BiblioCommons

I’m enjoying checking out BiblioCommons at the Oakville, Ontario, library in Canada

Library Journal covered it here: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6579748.html

I also enjoyed the recent coverage from Jenny Levine:

http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2008/07/23/bibliocommons-goes-live.html

As I noted in my CiL talk, it’s refreshing just to see a catalog I could log in to with a username instead of a barcode – what a novel idea! Don’t even get me started on the fact that the interface includes terms like “connect,” “network,” and “trusted sources.” So much good stuff here, though – ratings, tags, lists, users, comments, recommendations, faceted browsing, contextual help, natural language (not jargon), user-based age ratings, “share with a friend” links, similar titles, a shelf browser with cover images, and the ability to get rewards for adding content to the catalog. I love that I didn’t have to dig deeply into the catalog to start finding user-generated content, as I often have to do in other OPACs when I need an example.

I’ll just add: “what she said” and urge you to go try it out. I feel as though I’ve seen a glimpse of the future and it’s friendly, usable, connected and rather beautiful. ILS Vendors take note!