A really significant trend that I’ve been writing about for my next ALA Techsource post, due out this coming week, is our willingness to stretch beyond traditional standards — Dewey and AACR2 — in order to serve our users better.
On NPR I just heard Marshall Shore, adult services coordinator from the Maricopa (AZ) public library system talk about going post-Dewey at their new branch (I have been leaving them email and phone messages but I guess compared to NPR I’m in the peanut gallery of the MSM…), and last month I interviewed Jesse Haro at Phoenix Public Library about using BISAC headings for the facets in their catalog. That, and I’ve interviewed both Karen Coyle and Diane Hillman about the historic RDA/DC agreement that would help take library data out of its silo on onto the Semantic Web. In my mind, all three are inextricably bound, and you can add Librarything (particularly its enrichment services for the Danbury Public Library catalog) and Twitterlit into the stew in my head that is stirred together from many observations about improving service to library users.
I was going to write more, but I’m saving it for Techsource!
Posted on this day, other years:
- Painted ponies go up and down - 2012
- Link+: Tastiest Book Sharing in the Free World - 2005
- Refworks: Yeah, Baby! - 2005
- Weblogs.com Closes Blogs - 2004
- Movable Type Pricing: Getting Closer - 2004
- Same-Sex Marriage and the Downfall of Civilization - 2004
Did you read A World in Three Aisles in the May issue of Harper’s? It’s a profile of The Prelinger Library – “An appropriation-friendly, image-rich, experimental research library.” The organization of this library is largely personal although it said to be inspired by the Warburg Institute Library.
If the use of RFID tags takes off in libraryland then it may be possible to create and re-create different collections within library collections without any loss in the ability to search and find known items.
I did, although I thought it was not compelling, for a number of reasons, including the author’s digressions about San Francisco Public Library. Having lived in the Bay Area, I know San Franciscans like nothing better than to eat their young.