At 04:55 PM 05/07/2008, Tim wrote:
>. . .
>Whether scannless GBS is bad enough, I leave to you. I think it is,
>but there's an argument, certainly. I don't think we can argue that
>there is *some* lower threshold of quality beneath which data should
>be left off the OPAC. I note, for example, that most "empty" books in
>GBS do not show up high on Google's searches for that book name. They
>don't show up because, absent a scan, GBS books are pretty weak tea.
>
>As for the idea that getting a book off the shelf is a non-trivial
>hassle, while I admit that it can get hard if your library is split
>between locations, at most colleges, getting a book from a library is
>a trivial effort. And anyway, you're a student for pete's sake!
>Learning is your full-time job. If gets books off shelves bums you
>out, what are you doing in college?
A few comments:
(1) I've only been working in an academic library for 12 years, but
getting a book from the library shelf passed from the skills we teach
a while back. These days the learning objectives in most academic
libraries with which I'm acquainted involve things like learning how
to evaluate information for its usefulness and appropriateness at
several points in the research process. An undergraduate student
writing a 10 page paper faced with 50 results from a library catalog
search needs to make some quick judgements about what might be useful
and what might not be useful before heading off to the stacks. If a
"scanless" GBS record with summary and/or ToC and/or reviews can help
winnow the list down to a manageable number so the student can spend
his/her time evaluating and processing the actual information so they
can write an informed paper, then why not offer it?
(2) Part of why we have books in the library is so users can check
them out. The existence of a record for a book in a library catalog
doesn't mean the book is on the shelf. If a scanless GBS record with
summary and/or ToC and/or reviews can help a student make an initial
determination about the appropriateness of a book that can't be
consulted because the book's not on the shelf, it suddenly becomes
pretty useful. Most academic libraries now belong to consortia that
allow requesting of items from other libraries when the local copy is
checked out. Scanless GBS info might aid in determining whether or
not the book should be requested.
(3) Scanless GBS records can augment the catalog record and/or the
book itself. I was just looking at the scanless GBS record for a
colleague's recent work, and while it lacked a ToC or summary in the
GBS record, the "References from web pages" offered links to:
- an NPR interview with the author (from a popular perspective);
- a Chronicle piece on the book;
- the University Press page for the book, that did have a summary;
- a page for the book at Blackwell, that did have the ToC;
- a podcast of a half hour interview with the author (from a
scholarly perspective).
The weak tea scanless record for this book has the potential to (a)
help users make an initial evaluation of the appropriateness and
usefulness of the book; (b) conserve library resources by informing
the decision to request from another library; (c) offer supporting
information not available in the book, regardless of format.
Bob Duncan
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
Robert E. Duncan
Systems Librarian
Editor of IT Communications
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042
[log in to unmask]
http://www.library.lafayette.edu/
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