[Sigia-l] About bloody time?

[Ziya Oz]

Gordon Joly:

> A thought: that the indexing system and the shelving system could be
> different? You maintain a database of the books, and the system tells
> you which shelf to place a book on.... users have access to the
> system as well.

Yesterday I was at the huge NYC Niketown store next to the IBM building
where I consult. It was a madhouse. I selected a running shoe from the
display units, told one of the roaming guys with a wireless gadget the size
I wanted, sat down and waited for about 4-5 mins. Some kind of pneumatic
elevator thingy popped up my shoe and I was soon done. They must have
thousands of SKUs in that store and it works: display is abstracted from
storage.

Likewise, there are scripts that allow you to browse, say, Amazon.com,
select a book (with superior contextual aids: reviews, recommendations, etc)
and with a click quickly find out if your local library branch has the same
book.

With the specific instance of serendipitous stack browsing aside, since
every library has a PC with Internet access, why isn't this the principal
mode of discovery at non-academic libraries?

----
Ziya

Design is the art of not inventing.