There's a free Firefox plugin on the Talis website that inserts library
holdings into Amazon:
http://www.talis.com/tdn/greasemonkey/amazon-libraries
It's been available for a year or so. You can insert holdings from a
large selection of UK libraries into Amazon, or you can make your own
subset. You get a little box at the side of the screen, with links to
holdings at the library/ies of your choice. It's all quite seamless and
completely painless.
It's probably safe to assume that most of us don't have Firefox at work,
but this is a step in the right direction imho... Save the time of the
user and all that. If someone is already looking for books on Amazon,
we can effectively take our stock *to* them, rather than hoping they
come to us afterwards. Provided that they've installed the plugin,
obviously.
The Amazon interface has many advantages over pretty much any OPAC I've
seen, and I'm a confirmed OPAC nerd. I'm not sure about the older books
problem - with the increasing prevalence of Marketplace sellers and
their secondhand stock, I think it's becoming less of an issue.
All opinions are my own, etc.
Michael.
*************************************
Michael Stead
e-Resources Librarian
Bolton, Trafford and Wigan Libraries
T 01204 338761
E [log in to unmask]
Winner: Young Librarians of the Future
http://www.lovelibraries.co.uk/librarians.php
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Loz Pycock
Sent: 15 July 2007 21:53
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [LIS-PUB-LIBS] Amazon as primary catalogue
Gareth Osler wrote:
> I listened to an audio mp3 download of the following:
>
> "A Library WOT and SWOT" University of Washington Information School,
Dean
> Emeritus and Professor: Mike Eisenberg
> http://www.ifla.org/VII/s46/conf/SeattleProgram.htm (scroll down page
to
> final day's 'Keynote address')
>
> Eisenberg talked about software that enabled someone to find a book
using
> the Amazon catalogue and then see if their local library had a copy.
> Eisenberg suggested that we drop the traditional online library
catalogue
> and let people use Amazon instead.
>
>
> Gareth Osler
> Livepool
>
>
But what about when people are looking for older books that aren't on
something like Amazon (which is also the main complaint against Tim
Coates and his 'library? That's a funny way to spell 'bookshop''
attitude)? I'd rather encourage something like 'Whats in London's
Libraries' as people's first port of call for searching for a title and
then seeing which libraries have it.
--
- --
Loz
"'I'm sorry sir, if I don't probe your anus, the terrorists win.'"
- Noah Schachtman on BoingBoingBoing 11.
"I felt as if I was in a cage." - Paris Hilton on being
in prison, 26/06/07
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