Steve, I think you've just described a use case for linked data.
kc
Quoting Steve Casburn <stevencm_at_multcolib.org>:
> Jonathan Rochkind on the possibility of using Wikipedia as an authority file:
>
> http://bibwild.wordpress.com/2011/05/17/using-wikipedia-as-an-authority-file/
>
>
> Jonathan's idea dovetails with a question I've had: When a Wikipedia
> entry matches a name or subject heading, then can we connect that
> entry to library resources which share that heading, so that Wikipedia
> can serve as (among all of its other functions) a discovery layer for
> library resources?
>
> Given that so many more people start their information searches in
> Wikipedia than in a library catalog, such a connection could help the
> library serve relatively many patrons where THEY are, rather than
> serving relatively few patrons where WE are.
>
>
> It looks like someone at OCLC is experimenting with a similar idea,
> and what they are doing (although it is broken at the moment)
> illustrates how this concept might work in practice.
>
> First, go to the External Links section of the Wikipedia entry for
> Abraham Lincoln:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln#External_links
>
>
> In that section there is an "Authority Control" infobox that has a
> link (currently broken) to the WorldCat Identities page for Abraham
> Lincoln (the link below works):
>
> http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n79-6779
>
>
> Now, to segue from what it looks like someone at OCLC is experimenting
> with to my idea:
>
> If OCLC would add to each Identities page a prominent link that says
> "Find Resources at Your Local Library", and if the local library can
> be determined either by IP address or by a user-defined cookie, then,
> voila! Two clicks from a Wikipedia entry to a list of local library
> resources related to that entry.
>
> This change would be a win for Wikipedia because it would add depth to
> the information that Wikipedia provides to its users.
>
> This change would be a win for local libraries because it would allow
> them to serve more patrons.
>
> This change would be a win for library patrons because this work could
> be done at Wikipedia speed (start immediately, experiment, learn from
> mistakes, get a lot of people involved, and steadily improve and
> expand) rather than at library speed (wait two years as a working
> group is created, wait two years for its report, wait several more
> years as the report gets picked apart or ignored, allow no one but a
> small group of librarians to do the work, and end up either with
> nothing done, with a solution that satisfies librarians but not
> patrons, or with a solution that is already obsolete).
>
>
> What do people think? I would be particularly interested in hearing
> from anyone at OCLC. (And a big thanks to Jonathan Rochkind for
> letting me baffle him in his blog's comments section while I figured
> out how to explain this idea clearly.)
>
>
> Steve
>
>
> --
> Steve Casburn
> ILS Coordinator
> Multnomah County Library
> Phone: 503.988.4549
> stevencm_at_multcolib.org
> <http://www.multcolib.org/>
>
--
Karen Coyle
kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net
ph: 1-510-540-7596
m: 1-510-435-8234
skype: kcoylenet
Received on Thu May 19 2011 - 01:27:24 EDT