Comments on: The Library Reloaded: The Catalog http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/ the neverending reference interview of life Sun, 16 Jun 2013 19:43:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Andy http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1915 Sun, 19 Sep 2010 17:01:42 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1915 I have a feeling that there are proprietary reasons for that. I also have a feeling that there are business ones for it (no need to offer it if libraries aren’t demanding it).

]]> By: Andy http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1914 Sun, 19 Sep 2010 16:56:14 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1914 I don’t think it’s any creepier than retailers sending me a similar email. At least the library is not trying to entice people to spend money!

]]> By: Liam Hegarty http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1910 Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:42:37 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1910 It may just be me, but I cannot think of anything creepier than my library emailing me asking “What’s up? You haven’t checked anything out in a few weeks.”

There is some information it would be nice to have, but we shouldn’t have.

Also, my library is part of a consortium. They still haven’t gotten around to putting help links in the catalog, much less a means to summon a librarian out of thin air.

]]> By: Genesis http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1906 Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:03:10 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1906 You’re right – natural language searching isn’t really out of reach, it’s just that the implementations I’ve seen so far for libraries don’t work as well as they should. Seems simple enough – why can’t library vendors duplicate what’s being done elsewhere?

]]> By: Andy http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1894 Fri, 17 Sep 2010 01:54:34 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1894 Ah, yes, the API. The new Holy Grail of web development. I totally agreeing with the freeing of the information; you built it, you oughta own it.

I don’t think natural language searching is really that far out of reach, but I’m not exactly up to date on that.

]]> By: Andy http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1893 Fri, 17 Sep 2010 01:51:16 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1893 Oh, yes! Open source is a good one. I didn’t want to address whether this should originate from a proprietary vendor or an open source developer because, just like our patrons, I’m not super interested in how it gets done. I just want it to do some of those things. And I know that there is a long road to reality in terms of development, so I have patience for things moving along.

But it’s not infinite patience. Something has to be done.

]]> By: Andy http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1892 Fri, 17 Sep 2010 01:48:34 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1892 Yeah, it has to be a presentation piece. You can’t go from a beautifully crafted website to a clunky interface that makes you go, “Did I leave the site? How come the rest of the site is nice and this is so cruddy?” It has to be graphical, easy to use, and something that doesn’t make people feel stupid for using.

Presentation is such a critical aspect and people have expectations for how searching and results are shown.

]]> By: Andy http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1891 Fri, 17 Sep 2010 01:45:40 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1891 Tags! Yes! Would it be fair to use a bookstore subject adoption for these tags? (As in, where you would find it in a bookstore) That would be good for serendipitous browsing on a more graphic interface. I can imagine a series of results that look like the iBook shelf, showing covers and authors for people to pick and get a closer look at.

Totally agree on accessibility and interface clutter. A simple basic interface that people can trick out to have whatever additional information that they want.

]]> By: Genesis http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1887 Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:55:20 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1887 Preach it! Also:

I want an API, so we can develop the functionality that our customers want instead of waiting for service enhancements that may never come.

Free the data! If we (or our customers) put data into the system, we should be able to get it out. Not selected bits of it – ALL of it! We want to be able to create reports and export our data in a variety of formats.

Take “inside baseball” out of the customer interface – they shouldn’t have to know what boolean logic is in order to produce an effective search string, and they shouldn’t have to see information that is only relevant or useful to library staff.

]]> By: Brandon http://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1886 Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:39:48 +0000 https://agnosticmaybe.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/library-reloaded-the-catalog/#comment-1886 Well, you’re certainly dreaming big, and nothing wrong with that. :)

I think open-source cataloging is the way to go. Release the work to the smart masses and improvements will be made. Libraries, and librarians, being at the mercy of vendors is the biggest obstacle to improving cataloging, so it needs to be the first thing to go.

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