This reaction paper is about an article that was published in the ITAL Journal: Information Technology and Libraries Journal, Vol.18, No.2 in June 1999 written by two professors that do research in Library topics in Spain. The article analyzes the aspects that influence the integration between library-user’s requirements and the information technology as a tool that should be able to satisfy those requirements, considering traditional ways, the IT evolution, the standards and the present environment.

User’s expectations changed

Since the Internet is the most used media to find information in our present days, the user became used to a set of features that are available in the web. Doing a search in the Web, a user is sure that he/she will find a lot of information without even knowing exactly what he/she is looking for. The links will take the user to what is important for him/her. As the authors state, “the rigid structure impedes the development of a structure of nodes and links inherent in the Web environment”. In the OPACs the user should always know details that identify a particular document. For example, I tried to do a search for videos in Spanish. I took three OPACs: SUNY Buffalo, SU Library and Onondaga Public Library. All of them have options that will help the user choosing a language: Spanish. (The Onondaga Public Library option is more friendly that the others in my opinion). However, that is just one limit or additional option because you still need to say a title, keyword or author about the video. The question is, if I use the keyword or title, should I use Spanish or English? .
I am sure that those libraries have limited number of publications or videos in Spanish and that is why I just would like to see what is available and then choose something, but there is no option that can give me only a list of all videos or books available in Spanish without naming a topic, author or title.

The importance of the Metadata

Data about data (metadata) is very difficult do define and I think the use of it is very important for OPAC’s in order to offer information to the clients that to fulfill speed access requirements and multiple search options. The authors consider that XML is a very good tool that works with metadata. I agree with that; but definitely its definition and creation is the most difficult part. Those are concepts that require experience and still a lot of research to find the best ways. This could be one reason why the Schools of Information Studies are becoming more popular.

The importance of standards

Because of this article I got some information about MARC records, ISDB and Z39.50 standards. I consider all the standards are important because they promote the global understanding of a particular topic. If the standards would not be used, there could be millions of ways to do the same thing and without a common language. As it is stated in the article, it consists of establishing common criteria for determining the exact meaning of search terms and metadata....”. On the other hand, applying standards without suggesting and making changes and updates according to the present technology could represent a limitation for the Library industry.

Conclusion

Some time ago, I did know much about the importance of Library profession. Most of the people in my country still think that a librarian is just a person who puts the books in the shields in an alphabetical order. Because I am in the School of Information Studies and I read articles like this, I understood how complex and important is their job because they “organize” information, looking for the integration of user’s needs and the available resources.  It is a very difficult job because there are more a more resources that need to be organized, not only books and also electronic sources for example and also because the user has more expectations.

Sources

Virginia Ortiz-Repiso and Purificacion Moscoso. (Jun, 1999). Web based OPACs: Between tradition and innovation. [On line] http://www.lita.org/ital/1802_moscoso.html (Oct.9,2001).

In order to analyze this article I considered three libraries where I did some search options:
o Library of SUNY Buffalo:
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/bison/example.html?CONVTOKEN=002470094133120
o SU Library
http://libwww.syr.edu/
o Onondaga Public Library
http://www.ocpl.lib.ny.us/webclient.html