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Spineless Wonders
on the pleasures, perils and delights of the virtual library
Page: 2
 There's nothing like snooping through someone's books. In fact, there's no better way to get to know someone than by sifting through their library. Most book lovers would welcome it. Books are an extension of who they are. But could the same be said for a virtual library? Those things we call "bookmarks" that come and go as easily as adolescent love affairs? We thought we'd ask some Web-savvy York professors. We suspected most people didn't want anyone seeing what they placed on their virtual shelves. On the other hand, we were curious about what people were putting there. Would they let us see it? Would they talk to us about it? Apparently, yes.
VERA FRENKEL
York professor emeritus, Film & Video
"What do I put on my bookmarks? That's a very personal question. The computer is more private [than the library], but maybe that's my delusion...books arrive in a person's home in many different ways -- as presents, or for courses. Or you buy them. In the case of bookmarks you choose them and the implication is you'll go back to them. I've got about 100 and within those there are folders with other stuff. To be honest, I think the [physical] library is now all the more necessary. The Web is just a scanning device."
PERSONAL HIT LIST:
- The Swedish parachute jumping club
- Cyber magazines she hopes to have time to read
- A bookmark from the weather station ("convenient but not very interesting")
- York's home page
- Lots of bookmarks about artists
- Art galleries around the world
- Research for her web site [www.yorku.ca/bodymissing] on Third Reich art theft policies
- Index of Poets
- Personal health stuff
PAUL HOFFERT
Executive director of York's CulTech Research Centre
"Privacy? I'm not a guy who has a big feeling about that. I'm a very public person. There's not a whole lot I would do that's private. I have hundreds of bookmarks, but I buy probably a magazine a day. My bookmarks parallel my physical library almost exactly. It's a problem. I'd like to have a single filing system that could integrate the two. I organize them in hierarchical levels in folders. I'm fortunate enough to have professional friendships with people who act as primary filters and send me interesting stuff. And I bookmark interesting sites as they come up in Netscape, then I leave it for another day and deal with it when I have time. I spend at least 20 minutes on the Web each day, but more than that reading books and magazines -- maybe an hour a day for them. I'm a magazine junkie. I don't like reading long articles online... just breaking news or headlines. I like to keep informed about what's happening in the culture. I won't stop buying magazines or newspapers until they come up with an appliance I can take into the bathroom."
PERSONAL HIT LIST:
- 20 different search engines, archives/libraries
- Shopping: Canoe, World's Biggest Bookstore, Dutch Auction Site (Internet liquidators)
- Galleries, food (Bon Appetit magazine), leisure/humour/anagrams
- Religious sites
- E-zines, and on-line magazines
- File on music/movies/multimedia: sites include Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Buffy Sainte-Marie
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