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Denise Getts wires the web
Thanks to Denise Getts, a librarian assistant at the Tucker Free
Library in Henniker, NH, there is now a LibraryLookup
bookmarklet for Tucker's SageBrush InfoCentre catalog
system. With the addition of SageBrush, there are now 20 different
types of catalog systems supported by the bookmarklet generator.
When Denise first wrote to me about this, I told her that I couldn't
suss out the URL-line query that would work for the SageBrush OPAC, so I
suggested that she ask the vendor for help. The company responded, and
now a problem has been solved not only for the patrons of the Tucker
Free Library but for some unknowably larger set of SageBrush
implementations in libraries around the world. Although Denise may not (yet)
realize it, what she has done here is a perfect example of Wiring
the Web.
Update: I just noticed on the Tucker Library's website that
there's a program called New
Hampshire downloadable audio books. Excellent! And my library
participates. Most excellent!
I've said to several
folks in the past week that it's a challenge to be aware of all of the
new services coming online, and that I have to remind myself to visit
sites I'm involved with in order to see what new services may have appeared.
Does this sound familiar? It should, it's another version of the RSS
story. Rather than visiting a bunch of websites to discover what new
services they've added, I should be subscribed to a "new services"
feed at each site, and flow those into an aggregate "new services"
feed.
I've recently discussed with a couple of folks
how RSS, for all its momentum, has yet to cross the chasm. This example
suggests another angle of attack. If I'm slapping my forehead for not
knowing that the New Hampshire libraries have downloadable audio
books, you can bet a bunch of people are in the same boat. We all
hate missing out on a good deal, and we also hate scattershot email
notifications. An aggregated "new services" feed neatly solves
both those problems.
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