Comments on: [Lock Those Libraries] http://einiverse.eingang.org/ein2/2003/09/09/lock-those-libraries/ Ein Zwei: Even More Ein! Thu, 10 Aug 2023 03:56:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Eingang http://einiverse.eingang.org/ein2/2003/09/09/lock-those-libraries/comment-page-1/#comment-110 Eingang Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:43:49 +0000 http://einiverse.eingang.org/blogs/ein2/2003/09/09/lock-those-libraries/#comment-110 That's a good point and it reminds me of looking for materials at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. They didn't have "stacks" that you could browse. You looked through the electronic card catalogue for what you wanted and presented a request slip to a librarian. Then a robot would retrieve and eventually deliver whatever it was. It was very high tech, but I did comment at the time on how it interfered with serendipitous finds. As you noted with The Open University library, you already needed to know a lot about what it was you wanted before you could get it. That’s a good point and it reminds me of looking for materials at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. They didn’t have “stacks” that you could browse. You looked through the electronic card catalogue for what you wanted and presented a request slip to a librarian. Then a robot would retrieve and eventually deliver whatever it was. It was very high tech, but I did comment at the time on how it interfered with serendipitous finds. As you noted with The Open University library, you already needed to know a lot about what it was you wanted before you could get it.

]]> By: eLiz http://einiverse.eingang.org/ein2/2003/09/09/lock-those-libraries/comment-page-1/#comment-109 eLiz Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:27:12 +0000 http://einiverse.eingang.org/blogs/ein2/2003/09/09/lock-those-libraries/#comment-109 Indeed, even accessing library resources once you're in the building is not necessarily easy. If I want to see a PhD thesis from the Open University library, I have to know its title or author in order to make a request of the librarian. The problem with that approach is that you first need to know just which thesis you want to look at, but all that is in the electronic file is the title and the author, not what method of research was used, and as every author and topic is different, what is interesting is finding *how* the research was done and how it was written up. That means you've got to skim read a number of PhD thesis, and you can't do that when they're all kept behind the doors for access only with author and title. Indeed, even accessing library resources once you’re in the building is not necessarily easy.

If I want to see a PhD thesis from the Open University library, I have to know its title or author in order to make a request of the librarian. The problem with that approach is that you first need to know just which thesis you want to look at, but all that is in the electronic file is the title and the author, not what method of research was used, and as every author and topic is different, what is interesting is finding *how* the research was done and how it was written up. That means you’ve got to skim read a number of PhD thesis, and you can’t do that when they’re all kept behind the doors for access only with author and title.

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