Trends in Library automation and digital libraries

Marshall BreedingDirector for Innovative Technologies and ResearchVanderbilt Universityhttp://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/breeding

Redefining Libraries:Web 2.0 and other Challenges

May 2007 Xiamen, China

Business Landscape

Library Journal Automated System Marketplace: An Industry redefined (April 1, 2007)

An increasingly consolidated industry VC and Private Equity playing a stronger role then

ever before Moving out of a previous phase of fragmentation

where many companies expend energies producing decreasingly differentiated systems in a limited marketplace

Narrowing of product options Open Source opportunities rise to challenge

stranglehold of traditional commercial model

Library Automation M&A History

Consolidation among Libraries for automation

More libraries banding together to share automation environment

Reduce overhead for maintaining systems that have decreasing strategic importance

Need to focus technical talent on activities that have more of an impact on the mission of the library

Pooled resources for technical processing Single library ILS implementations becoming less

defensible Essential for libraries to gain increased leverage

relative to large companies

Diverse Business Activities

Many ways to expand business in ways that leverage library automation expertise:Non-ILS softwareRetrospective conversion servicesRFID or AMHNetwork Consulting ServicesContent products

Key Business Perspective

Given the relative parity of library automation systems, choosing the right automation partner is more important than splitting hairs over functionality.Understanding of library issuesVision and forward-looking development

Product and Technology Trends

Current state of the Integrated Library System

The core ILS focused mostly on print resources and traditional library workflow processes.

Add-ons available for dealing with electronic content: Link resolvers Metasearch environments Electronic Resource Management

A loosely integrated environment Labor-intensive implementation and maintenance Most are “must have” products for academic

libraries with significant collections of e-content

Library OPAC

Evolved from card catalogs and continues to be bound by the constraints of that legacy.

Complex and rich in features Interfaces often do not compare favorably with

alternatives available on the Web Print materials becoming a smaller component

of the library’s overall collections.

State of the Library OPAC?

Comprehensive Automation

The goal of the Integrated Library Systems involves the automation of all aspects of the library’s internal operations and to provide key services to library users.

ILS – Broad Overview

Business automation systemAutomates each aspect of a

library’s operationsSmaller libraries may implement

only selected modulesTightly integrated modules

ILS characteristics Shared bibliographic database Holdings records Copy records Circulation transaction file Patron database Acquisitions: vendor database, financial

transaction files Serials – volume holdings records; issue

check-in records; summary holdings, routing, etc

OpenURL Link Resolver

Context-sensitive Linking

Links to resources built dynamically

Benefits for library users

A more seamless and unified interface to assist users with their research using library resources

Need to present the user with the appropriate copy

Ability to offer other services and options Multiple copies available for any given

document or resource

Benefits for Library Staff

Static URL’s becoming untenable in electronic publishing environment

Placing static links in 856 fields increasingly untenable

URL’s change – direct deep linking unstable Libraries change sources for content Single point of management for article

databases and e-journal holdings Can be populated and updated by providers such

as Serial Solutions

More than linking citation to full text

Holdings look-up in OPACSRequests for document deliveryInterlibrary Loan requestRelated works – more by this author

The down side of dynamic reference linking

More options, more complexityNo guarantee that links created by a

resolving application will be successfulEg: TOC instead of full text

Users may not always understand what is happening

Maintaining the Link Resolver database

Reference linking framework

A database populated with data about the library’s electronic resources What aggregations the library owns

Which titles available in each aggregation What years available for each title

Which stand-alone e-journals? A&I databases

Metadata harvested from a citation and passed through the OpenURL syntax

A resolver that turns metadata into a specific link to the appropriate link

Resolver can provide links to other services ILL/Document Delivery request Holdings Look-up in library catalog Web search

OpenURL Framework

Linking Products – Applications that rely on the OpenURL specification

Sources -- a resource capable of generating an OpenURL

Targets – Web-based resources capable of being linked to in an OpenURL environment

Link Server or Resolver

A server that resolves an OpenURL into one or more services.

Takes into consideration the local context of the user What content is available through subscriptions provided by

the institution? What content is available within each database or full-text

aggregation

Other services available: print holdings; document delivery; bookstore purchase;

OpenURL

A de facto standard for reference linking A syntax to create web-transportable

packages of metadata or identifiers about an information object

Not a static link Transports metadata Relies on a local resolver, which makes use of

data carried on the OpenURL to perform services

Linking Products

SFX -- Ex LibrisWebBridge -- Innovative360 Link -- Serials SolutionsLinkSource -- EBSCO1Cate -- Openly Informatics / OCLC

Digital asset management

Products for creating and managing collections of digital content

Utility for creating metadataDublin CoreVRAOther library / discipline-specific formats

Library-specific products

CONTENTdm – OCLCDigitool – Ex LibrisHyperion – SirsiDynixLuna Imaging

Metasearching / Federated Searching

Allows the user to enter a search once to search multiple databases

All selected resources searched simultaneously

Single user interfaceResults presented through the

metasearch application not in their native interface

Metasearch groupings

Resources organized by the library into groupsTypically subject based

Relieves the users from having to know what products cover what topics

Generally impractical to search all products in each query

Common metaserach features

Presents common interface for formulating query Keyword combinations and options Boolean operators

Results interfiled or separated by source Deduplication of results Sort and relevancy options Customization to blend with library’s Web site

– color scheme, fonts, layout, banner, logo, etc.

Authentication

Needs to work for remote usersInterface with campus authentication

environmentInteracts with proxy servers

Other Features

General tool for managing access to electronic resources

Links to native interfacesSelect resources by subjectLink to native interfacesDetailed information about each

resource

Technical challenge

How to perform search and retrieval among many separate information resources that operate in fundamentally different ways

Target resources vary significantly Abstract and Indexing (A&I) databases Full Text resources Library Catalogs Specialized databases

No single search and retrieval protocol used among the common library information resources

Limitations

Not all resources can participate in metasearch environment

Shallow result sets returned from each target

Difficult to achieve true relevancySlow Performance

Architecture and Technology Components

Take advantage of search and retrieval protocols when possible Z39.50 (mostly library catalogs) Web services XML gateways SQL interfaces Proprietary API (Applications Programming

Interface) HTML Parsing

Technology…

Connectors or source packages that understand how to send queries to and receive results from each resource

All results converted into a unified record structure

Application component for managing results

Web interface for presenting results

Moving forward:

Transition to an era of next-generation library interfaces

Traditional Library Search Model

Provide a full featured OPACGive the user a screen full of search

optionsAssume that researchers will begin

with library resourcesReliance on Bibliographic

Instruction

Troubling statistic

Where do you typically begin your search for information on a particular topic?

College Students Response: 89% Search engines (Google 62%) 2% Library Web Site (total respondents -> 1%) 2% Online Database 1% E-mail 1% Online News 1% Online bookstores 0% Instant Messaging / Online Chat

OCLC. Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources (2005) p. 1-17.

New Library Search Model

Don’t count on users beginning their research with library catalogs or Web site

Consider the library’s Web site as a destination

Make it a compelling and attractive destination that uses will want to explore more.

Web users have a low tolerance for ineffective and clunky interfaces

Library Discovery Model A

Library Web Site / Catalog

Web

Library as search Destination

Library Discovery Model B

Do not give up on library search technologies!

Libraries must also build their own discovery, search, and access services

Effective, elegant, powerfulOnce users discover your library, give

them outstanding services:Catalog search, federated search, context-

sensitive linking, etc.

Library Discovery Model C

Expose library content and services through non-library interfaces Campus portals, courseware systems, e-learning

environments County and municipal portals and e-government Other external content aggregators: RSS, etc

Web services is the essential enabling technology for the delivery of library content and services to external applications.

Library community lags years behind other IT industries in adoption of SOA and Web services.

Working toward next generation library interfaces

Redefinition of the library catalogMore comprehensive information

discovery environmentsBetter information delivery toolsMore powerful search capabilitiesMore elegant presentation

Comprehensive Search Service

More like OAIProblems of scale diminishedProblems of cooperation persist

Replacement Search Interfaces:

Endeca Guided SearchAquaBrowser Library

Are library users satisfied with native ILS interfaces?

Replacement OPACs

Endeca Guided NavigationAquaBrowser LibraryCommon thread:

Decoupled interfaceMass export of catalog dataAlternative search engineAlternative interface

Expanded discovery and delivery tools

Ex Libris Primo (in development) Encore from Innovative Interfaces (in

development) Common threads:

Decoupled interface Comprehensive indexes that span multiple and

diverse information resources Alternative interface

Library-developed solutions

eXtensible CatalogUniversity of Rochester – River Campus

LibrariesFinancial support from the Andrew W.

Mellon Foundationhttp://www.extensiblecatalog.info/

Redefinition of library catalogs and interfaces

Traditional notions of the library catalog are being questioned

It’s no longer enough to provide a catalog limited to print resources

Digital resources cannot be an afterthought Forcing users to use different interfaces

depending on type of content becoming less tenable

Libraries working toward consolidated search environments that give equal footing to digital and print resources

Interface expectations

Millennial gen library users are well acclimated to the Web and like it.

Used to relevancy ranking The “good stuff” should be listed first Users tend not to delve deep into a result list Good relevancy requires a sophisticated approach,

including objective matching criteria supplemented by popularity and relatedness factors.

Interface expectations (cont…)

Very rapid response. Users have a low tolerance for slow systems

Rich visual information: book jacket images, rating scores, etc.

Let users drill down through the result set incrementally narrowing the field

Faceted Browsing Drill-down vs up-front Boolean or “Advanced Search” gives the users clues about the number of hits in each sub

topic. Navigational Bread crumbs Ratings and rankings

Global vs Local

How do library collections relate to the global realm

Will mass digitization replace local library collections?

The global arena excels at discovery The local arena focuses on content delivery All the global content discovery tools point to

locally managed content.

Multi-layered information discovery

Global : Google Institutional / Regional : Primo Granular: Individual catalogs and repositories Broad -> Precise Offer both the ability to “find a few good things” and to

“find exactly the right things (and all of them)” Appropriate avenues for both the undergraduate

learner and the serious scholar.

Questions and Discussion