MyLibrary is about creating relationships

MyLibrary is more about creating relationships than it is about personalization and customization.

When MyLibrary was made available in 1997/8 the application was all about creating "my pages". Since then it has matured and evolved. First and foremost, it is not a turn-key application like it was previously. Instead, it is more like a digital library framework and toolbox akin to Fedora, just written in Perl. Second, with the advent of object-oriented programming techniques, MyLibrary is about four types of things: 1) resources, 2) patrons, 3) librarians, and 4) facet/term combinations. The first three things are are well-known to us librarians. The fourth is not.



Using facet/term combinations it is possible to create strong relationships between resources, patrons, and librarians. By "cataloging" resources, patrons, and librarians with facet/term combinations it is possible to address things like:

• The resources I curate are...
• My patrons are...
• The resources recommended for me include...
• This resource is like that resource...
• My librarian is...
• People like me include...

Moreover, facet/term combinations are not just about subjects and formats. They can also be about audiences, resource tools, true/false values, academic classes, dates, genres, etc. By "cataloging" resources, patrons, and librarians with these sorts of facet/term combinations it is possible to create relationships between them in a much fuller way than what we are doing now.