I’m here at the NELINET Bibliographic Services Conference at the College of the Holy Cross today.

The conference is titled “Google vs. the OPAC: the challenge is on!” and there’s quite a lineup of speakers.

My presentation is on “the social life of metadata.” My slides are online, and below is some background.

The Library Catalog…
The catalog is among a library’s most important assets. An unread book offers little value, but the catalog offers the promise that the library’s resources will be found and used, and a well constructed catalog makes the finding easier by offering rich details and easy navigation.

…vs. The Google Economy
One of the most critical differences between the search behavior of librarians search and that of a typical patron is the conscious decisions librarians make to define the question and identify specific resources to search. Many patrons, however, pose their question in simple terms to the nearest search engine, and refine it over successive searches until an answer is found.

Patrons are increasingly unlikely to consider questions of where or what resources to search prior to executing their first search attempt.

The Systems We Build Shape The Search Results We Get
We must remember that search results reflect the resources and metadata indexed by the search engine. Search engines offer us the opportunity for libraries to deliver quality information to patrons who need it, but who have not yet thought to search library systems specifically.

So, in addition to outstanding ease of use and quality search features, a well constructed catalog must optimize the linkability and indexability or our data.

Findability Is Paramount
“What we find changes who we become.” So reads the subtitle to Peter Morville’s Ambient Findability.

The internet and search engines offer our patrons access to more information sources than ever, making our role in the findability equation ever more important. The challenge is to take advantage of how search engines work, to manage the tools that manage our information.

tags: library catalogs, bibliographic services, bibliographic services conference, google, google vs. the opac, libraries, library, library catalog, nelinet, nelinet bibliographic services conference, opac, opacs, social life of metadata, the social life of metadata, worcester, worcester ma

Posted November 18, 2005 by Casey Bisson
Categories: Libraries & Networked Information. Tags: bibliographic services, bibliographic services conference, google, google vs. the opac, libraries, library, library catalog, library catalogs, nelinet, nelinet bibliographic services conference, opac, opacs, social life of metadata, the social life of metadata, worcester, worcester ma.

3 Comments

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Leave a comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

 

User contributed tags for this post:

google erthe (582) - xl girls com (125) - googleerthe (74) - xl girls.com (57) - googel erthe (55) - googıe (53) - www.google erthe.com (50) - WWW.ERTHE.COM (47) - googl erthe (46) - goole erthe (44) - www.googleerthe.com (44) - gogle erthe (43) - erthe google (40) - www erthe com (36) - WWW GOOGLE ERTHE COM (33) - google erthe com (31) - nelinet (30) - conference (30) - erthe com (26) - googelerthe (23) - www googleerthe (22) - ERTHE (19) - www.googleerthe (18) - xl g rls com (18) - googie erthe (18) - erthe map (16) - www.xl girls.com (16) - videosex com (15) - googl (14) - gogle (13) - nelinet bibliographic conference (12) - videosex.com (12) - 10yo naked (11) - google erthe.com (10) - bibliographic services (9) - www.google-erthe (9) - www.google erthe.fr (9) - www.koreasex.com (8) - Google Videosex (8) - videosex (8) - WWW GOOGLE ERTHE (7) - www.googıe (7) - Googleerthe FR (6) - GOOGIE.GR (6) - WWW.GOOGEL ERTHE.COM (6) - search engines opac libraries google (6) - all (6) - www.xl sex.com (6) - www.googie.gr/ (6) - googel erthe com (6) - goole erthe com (6) - Googel Videosex (6) - erthe gogle (5) - nelinet challenge (5) - google erthe satellite (5) - gogle erthe com (5) - xl girl (5) - google vs opac (5) - www xl girls com (5) - sex xl girls com (5) - WWW.GOOGIE.SEX (5) - erthe googl (5) - www.googl erthe.com (4) - erthe maps (4) - WWW.GOOGIE.GR (4) - www.google.erthe (4) - googel rthe (4) - xlgirls (4) - google map erthe (4) - india videosex.com (4) - xl.girls and six.com (4) - morville (4) - www.xl.sex (4) - googleerthe.com (4) - www.xl-girls.com (4) - bibliographical services (4) - googlerthe (4) - http://www google fr/ (4) - google and opac (4) - http://www google com/ (4) - http://www google erthe com/ (4) - XL.GIRLS.COM (4) - xl girls com movies (4) - googıe com tr (3) - www.googleerthe.com download (3) - goole videosex com (3) - OPAC 2 0 and holy cross (3) - typical patron is the conscious decisions librarians ma (3) - nelinet opac (3) - googel (3) - see the erthe.com. (3) - XL-Girls.com (3) - xl girls (3) - googel video (3) - google (3) - erthe googel (3) - x videosex.com (3) - NELINET Bibliographic Services Conference 2006 (3) - www.google erthe (3) - library OPAC (3) - amreka sex (2) - 10yo nude (2) - www.XL girls (2) - HOME GOOGLE ERTHE (2) - google videosex.xl.com (2) - xxxltv.com (2) - google erthe 2007 (2) - naked 10yo (2) - gogle videosex (2) - google erthe online (2) - www XL GIRLS.COM (2) - googel-erthe (2) - bibliographic catalogue conference (2) - google vs opac holy cross (2) - catalogues online (2) - goole rthe (2) - www.googel amreka sex (2) - opac versus search engine (2) - www.googel .girl with coss (2) - site http maisonbisson com blog post 10966 googIe (2) - www.xl-sex (2) - paste erthe (2) - www .googie .gr (2) - www,googıe (2) - nelinet november 2006 (2) - googie erthe com (2) - www google/erthe com (2) - erthe.com (2) - www. googel.erthe (2) - google rthe com (2) - Google vs opacs (2) - define bibliographic services (2) - librarians search patrons find (2) - opac 2 0 holy cross (2) - google vs the opac the challenge is on (2) - conference hack (2) - www.earth googie.gr (2) - nelinet services (2) - ? www.google erthe.com (2) - www,googie.gr (2) - maps erthe (2) - 2924154258745 (2) - nelinet bibliographic conference 2005 (2) - map erthe (2) - the future of the ILS (2) - opac metadata (2) - top vedio library (2) - googie .gr (2) - erthe home satelite (2) - ERTHE TO SATELLITE (2) -