by David Lee King on March 25, 2006
Roy Tennant:
What catalogs do well:
- inventory control system – what you have, where it’s located
- known item searching
- … for items within a particular collection
Doesn’t do well (his “short list”):
- any type of search beyond known item
- anything beyond books and journal titles
- not good at displaying results by logical groupings (FRBR)
- Faceted browsing
- relevance ranking
- recommending similar titles
How we got in this mess:
- automation began in the back room – automated circ functions, acquisitions,etc
- moved to the public as an afterthought
- system was optimized for librarians
- failed to exploit full power of computer systems and catalog infrastructure
key problems:
- mixed management and discovery purposes – bad mashup
- stovepipe system – hard to get information back out
- abdicated responsibility to the vendor
- slow to exploit new opportunities
- reluctant to collaborate on proffesion-wide level
Assertions:
- library catalog is one finding tool among many
- acknowledge the good and bad
- users want a variety of information sources – not just books
- we can do better!
Future of catalog:
- one system among many that must interoperate
- refocused on local inventory only
- functions well alone
- won’t be the most important finding tool in a library
Signs of Life:
- gapines
- redlightgreen
- OCLC Curiouser project
- X9 csusm
- Andrew Pace’s new catalog, which leads us to …
Andrew Pace
You never get what you don’t ask for.
Next Generation OPAC examples out there: vivisimo, aquabrowser, endeca, exlibris, etc.
Sirsi/Dynix has partnered with FAST?
Endeca – gave a NCSU catalog tour
They went with Endeca because it had:
- speed
- relevance ranking
- faceted browsing
- true browsing
- spell checking
- stemming
- “did you mean” search suggestions
They partnered with Endeca
Tech overview: Endeca coexists with their SirsiDynix Unicorn ILS and the Web2 catalog
Indexes MARC exported from Unicorn. Index is refreshed nightly
They have to reformat MARC so Endeca can parse it
Endeca doesn’t understand MARC – it gets turned into a flat text file for Endeca
Who is Endeca? they built the search engines that Walmart and Barnes & Nobles uses, among others
challenges: using LCSH like it’s never been used before
Future plans – getting rid of authority searching (because none of their users use it)
cil2006
by David Lee King on March 25, 2006
Most important – why do we need to know all this stuff Gary talked about? Well – we’re the information go-to… we know our collections. We also need to learn online resources, so when people come asking about the web, we can be ready with a good anser, resources to point them to, etc.
trafficland.com – cams of traffic in DC and NYC
in2tv from AOL – free old TV shows. This is cool…
publicradiofan.com – what’s coming up on public radio – even opens up the live stream.
search engine ordering – a firefox plugin – will it work with an opac? Hmm…
newspaperarchive – free pdf of newspapers
zohowriter – wame as writely – a web-based Word-like application
SECform4.com – free SEC alert service
exalead has proximity searching – 16 words in either direction
rollyo runs on top of the yahoo database, does customized searches
online books page – lots of onlien books, with rss
topix.net – still useful. prebuilt pages for companies and zip codes.
Diplomacy Monitor – primary documents and press releases from world governments
wikiwax, answers.com – word mapping
Gooba – upload and host video content
CIL2006
by David Lee King on March 25, 2006
Lee Rainie spoke about younger people… here’s what he had to say:
Younger users: they made a recent TIme Magazine cover – “Are Kids too Wired for their Own Good?”
8 Realities of Millenials:
- Distinct age cohort: they are not like gen x or baby boomers. They will be a larger generation than the baby boomer generation, and will be more ethnically diverse. They are the generation of No CHild Left Behind, play days, metal detectors at schools, filters, and bike helmets.They are team-oriented and conventional. They are very tech-embracing.
- Immersed in the reality of gadgets. They favor the gadget of the moment – if they have a cell phone with them, then that’s the gadget they want information to be delivered on. If they’re at home, then their computer works just fine. If they want to immerse themselves in a subject, then books are great.
- Mobile. Lee talked alot about smart mobs, texting, and cell phone use. Media – tivo and ipods. schedules are no longer being formed around a media event (like for a TV show).
- Internet plays a special role in their world. 33% of online teens share their creations online! 22% have their own webpage, 19% have a blog. 19% remix content into their own creations.
- Multi-taskers. continuous partial attention. Librarians are “information support” – only useful when needed.
- Unaware of consequences related to technology. The whole download/copyright/personal privacy thing. [me here - no duh! they're still kids. I think this will change as this generation matures]
- Their tech world will change radically in the next decade. [me here: listen up - ours will, too!]. We’re in the middle of a J cuve (which is much steeper than an S curve). Computing power doubles every 18 months; communication power doubles every 9 months; storage doubles every 12 months. RFID stuff, the Long Tail.
- The way they approach learning and research will be shaped by their new tech world.
Lee siad the new world is “complcated, scary, and exciting.”
CIL2006
by David Lee King on March 25, 2006
Why is Open Source Software so important?
- libraries believe information should be freely accessible
- preservation relies on open standards
- privacy is important… to libraries and patrons [me - so how is open source software better? I don't see how open source software can keep my info private better than, say Microsoft...]
- libraries should lend open source software to patrons, via CD [me - that's be a bother... but you could sell/give away CDs to patrons. I think that'd be better than doing the whole loan thing with CDs]
- should be open source software providers
Digital collections:
- greenstone.org – cincinnatimemory.org uses it)
- it has plugins for pdf, word, excel, powerpoint, html, email, images, mp3, etc.
- it has a GUI for the back end (ie., input)
- it can publish collections to CD/DVD – nice
ILS:
- koha – www.athenscounty.lib.oh..us/koha.html as example
- Evergreen, Avanti are similar projects
- open-ils.org
Web content/filtering/caching
- DansGuardian – dansguardian.org – keyword-based
- SquidGuard – squidguard.org – url-based
- Hmm…
- meadvillelibrary.org/os/ as example
Wifi/Hotspot:
- PublicIP – publicip.net
- DansGuardian is built-in!
Thin Clients:
- itsp.org – uses old PCs as thin clients
- one main PC to support
- Userful Discovery Station: userful.com/products/library-ds
- 10 users on a single PC – 10 monitors, keyboards, mice… and one PC. Wow.
Other resources: oss4lib.org, webjunction (has a list)
cil2006
by David Lee King on March 24, 2006
In my continued experiment with the Treo’s video capabilities, I created a video of my morning walk to the conference. Hope you enjoy it!
I’m deciding that Treo video works great to capture snippets of video, useful for things like video blogs (ie., throwaway video content like what I’ve been making). And it’s useful to quickly capture a thought, an action, etc.
But is it useful for a library? That depends. What is it you plan to do with the video? If you’re planning on using the Treo to film your online bibliographic instruction class, I’d say you’re nuts! You probbaly need better-quality video for that (or even screencasting software like Camptasia, depending on what it is your’e doing).
But how about for teens capturing a library event? Or librarians doing something a little more informal? Then yes, mobile video works well for that.
More later…
cil2006, videoblog, vlog
by David Lee King on March 23, 2006
How to Create a Tech-savvy Staff, Travis Bussler
Why does IT need a tech-savvy library staff? Makes everyone’s jobs easier and provides better customer service to patrons.
Assessments, training and documentation – what we need to do
Assessments: all staff members need to assess where they are when it comes to technology
what to assess: everything… including USB drives – what are they, how do they work, etc.
Training: in-house, workshops, cd-rom, online, university, books
What to train on? Everything that is relevant
Tips:
- make training mandatory
- short sessions
- organize staff into groups of similar skill levels
- stay focused
- make the training as interactive as possible
- go slowly and give plenty of practice time
- repetition
- offer CEUs
- offer the training to other libraries or organizations
- let staff share experiences with each other
- use a variety of trainers and techniques
- let staff members bring drinks (non-alcoholic of course)
Documentation:
document everything – instructions, FAQs, cheat sheets, etc.
Tips:
- keep it simple
- use lots of pictures
- have both print and electronic
CIL2006
by David Lee King on March 23, 2006
Technology Training for Library Customers, by Janie Hassard Hermann – www.princetonlibrary.org (note to self – look at their website. It looks cool!)
Library customers are becoming more proficient with technology.
Tech training expectation are rising.
We need to evolve…
Looking forward:
- classes that focus on digital cameras, MP3 players, etc
- instruction on eAudiobooks and legal downloading
- RSS, blogging, wikis, etc
- lectures and demos that help community stay current with technology and related issues
- individualized instruction – open, “tech time” sessions
10 steps to creating a tech-savvy technology training program:
- Step 1: implement monthly programs that appeal to advanced users (tech talks) ALso “Databytes” – they look at one database a month – captured the same audience that went to the tech talks
- Step 2: build a mailing list – gather email at every session
- Step 3: Make a Training Plan – as comprehensive as possible, especially if you go for funding/grants
- Step 4: write lesson plans
- Step 5: train staff or volunteers. Gives you a dry run for patrons, also trains staff.
- Step 6: decide registration procedures. If you restrict to card holders, have a set of courses, etc.
- Step 7: acquire equipment & software (if you don’t already have them). Think digital cameras, iPods, etc. – whatever it is you’re training with!
- Step 8: Promote, Promote, Promote! press releases, traditional library promotion, network with computer clubs, email lists, etc.
- Step 9: Feedback and evaluation
- Step 10: update frequently
What’s hot – photoshop bootcamp, digital cameras, etc.
CIL2006
by David Lee King on March 23, 2006
Structured Data, Web 2.0, Libraries
Web 2.0:
- Flat applications – lightweight service composition and web services… info can be “stitched” into other environments . It’s the “flattening” of the web (mashups)
- Rich interaction – ajax
- Data is the new functionality – make data work harder.
- participation – social networking growth
Showed Audience Level – uses type-of-library holdings data in WorldCat to calculate audience levels for books represented in WorldCat. It gives a suggestion as to what type of book it is.
Greasemonkey – works with Audience Level and imbeds the info in an Amazon page – pretty cool. It’s a form of mashup – taking info from WorldCat and displaying it in Amazon.
Ajax:
- LiveSearch
- quick searches target with each additional keystroke of search term/phrase
- retrieves ordered, FRBR_inspired results
- Narrow by dewey attributes
- shows popularity
- It also hooks up with a variety of dewey and LC subject headings
FictionFinder (screenshots of a new OCLC service):
- Pulls from WorldCat database
- Ordered by holdings – it’s pushing the most widely-held material to the top – sort of a popularity rating
- they aggregate all the details from everyone’s catalogs… so the record for the item is rich info
- It will tell you all the different versions – large print, ebooks, comic books, normal, everyday books, etc
- narrow by language
- pulls out related works
CIL2006, web2.0, library2.0
by David Lee King on March 23, 2006
Here’s my little video snippet of Day One at Computers in Libraries 2006. It was a good first day, as you can see in all the blog posts about it! Make sure to go and read about it.
This video includes (not neccesarily in this order):
- The registration booth
- My session
- lunch with some cool bloggers
- the federated search session in the big room
- milling about before the dead technology session in the evening
BY the way – I actually have a purpose or two with these videos. I of course am playing, first and foremost, with my Treo (translation – testing out videocasting using mobile technology for possible future projects). But also – I hope these videos give you, dear reader, some idea of what the Computers in Libraries conference is all about.
cil2006, videoblog, vlog
by David Lee King on March 23, 2006
This is a video of my hotel that you might have read about in this post.
Friendly people, but sort of a dive…
Just sayin’.
CIL2006, vlog, videoblog
