Casey Bisson is correct that direct links to OPAC records
from Google are infrequent. I did a search on a relatively
new book published late last summer: Scott Weidensaul's
"Of a Feather: a brief history of American
birding." This is the sort of book that may libraries
would have purchased
I read through each screen of results until I got to the
following message at the 19th screen:
"In order to show you the most relevant results, we
have omitted some entries very similar to the 188 already
displayed. If you like, you can repeat the search with the
omitted results included."
While links to library web sites started showing up on the
sixth screen, these links could pretty much all basically be
characterized as "new book lists". Some had links
to the catalog record, some didn't.
The first direct link to an OPAC record was on screen 13,
a record from the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library in Midland,
MI. The only other direct link to an OPAC record was on the
very next screen...Loudon County Library in Virginia.
Interestingly, they both have the same system: Dynix's
Horizon Information Portal, and the records look almost
identical.
I believe Jean Hewlett is correct about the past though. I
think it was more common to find links to OPAC records a
number of years ago.
Bernie Sloan
Ms Norma Jean Hewlett <hewlett usfca.edu> wrote:
Casey Bisson wrote:
> Can you offer an example search where Google returns a
screen full
> of results from libraries? I feel lucky if I see even
one result
from
> a library in the top 10.
Casey, you are right! I stand corrected.
The situation I described was common a few years ago, but
doesn't seem
to apply at all now. I ran a Google basic search for Sun
Also Rises.
In 20 screens, I found only 1 link to a library bib
record--that was
to the WorldCat record, and it was on screen #19.
Most of the results were either individual title records
from
bookstores or blog posts about the movie.
Jean
Jean Hewlett
Regional Librarian, Univ. of San Francisco
All opinions are my own, and do not represent my employers.
----- Original Message -----
From: Casey Bisson
Date: Monday, February 11, 2008 9:00 am
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Re: Google Search Appliance and
OPACs
To: web4libwebjunction.org
>
> Norma Jean:
>
> Can you offer an example search where Google returns a
screen full
> of
> results from libraries? I feel lucky if I see even one
result from
> a
> library in the top 10. The above sounds more
argumentative than I
> mean, but I really am looking for examples, as they'd
offer
> something
> to learn from.
>
> The bigger shame is that we keep looking to centralized
solutions
> when
> Google and the rest of the web keep telling us they
want
> distributed
> solutions. Isn't it a shame that we've not yet opened
our catalogs
> to
> the kind of remixing that will consistently deliver
next
> generation
> innovations, including finding library results that are
relevant
> to
> your current location in your search engine of choice?
>
> --Casey
>
>
> On Feb 9, 2008, at 3:15 PM, Ms Norma Jean Hewlett
wrote:
>
> > [...]
> > I absolutely hate searching Google and getting a
whole screen
> full of
> > links to book records from other libraries, none
of which are
> close to
> > my home or of any use to me.
> > [...]
>
>
> > [...]
> > isn't it a shame that there is no central
> > database we could all place our holdings into?
Isn't it a shame
that
> > there is no way a patron can easily use this
central database to
> find> out whether their local library has this
book?
> > [...]
>
>
> Casey Bisson
> __________________________________________
>
> Information Architect
> Plymouth State University
> Plymouth, New Hampshire
> http://MaisonBisson.com/
> ph: 603-535-2256
>
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4libwebjunction.org
> http://lists.we
bjunction.org/web4lib/
>
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