WiLSWorld Conference Notes

2 PointOh My Library Software and Services in a New Era
Andrew Pace, North Carolina State University

Live blogging at WilSWorld Conference at the Pyle Center in Madison
Keynote speaker Andrew Pace
oops - he missed the memo - no Hawaiian shirt (me either)

Library 2.[Gr]0[an]

Doesn't believe in generational divisions
Do good better
Give the people what they want
Be where the user is
Make it more efficient
Rinse and repeat

The worst level of Internet service that users will accept is the best of service that they've ever seen

Watch for the geezer alert (we've been doing it since . . . . )

2.0 affects the whole library
Not just technology
Collections 2.0
Technical Services
Access Services
Library Education

Pace very crow-oriented: distracted by shiny and shinier objects

Maurice Line: Librarianship as it is practiced: a failure of intellect, imagination and initiative.

It's time to get on the bus or get off at the next stop

Collections & Technical Services 2.0
Would take over 1300 LC to create surrogate records at the same rate that Google is digitizing books.

LC still rocks - cited World Digital Library

Rumors of MARC's death exaggerated
Cult of MARC will keep us from moving ahead

Standards are like toothbrushes - everybody says they're necessary, but no one wants to use anyone else's

Pursuit of the perfect record is what's hurting us

Catalog should recognize clusters, show lineage, . . . .

Access Services 2.0

Self check out
Self check in
Compact storage and automatic retrieval (has real financial benefits)

Public Service/Spaces 2.0

NC State just opened learning commons
Wireless, white boards all over, scanners, carrels leave room for collaboration, group study with projection
Service desk
Plasma screen w informative information
Wii and XBox for a break
Loan devices - cameras, MP3s, laptops, GIS
Webpage has a forum
Webcam

Keep in context - penmanship was once required in library school


Administration 2.0
The staff will change, or the staff will change (anonymous)

Library Interfaces 2.0
The bar is so low you cannot fail (about making a better online catalog)
Catalog been around 20+ years (Google and Amazon about 10+)
Catalog was the first database that the public encountered
Emphasis was how to move people comfortably from the card catalog
Catalog was a back office operation - an advanced inventory management system
Shameful that we've let it go on for so long

Skills for librarians and technology pros are different

Vendor 2.0 vs Web 2.0
Down to about 20 vendors (squandered our money doing exactly what we asked them to)
Era of ILS is dead
Vendors are pretty uninterested
2.0 in business world means equity buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, vertical integration, cost-cutting, and (too often) unhappy customers)
No one woke up and said "libraries, that's where the money is"
More accurately recognized ILS industry as ripe for consolidation

You can please some of the peole some of the time, and others never at all (AP's mother)

Challenge for us is not teaching the patron to use our systems, but rather making our systems do what the patrons are familiar with

WorldCat Local - not sure what level of customization they will allow
Long queue for reclamation

Reference many companies under same "umbrella"

Facets are the icing, not the cake

Tag clouds - anybody annoyed?

Should be ashamed LibraryThing invented by a nonlibrarian

Endeca - not comfortable calling it Catalog 2.0
Went live - perfect is the enemy of the good
Wanted commercial engine strength for search
Wanted to be able to do a true browse
Spell checking
"Did you mean"
Automatic word stemming
Have a real relevance search
Option for "librarian" search / if you must do boolean

Outcomes 2.0
2/3 of users come in and do a pure search
25% choose one or more navigation
8% by pure navigation (mostly new books)

2 largest searches are subject: topic and LC Classification
Many using subject based browsing

subject qualified search - problem with listings, authorized subheadings not included in main division (scroll down 10 pages)

Integrated catalog - does it "free the data"

Old model (Breeding) expanded from local and got broader

New model starts with world

Mobile device searching

New books search, shows covers of new books, shows on 60 inch plasma screen

Nothing new under the sun