Talking ’Bout My Library
By Walt Crawford
American Libraries Columnist
Senior analyst, Research Libraries Group
Column for April 2002
What’s MyLibrary? Eric Lease Morgan (a pioneer in MyLibrary work at North Carolina State, now at Notre Dame) says it’s a “user-centered, customizable interface to collections of library resources.” Think of MyLibrary as a personal library portal. The concept has been around for some four years, and more than three dozen libraries have implemented MyLibrary and similar systems.
The Library and Information Technology Association’s Top Technology Trends Committee noted in January 1999 that “Library users who are Web users . . . expect customization, interactivity, and customer support.” Given the excitement over MyExcite, MyYahoo, and so on, MyLibrary seemed like the obvious next step.
What does MyLibrary do?
Personalized library portals can include quite a few features, among them:
- Academic libraries may provide scores of databases and thousands of full-text electronic journals. MyLibrary can show a user only those databases and journals that suit the user’s personal profile, reducing the overload. Sophisticated implementations could look at user search patterns and journal use to improve the profile and provide even more personalized service. That same profile can yield “pushed” results—identifying what’s new and personally interesting in the library’s print and electronic resources.
- MyLibrary centralizes the user’s library information—what’s out, holds ready for pickup, Ariel-delivered articles—and makes renewal and other processes straightforward.
- MyLibrary could be a user’s home page with other Web links and could potentially add collaborative filtering—where MyLibrary suggests worthwhile items to a user based on previous reading and reading patterns of other users. (Think Netflix or Amazon.)
- MyLibrary could be a set of building blocks integrating library services into the user’s MyCampus or MyWorldview page.
What’s the problem?
Confidentiality issues immediately pop up. “Look at user search patterns.” “Suggest worthwhile items based on previous reading.” Geezers like me say, “And when the FBI comes calling, you’ll have a package to hand them—assuming they haven’t picked it up directly from your servers.”
You don’t need MyLibrary to provide most “current personal library information” features above—I can log in to my public library’s Web site, enter my card number, see my current items, and make renewals without setting up a portal.
Other drawbacks are harder to explain: solipsism, differential service, and irrelevance. None of them mean that MyLibrary and MyGateway services are bad ideas; combined, however, the drawbacks keep personal library portals from being inevitable parts of every library’s future.
Solipsism happens when a user’s profile becomes too narrow. The flip side, more likely in most library systems, is that broadly defined profiles can result in an overabundance of “what’s new” and “what’s worthwhile” items, negating the worth of MyLibrary for reducing information overload.
Differential service can happen if a library assumes that everyone uses MyLibrary effectively and plans service enhancements around that assumption. Users who don’t have the time or understanding to set up a good profile can receive lower-quality service.
Irrelevance turns out to be the greatest drawback of all. Most MyLibrary systems have been narrowly adopted: A relatively small percentage of users set up full profiles and a relatively small percentage make significant use of their MyLibrary pages.
An irrelevant MyLibrary is a burden for the library, even when the software is free (as some of it is). If only 5% of your users can be bothered to build profiles, does MyLibrary make sense? At a Midwinter 2002 Machine-Assisted Reference Section Hot Topics discussion, nobody recommended more than a 10% adoption rate.
MyLibrary schemas aren’t useless. Kerry Bouchard of Texas Christian and Dan Ream of Virginia Commonwealth universities both mention successful use of course-specific pages, where the “My” is a course rather than a person. Good design and realistic limitations can overcome most inherent drawbacks except the low adoption rate—and 10% may be enough to be worthwhile in some libraries.
You can find out more (lots more) about MyLibrary and related systems in the December 2000 Information Technology and Libraries. Another good place to start is Eric Lease Morgan’s site.
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