LIBRARY RESPONSE TO THE INTERNET

Often, library articles discuss the impact of Google and new web applications in the context of:

• libraries not being on the bandwagon of technological innovation;

• the growing number of users who bypass libraries and do not understand their unique resources;

• strategies for libraries to position themselves against the likes of Google and Amazon.com;

(Gandel; Stephens; Koltzenburg, “It’s Good”)

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm05610.pdf

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/blog_detail.php?blog_id=95

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/blog_detail.php?blog_id=93

http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Development of innovative services, such as RSS feeds, virtual galleries, database tutorials, gaming techniques to help teach children, online reference, and more, to make libraries competitive in today’s electronic environment (Neblett, Shivers, Thingvall and Tsui; Koltzenburg, “The Year of RSS”; Stephens).

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6277393.html

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/blog_detail.php?blog_id=93

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/blog_detail.php?blog_id=95

Innovative projects designed to bring library searching into the age of Google and Amazon.com include:

• Library Thing: http://www.librarything.com/index.php

• Talis’ Whisper: http://research.talis.com/2005/whisper/

• Stanford University’s Highwire Press: http://highwire.stanford.edu/

• OCLC’s DeweyBrowswer: http://deweyresearch.oclc.org/ddcbrowser/wcat, Open WorldCat: http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/open/tryit/default.htm, and FictionFinder: http://fictionfinder.oclc.org/WebZ/Authorize?sessionid=0

• Research Libraries Group RedLightGreen: http://redlightgreen.com/)

• the work of individual librarians and institutions, e.g. Casey Bisson’s XML OPAC prototype: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maisonbisson/64228414/

There is a growing discussion of the Web 2.0 concepts and a growing movement within library technology communities to create a “Library 2.0” response incorporating the Web 2.0 concepts. According to Farkas, Library 2.0 incorporates applications that allow the library to be “more present in the community through programming, community building (both online and physical), and outreach via technology (IM, screencasting, blogs, wikis, etc.)” and make the library more “human, ubiquitous, and user-centered.” (Stephens; Miller; Boog; Chad and Miller; Farkas, Information Wants to Be Free; Casey; Stephens and Casey).

Click here -- Library Issues and Trends-Meredith Farkas -- to read Farkas' comments verbatim.

http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/blog_detail.php?blog_id=95

http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue45/miller/

http://www.publish.com/article2/0,1895,1881893,00.asp

http://www.talis.com/downloads/white_papers/DoLibrariesMatter.pdf

http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/index.php

http://www.librarycrunch.com/

The Library of Congress is entering the book digitalization arena, thanks to an initial $3 million donation from Google to begin the World Digital Library project (“Library of Congress”).

http://www.ala.org/al_online

Small, but vocal, librarian groups are discussing how XML, visual clustering, user tagging, gaming, and the drive to make catalogs more user friendly are being used and need to be incorporated into library services.

Technology-related blogs include:

• ALA Techsource: http://www.techsource.ala.org/blog/

• LibDev: http://libdev.plymouth.edu/

• LJ Tech Blog: http://www.libraryjournal.com/blog/670000067.html?nid=2700

• Information Wants to be Free: http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/index.php

• Tame the Web: Libraries & Technology: http://www.tametheweb.com/ttwblog/

• LibraryCrunch: http://www.librarycrunch.com/

• The Shifted Librarian: http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/

• Game on: Gaming in Libraries: http://libgaming.blogspot.com/

Increasing need for librarians to have degrees or advanced background in digital media, content management, knowledge management, programming and web development, in addition to or in lieu of MLS (Neblett, Shivers, Thingvall and Tsui; Blumenstein; Ludgwig and Starr).

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6277393.html

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6256260.html

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=117579

OCLC is developing easier-to-search, interactive OPACs that look more like Amazon.com. Projects underway include a Dewey Decimal Browser, which provides search results visually; live searching that displays results virtually as fast users type in terms; and multiple interfaces for search results (Hickey).

Libraries are “morphing” their physical spaces into collaborative work areas, IT labs, and wireless access stations, and focusing on bring digital content to the users (Outsell).

http://www.outsellinc.com/subscribe/FutureFactsIndustryOutlook.htm

Library Management Systems are being designed to include features like customizable user portals tailored to areas of interest, and federated access (metasearching) to full-text holdings of disparate, licensed databases via the Open URL protocol, so library searching can more closely resemble Internet searching and give users direct access to digital, full-text objects (Sherwell).

http://www.researchinformation.info/special2005libraries.html

More library catalogs based on IFLA's Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records’ (FRBR) will allow all versions of a work to be found easily in one search, making OPACs more useful to users (Hickey; Minmo, Crane, and Jones).

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/october05/crane/10crane.html

Privacy issues related to tracking patrons’ computer use continue to be an issue, due to the Patriot Act requirements as well as new services that recommend books and resources based on user preferences (Cowan). The Federal Government must juggle its need to provide information and guarantee civil liberties with the need to maintain national security (Center for Information Policy).

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/20/weekinreview/20cowan.html

http://www.cip.umd.edu

Although chat-based reference is an expensive proposition with historically low usage, according Coffman and Arret, it is becoming a successful tool for statewide library consortia and a powerful way to communicate with new generations of patrons (Bailey-Hainer).

http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jul04/arret_coffman.shtml

http://libraryjournal.com/article/CA491140.html

Reference is undergoing a transition to digital. Print reference sources are being replaced with digital versions, which often cost more and do not confer ownership, causing budgetary strain and long-term access issues. Patrons in public and academic libraries demonstrate a strong preference for e-reference materials, although some senior patrons still prefer print versions (Roncevic).

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6284316.html

The continuing need for full, descriptive MARC cataloging based on AACR rules is in question, as the library world decides how to incorporate its traditional cataloging framework with the proliferating resources users are accessing on the Internet (Marcum).

http://www.loc.gov/library/reports/CatalogingSpeech.pdf

Open access increases readership, underscoring the general move away from paid resources to Internet searching for free resources, and a shift in the “crisis in scholarly communications,” (Plutchak).

http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1250314

The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), designed to allow access to metadata from variegated e-print archives, libraries, archives and museums -- often using unqualified Dublin Core metadata -- is creating an access mechanism to the growing body of repositories:

• OAIster: http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu/o/oaister/

• My Library @ OCKHAM: http://mylibrary.ockham.org/

• Experimental OAI Registry: http://gita.grainger.uiuc.edu/registry/

• OCLC OAI Viewer: http://errol.oclc.org/

Although technical and communications hurdles exist, future OAI development will allow federated searching and harvesting of a growing number of disparate repositories, whose holdings and records are not found on the Web (Shreeves, Habing, Hagedorn, and Young; LibDev; Hagerdorn).

http://libdev.plymouth.edu/

http://www.researchinformation.info/rimarapr05oaister.html

Librarians at corporate and other special libraries are playing a growing role in designing, helping implement, and managing content management systems and will need to become knowledge managers (Blumenstein; Ludwig and Starr).

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1175798

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6256260.html

Health sciences libraries are creating more online collections at the expense of print, changing the role of libraries to become more community oriented, and developing more web-based resources and services (Kronenfeld; Ludwig and Starr).

http://nnlm.gov/psr/lat/v13n1/trends.html

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1175798

The disappearance of small medical libraries due to deprofessionalization, budget constraints, poor outreach/communications, and the impact of the Internet (Banick; “RX for Medical Libraries”).

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6282616.html

http://kraftylibrarian.blogspot.com/

The decline and eventual disappearance of Federal Depository Library Program in its current form as government printing is phased out and replaced with digitally born documents. Possible re-emergence of the program on a much wider scale if more libraries become knowledgeable about and willing to house digital collections of government documents (Seavey); or, in another scenario, digitally born government information under the new GPO model bypasses the FDLP and may not be made freely available to the public (Jacobs, Jacobs, and Yeo).