Technology13 ways of looking at …

Lorcan Dempsey

Solinet Meeting, May 2

CBS school, Ennis

Libraries – and the network spaceLibraries – and the network space

Libraries

Shared cataloging – 70sA shared network space

A shared network space Resource sharing – 80s

A shared network spaceArticle discovery and delivery – 90s

A shared network space

Collaborative reference, Digital content management,Digitisation,Scholarly communication

Progressive entry into a network space …Progressive entry into a network space …

• Early stages of ‘digital’ libraries

• Being digital suggests reorganisation to best leverage individual and collective strengths

• Move away from vertical organisation around collection to horizontal organisation around process …

• And ….?

GenerationsGenerations

Social Social

Business/policyBusiness/policy

Service Service

Technical Technical

Co-evolutionCo-evolution

Active reshaping in a new mediumActive reshaping in a new medium

• Scholarly communication:

– Moving from author-publisher-distributor-library chain to

– … web in which all are potentially in contact with each other.

– Co-evolution of new institutional forms with the support the network provides

A shared network spaceA shared network space

A shared space – on campusA shared space – on campus• The Digital Library, providing access for staff and students, wherever

they are located, to networked information resources, which may in turn be disclosed to the outside world.

• e-Learning systems, providing the University with the capacity to enable learning and teaching in a flexible, place-independent, online environment, and enhancing the existing campus learning experience.

• The public Web site, providing a means of marketing the University and of communicating with students, potential students, alumni and others.

• The Corporate Intranet, providing staff with access to information and communication resources, and to means of conducting their business in a secure, online environment.

• A Student Intranet, providing students with access to student-centred information, learning resources, course management and communication facilities, as well as the ability to conduct financial and administrative functions online.

• And lots of other stuff.

Hull

A shared space - the creative userA shared space - the creative user

• Digital scholarship

• Digital research

• Digital learning

• Cultural heritage

Clash of CulturesSource: http://www.history.ohio-state.edu/projects/clash

Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy Supplementary Material ArchivesSource: http://msa.lib.ohio-state.edu/jmsa_hp.htm

Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) Motion Capture LabSource: http://www.accad.ohio-state.edu/mocap/mocap_info.htm

ArchitecturesArchitectures

Towards an information environment - servicesTowards an information environment - services

• No single resource is the sole focus of a user’s attention

• In a distributed environment resources can be specialized to provide particular function

• Leverage communication between resources to add value to user’s experience

• Need a shared view and vocabulary

creation

sharedservices

portals

content

brokersand

aggregators

provision

mediationinfrastructure

presentation

DirectoriesRegistriesTerminology SResolutionAuthorisationCitation linking Which?

Who?Which?Who?

So far ..So far ..

• Library operations progressively entering network space

• Generations of change shortening

• Co-evolution

• We are not alone with our users in this new shared space

• We need to begin to architect

• High acronymic density …

• Google is for finding out what acronyms stand for!

Now ..Now ..

Learning management systemsLearning management systems

Learning managementLearning management

• Fold information into the learning experience

• Relationship between library systems and learning systems

• Electronic reserve, reading lists, learning objects, …

• Own standards framework (IMS, IEEE/LOM, SCORM)

Directories

VocabularyCompetencyMetadata

Repositories

Organizations Traders

Acc

ess

Man

agem

ent

MA

NA

GE

RIG

HT

S O

BL

IGA

TIO

NS

CO

NT

RO

L A

CC

ESS

AU

TH

EN

TIC

AT

E

AU

TH

OR

ISE

AU

DIT

Pro

curem

ent

NE

GO

TIA

TE

TR

AD

EM

AK

E P

AY

ME

NT

SEARCH

Learner Creator Infoseeker

Repositories

AssetsMetadata

Resource Utilizers

DISCOVER

REQUEST

USEPresentation

Mediation

Provision

People

AgentR

ESO

LV

E

Registries

STORE

STORE EXPOSEMANAGE STORE EXPOSEMANAGE

DELIVER

(Query, Browse, Follow Path)ACCESS

GATHER

PUBLISH

MANAGE

ALERT

EXPOSE

Interoperability as recombinant potentialInteroperability as recombinant potential

InteroperabilityInteroperability

• Traditional views of interoperability depend on pre-coordinated agreements about every aspect of syntax, structure, and semantics

• In the new shared space, this degree of coordination is harder to come by

• How do we address this?– Simplify? OAI

– Complexify? Objects, services, metadata

• Pre-coordination gives way to recombinant systems?

OAIOAI

OAIOAIHarvesterHarvester

OAIOAIHarvesterHarvester

WebWebBrowserBrowser

WebWebBrowserBrowser

UnionUnionCatalogCatalogUnionUnion

CatalogCatalog

DC/MARC

HTML

OAI Server#1OAI Server#1DC & EADDC & EAD

OAI Server#1OAI Server#1DC & EADDC & EAD

OAI Server#2OAI Server#2DC & MARCDC & MARC

OAI Server#2OAI Server#2DC & MARCDC & MARC

OAI Server#3OAI Server#3DC & VRADC & VRA

OAI Server#3OAI Server#3DC & VRADC & VRA

DCDC

MARCMARC

DC

OAIOAI

• “low-barrier” sharing of metadata

• Many potential uses– E-prints

– Learning materials

– Cultural heritage

– …

• Model of the web … simple design supports multiple uses

MetadataMetadata

Data which supports operations on entitiesData which supports operations on entities

• Life cycle– Creation, discovery, assembly, administrative, contextual, preservation, rights, …

• Domain– Learning, library, archives, etc

• Here come those acronyms (9)– MARC, MODS, ONIX, Dublin Core, IEEE/LOM, FGDC, EAD, TEI, METS, …

• Interoperability– Registry

– RDF (resource description framework)?

Information objectsInformation objects

From atomic to recombinantFrom atomic to recombinant

• Structure

– Document images

– SGML/TEI

– XML

– METS/content packages

• Collectible resources?

ServicesServices

Web servicesWeb services

• Web services are interfaces that describe operations that are network accessible through XML messaging. (IBM)

• Have a web of functional components as we now have web of pages.

OCLC webservicesexamples

OCLC webservicesexamples

e - Prints UK

RDN

gateway/portal

service

RDN

gateway/portal

service

RDN

gateway/portal

service

RDN

gateway/portal

service

RDN

gateway/portal

service

RDN

gateway/portal

service

Institutional

e - print

archives

Personal

e - print

archives

OAI - MHP

Non - institutional

e - print

archives

Subject

classification

service

Name

authority

service

Citation

analysis

service

SOAP

SOAP

Javascript /HTTP

Z39.50

YAPYAP

?

Some issues – lack of shared architectureSome issues – lack of shared architecture

• No agreement on functional components.

• No shared vocabulary … middleware, portal, personalisation,….

• Individualised solutions.

• Accelerated generational turnover (e.g. Z39.50 and OAI).

• Disagreement on technical approaches.

Some issuesSome issues

• Different requirements– Breadth – demand side economies of scale

– Depth – selective disciplinary depth

– Projection – surface resources in other environments

• New technologies– Web services

– Portlets

– RSS

– Directories/environment intelligence

sharedservicesinfrastructure

DirectoriesRegistriesTerminology SResolutionAuthorisationCitation linking

brokersand

aggregators mediation

Portals/portlets……api/web service

content

provision

presentation

Preservation and archivingPreservation and archiving

Quick runQuick run

• OAIS

– Conceptual framework within which to consider archival systems which manage materials over the long term

– Many projects implementing OAIS

• Emulation/Migration

• Levels

dempseyl@oclc.org