From: Laval Hunsucker <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 07:42:22 -0700

> I was particularly intrigued by the reference to allowing users
> to write reviews and add comments:  Web 2.0 comes to the
> OPAC.

There's nothing at all new about this notion. It predates Web 2.0 by
ages, and even the Web itself by more than a quarter of a century. It
goes all the way back to a well-thought-out and amazingly visionary
approach outlined by Don Swanson of the Graduate Library School of the
University of Chicago in 1964 ( see his article "Dialogues with a
catalog" in _Library quarterly_ of that year ).

It is a sad commentary on librarianship that it is only recently now
that concrete measures have been taken in the direction clearly shown
us almost fifty years ago by Swanson. (And that this is moreover due
to initiatives and developments not within, but coming from outside
of, the librarianship community.)

> I find myself cringing a bit about losing authoritative curation.

Relax, I'd say. Nothing whatsoever to worry about. One would have to
be gravely worried if such things *weren't* (finally) taking place,
facebook or no facebook.

And note :  that curation was never nearly so 'authoritative' as it
may have seemed.

- Laval Hunsucker
  Antwerpen, België


----- Original Message -----
> From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2012 11:30:31 -0700
>
> Michael Kelley has a piece on the Digital Shift blog on apps for
> Facebook that enable the viewing of OPACs:
>
> http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/04/social-media/new-apps-bring-opac-functionality-to-library-facebook-pages/
>
> Is anybody using such an app now?  I was particularly intrigued by the
> reference to allowing users to write reviews and add comments:  Web
> 2.0 comes to the OPAC.  I find myself cringing a bit about losing
> authoritative curation.
>
> Joe Esposito