Jul 11
4
Libraries and web application transparency
I have continued to read a number of posts about Ajax, Web 2.0 and the current state of web applications since my previous post on this topic. One of the things that continues to impress me is the relevance and potential of these technologies for libraries. Dion Hinchcliffe has written a post about Why Ajax Is So Disruptive and makes a number of great observations. One that stuck out was his remark that with new Web 2.0 applications the software is invisible. He writes, “I never worry about if I have the software installed that I need, whether I have the security permissions, if my data is nearby. All of these concerns slip away and I’m getting done what I need to get done.”
Libraries need to take a note here. In an ideal world we would develop some crazy software suite that our patrons would install and then use to efficiently find their library and information resources. If we wrote the software ourselves we would be able to control all the issues involved with data compatibility and interoperability with electronic library resources. However, we don’t live in a perfect world and we can’t afford to write such software ourselves.
What Hinchcliffe points out is that the can piggyback on the universal platform of the web browser. With technologies like Ajax that are maximizing the levels of interactivity and fluidity of GUIs on the web, we can develop constantly changing software that resides on our servers. If digital library services are delivered using technologies that emulate richer software and acts more like desktop software, libraries will minimize the amount of burden that they will impose on patrons. The software is a living service that is adapted and tweaked with user feedback and updated as needed. Since the software resides on the web server and is only ever launched through a web browser all of the issues that should be transparent to patrons, such as updates for security or usability reasons, we will never need to force someone to install a latest version. A patron never needs to realize she is using a piece of software. Instead, she simply needs to go to the library’s website.