Maybe our cataloging should include a hot link from our standard abbreviations to the translation/definition in the appropriate Wikiwhatever? Or embed such links as "non-literal value surrogates"?
Irreverently yours (and ducking), John F. Myers, Catalog Librarian Schaffer Library, Union College 807 Union St. Schenectady NY 12308 518-388-6623 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- Mike Tribby wrote: What I don't understand is this: if the people who have grown up with connectivity (the young adults referred to in the AP article) are so disenchanted with our OPACs because they aren't as quick or facile as Google et al. are also the ones who find Latin abbreviations so disorienting as to cause them to bolt from the library, why do we then assume that these same potential patrons are too befuddled to look up abbrevations like "s.l.," "etc.," and even "op. cit." on Google or Wikipedia when they encounter these horrifying space and keystroke savers, then click back to the OPAC?
