Saturday, July 21st, 2007

My Library of Congress talk

The Library of Congress has just posted a talk I did there back in April, part of the Digital Future and You series.

I cover the basics of LibraryThing and some of what LibraryThing “means” to libraries, including a long section on tagging. It has a short section—a sermon, really—on open data, in anticipation of the launch of Open Library, and another on the upcoming Everything is Miscellaneous.*

To my regret, it ends abruptly. They didn’t include the 20+ minute Q&A**, which went a lot deeper on some of the interesting issues (particularly tagging), and with the nation’s top library talent!

Being asked to talk in front of the LC was a great honor. There aren’t many institutions I hold in higher regard. And it was fun. I got to be myself—PowerPoint-less, off-the-cuff and passionate–and was greeted warmly and given the benefit of the doubt when I pushed the limits. Also, I got to have lunch with some of their top people. It was a blast.


*The subtext of that section is that I just had a lunch conversation about open data, and heard more about the whys, wherefores and finances involved.
**Apparently they felt that they needed permission from everyone who appears on tape, and that the questions were not well miked.

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