Understanding databases … and more

A few days ago at work I experienced one of those happy surprises at work.  It started out with confusion … a request from a client/patron/user (whatever word you prefer) responsible for a wide variety of databases who wanted to know more about some files my library updates and maintains on the web and confusion about the related data included in the library’s catalogue.  After many back-and-forth e-mails, we were no closer to understanding what each other was thinking or needing. Then, we met in person.  Turns out, they only actually needed two pieces of information:

1. The basic structure of records in the library catalogue (so they can avoid recreating the wheel and just add to existing data using an export from the catalogue)
2. That the web addresses for the corresponding pdf’s are permanent

What a pleasant surprise!  Once we met face-to-face, and demonstrated what we were each talking about, it turns out we were talking about exactly the same things.  Even better, the client was surprised that the library had anticipated such questions years ago. Yes, many people don’t understand that we are proficient database designers and comprehend such things as unique identifiers, db tables, etc.  And, many librarians make incorrect assumptions about other database creators/users.  But, when we make the effort and time to speak with each other about our respective databases and web-address stability, turns out we truly are on the same page.

On a related note, during the same conversation we expanded both our vocabularies about databases and our peer group!  … they learned about “authority control” (as a term only, they already understood and regularly made use of the concept) and the history of meta-data records (evolution from MARC) … and I was reminded that many people outside of libraries do very similar work and have almost the identical concerns about data integrity … I found a new colleague!