Yes, yes, and yes again. I agree that ontology is overrated. I am one future librarian in favor of developing a tagging system for online catalogs in public libraries. Why not let the library user tell the catalog what they are looking for instead of the catalog telling the user what they meant to search for? As a library user and a librarian I want to do a subject search for "cooking" and NOT be directed to "cookery".
I believe a tagging tool like del.icio.us could serve as an effective way of creating a more user-friendly online catalog for library customers. As a library worker I've found it very frustrating to search for items using the public catalogs. That same frustration has also been shared with a number of library users. Some library users have given up on the library catalog and they choose to browse the stacks in hopes of finding what they are looking for or they will go to the Internet because they know they can count on the simplicity of Google (one box, YAY!). Google is a good model for libraries to consider. I say this because Google gives the user full control of what they want to search for. The best example of this is the ability for Google users to search with their own vocabulary.
I think it's time for us librarians to admit that were not mind readers or fortune tellers as Shirky mentions in the article. When we try to predict the future it's unfair to us and most of all it's unfair to our library users.
Shirky challenges us to think outside of the shelf and create more possibilities and less constraints.
No comments:
Post a Comment