iBeth: Library Daydreams . . . .

After a committee meeting, I got to talking with one of our university librarians about internet features I'd love to see us get.*

We're already able to use an interlibrary loan system that allows us to track where our requests are in the process. And now, even if we accidentally request a document owned by the library, the ILL folks will deliver it to us. (Now that our periodicals collection has been heavily supplemented by various online databases, it can be tricky to figure out what we do and don't have access to.) The ILL software also tracks previous requests, so that if we need to we can easily request the documents again. Apparently, patrons will frequently ask ILL staff to help them remember previously requested documents, though I've never thought to do that.

Purchase of this software was at least partly inspired by some benchmarking the university recently completed; it was determined that dissertations at our university weren't as extensively cited as dissertations at peer universities. The library views this finding as evidence that they need to make it easier for patrons to locate information. I personally see it as evidence that faculty need to do a better job of teaching grad students to do library research, but I'm grateful that our library always seeks to improve.** And interested to hear that the benchmarking study was done.

Our local public library catalog will track patrons' reading history, but we have the option to turn off the tracking if it makes us nervous (post-Patriot Act) for that info to be available. Unfortunately, the new ILL software doesn't provide that option . . . though the university library has requested it . . . but apparently, even disabling the tracking would provide little protection from federal investigators. My friend said that a library in New York installed software that wiped computer-use records clean after every patron, and the Justice Department made them secretly uninstall that software as part of its effort to catch a bad guy. (Maybe you librarians out there know more about this?)

Anyway, what I've been daydreaming about is the ability to export a list of books I've checked out so that it could be put on my university website and automatically be updated--sort of like Bloglines maintains my blogroll. A "currently reading" list on my university website would help communicate my current research interests. I guess I can do this via allconsuming.net (still need to check out that site, recommended by Mel earlier), but it would be neat to do it through my own library. (Jenny at The Shifted Librarian has a lot to say about this.)

(It just occurred to me that one of the citation management software packages offered by our library might offer that feature. I'll have to investigate. We have EndNote, ProCite, RefManager and RefWorks--if you're "in the know" about whether these packages offer feeds, please tell me.)

Also, I would like our university library to offer Jon Udell's Library Lookup bookmarklet. Our university catalog is home-grown and I haven't been able to figure out how to make a bookmarklet work . . . but I'm sure one of the library techies could figure it out and put it on their homepage. In 2006, we're supposed to be getting new catalog software from a recognized vendor, so perhaps if we can't get the bookmarklet now, I'll be able to figure out how to set one up then. What would really be great is if we would get the bookmarklet along with a delivery service, where books we ordered could be checked out to us and delivered to our offices with just an extra mouseclick or two! Except that I'd miss going to the library, looking at the changing art exhibits, and chitchatting with my librarian pals.

Also, (and this might actually be possible soon, if it isn't already possible) I would LOVE to be able to provide deep links to the library catalog, allowing those who see my "currently reading" list to learn more about each book. I can do something similar through Amazon, of course, but I'd rather not advertise a for-profit business on my university website. Plus, the deep links would be handy for course websites, too (e.g., for listing what I've put on reserve for a class). (Yes, students can get that from the catalog, but it would be handier to deep link.)

The librarian didn't seem terribly enthusiastic about these ideas. Apparently, she doesn't blog, heh heh. Seriously, her lack of enthusiasm stemmed from her abiding concern for patron privacy.

It's so sad that a library has to be more worried about protecting information than sharing information. I am grateful that my library is attending to the issue, I just think it's sad. Times are a'changin' for libraries, and not all the changes are good. (Many are, of course.)

*We have an absolutely fabulous university library, and what makes it great are the terrific, knowledgeable, dedicated librarians. They keep up with the latest developments and are always looking for ways to improve services. Because our librarians are so wonderful, I like this library more than any other research library I've ever used, and I've been privileged to use some huge, prestigious libraries.

**By the way, I highly recommend Thomas Mann's Library Research Models to anyone who does lots of library-based research. It's not an explanation of what's in a library, it's an explanation of how to optimize your theoretical orientation to and consequent use of a library.

Comments

I'm glad to see this list! As a newbie student in a program that incorporates library science among other things, I'm being fed a lot of material about (a) the traditional library way of doing things, (b) the groovy post-library Interweb world in which metadata will wash our cars and fix our morning coffee, and (c) the impending death of libraries and indeed civilization as Google, blogs and IMing suck the grey matter out of our skulls. There's not enough about practical improvements to be made to the real-world hybrid libraries we use in 2005.

Regarding libraries being forced to silently share patron data under the Patriot Act: I heard a possibly already over-blogged, possibly apocryphal story about a library somewhere which had a sign posted to the effect of, "The FBI hs not been by to examine our patron records today. (Watch for the removal of this sign.)"

Posted by: Prentiss Riddle | February 08, 2005 at 10:10 PM

There's a new add-on to RefWorks called RefShare which will accomplish pretty much what you're asking for (it's still in beta). In RefWorks, you can open up folders to other RefWorks users (one at a time), but RefShare allows you to publish public booklists. Depending how your institution set it up, "public" could be campus-wide access or access for all Internet users. If your institution has a link resolver set up, you can do deep linking using OpenURLs.

http://www.refworks.com/refworks/help/RefShare.htm

Posted by: Geoff Sinclair | February 10, 2005 at 09:44 AM