave reflects the ideal we should be striving for. RDA,
or FRBR-based data, is "just data"-- it isn't intended to reside only in
a library catalog, a part of the hidden Internet, or the dark web.
Ultimately, RDA (or RDA + semantic web) is about "sending out our data
and populating the world". I thought that comment nailed down exactly
what the next gen catalog is all about. This is how we bridge the gap
between the physical library and the "electronic knowledge universe". We
have to get the data models and structures right, and then send them out
to populate the world, spilling out of books on a seemingly-magic table
for any and all to see and to use.
Thomas Brenndorfer, B.A, M.L.I.S.
Guelph Public Library
100 Norfolk St.
Guelph, ON
N1H 4J6
(519) 824-6220 ext. 276
tbrenndorfer_at_library.guelph.on.ca
Received on Fri Jun 01 2007 - 08:02:42 EDT