Library as Community: reviews, ratings, feeds and the future
Dinah Sanders,Product Manager
The Physical Library
Library as collection
Shared materials for a community
Shared physical space for using the collection, sometimes including a space for lectures, classes, meetings
Shared quiet space for contemplation
Library as content provider
Knowledge management for a community
Known location for lectures & classes
SDI (strategic dissemination of information) and other outreach efforts
The Digital Library
The Library Online
Collection represented descriptively in the catalog
Sometimes enhanced with guides to study or resource use
Occasionally hosting special displays of seasonal or otherwise topical art or info
Enhanced content by subscription
Book jackets Tables of contents Professional reviews …
Vendors like Syndetics and Baker & Taylor Content Cafe
Electronic Resources
Journal and other indexes
Online requesting of Inter-Library Loans
Full-text databases
End-to-end fulfillment services online
Feeds
Incoming Local news Information of interest to sub-communities
Outgoing News about the collection News about the library
Web-based subject guides
Easy to make with a combination of incoming feeds pre-configured search links to the catalog pre-configured search links to MetaFind links to external resources tips on using these tools “Get more help from a librarian” contact info or
live chat …
The Virtual Library
Library as meeting place
Communication between members about the shared materials within their community
Online environment offers opportunities for inter-patron communication - normally hard to combine with the goal of providing a quiet space
Participation creates a sense of ownership
Symposia
The Library as home for and expert on an instituition or community’s knowledge.
Locally-produced materials archived and shared in an easily-searched interface for ongoing use.
Direct access for authorized community members to add materials themselves
Accommodates multiple subcommunities with different access permissions
Patron Ratings
Free feature, first available in Release 2005.
Ability for patrons to express their overall opinion about catalog materials
Does not require staff moderation
QuickTime™ and aTIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Community Reviews
New product with Release 2006 (requires WebPAC Pro)
Public component Viewing reviews on record display Writing reviews My Reviews area in patron record display with (library
optional) ability to delete past reviews
Staff component Approving or deleting new reviews Searching existing reviews by record, patron or
review number
Community Reviews
Community Manager - Reviews
Tagging
Added by users (may or may not be moderated)
“Folksonomy”
Emergent classification - very low entry cost
Augments, not replaces, controlled vocabularies Highly responsive to change Supports unlimited paths of access Supports disagreement over “aboutness”
Want to try out tagging?
Flickr.com - photo sharing
Del.icio.us and BlinkList.com - bookmark sharing
Technorati.com - leverages tags in blogs for “live web” searches of the current online conversation
Gmail.com - email with tags instead of folders
LibraryThing.com - catalog your personal library with tags
PennTags - an experiment with data extraction from library catalog
What tagging can do for library interfaces
Enables new finding tools
Bridges between formal and informal vocabularies
Invests community directly in the collection
Millennium Encore
Innovative’s new discovery services platform now in development. Real-time Millennium integration Simultaneous import of Research Pro and WebBridge
search results Faceted results display RightResult relevance ranking Community tagging, ratings, reviews Visual shelf browse Apache-based technology
Questions?
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