Trick or Treat
Posted On Oct 31 2007A bunch of my colleagues are dressed up today. I considered donning my khaki-colored dockers, denim shirt, and brown loafers, but was afraid that no one would recognize me as being a vendor. I needed too many props to pull off the costume, like some PowerPoint slides that look like a real website. I have mastered the ability to smile, rock back and forth on my feet while swinging my arms, and exuding that look of “Boy, do I have a solution for you!” It’s getting harder these days to determine whether what libraries are getting is a trick or …
OCLC Is Now . . . OCLC
Posted On Oct 24 2007If you’ve been on a conference call with OCLC lately, you might have experienced that awkwardness of not knowing who you’re talking to sometimes—OCLC? PICA? Former Fretwell-Downing? Actually, the confusion is small compared to many of the name games that have been going on lately, whether it’s corporate identity, code-names for new products, or the revolving door of corporate leadership. Well, in an effort to get out in front of the impending confusion, OCLC has rebranded itself . . . OCLC. There’s a new logo and a new tag line. Branding and marketing aren’t really my thing, I have to …
Governance Matters
Posted On Oct 16 2007I’ve never really grasped the whole “meme” thing that seems to be so popular in library blogs. When I see a new meme emerge, I feel as though I’ve already missed the boat—like the cliche of reading about trends in Time, by then it it too late. As a lover of words and phrases, though, I am intrigued by what I would call lots of pre-meme activity—the use (and often over- and mis-use) of words that become part of the growing library lexicon. Recent examples include: seamless, disintermediation, open, and the like. Borrowing liberally from Entertainment Weekly’s “What’s hot”: Currently, there …