Thanks for pointing out the very nice Hamilton, Ontario website and the high profile positioning of their library services. As I'm working on a new portal model for Cleveland, and East Cleveland, I'm wondering how library services should be integrated. I know we've posted about this here before, but it still isn't clear in my mind how the different libraries should work together and what they should provide to the community, via the Internet.

So if the City of Cleveland is to add the library to their website, what would that part of the site look like and do - just link to the Cleveland Public Library site or should they be more integrated than that? Should all the cities in the region work together? How do the county, public school and college and university library systems integrate with that?

Disrupt IT

Gotta think some more before I try to formulate an answer to that one, but maybe my more illustrious colleagues with chime in?  Or maybe, they will hide behind their weblogs, use their status in the hierarchy, gatekeep and delete (some people call it CENSORING!!!--Hello ALA, Help ME NOW!!!) any comments they find oh-so IMPROPER (say it with a haughty librarian accent).

I've had a limited time to visit this site, but already I am impressed with the myhamilton feature.  www.Ohiolink.edu has a similar set-up with the Electronic Journal Center.  The ability to search and save results is a big plus.  It also centralizes the portal for multiple information requests to one central website.  By the way, for everyone who thinks that EVERYTHING is available online, think again. 

Working with multiple providers of proprietary/authoritative content in Ohio is a big headache.  For general research, I direct kids K-18 to the Ohio Public Library Information Network www.oplin.org, because remote authentication only requires one hoop: entering a library card number.   OPLIN provides basic database consortium coverage for public libraries, much like OhioLink for academic libraries . (Note: CPL's web developer will migrating to Columbus and overhauling OPLIN site, probably using DRUPAL, interesting... 1/2008)  For college/university students I direct them to Ohiolink--again, less of an authentication hassle and Ohiolink provides the consortium coverage for universities. 

However, other specialized resources (ie. JSTOR, MUSE, IEEE) exist at the multitude of public libraries through their community paid subscriptions (compare database selections at www.cpl.org and www.cuyahogalibrary.org), individual university paid subscriptions (compare CSU and CWRU) and also via INFOhio.org for primary and secondary schools systems. 

Skip around and you will see there is much duplication and an unclear route for how to open the door/portal for access to proprietary information.  (For example, CPL electronic resource listing does not include Rosetta Stone, a language database.  CPL may purchase it to add as a selection from the CPL website, although a savvy user will realize that the Greater Access library card can be activated for use in both Cleveland Public Library and Cuyahoga County Library.  Cuyahoga County Public Library subscribes to Rosetta Stone, so if CPL acquires it, too, the access has been duplicated).  So, which portal do you choose to use? (Note: Rosetta Stone is no longer available to public libraries 1/2008)

Other factors make a portal attractive: access to the individual library holdings via the catalog (in which case--CPL has the hard to beat collection), downloadable electronic resources, calendar event listings, and real time reference access (Knowitnow.org). 

For that rarity, the well-cataloged book, video, serial publication...cd, dvd...there is Worldcat.   But, there has to be a better way to collaborate and put it ALL out there for access via one portal...Web Oriented Architecture...one door and (some hidden back doors).

I was lucky enough to catch this WCPN radio broadcast yesterday.  Worth a listen:

Summer Book Call-in Show
Dee Perry hosts her annual Summer Book Call-in Show with the Plain Dealer’s Karen Long, Suzanne DeGaetano of Macs Backs Paperbacks and Cuyahoga County Public Library executive director, Sari Feldman. [Listen]

Place your request. The catalog record is available for the last installment in the Harry Potter series.  See www.cpl.org enter keyword search "deathly hallows."  It's great to see kids get excited for a BOOK!

Cleveland Metropolitan School District promotes libraries.  Now, if they could only do something about their urls: 
http://schoolnet.cmsdnet.net/outreach/csd/library/
http://www.cleveland.k12.oh.us/

This is a good contact on that subject.

Nancy.Connor@tri-c.edu.@tri-c.edu

  How cool is this? 

Also, good to know:  Powersearch function of Gale databases (at CPL and CCPL) allow machine translations to Spanish, French, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, German, Portugese and Italian.  Not perfect, but so helpful to me for our New Americans.  We just need one Slavic language...

Faint praise from  WIRED magazine--
Submit your own suggestions :)  I added RED WINE :)

  Just have to get that image of dead things out of my mind.  Jeff Schuler posts one commentator's opinion of CPL's redesigned web site.
(6/08 link is dead, because BFD lost their archive).

What's that you may say?!  Well, it is one of the subject headings used to describe

Authenticity: what consumers really want by James Gilmore and Joseph Pine.  Interesting that this one word can help consumers open the door to more books on the topic of understanding our crazy, buying behavior. 

So, here's what I want to ask James Gilmore and Joseph Pine as the allergy season is upon us: if we are so attuned to REAL, why do consumers buy a product shilled by an animated bee with a Spanish accent?

 Who came up with that angle?  Does this debunk your whole theory??!!

  Coming soon to a library near you...See Guns, germs, and steel : the fate of human societies.

  Everyone knows that kids transmit germs.  It's fun to watch them teach their friends the few web tricks I have up my sleeve.  Local Worldcat will spread virally, because kids (especially boys) like to keep lists.  This summer, the theme of the summer reading club is web spinning.  Let's take it to a whole 'nother level.

  Does this help??  Not really...

http://www.ohioweblibrary.org/connect.htm

We in Ohio are lucky to have so many resources---how do you find and retrieve information to meet your needs??

Functional requirements for bibliographic records (FRBR) takes the original work(s) and consolidates/groups the multiple holdings format records by author/owner to one "portal". 

For the end user, it means speeding up the discovery and retrieval process.