A Novel Method for Creating a Distributed, Collaborative Commenting Environment for Bibliographic Items

Abstract

This paper discusses a novel approach to adding user comments to existing platforms for bibliographic information, such as library catalogs. The application is built using simple and free services that support advanced functionality at a low price without requiring high-level technical skills. The strength of the approach described here is that it increases the number of comments available for display in any local catalog by consolidating comments from multiple sites and by clustering comments at the FRBR Work level. To do this, a central store of comments from multiple sites is created. In addition, the application uses ISBNs and OCLC's Work IDs to consolidate comments from different publications (FRBR manifestations) for the same work.