Computers in Libraries 2008: From WoePac to WowPac (part II)

Computers in Libraries 2008: From WoePac to WowPac (part II)

Unfortunately, I missed the first half of this two-part session, where Roy Tennant and Kate Sheehan spoke about LibraryThing, WorldCat, catalog overlays, and open source ILSs.  The second half featured Cindi Trainor and John Blyberg talking about their approaches to creating and promoting a better online catalog for libraries. 

Cindi talked about the options you have - buying something from a vendor, using an open source solution, or using an overlay or add-on like LibraryThing for Libraries.  What we have to offer is content - text, digital audio, digital images, digitial video, etc.  Community involves the interaction between users, the "collectiveness," and content created by a community, in a community, and for a community.   Interactivity allows users to have a stake in the site and be involved.  Interoperability is essential: like using APIs to remix data to meet individual needs.

If you combine content with interoperability, community, and interactivity you can create an anamzing site with relevant content and functionality...Cindi gave four examples: Amazon, Pandora, Flickr, and Wikipedia.  This is "the sweet spot" and where we should strive to be.  She talked about all of the things that Flickr does that matches the four criteria.

Where are the next generation catalog enhancements products on this diagram of four criteria for a quality site.  She set up a scoring system with 8 points for each of the four critera (for a total of 32 possible points).  Encore (from III) scores a 10 out of 32.  LibraryFind scored a 12 out of 32.  Scriblio scored a 14 out of 32.  WorldCat scored a 16 out of 32.  Voyager only scored a 2 out of 32.  When we think about how LibraryThing and Amazon work, building a world-wide database of user knowledge, we still have a long way to go with the products library vendors and even our open source providres are creating. 

Then John Blyberg spoke about his work on the SOPAC at the Ann Arbor District Library.  John started by saying that we fetishize OPACs somewhat.  The fact that we can't put together a quality OPAC isn't because it's hard to do, but rather that it is systemic and representative of the greater libraryworld problems...our challenge is assembling all of the vaarious information in a way that will make sense to the user. 

He noted that we have moved so far from our willingness to tear down the architecture of our systems, even though they are inherently flawed, that we have made it difficult for ourselves to innovate.  John called our current systems "jaundiced OPACs."  Libraries can and should participate and position ourselves as prolific producers of content.  But we can also leverage technology to help users create this content as well.  John says that the OPAC is a reflection of the health of the system.  The OPAC should be mashed up with sites like Facebook and Flickr. 

The original intent of a product is often very, very different from its eventla implementaton and use.  Products get kludged together and often are not at all functional or modular or changeable.  John stated that titles like "systems librarian" are funny, because, in reality, we are all systsems librarians to one degree or another.  He noted that we have to be ready for change.  And we should never be so rooted in something that te ar   John plans on releasing SOPAC 2.0 later this year (yay!).

john talked about how strange it was to move from the corporate world, where there is a strict level of hierarchy where decisions can get made by one person, vs. the library where everything is devided by committee.  We need to allow someone to be a primary decision-maker, particularly for systems design.  Because of the way we've done this in the past, by committee, the library systems that exist remain largely undesigned and rather "unthoughtful" in their display and content.  We need to examine what we put out for our users and design consciously to enhance the user experience.

CIL2008