One upping LibraryThing

I have told a few people about this already, and they liked it: zoomii.

It basically makes Amazon like a bookstore. Browse by clicking and dragging. Use the scroll wheel on the mouse to zoom in or out. Click on a book to see whether it is in stock, how much it is, and add it to a shopping cart or wish list (requires an account to do so).

Someone has mentioned (and others are probably testing out the idea right now) doing the same thing with OPAC search results. While I wouldn't consider it a must have option, still, it's pretty cool, and a fun way to virtually browse the shelves for what you want.

By the way, it didn't show the books I wanted, but I found them by doing a search. It says the books I want aren't currently available, so I put them on a wish list. I'm waiting to see what happens with that. I wonder if the wish list feature could be configured, working with an OPAC, as a "place hold" request?

Major scheduling blunder (on my part)

Sirsi Dynix is having a Webinar with Marshall Breeding this Friday (6/13/08) at 11:00, and I have a class starting at 10:30. For the uninitiated, Marshall Breeding is to Library Automation as Greg Notess is to Search Engines (what? you haven't heard of Greg Notess?). Marshall Breeding has been following and tracking what has been going on with Library Automation for eons in Internet time.

He is one of the people you want to listen to when it comes to library technology. At the Internet Librarian 2007 Conference, he gave a quick presentation, during the lunch break, on Next Generation Library Interfaces.

Fortunately, they keep an archive of their presentations. Of course, you can't ask questions viewing the archive (and expect to get an answer...).