> Trick question: What community has a s**tload of controlled metadata but
> isn't on the map? Libraries! Library metadata could become the canonical
> bibliographic metadata on the web, if we could only get it onto the web
> instead of locked up in databases. Oh, and if we only could assert our
> "right" to expose our metadata in that way.
Just replace the "could" with "would" in the last sentence and we'd
already be on our way.
Many of our barriers are self imposed. I haven't tried to get data
from libraries for awhile, but I used to attempt this all the time. My
experience was that refusal typically had more to do with someone
being "uncomfortable" than substantive issues such as agreements with
vendors that the records wouldn't be shared.
On many occasions, I heard reservations expressed that the information
would somehow get out and be used to build something that would be
sold. If you need materials to support crackpot political theories or
you just have a thing for cows and want to see lots of pictures of
them, libraries will bend over backwards to help you because your
impact is nil. If you indicate you're trying to do something useful,
people immediately get concerned.
The personalities we attract are extremely risk and conflict averse,
so a single person at an institution who feels uneasy can make sure
data stays locked up and virtually useless. If someone has a big idea
that involves using library metadata move things forward, we treat
them with suspicion -- even the open source fanatics whose track
record clearly indicates that they are motivated by a desire to help
and improve things for everyone.
For some reason, we recognize anyone's claim to rights over
information except our own. As a profession, we do not insist that
records we create at public expense must be made as freely available
as possible. We treat OCLC too much like a vendor and don't articulate
our interests forcefully enough as should be done with a membership
organization.
The result is that we have been relegated to the sidelines when we
belong in the thick of the action. It doesn't have to be that way.
Fortunately, a new breed of librarians that has been emerging, the
greater willingness to collaborate, and the constantly improving open
source tools that make sharing information easier.
kyle
Received on Fri Mar 06 2009 - 13:22:11 EST