Thursday, October 23, 2008

15 What does 2.0 mean?

I found the article by John Reimer (Head of cataloging and metadata services at UCLA) especially interesting http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/5.htm.
He suggest that streamlining of metadata creation only makes sense and that libraries should strive to create a single metadata that everybody can use and reuse. He gives also gives a great example of how to extend metadata creation ... "if geographic names embedded in the middle of subject headings are mapped to latitude and longitude coordinates, it becomes possible to present users with graphical means of searching by place, new ways of easily asking for materials about nearby places, and hierarchical browsing by place." Reimers also suggests that libraries should consider adopting more web features for their catalogs and points to the Endeca based cataloged at NC as an example. Another interesting idea he has is how libraries can push their ideas and news via RSS feeds.

What does 2.0 mean to me after reading these brief articles? I feel that the 2.0 is all about staying current and adopting a healthy attitude towards new technology advancements. All librarians need to be proactive and constantly eager to change the way they provide reference, think about cataloging and creation of metadata and providing instructions to library users.

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