[bksvol-discuss] Re: Very Outdated Bookshare Listings on NLS
- From: "Evan Reese" <mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 08:29:57 -0700
Thanks, Gerald. I didn't mean to imply that Bookshare wasn't making the
information available, but something more along the lines that someone at
Bookshare might want to talk to whomever at NLS to find out what the problem is.
Also, I hadn't thought about the circulation issue. It certainly may be true
in my case, though. Since I am now getting books from Bookshare that will be
out eventually from NLS, I won't be borrowing them from my regional library.
Considering how often I have to go on a waiting list for books from there,
however, I don't have much sympathy for them if they lose circulation in this
neighborhood at least, since they apparently can't keep up with the demand as
it is. I do see though that this might be a possible problem in other parts of
the country.
Still, I would wonder what the point is of having the listings at all then. I
suppose it is better to have some rather than none, but personally, I would
rather have none than this half-baked version.
I will attempt to check on some listings from RFB&D to see how current they are
on the NLS database. If what you say about possible efforts to protect their
circulation is true, then either their listings should be behind as well, or if
they are more current than Bookshare's, their efforts at protecting their
circulation are slipshod. However, it may also be true that they don't see
their patrons borrowing from RFB&D as cutting into their circulation as much as
patrons downloading books from Bookshare, since RFB&D's target audience is
somewhat different. Either way, Bookshare suffers, and the question arises as
to why the database was set up in the first place if Bookshare is seen as a
possible problem for them. Perhaps it didn't occur to them at the time, but
did later.
Thanks.
----- Original Message -----
From: Gerald Hovas
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: john.g@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 7:06 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Very Outdated Bookshare Listings on NLS
Evan,
I'm not sure, but I believe it may be more of an NLS issue of not updating
their database than Bookshare not making the information available to NLS. I
would expect NLS to have already automated the process, but perhaps that is the
reason why the info is not being updated. Keep in mind too that It's also
possible that NLS decided that updating the data is not in its best interest if
it's losing patrons to Bookshare. While patrons wouldn't truely be lost,
having their patrons subscribing to Bookshare could affect the number of books
being borrowed which could in turn affect their budget.
I have it on my list of fixes/upgrades/issues and will bring it up sometime
when I talk to the staff. I'm also copying John on this response to make sure
the staff doesn't overlook your post so they'll know that it makes a difference
in regards to attracting new members.
HTH
Gerald
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Evan Reese
Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 8:09 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Very Outdated Bookshare Listings on NLS
I noticed some months ago that the listings that come up doing searches on
the NLS site with "all" in the Locations field contained Bookshare listings
that were outdated, meaning that books that I knew were in Bookshare's
collection were not listed there. I just checked it again this afternoon, and
those listings don't seem to have changed at all! I joined Bookshare in
mid-January, and my first submission was added to the collection on January 20,
but that book does not come up on the NLS site. In fact, none of the books I
have submitted or validated since then appear there. I know of one book -
"Redemption Ark" by Alastair Reynolds which was published here before I joined
that does not appear there. So unless the books I have submitted or validated
are being specifically excluded somehow, the listings that come up on NLS site
with respect to Bookshare books are at least six months out of date.
This is not an idle complaint. I was attracted to Bookshare because I found
books listed in my NLS searches as being from Bookshare that I was very
interested in reading. The original reason I had set Location to "all" in the
search was mainly to net books from RFB&D without having to go and do the same
search up there. I had heard of Bookshare from another source, but did not pay
much attention until I began finding interesting listings in the NLS search
results. I would be very surprised if other people did not have a similar
story.
I want Bookshare to grow, and I assume that the people who work for Bookshare
would also like it to grow. The more members it has, the more submissions from
more people with diverse interests. Also, many of these people may become
volunteers and can help get more books of high quality into the collection.
Bookshare has added about 2000 books in the time I have joined, which are
probably not coming up in any search results of potential new members. As I
say, I don't know how many potential members that would be, but it seems to me
that it is unlikely that I would be the only person that came to Bookshare as a
result of seeing books of interest in NLS search results.
I also don't know who on the staff would be responsible for looking into
this, but I would expect that someone up there would be interested in seeing
why they are so far out of date. This would seem to be one of those processes
that could be automated. It doesn't sound unreasonable to expect to have
monthly or even weekly updates, at night when Net traffic is low. Especially
now that we have the NY Times bestsellers in the collection, I would bet that
that would attract some people who don't want to wait for NLS to get them out.
Also, I know how impatient I can be when a new book in a series is out and I
don't want to wait the interminable-seeming time for it to finally come out on
tape. I am sure that there others who feel the same. If people who are not
members of Bookshare see that these kinds of books are available here, they may
be motivated to join up.
Of course, this all assumes that at least some people will change the default
setting in NLS searches from "NLS Only" to "all", and I don't know how many
people that would be. But nevertheless, I would think that Bookshare would
want to have more current listings than six months old. Why bother to have
this relationship with NLS if the listings are going to be that far behind?
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