Much of this discussion makes me believe we have a number of
expectations regarding the interfaces to indexes and the locations of
data/information.
For example, we increasingly expect the interfaces to be simple. One
box. One button. Increasingly we expect the interfaces to have some
"smarts". Find and possibly use additional terms in the queries. Eat -
> food. Coots -> birds. We expect the interface to not only give us
pointers to information but sometimes the information itself. "Here's
a book about coots, but to get right down to it, coots eat anything."
All of the examples above are interface issues. They deal with the
presentation and interpretation of queries. These things --
presentation and interpretation -- are the purview of public service
librarians in traditional/physical libraries. Our library systems are
sorely lacking in these regards. In general they are not graphically
simple and they have very little smarts.
While I do not think networked library systems will replace public
service librarianship activities, I do think networked library
systems (read "next generation" library catalogs) can supplement
these services. Increasingly people are not physically visiting
libraries and so we as a profession need to figure out how to put our
smarts into the applications we are supporting.
Put another way, I wish more public services librarians would
participate in our discussions.
--
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame
Received on Wed Jan 30 2008 - 08:55:23 EST