Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Seth Stephens is the Dirctor of the Jefferson Township Public Library, Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey. I had to drive through what I call “bear country” to get there! I chatted with Seth about locating local authors and having a get together in the spring.   

“Google Offers Book Downloads” — by Riva Richmond

Google, Inc. consumers can now download PDF files and print free of charge classic novels and other more obscure books that are in the public domain.

Heretofore, you could read, but you couldn’t download or print.

This sounds great, but we are facing the same old problem(s). Books are too expensive to print out and computer screens are a misery from which to read a book. Now if someone will hurry up and invent something that makes it possible to read the download in the comfort of any room in the house, when sunbathing at the beach, or while waiting for a train, I’d be cartwheeling.

Is anyone using anything that works well?

Lynne

Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Bernita is from Ontario, Canada. Her blog,”An Innocent A-Blog—Journal of a Barely Post-Luddite Miranda,” is very funny. Check out her latest post: Seven, Eight—Lay Them Straight.

I still like to patronize my local, independent bookstore, and will continue my impulse buying there. I just dropped in a few days ago and picked up Kim Edward’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. (Interesting enough to have finished in three evenings.)

Of course, in New York City, it’s Barnes & Noble if I am passing by. (You know, now that I think about it, there is a small, underutilized library near me that I have virtually forgotten about.)

Peter, Katy, Maralyn, I think you are wrong. I sense a lot of worldcatting in my future.

My biggest problem is determining which books to spend my time reading. There are too many from which to choose.

But first, to explain relationship of WorldCat to OCLC: WorldCat is the world’s most comprehensive bibliographic database of more than 1.3 billion items, built cooperatively by 58,000 libraries (and librarians) around the world. OCLC, as the world’s largest library cooperative, is the steward of WorldCat.

OCLC entered into a partnership with Google, Yahoo!, Ask.com and a few others (see more at http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/open/partnersites/default.htm) to syndicate WorldCat results into standard Web searches. You can see it at work when you preface a Google or Yahoo search with the words, “Find in a Library:” . You can also use the right-hand side boxes on this page, http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/open/default.htm.

The thinking here is that people are first looking online for information, and we (as librarians in general and OCLC in specific) want to deliver that information through channels that people already use. Like Google or Yahoo.

So when you “Google” for something, if there is a relevant title in a library, you are likely also “WorldCatting” on the sly. It’s a both-and-one situation–WorldCat results come up in Google AND they’re available through WorldCat.org. The idea is to suprise and delight, prompting the library as an additional “information fulfillment” option.

The other thing I want to tell you is that OCLC has some super cool things in the works for delivery of these WorldCat materials. Wherever they live, wherever you live. Of course I personally as a library user would love to have all content digitized and able to be served up instantly. But as the Wicked Witch of Publishing will attest, copyright issues and authentication are still catching up with the digital freedom we all yearn for…

To Peter, I would say I’m sorry that you had an unsatisfying interlibrary loan experience. OCLC is working hard to make interlibrary loan easier for searchers and more cost-effective for libraries. And even then sometimes, there are some materials that are not allowed out of the physical library, even if the Queen herself requested them. What I would tell you is to make sure LAPL hears your request and understands that you’d like to use more of their services. Libraries everywhere are turning the corner to be much more user-centric than ever before. WorldCat.org is meant to be another step in that direction!

Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Thanks, Alice, for stopping by and answering my question. (And to you Naysayers, I say, let’s give it six months and see what happens re the delivery.)

Nevertheless, I agree with your other correspondents that easy delivery from say, remote Himalayan former kingdoms, may be wanting in the breach, but the information quotient is invaluable.

Right you are, Katy. I’v been doing this with the Los Angeles Public Library since the early ’90s.

The worldcat thingy is one of those inventions that have a high wow factor but will have little practical application. I’ve discovered certain books that I was desperately searching for years ago in university libraries in other states, but those libraries wouldn’t permit an interlibrary loan. Therein lies the rub.

It won’t help me to know that a branch of the Nevada public library happens to shelve a book I’ve been searching for if I can’t get my hands on it.

Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: Well, up to now checking your state libraries via computer was the ONLY efficient way to track down a book and get it moved to a library close to you if necessary. With a global program, delivery does seem to be the bugaboo. Perhaps we are heading for digital delivery?  I have heard from the OCLC people and am looking forward to their response to my question in Dave Newton’s comment. I think they’ll give us some answers to the access and delivery question.

I’m glad you’re spreading the word about the site, and it is fun to use, but will people actually use this site beyond exporing it for the first time? It seems to me that most people looking for a title to check out would look on their own library’s Web site first. They could then turn to Worldcat next. But I doubt that Wordcat would be their first choice.

Still, it’s a brilliant idea, well executed. Thanks, Wicked Witch.