Thursday, February 07, 2008

OLA08 Session #1329: OPAC 2.0: What Works Already?

Casey Bisson, Information Architect, Plymouth State University
Slides are here.
Casey's blog: maisonbisson

  • OPAC 2.0...challenges:
    • usability
    • findability
    • remixability
  • Scriblio:
    • a social library system
    • faceted search and browsing system
    • extensible platform
    • built on WordPress (free, experienced labour)
    • open source and free
  • ToDo: subscribe to Casey's Blog, and check our Scriblio
  • OPAC: our one chance to prove we're not stupid
  • search boxes are for questions...we need to integrate the cat with other things that can give answers (eg. resources that we have...databases / lists etc.)
  • we need to deliver better answers
  • raised an issue that's a problem with III: you can't use the url from an item in the opac...however, you can create a list and export it...but why do we force peeps to learn how to do stuff differently in our opacs?...YouTube etc. make sharing very easy...why don't libs?
  • valid, clean, semantic markup
  • clean markup is better for all: search engines, accessibility, users
  • sites that allow comments value their users
  • Cook Memorial Library, Tamworth, NH
    • Squiblio library
    • small community, tons of comments
  • Lamson Library (Casey's)...
    • Squiblio = thin opac + web site...nifty to combine
  • Scriblio = plug-in inside wordpress

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