(Granted, there are non-librarians who value library data. And there are librarians who don't hold library data in high regard. But I couldn't put all that in the subject line...so I took the simplistic approach. :-) )
Jane Jacobs has said: "As for the rest of the non-bibliographic world, perhaps the data is perceived as lacking in value BECAUSE it is largely free!...I really think that it may be the availability NOT the inaccessibility of MARC records that make some people ignore them or question their value!"
I think there's a different reason why some of those in the "non-bibliographic world" undervalue or ignore library data. They perceive library data as being created *by* librarians, *for* librarians, to help manage library collections. To the outside world, that's a pretty narrow focus. That may well be why Google views the OCLC data it gets as just one of more than 100 sources of metadata.
Bernie Sloan
Received on Wed Sep 16 2009 - 12:03:06 EDT