[Publib] Amazon and OPACs

[BookBitch]

The only yelling you'll hear from this corner is cheering!
 
Stacy Alesi
Library Name *Censored*
Boca Raton, Florida
& MLIS student @ University of South Florida
where they don't teach much in the way of technology...



I am the BookBitch 
www.bookbitch.com   



Win free books like SIX SECONDS by Rick Mofina & 9 signed thrillers including JUDAS KISS by J.T. Ellison, BREAKNECK by Erica Spindler, and lots more!
BookBitchBlog: http://bookbitch.blogspot.com
Florida Authors Wiki:http://floridaauthors.wetpaint.com

 


--- On Fri, 1/9/09, Jesse Ephraim <JEphraim at ci.southlake.tx.us> wrote:


From: Jesse Ephraim <JEphraim at ci.southlake.tx.us>
Subject: RE: [Publib] Amazon and OPACs
To: publib at webjunction.org
Date: Friday, January 9, 2009, 5:54 PM


>One of the comments/questions I received was why are we 
>using Amazon - we're librarians, shouldn't we be able to come 
>up with something better ourselves?  She was 100% right, but I
>haven't found anything out there that works as well as the 
>online bookstores yet.  

There are several reasons that library OPACs and other tools are behind
the times.

On the vendor side:

1) Third-party vendors are reliant on profit to stay viable.  They are
dealing with a very limited market, which limits profit, which in turn
limits the number of developers you can have on staff. 

2) Third-party vendors have a captive market - there are only so many
products from which to choose.  As a general rule, the less competition,
the less innovation.  Some vendors are trying hard to be more
innovative, but they are more the exception than the rule.

3) When it comes to OPACs, vendors have to deal with EXTREMELY
antiquated and clunky data formats (like MARC) and protocols (Z39.50).
That doesn't help matters any.

4) Too many libraries simply accept what vendors say and offer (even
when it comes to pricing) without hard negotiation and pressure to
implement needed changes.  

5) Most OPAC and database vendors don't put nearly enough development
effort into their interfaces.  Interfaces are (almost) everything.  


On the library side:

1) For the most part, the library world doesn't come up with
computer-based systems, because we have not yet accepted the fact that
we should be a vital part of the general IT world.  We go to specialist
third party vendors for our OPACs, databases, etc., instead of
developing systems internally.  Many librarians fight hard against the
very real need to have more people in our profession who have real tech
development skills. 

2) The library world is very conservative when it comes to changes to
its way of doing things.  We still cling to MARC, even though it
reflects a 1960s view of data models and computers.  Things have
advanced a lot in the last 50 years, but we keep plodding along, arguing
about how hard it would be to change.  Meaningful change is always hard,
though, be it technological, social, political, or whatever.

3) We're still stuck in an information silo situation.  WE control the
catalog, WE control the way things are organized, etc.  Even public
libraries have an ivory tower mentality.  Amazon, LibraryThing, etc. let
their users generate a lot of the information and linkages between
information.  That's why they are able to offer so much - they were
willing to give up a little control and involve their users in the
process in order to gain insights into the way that people really search
for information online.  The most successful websites are the ones that
let the users generate most of the content for them.

4) We do a good idea of organizing information internally, but we do a
poor job of making information accessible to people without having to
enlist the aid of a librarian.  Amazon, LibraryThing, etc. do a good job
of both organizing information AND making it easy to find on one's own.

5) We aren't nimble, for the most part.  We lock ourselves into
proprietary systems, traditional ways of doing things, internal
processes that are designed with the staff in mind (instead of the needs
of the customer), etc.  We don't take risks and don't innovate well.  We
will never catch up to Amazon (or other tools) until we embrace
innovation and risk.

6) Though we go on and on about being "information professionals" and
"information experts," we are very much behind the times in the broader
sense of those terms.  For example, how many librarians can do complex
SQL searches of databases?  


Okay, y'all can start yelling at me now.  ;)  Remember that my opinions
are my own, and not necessarily that of my employer.  


Jesse Ephraim

Youth Services Librarian
Southlake Public Library
1400 Main St., Ste. 130
Southlake, TX  76092

Email:   jephraim at ci.southlake.tx.us
Phone: (817) 748-8248
FAX:    (817) 748-8250
www.southlakelibrary.org
uncommonly friendly service



_______________________________________________
Publib mailing list
Publib at webjunction.org
http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/publib

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20090110/7068ae2e/attachment.htm