Sacred Cow #1
Posted On Jul 16 2008You’ve likely already heard that OCLC has released a new report on library advocacy. But today, I’m wishing that the previous one had gotten more attention from the library community. Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World got some serious attention from the social networking cliques, but I was really hoping that it would open the dialog about privacy expectations some more. I attended a lecture on privacy at NCSU once where the speaker mentioned that we are living in a climate where most undergraduates would trade a DNA sample for an Extra Value Meal. A nice throw-away line, …
Starting from Scratch
Posted On Jul 8 2008Carl Sagan once said: “If you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” I’ve been taken lately with all the efforts in library land to build things from scratch, as if there is no starting point, no viability–either technically or philosophically–from which to begin. Ironically, the “2.0” true believers seem to be talking as if they are reinventing the universe more than moving libraries from version 1.0 to version 2.0. It’s pretty hard (though not impossible) to move to v.2 when the first step is to throw away everything from v.1. Where …
OOOOOOCLC
Posted On Jun 24 2008A while back, I made a joke on April 1 about Google buying OCLC. This was actually a well coordinated April Fool’s Day attack between myself and the folks at ALA Techource (none of our bosses from back then want to know how much time actually went into this coordination). I guess one true test of a joke is its staying power, and this one has it, oddly enough (I suggest using Google to see the folks who took it seriously, and that way I can avoid embarrassing anyone). From time to time, I even find current links to the …