Week 1: Creative Cataloging

The first week's presentation provided a comprehensive introduction to digital library projects, from the point of view of project underpinnings and inspiration. It is clear from Prof. Ballard's background that he has maintained a strong interest in technological changes and their impact on our profession, throughout his career. The presentation, with its reminder of the profound changes brought by electronic catalogs, was both striking and grounding. By this I mean to say that there was a clear emphasis on the scope of technological change in the last few decades, but without the sense of anxiety, zeal, or glorification that is sometimes present in library discourse. In other words, the first night's presentation was refreshing.

One of the most interesting aspects of the first night's presentation was the mention of Quinnipiac's cataloging records that include links to images and JSTOR book reviews. What I like about this practice is that it removes the ordinary bibliographic record from isolation. There was a clear sense throughout the presentation that the library catalog is existing within a wider web and can be integrated with other resources. It seems obvious that we should be doing this: taking advantage of the ability to link to relevant content directly from the catalog, or even to enhance our records by inserting additional content. I came away from the first evening's presentation with a sense of the potential to usefully situate our catalogs and resources within the wider web, in a way that a lot of libraries have yet to explore.