Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Answer Boards
I don't really see the point of "slamming the boards". It's another case of librarians trying to justify their existence and obtain some social kudos. I think it would be better to gain recognition for doing your job well.
And unfortunately in my limited experience librarians aren't particular good at answering questions. And they don't do much of it, frankly. The "reference question" is almost a mythical beast of library legend. OK, you might get a genuine reference question once every blue moon, but you're more likely to be asked if your library has a copy of The Kiterunner. If it's anything more complicated the experienced librarians that I have observed rank below an educated library users. (Partly because they're not very sophisticated library users themselves.)
In terms of practical use of something like answer boards for local libraries, I can see the value of having an "ask a librarian" service on your website. General use answer boards would only be useful for "local studies" type enquiries - otherwise the enquirer is better off going to Yahoo etc, aren't they?
And unfortunately in my limited experience librarians aren't particular good at answering questions. And they don't do much of it, frankly. The "reference question" is almost a mythical beast of library legend. OK, you might get a genuine reference question once every blue moon, but you're more likely to be asked if your library has a copy of The Kiterunner. If it's anything more complicated the experienced librarians that I have observed rank below an educated library users. (Partly because they're not very sophisticated library users themselves.)
In terms of practical use of something like answer boards for local libraries, I can see the value of having an "ask a librarian" service on your website. General use answer boards would only be useful for "local studies" type enquiries - otherwise the enquirer is better off going to Yahoo etc, aren't they?
Librarything
I've catalogued some books using Librarything. I'm not sure what practical use this would have for a personal collection but I can see the social networking potential.
Tags raise the old issue of a natural v.s controlled language. I've never thought the LC Subject Headings were particularly good - and I don't see the logic of effectively double-cataloguing using LC and Dewey. I think the benefits of a controlled language are lessened in an electronic environment. Google doesn't use one, for instance. In practice the terminology of the LC Headings is oldfashioned, American, or just perverse (an example I came across yesterday: "Cardsharping" - who uses that term these days?). Since you can now do a keyword search, I would be happier if books were catalogued with a number of keywords. Yes, you would have a problem of idiosyncracy (which LC has anyway!), but you could devise protocols to get round this. At least then you would have keywords that your patrons were likely to use... There's not much point having a controlled language when this is incomprehensible to users!
But then a basic problem here is the unintelligent and unimaginative way library cataloguing is done. I'd prefer if libraries actually took a hard look at what they're doing rather than chasing the next big thing through cyberspace.
Tags raise the old issue of a natural v.s controlled language. I've never thought the LC Subject Headings were particularly good - and I don't see the logic of effectively double-cataloguing using LC and Dewey. I think the benefits of a controlled language are lessened in an electronic environment. Google doesn't use one, for instance. In practice the terminology of the LC Headings is oldfashioned, American, or just perverse (an example I came across yesterday: "Cardsharping" - who uses that term these days?). Since you can now do a keyword search, I would be happier if books were catalogued with a number of keywords. Yes, you would have a problem of idiosyncracy (which LC has anyway!), but you could devise protocols to get round this. At least then you would have keywords that your patrons were likely to use... There's not much point having a controlled language when this is incomprehensible to users!
But then a basic problem here is the unintelligent and unimaginative way library cataloguing is done. I'd prefer if libraries actually took a hard look at what they're doing rather than chasing the next big thing through cyberspace.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Del.icio.us
I have created a del.icio.us account at http://del.icio.us/Effarig. I haven't added much to it yet. I wouldn't use this personally. I don't even use Internet Explorer Favourites very often. I tend to just remember the few sites I visit regularly. I can see how a library could use this as an easy way to organise recommended weblinks. I wonder how many people use the Sutherland Library site...
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Devil's Advocate Questions
Just for the sake of the argument, I would like to pose the following questions:
1. How many people have a library's website as their homepage?
2. Why would anyone look at blogs etc provided by their local library when they could just as easily read material from the other side of the world???
3. Isn't the over-enthusiastic assertion of relevance a sure sign that local libraries aren't relevant in cyberspace???
1. How many people have a library's website as their homepage?
2. Why would anyone look at blogs etc provided by their local library when they could just as easily read material from the other side of the world???
3. Isn't the over-enthusiastic assertion of relevance a sure sign that local libraries aren't relevant in cyberspace???
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