Bernie Sloan wrote on 03/06/2009 03:55:07 PM:
> 2. One of my pet peeves about library technology is that library
> systems seem to be designed BY librarians FOR librarians, with the
> implication that a system that works for librarians will also work
> for the general public. I think that implicit assumption lurks just
> below the surface in a lot of our discussions.
>
Is it really? I think that is or was a slogan of one of the big ILS
companies, but if this stuff is really designed by librarians for
librarians, how come so much of it gets in the way of librarians doing
their work. I think the company that had that slogan is the same company
that provided the ILS I worked for at my last job. I won't mention it,
because I'm not sure that I'm remembering right. But anyway, that ILS
seemed to have very little that was configurable by local IT people.
Everything had to be done at headquarters for a hefty fee.
The company that markets the ILS I'm using now apparently hasn't done what
seems to me like routine code maintenance for more than a decade. We still
have to click to answer the question, "Is the diskette ready?" There is so
much extra clicking and going back and forth that I can't imagine anyone
who has ever used it has ever worked on the design team.
And one complaint that I have heard almost universally is how badly OPACs
actually work--both in terms of searching, display, and the sheer amount
of information in the MARC records that is apparently not used for
anything. If it's designed by librarians for librarians, how come there
seem to be so few librarians who are happy with it? It seems to be
designed by computer programmers who think they know librarians' needs
better than librarians do and turn a deaf ear to all the protesting. A
system that worked better for librarians would work better for the general
public, but it would take a lot of work to get it better for librarians
and more still to make any improvements specifically for the general
public.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
David Guion
Music Cataloger
University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Jackson Library
320 College Ave.
Greensboro, NC 27412
(336) 334-5781
dmguion_at_uncg.edu
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
Bernie Sloan wrote on 03/06/2009 03:55:07 PM:
> 2. One of my pet peeves about library technology is that library
> systems seem to be designed BY librarians FOR librarians, with the
> implication that a system that works for librarians will also work
> for the general public. I think that implicit assumption lurks just
> below the surface in a lot of our discussions.
>
Received on Fri Mar 06 2009 - 16:19:35 EST