Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Jon's Radio:"Here was the problem. It's nice that I can now look up a book in my local library, but what if it's not in the collection? My library's OPAC (online public access catalog) enables you to ask the library to acquire a book, but the required fill-in form creates an activation threshold that I am rarely motivated to leap over. The basic LibraryLookup bookmarklet is a kind of intermediary. It coordinates two classes of services -- Amazon/BN/isbn.nu/AllConsuming and your local library's OPAC -- to facilitate a lookup. I couldn't resist trying to create another intermediary that would facilitate a purchase request. " 6:23:19 PM