WorldCat Mashathon inspires nine new tools for European library users
Librarians, developers, information managers and other Web professionals who gathered on 13-14 May 2009 for the second ever WorldCat Mashathon have already shown off nine new applications created during the event for library users.
The event was deemed very successful by participants and organizers alike. In an interesting twist for the audience of highly-networked informational professionals, the Mashathon reconfirmed the importance of face-to-face meetings, even in today's online environment.
"I had a great time, learned a lot and met lots of interesting people," tweeted Andreas Neumann of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, Germany which goes by bsb_it_andi on Twitter. Fellow participants echoed the sentiment in similar tweets and event evaluations.
Held at the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the WorldCat Mashathon attracted more than 40 participants from Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States who represented all types of libraries and cultural institutions. The goal of the event was twofold: one was to raise awareness of the WorldCat Search API and related Web Services freely available from OCLC and other library-related organisations. The equally important second goal was to help developers connect with fellow developers and other technology-minded thinkers to work on shared solutions.
Outcomes from the two days typically included a range of mash-ups, apps and new creative ideas to implement in developers' home library catalogues.
Videos, photos and tweets from the event may be found at the tags #masheu09 and #mashathon on YouTube, Flickr and Twitter.
Future mashathons will be announced on the OCLC Developer Network blog.