Only as good as…

I feel great pressure to improve the quality of my comments, since this is now the blog of a Master, and not just a lowly student. Way to go.

But foregoing quality, I have long liked the idea that a library’s website should essentially be a branch library - meaning that it can serve patrons independently of the main building. By extension, then, it is absolutely necessary to staff this branch appropriately. In many cases, it seems library websites are an afterthought, or are dumped on whoever happens to have the time, the inclination, or the skills (but not necessarily all three), or are contracted out to a third-party developer who creates the website but does not maintain it. It seems that before a library website could ever hope to be and remain useful to patrons, it must be staffed like any other branch.

Also, in regards to tools like RSS, IM, etc.: jumping on the bandwagon and saying a library offers these doesn’t seem inherently useful to me - these technologies are just tools, after all, like “print” or “fax.” A library can say “we’ve got books,” but if all those books are outdated or duplicate copies, they are not a useful tool for patrons. So, rather than libraries just offering more technology tools out of peer pressure, I’d like something along the lines of Tom Boone’s goals, but that would serve as an actual collection development plan that includes not only these tools, but information sources as well.

Because, does just offering IM reference and RSS updates of events make a library website a branch library? These certainly provide for interactivity, but do they provide access to information? Someone could IM the reference desk and ask a question, which the reference librarian could then look up in a book - but that’s not a branch library, that’s a reference service. A “branch library” shouldn’t strive for patron interactivity, but patron independence (libraries should provide access to information, not access to librarians). Which would require all library tools, including the book collection and databases with At-Home access, to be available remotely (and I mean the actual full text, not just our catalog citations). Google Books is going that way, but even that still doesn’t sit well with me (pesky copyright laws).

So before we create a MySpace profile for the library (or Facebook for the academics) because it’s the hip thing to do, we need to figure out what happens next. Would kids actually contact the library through MySpace? And if they did, will we have anything to offer, or will all of our answers be “well, if you come into the library, we have a book

[...] Denver bound (1)Debut (4)Interoperability in Library Systems (1)RSS, Perl, and New Books, OH MY! (4)Only as good as… (3)the key to success (1)They only suck ’cause we let ‘em (4)Something about the springtime (1)Another sad day… (2)Fondest of Farewells (2)Google Nation (1)Adventures in xml (1)Part Three - Buy, Hack, or Build (2)Greek Tragedy (1)the sharp edge of a metaphor (1) [...]

[...] was Dean von Dran who greeted our class when I started at SU. He was full of enthusiasm and play and kindness. I never had occasion [...]