Biblio Tech

Are libraries going the way of the dodo due to the technological advancements of our age? No. They're fighting back in a myriad of ways, including BiblioCommons, which aims to create communities of patrons who help connect one another to new books to read by allowing users to log recommendations of books in the library system's catalogues.

From the story in The Walrus...

Libraries might seem like the proverbial buggy whip makers, doomed to be swept away by changing technology and tastes, along with the outmoded paper books that fill their shelves. But that’s a misreading of their mission: “Libraries were in books because that’s where the information was,” says Kelly Moore, executive director of the Canadian Library Association. “Really, we’re about information.” Canadian libraries saw an immediate statistical spike when the recession hit, with usage up over 20 percent in cities like Ottawa. It wasn’t just that people rediscovered their love of free stuff; they also wanted help navigating and interpreting information on topics like job hunting and money management.

Instead of relying on librarians to act as gatekeepers for collections that are increasingly virtual and global in scope, BiblioCommons harnesses crowds of users to guide one another — a familiar Internet tactic. “Collaborative filtering” is a staple of such sites as Amazon and Chapters, where we’re constantly reminded that “customers who bought X also bought Y.” Libraries haven’t caught on, partly because few individual systems have sufficiently large user bases to make it work. Viewed as a collective, though, they’re a formidable force.