Cataloging/Acquisitions Knowledge Bases

For a planned  registry (and future presentations and articles [:-)]),
I am greatly interested in identifying library-created or
library-related Knowledge Bases that have been applied in Cataloging,
Acquisitions, Collection Development, or Library Systems venues.

A Knowledge Base / Knowledgebase may be defined as a database with a
focus on empirical or practical knowledge. In recent years, Knowledge
bases have become common components for many businesses and services.
The RealNetworks "Customer Support" Knowledge Base.

[ http://service.real.com/kb/ ]

is an excellent example of a technical support knowledge base. I am
interested in library-created OR library-related Knowledge Bases

Perhaps the most sophisticated Library Knowledge Base was the one
planned as part of the OPAL Project. " The OPAL (Online Personal
Academic Librarian)

[ http://library.open.ac.uk/aboutus/opal/intro.html ]

started as an eighteen month research project based at the Open
University Library  which is exploring the development of a fully
automated online 24/7 reference service for distance students. The
project began in November 2000 and was a partnership between the OU
Library, the OU Knowledge Media Institute, and the libraries of the
University of Leicester and the University of  London's Birkbeck
College."

SEE ALSO: "The OPAL Project: Developing An Automated Online Reference
System For Distance Learners" in  the June 2001 issue of D-Lib
Magazine.

[http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june01/06inbrief.html]

Another innovative library-based Knowledge Base is EARS (Electronic
Access to Reference Services), a service available  from the Learning
Resources division of the University of Northumbria at Newcastle.

[  http://library.unn.ac.uk/ears/  ]

The *Most* impressive general knowledge base that I've discovered in a
recent Quick-and-Dirty search is START,

[  http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/infolab/index.html ]

"the world's first Web-based question answering system, has been
on-line and continuously operating since December, 1993.  It has been
developed by Boris Katz and his associates of the InfoLab Group at the
MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Unlike information retrieval
systems (e.g., search engines), START aims to supply users with "just
the right information,"  instead of merely providing a list of hits.
Currently, the system can answer millions of English questions about
places (e.g., cities, countries, lakes, coordinates, weather, maps,
demographics, political and economic systems), movies (e.g., titles,
actors, directors), people (e.g., birth dates, biographies), dictionary
definitions, and much, much more... ."

As Always, I Welcome Any and All contributions, queries, comments,
nominations, Cosmic Insights, Etc. Etc. Etc. [I am NOT, however,
interested in corporate Knowledge Bases per se]

Articles, reports, studies, school papers or projects regarding Library
Knowledge Bases are also of major interest for a planned General
Bibliography. [I am NOT, however, interested in literature about
Knowledge Bases per se]

The registry is  titled:

KBL(sm): A Registry of Library Knowledge Bases

and will be located at:

[ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/KBL.htm ]

Regards,

/Gerry

Gerry McKiernan,
KnowledgeBased Librarian
Iowa State University, Ames IA 50011

gerrymck@iastate.edu

"If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."
[ http://www.sric.org/voices/2003/v4n2/ ]