Link Resolvers,Knowledgebases and the

KBART Working Group Julie Zhu

Senior Project Coordinator

American Institute of Physics

Chad HutchensElectronic Resources

LibrarianUniversity of Wyoming

Libraries

March 2nd 2011Electronic Resources & Libraries

Metadata Supply Chain

Knowledgebase: Holdings information used by an OpenURL link resolver OpenURL Link resolver matches against

knowledgebase to determine availability of electronic full text

Most Important Chain(Weakest Link)

The supply chain of metadata between content providers (publishers) and knowledgebases

Problem StatementIf the holdings information in the knowledgebase is outdated/incorrect, it impacts the OpenURL link resolver efficacy and creates a cascade of problems.

In order to expect consistent metadata delivery from content providers, the requirements need to be consistent as well.

◦ Who – Publishers, Aggregators, KB vendors, Libraries

◦ What – a universally acceptable holdings data format to improve the OpenURL Knowledgebase metadata supply chain

◦ Where – throughout the supply chain & at the UKSG info hub http://www.uksg.org/kbart

◦ When – Now Phase 1 Report – Jan 2010 http://bit.ly/kbartRP Endorsement Phase – Began June 2010 Phase 2 in Development

◦ Why – Better access for users through accurate holdings data

Five W’s

Standards organizations◦ UKSG and NISO

Working group members (stakeholders):◦ Knowledgebase vendors

ExLibris, OCLC, Serials Solutions, EBSCO◦ Content Provider (Publisher & Aggregators)

ASP, AIP, Royal Society Publishing◦ Subscription Agents◦ Libraries & Consortia

Full list -- http://www.uksg.org/kbart/members

Who is behind KBART?

KnowledgeBases And Related Tools A NISO recommended practice A universally acceptable holdings list format

Tab-delimited text files Delivered via HTTP or FTP Guidelines for fields and values

A single format for sharing holdings data across the scholarly content supply chain Hosted by providers Discoverable on the registry

What is KBART?

A simple metadata exchange format…

The Registry -- a contact and metadata content clearinghouse

Registry shortcut:http://bit.ly/kbartregistry

Culling, James. “Link Resolvers and the Metadata Supply Chain”

Inconsistent holding list metadata format◦ Embargo period format

Example relative vs. absolute embargo?◦ Date/enumeration formats

MM-DD-YYYY? / DD-MM-YYYY? Inconsistent metadata update procedures

(See next slide)

Why KBART?

Proactive reconciliation of an ejournal package list◦ Request title list with detailed holdings info from publisher

(repeatedly, naggingly)◦ Compare with that of your subscription agent and KB vendor◦ Now that you have 3 (or more) different title lists, translation

phase includes dealing with: Number of titles and titles themselves ISSN mis-matches Title changes, mergers, acquisitions, new starts, and losses Publisher-reuse of ISSNs/title combinations Reconciling date discrepancies manually (and inconsistent/unlcear

formats)◦ Go live◦ Lather, rinse, repeat!

KB managementbefore KBART (for libraries)

Similar to the library’s process Need to contact providers again and again Invest a lot of time correcting data

problems◦ Investigating end-user queries and complaints

Update procedures vary by provider If unable to get data from provider, may

resort less preferable acquisition methods (web site inspection)◦ Last resort, not preferred

KB managementbefore KBART (for KB vendors)

KBART: A Publisher / Platform Perspective American Institute of Physics (AIP) publishes

◦ 12 physics journals◦ 1200+ volumes of AIP Conference Proceedings◦ Physics Today, magazine◦ AIP Advances, launched March 1, 2011

Scitation hosts◦ 300+ serial titles from 30 publishers◦ 500+ ebooks from 4 publishers◦ 10,000+ volumes of conference proceedings from

8 publishers.

Importance and BenefitsEnsure accessibility of digital content via library catalogs and link resolversImprove discoverability Facilitate the shift from print models to online and online-only models Streamline metadata delivery to library service providers

Challenges Problems in Metadata

◦ Incomplete, inaccurate, inconsistent metadata ◦ Inconsistent metadata tagging and formatting

from different publishers throughout the years◦ Data stored in multiple systems

Resources Shortages◦ Staff shortages, competing projects

Workflows and Tools◦ Lack of flexible metadata schemas, policies and

processes, quality controls◦ Lack of collaborative metadata editing and authoring

tools, user-friendly interface components

Strategies and Methods Short-term: manual, semi-automated,

automated Long-term:

◦ invest in and develop better editorial workflow systems

◦ Standardize metadata tagging◦ Fill in missing data and correct inaccurate data

Collaboration with the library community (libraries, service providers, aggregators, etc.): ◦ join KBART working groups◦ gain understanding of library needs◦ provide recommendation and help shape new

standards, i.e., ebooks, conference proceedings, etc.

First publisher KBART adopter◦ http://librarians.scitation.org/librarians/help_files

.jsp

AIP Hosted KBART Files

Example: Scitation Serial Titles List

Example: ASME eBooks List(KBART II in Progress)

Example: AIP Conference Proceedings Titles List

Phase 1 – Universally accepted standardized publisher metadata, regularly distributed AND available on demand

Phase 2 – Broad adoption, Consortia, More content type coverage (eBooks, conference proceedings), Open Access

Phase 3? – Even more content types, automated delivery, institutional metadata????

The Future of KBART

Related Projects

www.openurlquality.org/

niso.org/workrooms/piej

1. Review the requirement: http://www.uksg.org/kbart/

2. Format your title lists accordingly.3. Self check to ensure they conform to the

recommended practice4. Ensure that you have a process in place for

regular data updates5. Register your organization on the KBART

registry website: http://bit.ly/kbartregistry

How can publishersbe involved?

http://www.uksg.org/kbart/hub

http://twitter.com/nisokbart

Need more details?

Thank You!For more information:

Julie ZhuSenior Project Coordinator

American Institute of Physicsjzhu@aip.org

Chad HutchensElectronic Resources Librarian

University of Wyoming Librarieschutchen@uwyo.edu

Visit the Information Hub:http://www.uksg.org/kbart/hub

Questions?