Head Tale

For many library users, the OPAC is the source of connection to their library – how they find books, movies, CD's, etc.  And it's a well-known issue in libraryland that OPAC's frequently aren't all they should be, something that's increasingly in the spotlight because of how much better Web 2.0 sites like Amazon and LibraryThing seem to be at finding/browsing/cataloguing information – even though librarians are the “information professionals.”

Here's an example I came across tonight:

Search Results at RPL
“Who Killed the Electric Car?” = 0 hits
(not sure if they use cookies to track sessions so that link might be expired by the time you try it)

“Who Killed the Electric Car” = 2 hits
(one result for two copies at Central, another much more detailed entry for a copy at Sherwood Village – which is another issue I won't get into)

But what's the title for both entries in the RPL catalogue when you search for the title without a question mark?  “Who Killed the Electric Car?”  (with the question mark reflecting the full, actual title of the work.)

So if you're a patron searching for the film with the proper, full name and get 0 hits, you're very likely to not refine your search.  In fact, the only reason I did was because I saw this film listed in RPL's “DVD's On Order” and knew other films on that list were in the catalogue already so this one should be too.

Somebody with expertise in cataloguing can maybe explain this – I suspect it's something to do with “?” being some sort of a reserved character in the Dynix software, similar to how Google apparently prefers dashes to underscores in its index, a seemingly simple distinction that can make a great difference in your PageRank. 

Anyhow, this isn't a criticism of the RPL since it's symptomatic of problems in many library OPAC's across the country.  In fact, one thing I have loved about RPL since getting back (and of course, a blog-entry list is pending on that very topic) is their extensive DVD collection on a wide-range of topics, non-fiction and fiction, and not just the National Film Board documentaries from the 1970's and German art films from the 1980's that are the bulk of so many other library's video collections. 

One of the recurring battles in libraries is “give people what they  do want” versus “give people what they should want”.  RPL does a good job of doing both but definitely goes further towards “what people do want” in a way that many libraries don't which is great.  For example, one new feature since I returned in that they now have extensive collections of TV show DVD's – you can get complete seasons of everything from Seinfeld to Alias to Corner Gas. 

They even go further than that to reach people.  Looking at their list of movies on order, one that caught my eye was “The Butterfly Effect 2” That's the direct-to-video sequel to an Ashton Kutcher film that didn't do great business or get great reviews the first time around (though the original is apparently a bit of a cult classic – currently a 7.7 rating on IMDB.) 

And just to bring it full circle, who was one of the stars of the Butterfly Effect 2?  That's right, Indian Head's biggest fan Dustin Milligan!   (Light bulb!  Maybe RPL's media specialist librarian didn't order this film after all.  I'm guessing a patron, maybe 13, maybe female, really wanted to see this film and special ordered it.  But what is cool is that RPL did order the film – some libraries wouldn't.  And even though I just posted it yesterday, why not take the opportunity to use this screen grab of young Mr. Milligan sporting a very cool t-shirt? )