Recently in Catalogs Category
As is often the case, librarians rush in where the less organized fear to tread. At a recent LITA Camp event, a bright librarian pointed out a method for preserving event-based Twitter posts. Apparently this inspired a small handful of clever librarians with a cataloging bent. What is happening to the historical record as created by millions of tweets?
No need to fear, the librarians are here. In an effort supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the American Library Association, generous funding will ensure that catalog records are created for historically, culturally, and particularly poignant Twitter posts.
But not everyone is excited about the idea. With the new RDA standard nearly complete and ready for release, some are wondering if changes to the standard will accomadate something like a Tweet. Others have more practical concerns. How will various cataloging clients accomodate this effort? Or is the MARC record even appropriate, i.e., using an average of 400 characters to describe content of less than 140 characters.
000 -- 00668nam 22002057a 4500001 -- 0197384222005 -- 20100308083502.0008 -- 100308s2010 xxu f000 0 eng d040 -- $aMvI$cMvI049 -- $aNRC074 -- $a0830-I086 0- $aNAS 1.21:2009-3405245 00 $aToday's space shuttle mission status briefing will air live on NASA TV at 12:30pm ET.260 -- $a[S.l :$bs.n.,$c2010]500 -- $aRetweet by spacejunky124710 1- $aUnited States.$bNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.856 4- $uhttp://twitter.com/nasa
Several systems librarians consulted said it would be trivial to convert a Tweet to the metadata meant to represent it, desptite the irony that the resulting record might be 3-4 times the size of the original Twitter update. "I'm not sure this is going to be the move to put systems librarians on the map," commented OCLC's Roy Tennant. "But whatever," Tennant added, "I'll have a conversion script up and open sourced by the end of the day."
Without a doubt, the most difficult part of this entire effort will be separating the wheat from the chaff. The temporal and social network connectivity required to maintain the proper context (Twitext) will require Twitter Catalogers to maintain a vast network, literally following every Twitter user out there. Moreover, discerning historical or cultural significance in less than 140 characters will require more judgment than determining proper punctuation placement or parenthetical qualifiers in subject headings.
One thing's for sure. No one else would ever attempt such an endeavor.
Sorry for the long gap between cows...I had some technical difficulties that were making it hard for me to blog. On with it...
I've been thinking about one of the most bloated sacred cows in library management systems. No, not the MARC record--I'll leave that one to others. I'm talking about Circulation Rules. It's become almost cliche to compare what we do in libraries (and this accusation is pointed primarily at academic libraries) to a typical commercial customer service.
Picture me at the Blockbuster checkout desk.
Me: Hi, I'm visiting here for the next six months and was wondering if I could check out your movies.
BB: Um. Can you verify your residency to prove that I should trust you?
Me: Yes. Here is a signed affidavit from the CEO of my company who moved me here. He can vouch for my credibility.
BB: Yeah, okay. I can make you a "visiting resident with special privileges." You'll get movies for 3 days fewer than other "regular" customers. Oh, and you can't check out new releases or games. I'll need your Social Security number and a permanent billing address just in case we need to bill you.
Me: Is there any way I can get regular privileges?
BB: Um, well....no.
Me: How many other users have this kind of borrowing privilege.
BB: You're the only one. We add profiles for people like you one at a time.
Who are we helping by ensuring that the professor emeritus in veterinary medicine gets bound periodicals for 3 days more than a full professor? I'm starting to find Amazon's delivery options confusing and there are only 3 or 4 of them? Why must we complicate something that could be so simple? Without disparaging the gargantuan effort that was the Evergreen ILS development in Georgia, the real victory, I think, was the creation universal borrowing rules.
Take a hard look at those systems, folks. Are all those item types really helping? Are all those patron categories useful beyond reporting usage statistics that rarely lead to any business intelligence decisions? Is it time to simplify?
I've been thinking about one of the most bloated sacred cows in library management systems. No, not the MARC record--I'll leave that one to others. I'm talking about Circulation Rules. It's become almost cliche to compare what we do in libraries (and this accusation is pointed primarily at academic libraries) to a typical commercial customer service.
Picture me at the Blockbuster checkout desk.
Me: Hi, I'm visiting here for the next six months and was wondering if I could check out your movies.
BB: Um. Can you verify your residency to prove that I should trust you?
Me: Yes. Here is a signed affidavit from the CEO of my company who moved me here. He can vouch for my credibility.
BB: Yeah, okay. I can make you a "visiting resident with special privileges." You'll get movies for 3 days fewer than other "regular" customers. Oh, and you can't check out new releases or games. I'll need your Social Security number and a permanent billing address just in case we need to bill you.
Me: Is there any way I can get regular privileges?
BB: Um, well....no.
Me: How many other users have this kind of borrowing privilege.
BB: You're the only one. We add profiles for people like you one at a time.
Who are we helping by ensuring that the professor emeritus in veterinary medicine gets bound periodicals for 3 days more than a full professor? I'm starting to find Amazon's delivery options confusing and there are only 3 or 4 of them? Why must we complicate something that could be so simple? Without disparaging the gargantuan effort that was the Evergreen ILS development in Georgia, the real victory, I think, was the creation universal borrowing rules.
Take a hard look at those systems, folks. Are all those item types really helping? Are all those patron categories useful beyond reporting usage statistics that rarely lead to any business intelligence decisions? Is it time to simplify?
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