In Library: An Unquiet History, historian and curatorial fellow for Harvard’s metaLAB Matthew Battles describes Melvil Dewey’s impatience with inefficiency in library work in the 1870s. “To Dewey, local interests and special needs were less important than the efficient movement of books into the hands of readers,” he writes. That crisp statement of purpose should be an inspiration to the current discussions around making library collections and programs visible and available on the web.
The Big Flip
By on June 29, 2016
I just returned from ALA Annual 2016 in Orlando, Florida, and besides enjoying more temperate weather I’ve also been thinking about some of what I experienced there. One experience in particular stands out. Every ALA in recent years my employer (OCLC) has sponsored a “Linked Data Roundtable” where practitioners discuss their cutting edge work with […]
The Rise of Bad Infographics
By on June 22, 2016
Given the ubiquity of infographics on the web today (according to one account they have increased 1200% in three years), you can be forgiven for thinking that they are a new phenomenon. They aren’t. Infographics have actually been around for quite some time, as Edward Tufte pointed out with his popularization of one of the […]
Broken Furniture and Blood on the Floor
By on February 22, 2016
I’ve been troubled lately by what I perceive as a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of our transition from record-based bibliographic metadata to linked data. Although this misunderstanding can be expected, given how long our profession has been invested in a record-based infrastructure and standards, it is potentially disastrous should we prove not up to the […]
Yet Another Metadata Zoo
By on July 23, 2015
I was talking with my old friend John Kunze a little while back and he described a project that he is involved with called “Yet Another Metadata Zoo” or yamz.net. In a world of more ontologies than you can shake a stick at, it aims to provide a simple, easy-to-use mechanism for defining and maintaining […]
MARC Speaks: “When I Die”
By on June 12, 2015
A guest column by Marc Record. I know that some people have been all too quick to call for my death, but we must look beyond such such short-sighted little people toward the greater good, as we have always done. In doing so, I must acknowledge that I am probably not long for this world. Not […]
Bringing CRUD Operations to Linked Data
By on March 24, 2015
Those who have labored in the database orchard know about CRUD. It isn’t the stuff you scraped off your shoe, but a set of operations that must be supported for typical database maintenance: C = Create a record. R = Read a record. U = Update a record. D = Delete a record. Then Linked Data […]
Building a Virtual Library to Commemorate a Tragedy
By on January 7, 2015
On July 19, 1978 I was approved to run commercial whitewater trips on the Stanislaus River by O.A.R.S. I also turned 21. I spent the next several summers rafting the Stanislaus, as well as other rivers in the west. But the Stanislaus was the first river I ever loved, and I wasn’t alone. The Camp Nine stretch of […]
One Format to Rule Them All
By on December 8, 2014
One Format to rule them all, One Format to find them; One Format to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. – with apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien It is now over 12 years since I wrote “MARC Must Die” in Library Journal. At the time that I wrote it, I think that I imagined […]
