I could not have said it better. The major reason to have a catalog is to provide information for our users and prospective users. Although librarians and library staff members are also catalog users, they are not in the majority.
That said, many of our constituents don't use either our web sites or our catalogs. We also need to figure out ways to get the data out of our catalog databases so that it can be used in other resources and services. Is it time for us to team up with vendors who provide heavily used search engines, and not with those who provide ILS systems (for example, Google), to incorporate our content so that users can better search our catalogs?
Mary
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Mary Pagliero Popp, Public Services Librarian
Library Information Technology,
Wells Library W501, Indiana University,
1320 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405
popp_at_indiana.edu 812-855-8170 FAX: 812-856-4979
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries [mailto:NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of B.G. Sloan
Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 10:19 PM
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] Whose elephant is it, anyway? (NOT long)
I wanted to circle back to my original point in this debate...
It doesn't really matter how well (or how poorly) "back room" library systems are functioning if the public user interface doesn't work.
Libraries exist to help people satisfy their information needs. If public user interfaces fail in this area, people will go elsewhere to satisfy their information needs.
It's just that simple.
Bernie Sloan
Sora Associates
Bloomington, IN
Received on Sun Mar 08 2009 - 22:36:47 EDT