On 09/03/2015 14.48, Karen Coyle wrote:
> Jim, Amazon and the APP store, like library catalogs, have only
> metadata. So excusing libraries because they only have metadata is
> bogus. You can have nothing more than metadata and still serve
> people's needs. This has nothing to do with instructors. Amazon has no
> instructors. People use Amazon A LOT. That's a statement of fact.

I've gone into detail several times stating that libraries DO NOT only
have metadata. Libraries have content--they have acres and acres of
content, but it is in the collections. Amazon has content too, for that
matter, but you have to pay money to get at their information (the books
and DVDs etc.). (By the way, when you search Amazon, I don't know what
you are really searching)

I agree that people use Amazon a lot--me too--but I think very few
people use it just for the metadata. They use it to buy the stuff they
want, or at least put it on a wish list so that maybe somebody else will
get it for them. It is also a statement of fact that instructors who
teach students get very nervous about their students doing their
"research" on Amazon. And college students do it too.

I also agree that you can have nothing more than metadata and still
serve people's needs--if their needs are nothing more than metadata. But
for the vast majority of people sooner or later they want more than only
metadata--they want or need the real stuff. Just as my presentation at
La Sapienza that I mentioned, I had a book: a guidebook to the Greek
Islands. I showed the people the book and the catalog record I had made
for it. I asked: what would you rather take on a trip to the Greek
Islands: this book or my record? My record won't get you very far in
Greece, but my record is supposed to help you get to the book.

Is this really all that difficult or outrageous?

James Weinheimer [log in to unmask] First Thus
http://blog.jweinheimer.net First Thus Facebook Page
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http://sites.google.com/site/opencatalogingrules/ Cataloging Matters
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