The Liminal Librarian

Maybe it’s just the grinchiness of the season, but I’m wondering what’s up with the recent spate of of librarians who don’t want to share. First, Code4Lib Journal publishes “We Love Open Source Software. No, You Can’t Have Our Code.” Here’s the abstract:

Librarians are among the strongest proponents of open source software. Paradoxically, libraries are also among the least likely to actively contribute their code to open source projects. This article identifies and discusses six main reasons this dichotomy exists and offers ways to get around them.

Go read the rest of it, please. (Which you can do, because Code4Lib Journal DOES share…)

Then, OCLC continues its power grabbiness, summed up with inimitable style at Caveat Lector under “Thursday WTFery.”

Here’s what it boils down to, guys. I have an almost 2yo already, so don’t need to hear about any more of these “NO! MINE!” toddler-inspired power struggles, mm-kay? Listen:

Librarianship is about sharing. Librarianship is about collaborating. Librarianship should darn well be about not having to reinvent the wheel every time. So play nice!

Speaking of sharing, The Free Range Librarian also has an awesome post up: “Hiding my candy: giving me the option to share my reading.”

I don’t want librarians to “protect my privacy” by purging my reading history from their catalogs. (One of the most useful features of Amazon for me? My purchasing history. Not just as a personal record — but as data Amazon uses to improve my experience.)

To which I can only say: YES. Not only for the option to share with and explore others’ reading, but for the option of having my record available to me — I can’t count how many times I’ve tried to remember a title I just returned, or recall the name of an author I enjoyed last month. If I’d bought the book on Amazon instead of getting it from my local library, this would be a given… As far as privacy concerns, how about: opt-in only, with the option to keep the data password-protected/private or share it with the world, and the option to not share any given item.