Stormingwomen: #15 (Week 6)

Monday, March 5, 2007

#15 (Week 6)

I reviewed very briefly a few of the articles related to Library 2.0. I found the article by John J. Riemer on the role of 2.0 and metadata very intriguing. It also fits in with the Chip Nilges article. The concept of the OPAC as the mainframe to library information is clearly on it’s way out. The Open WorldCat Project is a key example. The technology is there to support both technical library cataloging/metadata with tagging resources for non-librarians using WorldCat.

I see the benefit of these tools to develop new creative tools for patron use, but I also believe that the standards created through MARC and DACS need to be maintained along side “sexy” tools offered by the worldcat program and others. I can’t see the Library of Congress subject headings going away any time soon, nor should they. However, they are slow to change categories based on race, class and gender, and perhaps we all could learn something from how our patrons would tag information for their own work.

Nigles refers to “Collective Intelligence” articulated by O’Reilly, which conveys the larger concept of “users add value.” Clearly libraries and librarians need to think beyond the OPAC box, and harness some of this technology to compete with Google.

I am beginning to see the long-term benefits of this 2.0 Learning.

1 comment:

bennett said...: Excuse me for going off-topic, but as an American women's historian and feminist, you may find the current issue of Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art
(Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University --
No.20/Fall 2006)of particular interest. it is devoted to lynching in America, actions in Abu Ghraib and the role of women as activists and participants. Most of the articles are in fact written by women historians. The issue is visually gripping as well.; March 7, 2007 at 7:44 AM

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Why Storming Women, one might ask?

In naming this blog, I was thinking in context to one of my current research projects documenting the "Feminist Capital" through oral history. I presented a paper “Storming Politics: San Jose Women and the “Feminist Capital” 1974-2007” at the Social Science Historical Association in Minneapolis this past fall. This paper was based on several oral history interviews I conducted this past year. To date, I have interviewed Janet Gray Hayes, the first female mayor of San Jose, and the first women to be elected in a large city. I also interviewed, Susanne Wilson, who served on the City Council during this same time period, and went on to serve as a member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Santa Clara County became known as the "Feminist Capital" of world as result of the success of women in elected office and in key administrative posts. Susie Wilson, Zoe Lofgren, Dianne McKenna, and to some degree Sally Reed created their own female majority on the Board. I plan to write an article on this research in the near future.