On 13/11/2012 22:36, Jonathan Rochkind wrote:
<snip>
> On 11/13/2012 1:24 PM, James Weinheimer wrote:
>> Google adds this kind of link because they are Google. They are not
>> selling this book, but they are selling*attention*,
>
> I _believe_ (could be wrong) that one reason Google adds this link is
> because they wanted to harvest bib records from OCLC Worldcat, and
> that was the quid pro quo.
>
> There are a whole bunch of interesting implications of that
> transaction, which I'll leave as an exersize to the reader. :)
</snip>
In my paper in Oslo, I illustrated how Google is using those records
(our records, and they are still mashed-up). When you look in Google
Books, it turns out that it is extremely difficult to even find our
information, much less to see it. Google's placement of our metadata was
certainly not a random decision, and allows us to draw certain
conclusions about what Google thinks of our metadata. Nobody will go
through those obstacles to find that information, other than "weirdo
people" like me.
I don't like to be the harbinger of doom and gloom, but I think we need
to have a realistic view of what is happening. What is happening is not
inevitable and can be changed. Karen's example of including the local
holdings is interesting, but it can be done in a variety of ways,
including browser add-ons. For instance, a plugin could be made similar
to the Google Books API that automatically searches for the existence of
a book in Google Books when you do a search in your own catalog; a
library specific plugin could turn that around to search your own
catalog when someone opens a Google Book (or Amazon, or anything else).
Google may even be willing to set up something similar to the library
access links available on Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_settings?hl=en&as_sdt=0,5
When I consider these issues and see all the possibilities, it becomes
clearer and clearer to me that the efforts toward RDA and FRBR will have
zero impact on the public. There are problems with people using
catalogs, but the problems are definitely not with the cataloging rules.
So sad to see such resources, talent and brainpower going into something
that will turn out to be irrelevant.
--
*James Weinheimer* weinheimer.jim.l_at_gmail.com
*First Thus* http://catalogingmatters.blogspot.com/
*Cooperative Cataloging Rules*
http://sites.google.com/site/opencatalogingrules/
*Cataloging Matters Podcasts*
http://blog.jweinheimer.net/p/cataloging-matters-podcasts.html
Received on Wed Nov 14 2012 - 04:26:13 EST