[LISNews] The LISNews For May 27th 2011

Fri May 27 11:01:58 CDT 2011

Happy Friday! It's the LISNews for May 27th, 2011...

 Let's look at the top headlines from the past week:

And here's the latest from LISNews:

--The dpla as a generative platform
- http://lisnews.org/node/39263/
The dpla as a generative platform My take-away from the Amsterdam meeting was that the DPLA needs to think about how it wants to align itself with the Web, and work with its grain … not against it. This
is easier said than done. The DPLA needs to think about incentives that would give existing digital library projects practical reasons to want to be involved. This also is easier said than done. And
hopefully these incentives won’t just involve getting grant money. Keeping an open mind, taking a REST here and there, and continuing to have these very useful conversations (and contests) should help
shape the DPLA as a generative platform.  

--Open data’s role in transforming our bibliographic framework
- http://lisnews.org/node/39262/
Open data’s role in transforming our bibliographic framework If you also see potential in open library data, now is an excellent time to join in the discussions that the Library of Congress and OCLC are
inviting.  The more these and other leading organizations in the library community see how open data can advance the goals of the community, and how open data initiatives can get the support needed to be
sustainable, the richer the knowledge base that our evolving bibliographic framework will support.  

--Robots, Not Humans, Retrieve Your Books at $81 Million Library of the Future
- http://lisnews.org/node/39261/
Robots, Not Humans, Retrieve Your Books at $81 Million “Library of the Future”  The answer to your question–the books are tightly packed in bins stacked five stories high beneath your feet–is the reason
University of Chicago’s new Joe and Rika Mansueto Library is being referred to as the library of the future. An automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) involving huge, computer-activated robotic
cranes find the book you want, deliver it to the circulation desk, and eventually return it back underground.  

--E-Business Is the Buzz at Book Fair
- http://lisnews.org/node/39260/
This year’s BookExpo America, an annual publishing business trade show, is full of talk of e-reading and other shifts in the industry.  There is a Wild West quality to the book business these days, and it
is on full display at BookExpo America, an annual trade show that draws tens of thousands of authors, publishers and booksellers; this year it is at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. 
Authors are shrugging off publishers to self-publish their work. Publishers are advancing into retail. Barnes & Noble is getting deeper into the gadget business, and Amazon is stepping into publishing. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/books/bookexpo-america-underlines-industry-shifts.html?ref=technology

--New to Blogging
- http://lisnews.org/node/39259/
Hello!  I am a Certified School Library Media Specialist and I have started my own blog with Blogger.  I am trying to include things that will make my blog unique, useful, and worth the time to visit. 
What type of information do you feel is really needed in a Library Blog?  Book reviews?  Lesson plans?  Any advice is appreciated.  jfsanborn.blogspot.com  

--The search for a minimum viable record
- http://lisnews.org/node/39258/
The search for a minimum viable record The Open Library has run into these complexities and challenges as it seeks to create "one web page for every book ever published."  George Oates, Open Library lead,
recently gave a presentation in which she surveyed audience members, asking them to list the five fields they thought necessary to adequately describe a book. In other words, what constitutes a "minimum
viable record"? Akin to the idea of the "minimum viable product" for getting a web project coded and deployed quickly, the minimum viable record (MVR) could be a way to facilitate an easier exchange of
information between library catalogs and information systems.  In the interview below, Oates explains the issues and opportunities attached to categorization and MVRs.  

--Interesting Debate on the Role of the DPLA
- http://lisnews.org/node/39257/
The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) recently asked the library community to join together and take part in their Beta Sprint.  The idea is to move away from theory and actually start building
some ideas.  Still, like any ambitious idea such as this, it is unclear what role the end product will serve.    For those looking to learn more about this project or just to read an interesting debate on
the role of massive digital libraries, the Library Journal has posted a Point-Counterpoint consisting of David Rothman who believes that there should be at least two versions of the DPLA and that it one
of those versions should fulfill a primarily "public library" role as opposed to the other more scholarly projects that already exist versus John Palfrey who believes all hands need to work together on a
unified project at first that can be carved up later as needed.  http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/890732-264/a_point-counterpoint_on_the_digital.html.csp

--How the Modern Web Environment is Reinventing the Theory of Cataloguing
- http://lisnews.org/node/39256/
Panizzi, Lubetzky, and Google: How the Modern Web Environment is Reinventing the Theory of Cataloguing: This paper uses cataloguing theory to interpret the partial results of an exploratory study of
university students using Web search engines and Web-based OPACs. The participants expressed frustration with the OPAC; while they sensed that it was "organized," they were unable to exploit that
organization and attributed their failure to the inadequacy of their own skills. In the Google searches, on the other hand, students were getting the support traditionally advocated in catalogue design.
Google gave them starting points: resources that broadly addressed their requirements, enabling them to get a greater sense of the knowledge structure that would help them to increase their precision in
subsequent searches. While current OPACs apparently fail to provide these starting points, the effectiveness of Google is consistent with the aims of cataloguing as expressed in the theories of Anthony
Panizzi and Seymour Lubetzky  

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