Day One

Learned all about BiblioCommons (BC) today. Three of the presenters (including Stephen Abram -- boo hoo!) were grounded at various airports across the country, so a lot of improvisation went on -- very slickly. Two folks were there via phone / web, and did a great job communicating virtually.

It's late, so here are some quick points of interest:
BC is being used in BC, and is in Beta at Oakville PL now

• libraries are doing a lot of 2.0 stuff, but not a lot of patrons are participating (other libs are though!)...so we need to make the OPAC itself social
• the "best" resources are those that are most relevant to ME
• BC is starting to work with III...yippee!...John Blyberg
  
• set up involves:
• data dump
• mapping
• install thing client on the ils
• Karen Cole talked about cataloging in the age of social networks...info seeking as a CHAIN of activity...we need to bring info together for the peeps
• collectively libs have a lot of info that we're not capitalizing on
• "Quest for the Holy Grail" ...search for the perfect opac...a moving target
• Gail Richardson from Oakville: "using the collections to build connection"
• legal aspects / privacy addressed...choice/control/transparency
• will be a FAQ link on the ConnectOn site

FAB pics by Rebecca L to come soon. :)