Social OPAC

When I began the library science studies at Pitt I had my own idea what librarianship was all about. I had created my own "library world" in which librarians were the rulers of the universe and I wanted to be one of them.
The more I learn about librarianship in the 21st Century I realize that my ideas must change. A good example is the use of social network software in conjunction with library cataloging and searching. I was not able to think about relinquishing bibliographic control to the masses.
I am now convinced that the "mash up" of library bibliographic info, social data and interactive conversation on "favorites" and the "best of" lists is one of the very important ways that libraries will move forward and become a player in the information game.

The audio from the Library 2.0 Gang on the idea of a social OPAC was impelling.

Weinberger's Miscellaneous makes more sense to me after reading/listening/learning about the products that organizations in Canada and US have developed and are continuing to tweak such as the Canadian, Bibliocommons and the US, SOPAC software for library Internet interface.

The advantages of how such software draws users into the library environment was obvious, but not so obvious is how the use of this type of software might change the internal workings of the library (or how the utilization of personnel might be changed).

I believe it is an exciting time to be a librarian. Exciting and Exacting.