On Oct 14, 2013, at 1:48 AM, Penelope Campbell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>> For a limited period of time I am making publicly available a Web-based
>> program called PDF2TXT -- http://bit.ly/1bJRyh8
> 
> As a small special library (solo librarian) in an Australian State
> Government Department I use DB/Text works which has a feature of
> importing documents so that the full text can be read. It though only
> imports the full-text not what you have done which is really great. I
> wrote a small piece (see attached) explaining what I am in the process
> of doing. I am using the library catalogue records as metadata.  But I
> am hoping for something more.  I do really want to open up the
> collection and make the information discoverable more than just the
> Library catalogue . I had contacted Juame Nualart who wrote a paper on
> some ways to present terms called Texty.
> http://informationr.net/ir/18-2/paper581.html But it is not a piece of
> software. I am quite interested in what you have done. I am just tyring
> to work out a way to show relevancy and this may be something I could
> integrate into the Library catalogue.


Penelope, thank you for your interest. I read both your attachment as well as the description of Texty. Correct me if I am wrong, but your attachment outlined the problem of library relevancy in the current environment, and proposed a scan-on-demand service as a way of killing two birds with one stone. Good luck. Sincerely. Texty looks like the demonstration of a service to make library search results more meaningful. As opposed to simply listing search results, the authors of Texty propose a greater number of visualizations in search results, thus making the results more meaningful. 

The little PDF2txt script does things along the lines of Texty, but only for individual documents, not search results. Ironically, I wrote a Digital Library Of American proposal to do things very much a long the lines of Texty, but it did not get accepted. Alas. No harm done. 

I agree. Libraries really need to do some things differently if they want to stay relevant. Call it evolution lest the profession go the way of the dodo bird. Many of the people in the Code4Lib community already feel this way. The process will take a long time to come to fruition. 

-- 
Eric Morgan
University of Notre Dame