Service-Oriented Architecture for

Libraries

Richard AkermanNRC CISTI

presented at DLF Fall ForumNovember 6, 2007

Who Are You?

What Do You Want?

CISTI EA - Infomajic

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Business Framework

IT Architecture Framework

People

Process

Buy-In

Metrics

Projects

Framework for Implementation

Analysis,Design &

Development

•Tightly link the architecture to the business

•Architecture outputs are integrated with each other and with other IT outputs – Base analysis & design on the architecture

•Develop an action plan to support implementation

•Use an approach that is disciplined (repeatable) and traceable back tothe business

by permission of Jane Carbone, Infomajic

Why Are You Here?

Where Are You Going?

Transformations

• Digital

• Internet

• Discovery

• Exponential

• Library?

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There Are Many Copies

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kk/18112585/8

How much bridge do you need?

Scott Beale / Laughing Squid 9

10North by North West of Betsy Ross Bridge

SO... Architecture

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rakerman/551184312/ 11

It’s only a model...

© 2007 Richard Akerman 12

Implementation

© 2007 Richard Akerman

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How Do You Get There?

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Business Framework

IT Architecture Framework

People

Process

Buy-In

Metrics

Projects

Framework for Implementation

Analysis,Design &

Development

•Tightly link the architecture to the business

•Architecture outputs are integrated with each other and with other IT outputs – Base analysis & design on the architecture

•Develop an action plan to support implementation

•Use an approach that is disciplined (repeatable) and traceable back tothe business

by permission of Jane Carbone, Infomajic

Teamwork

• CISTI has a staff of over 300, serving the National Research Council and thousands of other clients

• We have in-house technology and research, with a staff of approximately 60 total, of which about 30 perform software development and research

• There is a 5-person Architecture Group

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Model_____

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Model_____

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Model - Ingest

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Model - Ingest

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SOA Definition

• Service-Oriented Architecture is an approach to systems analysis- a systematic methodology for identifying particular characteristics of business processes and technology, leading to the definition of “SOA services”

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Deriving SOA Services

• Developed litmus test to evaluate business functions in terms of SOA characteristics

• 14 SOA services have been identified and implemented

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SOA Services

• “autonomous, loosely-coupled and coarse-grained services with well-defined interfaces provide business functionality and can be discovered and accessed through a supportive infrastructure. This allows internal and external system integration as well as flexible reuse of application logic through the composition of services.”- Malte Poppensieker

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SOA Services

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Projects

• Pay Per Article (PPA)

• eBook Loans

• Alerts

• Reduced effort due to building on SOA services frees organisational resources for agility

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Experiments

• SRU/SRW

• CISTI Labhttp://lab.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/

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SOA and Digital Libraries

• DELOShttp://www.delos.info/

• Fedora Commonshttp://www.fedora-commons.org/

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SOA and library catalogues

• When improving the catalogue, we must take care not to repeat the past

• SOA provides an approach to enhancing the catalogue that is sustainable

• SOA also opens up the possibility of greater WebOPAC and network capabilities (mashups, widgets, machine-to-machine services)

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SOA and Cyberinfrastructure

• New NSF calls

• Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation

• Sustainable Digital Data Preservation and Access Network Partners (DataNet)

• The Scientific Communication Life-Cycle model http://www.sciencemodel.net/

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Building Bridges

© 2001 Richard Akerman 27

SOA Governance

• Service identification & specification

• Service implementation

• Service exposure

• Service usage & cost allocation

• Service change management

• Governance roles

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Challenge: Frameworks

• There are many frameworks and reference models

• JISC (UK), e-Framework (UK & Australia), DLF (USA), CDL (California), DEFF (Denmark), DELOS (EU), ...

• How can we best use frameworks?

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Observations

• SOA must move beyond frameworks

• SOA Governance is key

• The “Big Bang” approach doesn’t work

• Creating an SOA (and EA) is not for everyone- but everyone can participate as aservice consumer

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Enabling Library SOA

• “Library Web Services” in Library Journal - netConnect, July 15, 2007

• “Service-Oriented Architecture - What Is It, And How Do We Get One?” in EDUCAUSE Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 3, 2007

• “Web Services and the Service-Oriented Architecture”, Library Technology Reports, Vol. 42, No. 3, 2006

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Questions

• What gaps can be filled with a services architecture?

• How can we move beyond frameworks?

• What is the relationship between the library catalogue, digital libraries, and repositories?

• Are people using architecture, including the DLF work? Why or why not?

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Wherever You Go...There You Are

• Richard.Akerman at NRC.ca

• http://www.connotea.org/user/scilib/tag/dlf2007akerman

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