Yes, We've Arrrived

http://tinyurl.com/2etnss

"Public Library Geeks Take Web 2.0 to the Stacks". Nice little article about Charlotte & Mecklenburg County's Learning 2.0 site: http://plcmclearning.blogspot.com/

An Open Call...

To Google and the Library World. Google has a lot of talent and a lot of resources; Libraries have a lot of talent and a lot of resources...One thing that libraries could really use...a GOOD Integrated Library System (ILS)(book catalog, patron system, borrowing management...)...our vendors suck...and when they don't suck they want to charge an arm and a leg for every new feature.

Google seems like they want to attract the legitimacy that can be gained by having Librarians say that we use and promote Google...why else have Librarian Central (http://librariancentral.blogspot.com/)??

If that's the case, and I think it is...one thing I'd love to see from Google is a Great ILS with continual support/updating that's Open Source enough that smart systems Librarians can create all sorts of awesome tools for it.

Now of course what could Google get from this? I wouldn't mind it if they were able to figure out what the most popular books were in a certain area (geographic or subject), I wouldn't mind adding the ability to add web search results to a book catalog search (or even better a portal that could do books, ebooks, journals, ejournals, image and audiosources, etc.), and lastly, if they make my job easier and better and help the library world stay up to date (our vendors sure as hell don't), then I wouldn't mind saying that "yes indeed I love Google"...and this from someone who doesn't even use Google to Search....

Bill of Right? How about Bill of Responsibilities?

Ok, I agree, companies should be responsible for actions they take (or don't take) that inconvenience their customers...BUT...I'm a little tired of hearing of everyone's rights when it seems that no one acknowledges their responsibilities. Maybe I'm a little jaded from working with the public for too long, but if a company doesn't say that it's mission is to serve *only* you then how about realizing that it's NOT all about you. Also, let's not forget that there are other people in the world...if you can't hear on your cell phone, go somewhere else...don't talk louder; if you've decided not to parent your children, don't bring them out of the house; if you want your music louder get some headphones...

Think about someone else...that's all I'm asking, companies are doing it with their "Customer's Bill of Rights", but how about we all acknowledge that with rights come responsibilities and that maybe we should acknowledge that others have rights as well...