31 ms·

Stealing Your Library: The OCLC Powergrab

44 points by soundsop 18y ago

Raphael 18y ago
Any book that's worth reading will be scanned, run through OCR, and distributed for free. Google IS the catalogue. End of story.
- taw 18y ago
  No it won't. You see all music/movies on p2p sites, because it is so unbelievably easy to share your music/movies even against wishes of copyright holders. For everything else - books, software, academic papers etc. - you only see the popular ones, not the long tail, and the long tail is where the real value is.
- bootload 18y ago
  "... Any book that's worth reading will be scanned, run through OCR, and distributed for free. Google IS the catalogue. End of story. ..." You are right, replacing one monopoly with another is one way to end the story. What is wrong with an open alternative?
  - Raphael 18y ago
    Nothing wrong. The problem is that there's no such thing as a book any more. It's all just text. Any search engine will do.
bdittmer 18y ago
Around here OCLC (Columbus, OH - where it's headquartered) is known as a place developers go to retire. Pretty good pay, flex time, good benefits and a sweet campus. Their time tables are also huge so it's a good place to go if you don't mind taking your good old time finishing projects. I cannot really comment on anything else, although the few people I've known to work there enjoy it. Personally I think the slow timetables would drive me up a wall.
thinkcomp 18y ago
According to this: http://oregonstate.edu/~reeset/blog/archives/582 http://oregonstate.edu/~reeset/blog/archives/582 one of your main issues has been addressed. As for the other, it's true that the OCLC shouldn't view itself as a for-profit entity that needs lock-in to survive when all of its member organizations are non-profits for good reason. That all being said, I think WorldCat is a great product, and when you consider that most libraries use SirsiDynix or some other horrible on-line catalog, it's not too surprising that the people at OCLC don't trust libraries to make good IT decisions for themselves. As far as your own product (Open Library) goes, I think it looks nice, but I guess I don't understand the benefits very well.

44 points by soundsop 18y ago

Any book that's worth reading will be scanned, run through OCR, and distributed for free. Google IS the catalogue. End of story.

taw 18y ago
No it won't. You see all music/movies on p2p sites, because it is so unbelievably easy to share your music/movies even against wishes of copyright holders. For everything else - books, software, academic papers etc. - you only see the popular ones, not the long tail, and the long tail is where the real value is.
bootload 18y ago
"... Any book that's worth reading will be scanned, run through OCR, and distributed for free. Google IS the catalogue. End of story. ..." You are right, replacing one monopoly with another is one way to end the story. What is wrong with an open alternative?
- Raphael 18y ago
  Nothing wrong. The problem is that there's no such thing as a book any more. It's all just text. Any search engine will do.

bdittmer 18y ago

Around here OCLC (Columbus, OH - where it's headquartered) is known as a place developers go to retire. Pretty good pay, flex time, good benefits and a sweet campus. Their time tables are also huge so it's a good place to go if you don't mind taking your good old time finishing projects. I cannot really comment on anything else, although the few people I've known to work there enjoy it. Personally I think the slow timetables would drive me up a wall.

thinkcomp 18y ago

According to this: http://oregonstate.edu/~reeset/blog/archives/582 http://oregonstate.edu/~reeset/blog/archives/582 one of your main issues has been addressed. As for the other, it's true that the OCLC shouldn't view itself as a for-profit entity that needs lock-in to survive when all of its member organizations are non-profits for good reason. That all being said, I think WorldCat is a great product, and when you consider that most libraries use SirsiDynix or some other horrible on-line catalog, it's not too surprising that the people at OCLC don't trust libraries to make good IT decisions for themselves. As far as your own product (Open Library) goes, I think it looks nice, but I guess I don't understand the benefits very well.