Dear all, Raj is correct. I said much the same three years ago, when someone from the Manitoba Public library asked about Z39.50 access. I figure that I get to state my opinions every three years and not be called a troll. I note that a number of people involved in this project from the start agree with me, and others at least thing my perspective worth sharing--see Karen Coyle above. Until Karen is as rude to me as you are, I'll chime in every few years.
Let me be clear--I only refer to the question of bibliographic data. Some of the OL's other projects are indeed now or potentially very valuable to libraries. I have doubts as to the legality of the ebook lending program, but it had to be tried. I hope it succeeds. If it manages to create a new right to put a book on ice and lend an ebook of it out, that would be great. As to the origin of records, the records OL has represent the work of hundreds of libraries and thousands of catalogers around the world. Just look at the 040s (the chain of cataloging institution codes) for the millions of records you have. I would add that the core are from the Library of Congress and the large group of British libraries assembled together by Talis, and that all the libraries who freely contributed to the project took a great risk in doing so--a risk of getting sued by OCLC. Back in the day, Aaron Swartz and I emailed each other daily about the OCLC policy change, and the many efforts against it. It was a major threat. The death of SkyRiver renews that threat, although if OL doesn't open its records up to libraries, OCLC will probably leave it alone. In brief, I wish OL had made this bibliographic aspect a core part of its mission. The world needs good bibliographic data, and libraries especially. Yes, there are many other important things to do--I myself would put the ebook project WAY above the "one page for every book" mission. But I regret that this aspect has not been pursued. I think it could change the world for the better. Sincerely, Tim > The vast majority of library data in OL comes from libraries that the > Internet Archive has partnerships with. > > IA has more than 30 scanning centers in libraries around the world, and not > only provides book digitization, but also hosting of archived material > online, forever. In addition to just MARC records for scanned books, some of > our partner libraries have uploaded their catalogs for seeding OL. Much of > the MARC data also comes from Library of Congress. In addition to scanning > books and archiving the web for LOC, IA also purchased a subscription to add > more LOC MARC records to OL. > > The Open Library E-book lending program also provides e-book lending of > 200,000 books to patrons of libraries that have added data to OL. We also > partner with state library associations in many states across the US, to > provide lending services to readers in a large part of the country. Even if > your local branch doesn't partner with OL for e-book lending, you may see a > banner at the top of OL that says your state library is partnering with us, > and our ebook lending platform is available to you. Last month, there were > more than 60,000 ebook loans made through OL, and the number is growing. See > http://openlibrary.org/libraries > > There are lots of other ways IA and OL work with libraries to help their > patrons. You may not know about all of them. The Internet Archive does not > do marketing or PR. We prefer that our partners make announcements > themselves. We work tirelessly help libraries, authors, publishers, and > readers, not to get headlines. > > The thing is, Tim knows all this, but he keeps posting the same rant year > after year. I've been trying to decide if he is just being disrespectful, or > if he is trolling. I've come to that it is both. > > Trolls kill communities. Do not feed the troll. > > -raj _______________________________________________ Ol-tech mailing list [email protected] http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-tech To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to [email protected]
