EDITOR'S NOTES
Putting on Your Publishing Cap
by
Dick Kaser
Libraries are publishers—and have been for a long while. The card catalog itself is an information product in its own right and a content resource, bar none. This issue of Computers in Libraries magazine runs the gamut from archiving stuff in vast digital collections to delivering a content-rich user experience on the library website.
Senovia Guevara provides an update on the University of Michigan’s work with the files resulting from Google’s digitization of its book collection. The issue also includes step-by-step how-to’s on publishing subject guides (see guest columnist Donna Ekart’s article) and on developing online tutorials (Lindsay Blake). You’ll also find practical tips on defining, building, and promoting digital collections in Marshall Breeding’s column and in our cover feature on getting the user focus right in your publishing initiatives (Qin Zhu and Sophia Guevara).
Janet Balas provides a good set of resources for those with a general interest in the subject of libraries as publishers, and Daniel Chudnov pushes the envelope with his discussion of semantic content and “linked data” for ready reference.
But it is Terence Huwe who hits the nail on the head when he suggests that it’s really not about “libraries as publishers” but “publishers in libraries.” By the time you finish reading this issue, you may conclude that you’ve been a publisher all along, and you can wear your publishing hat with pride.
We’ve rounded out our coverage this month by inviting ITI’s news bureau chief, Paula Hane, to write a synopsis of ILS developments based on interviews she conducted at the ALA Midwinter Meeting.
This month, we’re also pleased to publish the winning entry in a writing contest sponsored by Deep Web Technologies, The Federated Search Blog, and Information Today, Inc. on the subject of the future of federated search. If you’re reading this issue at our Computers in Libraries conference, don’t miss the session where contest winner Richard Turner makes a special appearance (April 1, 10:30 a.m.–11:15 a.m.). Hope to see you there!
Dick Kaser, Executive Editor
kaser@infotoday.com
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