Libraries Hope for Web 2.0 Shake-up with New Site
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`WASHINGTON INTERNET DAILY
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`December 15, 2006 Friday
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`Copyright 2006 Warren Communications News, Inc All Rights Reserved
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`Section: TODAY’S NEWS
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`Length: 1156 words
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`Body
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`The labyrinthine library is remanufacturing itself into a portal that tells Web users the nearest library
`for books they want, lets them tag and review items and challenges Wikipedia as a top result for
`searches like ″chess rules,″ a library consortium official said Tues. The Online Computer Library
`Center, used by over 40,000 libraries worldwide,
`recently took its subscription WorldCat
`library-collection database to the Web at WorldCat.org, a beta offering. People generally think highly
`of libraries but have low expectations for advanced services at them, Center Dir.-Content Initiatives
`Doug Loynes told a meeting of the National Commission on Libraries & Information Science.
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`Libraries need to follow the ″Amazoogle effect,″ Loynes said: Drawing users through comprehensive
`yet ″not necessarily exhaustive″ Web resources and providing ″immediate gratification″ with relevant
`results. Amazon and Netflix have made a ″science″ of closely monitoring behavior by site users and
`adjusting features accordingly, he said: ″Libraries for the most part don’t take [user behavior] into the
`design″ of resources. He noted the recent ″social networking explosion,″ contrasting ″stratospheric″
`traffic as measured by Alexa.com at YouTube, Blogger and Flickr even before corporate acquisitions,
`with the Center’s OCLC.org, which has seen steady growth but ranks about 11,000th.
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`Since 2004 the Center gradually has opened its catalog to search partners via Open WorldCat, now
`letting Google, Yahoo, Windows Live Academic, Ask.com and others index its database. Traffic more
`than doubled a year after Open WorldCat launched, and ″we’re pretty close to tripling it″ for 2006 with
`the WorldCat.org beta, which went live in Aug., Loynes said. But WorldCat.org is a ″demonstration
`place, not a destination,″ asking users and ″potential partners″ to embed its toolbars and search box into
`their own sites, he added. Its search box has been downloaded nearly 2,000 times.
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`If WorldCat used Google AdWords, the Center would have made $30.9 million this year, Loynes said.
`Actual revenue from FirstSearch, the library subscription service that funds the website, was roughly
`$16 million in 2006. The goal is to make participating libraries -- which must subscribe to FirstSearch
`-- more visible to Web users, and nudge them back to the library for services. The Center began with
`a million database records at its 1974 founding and now has 73 million -- with 12 million added this
`year alone, including Dutch, U.K. and German holdings, he added. About 11,000 libraries link their
`catalogs to WorldCat.
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`Algorithms, Geomapping and Netflix-Like Features
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`Commissioners peppered Loynes, requesting specifics of WorldCat.org’s ranking algorithm, display
`capabilities and accuracy in telling patrons their closest library. Works are ranked by how widely
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`Libraries Hope for Web 2.0 Shake-up with New Site
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`they’re held in libraries and year of publication, with recent works favored, but, like Google, the Center
`regularly tweaks the algorithm, he said. Via ″faceted browse″ on the left sidebar, users can narrow
`search results by author, publication year and other criteria, with works of many editions usually listed
`by most recent with an expand option. Users also can search by zip code and media type, such as book,
`CD and large print. It has language support for German, Spanish, French, Dutch and most recently,
`Chinese. WorldCat.org soon will check browser settings for European users and save their language
`preferences for later visits, Loynes said.
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`A service launched this week takes ″a guess about where you are″ by geomapping the user’s IP address,
`removing another click from the user experience, Loynes said. Results from test searches at the
`Center’s Dublin, O., hq showed libraries ″a couple towns″ away at the top of search results. Loynes
`noted a sidebar link for the Library of Congress in results for searches performed for the commission,
`which met at the Library on Capitol Hill. Commissioner Jose Aponte, San Diego County (Cal.) library
`dir., said results by zip for his area began with the central library, not the nearest branch. Loynes said
`the Center is improving the zip search and geomapping to home in on branch libraries. Soon it also
`will list in search results libraries that don’t subscribe to Center services.
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`Features planned for rollout include article content from databases like Medline, better resolution for
`digital works, and addition of public domain scanned works, Loynes said. WorldCat.org lets users
`write reviews and soon will add ratings and ″lists″ of favorite works or citations that can be exported
`to a file.
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`Is the Center comfortable sharing its intentions with Google and other Open WorldCat partners, which
`have their own book-scan projects? asked Commissioner Jan Cellucci, wife of former U.S.
`Ambassador Paul Cellucci. Google has no problem with WorldCat’s parallel effort, Loynes said, and
`next year the company will give WorldCat.org a real-time feed of bibliographical data from scanned
`books. The Center is part of Google’s scanning project and of the Open Content Alliance, led by Yahoo
`and MSN. Responding to Aponte, Loynes said he spent many ″sleepless nights″ pondering how to
`improve WorldCat’s ranking in other search engines’ results. In the ″chess rules″ search, it was a 2nd
`page Google result; Wikipedia made the first page. But the Center can’t affect other engines’
`algorithms, which also are changing regularly, Loynes said.
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`Some said they doubt WorldCat.org can remain free for users long. Commissioner Stephen Kennedy
`said users can find and download expensive items, such as digitized historical records from Rome.
`Loynes again noted that the service is paid for by FirstSearch subscriptions and added that local
`libraries always can charge a fee for special items. The Center gets revenue from purchases on Amazon
`and Baker & Taylor linked back to WorldCat, and passes the money on to users’ local libraries, he said.
`″We’re transitioning″ to a model including premium services, which may include delivery services like
`Netflix’s, he said.
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`It sounds like the Center wants to create a traditional Web portal, commissioners said. Actually
`WorldCat.org simply wants to serve libraries so they add their collections to the database, Loynes said.
`″So you’re the glue,″ Cellucci said. ″Our intent is not to be Yahoo,″ he replied. Commission
`Dir.-Statistics Neal Kaske asked if the group was abandoning its charter duties to reduce per-unit cost
`to libraries. Not at all, Loynes said. Libraries can free revenue for WorldCat participation by shrinking
`their collections in line with the extent
`to which users quickly can scan nearby libraries in
`WorldCat.org results, he added.
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`Libraries Hope for Web 2.0 Shake-up with New Site
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`Libraries ″threaten to become a utility″ if they don’t tell users how much they put into improving
`services and service, Loynes said. Commissioners tossed off cheeky ideas to get WorldCat’s visibility
`up -- perhaps renaming it ″WikiCat″ or ″Second Life OCLC.″ -- Greg Piper
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`Classification
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`Language: ENGLISH
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`Publication-Type: Newsletter
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`Subject: CULTURE DEPARTMENTS (78%); INFORMATION SCIENCE (73%);
`ACQUISITIONS (51%)
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`Industry: LIBRARIES (99%); INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING (90%); INTERNET &
`WWW (90%); ONLINE INFORMATION VENDORS (89%); LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY (78%);
`WEB SITES & PORTALS (78%); SOCIAL MEDIA (78%); BLOGS & MESSAGE BOARDS
`(73%)
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`Load-Date: December 14, 2006
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