Library can’t afford its OPAC; might have to return to cards

The Cooperstown (N.Y.) Crier reports that the Cooperstown Public Library only has enough funding to pay for its online catalog service for another year or two, despite two fund-raising campaigns. If it can’t find the money somewhere, it might have to return to using a card catalog. Says Library Director David Kent: “It would be like going back to the Stone Age. It’s tricky. We’re sort of in limbo. We’re hoping people will realize the importance of having the online catalog and everything that goes with it. But the possibility of losing it is there.” [More]

October 24, 2004 by Uncategorized 4

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4 Responses

  1. Darron says:
    October 25, 2004 at 6:01 pm

    What about Koha?
    Haven’t they heard of Koha, the free, open-source OPAC–and it compares decently to expensive, commercial products, to boot. Hey, Cooperstown! Check out Koha!

    Reply
  2. madcow says:
    October 25, 2004 at 6:57 pm

    leverage
    is everything. They need to use this, which is what I suspect they’re doing, to their advantage. Do the people in the community REALLY want to be known as the land that time forgot? Do they really want to use those cards?

    I guess this is another reason for libraries to dispose of their cards when they automate…

    Reply
  3. Walt says:
    October 25, 2004 at 8:33 pm

    Re:leverage
    I hate to say this, but the answers to those two questions may be very different.

    Do they want to be known as the land that time forgot? Probably not.

    Do they really want to use catalog cards? Be careful about the questions you ask: You might get answers you don’t expect. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were communities where a majority of users would prefer card catalogs, if offered a choice. They might be wrong or ill-informed in making that choice, (or they might not), but…

    Reply
  4. madcow says:
    October 25, 2004 at 9:09 pm

    Re:leverage
    I hear that. I’m just imagining parents of school children going ballistic if the library is suddenly without computers, etc. Now, I know those are two different issues, computing and OPAC. Internet would be yet a third thing. Let’s see if the lib. director there can tie them all together and make it a go.

    Or maybe they’ll just use the damn cards! 🙂

    Reply

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