Monday, May 19, 2008

#9 - Personal Relevance (aka Online Personalization)

I made my search engine at Rollyo with the list of 25 respected sources-When Wikipedia Won't Cut It. I'm calling it wwww (When Wikipedia Won't Work) on my page. I tried to add it to my blog, but it didn't function so I edited it out.
I signed up with Library Elf a couple of months ago. It worked very well and I have told some of our borrowers, especially those with more than one card to keep track of, about the service. I cancelled my account since , uh, I am always on time and don't need the reminders. Yeah, that's it.
To make our catalog more twopointopian, there could be local professional and reader reviews, recommendations of what to read next, links to author sites, and sequel and series information.
The matter of privacy along with all this personalization and collaborative filtering is setting off inner alarm bells with me. It sure would make it easier for the Terminators to find Sarah Connor.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

#8 - Peer Services: Comments, Ratings & Reviews

Posting a review to a book on Amazon would be outside my comfort zone. The whole world judging my inadequate book report? I don't think so. But, I like to read the book reports of the brave. Voyeur? Oh well, that's one reason I read instead of do.

We already have links to Barnes and Nobles and Amazon for titles in our catalog where professional and customer reviews may be accessed. But maybe we can add "What do you think? Rate/review this title." for our borrowers.